Region: National
“Degrowth Donald”
We now have ample examples that Donald Trump is not an abundance President
The title of this blog post comes from this article, where the author originally humorously tagged Donald Trump as a degrowth activist because of his opposition to renewables, his tariffs to constrain trade, and the potential economic impacts of those policies. Except now it’s not so humorous. Turns out that having the federal government capriciously …
Continue reading ““Degrowth Donald””
CONTINUE READINGTrump’s War on Wind is Dumb. It also Makes Sense.
The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
The Trump administration’s attack on wind energy feels dumber and dumber every day. Let’s see if we can make it make some sense. After that, the major headlines of the week. Last Friday, his Transportation Department withdrew $679 million for offshore wind projects at 12 ports. Last month, the administration sent a stop-work order to …
Continue reading “Trump’s War on Wind is Dumb. It also Makes Sense.”
CONTINUE READINGThank You, President Trump, for Opening the Door to Carbon Tariffs
Democrats should make it clear that this will be on the agenda if the Supreme Court upholds Trump’s tariffs.
As a matter of policy, a border adjustment for carbon emissions is much more defensible than the kinds of tariffs that Trump is proposing. And conservatives need to know that what is sauce of the goose is sauce for the gander. Or to switch metaphors, liberals need to show that they’re willing to move beyond bringing baked goods to a gunfight.
CONTINUE READINGThe Failed Effort to Protect Workers from Toxics: A Labor Day Reflection
The OSHA law called for rigorous regulation. It never happened.
To put it in a nutshell, the political base for workplace toxic regulation eroded along with America’s industrial unions. That deprived OSHA of the congressional support it needed to thrive. In the absence of a union revival, the right of workers to be free from toxic hazards is likely to remain an unfulfilled dream.
CONTINUE READINGFederalism Is For Suckers, Part The Millionth
Donald Trump’s latest constitutional rewriting puts the lie to venerable constitutional scholarship
Here’s a good legal Rule Of Thumb: whenever anyone makes a federalism argument concerning any dispute, do not take them seriously. It’s a mug’s game. The Venn Diagram of “people who argue for federalism” and “people who lack control over the federal government” is pretty much a perfect circle. And the positions will completely flip …
Continue reading “Federalism Is For Suckers, Part The Millionth”
CONTINUE READINGHow to Dissent? Learn American History
LA Public Library
The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
It sounds cliché, but when you face a crisis, it helps to remember times that you’ve overcome adversity. That’s the power of history. And it’s one of the reasons I think the new PBS documentary “Clearing the Air: The War on Smog” is crucial to share right now. In the 1940s, dark, smoky clouds crept …
Continue reading “How to Dissent? Learn American History”
CONTINUE READINGCan California Try Again with Vehicle Pollution Limits?
A new Sixth Circuit decision provides encouragement.
In May, Congress effectively killed the most recent efforts by California to clean up its vehicle fleet. Although many people seem to have assumed the contrary, this may not be the end of the road for California regulators. A new court of appeals decision is an encouraging signal that California may be able try again when the political forces in DC are less militantly anti-environmental.
CONTINUE READINGRight-wing populist environmentalism?
The future of environmentalism may include a right-wing, populist strain that is heavily NIMBY
While there is a lot of focus on left-wing NIMBYs in public discourse, there’s also a lot of right-wing NIMBY mobilization too. For instance, the conservative California city of Huntington Beach is leading the resistance to state efforts to require upzoning to facilitate housing. Conservative rural communities are often the locus of opposition to both …
Continue reading “Right-wing populist environmentalism?”
CONTINUE READINGTwo more recent NEPA studies
These studies have better methodological approaches, and highlight the ways in which NEPA does (and does not) matter for renewable energy
In a prior blog post, I criticized a recent NEPA study from the Breakthrough Institute for some key methodological limitations. Two more studies of NEPA have since come out from Resources for the Future that I want to highlight because I think they have stronger methodological foundations. There are still important limits on what these …
Continue reading “Two more recent NEPA studies”
CONTINUE READINGHow We Teach Environmental Law is Changing
UCLA Law faculty talk about how they are teaching environmental law differently in challenging times.
Environmental law is still relatively new and keeps changing all the time. After all, the field of environmental law didn’t really exist in the U.S. until pollution fears in the 1950s and ’60s spurred political activism. From 1970 to 1978, Congress passed more than a dozen of the most important environmental laws by overwhelming bipartisan majorities. …
Continue reading “How We Teach Environmental Law is Changing”
CONTINUE READINGJoin Our Mailing List
Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.
