UCLA/Berkeley Law & Attorney General’s Office release report recommending policies to encourage sustainable real estate development
For those of you who haven't memorized the AB 32 scoping plan pie chart that details the sources of greenhouse gas emissions in California by sector, "vehicle miles traveled" (or, as lay folks call it, "driving") represents the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the state -- almost forty percent. We can hope and pray that improvements in fuel content and fuel efficiency will reduce these emissions, but the latest research shows that any future improvem...
CONTINUE READINGUCLA environmental law journal publishes new work on personal norms and carbon emissions, and on other interesting topics
Following in Dan's footsteps as promoters of our respective schools' excellent environmental law journals, I'm proud to announce that the UCLA Journal of Environmental Law and Policy Volume 27, #1 was published this summer. This journal issue features several interesting pieces. They include a thought-provoking Comment by second-year UCLA law student Jed Ela, Law and Norms in Collective Action: Maximizing Social Influence to Minimize Carbon Emissions, as well as the ...
CONTINUE READINGMore on the Chamber of Commerce’s extraordinary demand for a “Scopes trial” on climate change
UPDATE: regarding the standard of judicial review of any on-the-record hearing (discussed below), see the comments: commenter Steve Taber disagrees with my initial analysis, and he may be right (though I don't have time to look into it further today). ORIGINAL POST: Holly has written a thoughtful post discussing the meritlessness and cynicism of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's petition asking that the EPA engage in a hearing "on the record" to determine whether carbon d...
CONTINUE READINGWould a CO2 “monkey trial” improve scientific integrity and transparency?
As reported in the L.A. Times and Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has petitioned EPA to hold a trial-type hearing before finalizing its proposed finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare. (We blogged about the proposed endangerment finding here.) The main argument in the petition is that a formal hearing is required to effectuate the administration's stated commitment to scientific integrity and transparency. Don't be foo...
CONTINUE READINGAn Indian Cap-and-Trade System?
Well, here's something potentially significant: India has approved in principle new trading plans centred on energy efficiency as part of efforts to shift to a greener economy to fight climate change, opening up a potential market worth more than $15 billion by 2015. ... The plan involves creating a market-based mechanism that would allow businesses using more energy than stipulated to compensate by buying energy certificates from those using less energy due to energy ...
CONTINUE READINGNews of the Day
There's a lot of interesting stuff out there. Not as interesting as Legal Planet, maybe, but let's give credit where credit is due. Here's some of the latest: What Happened to Acid Rain? How we (partially) solved a major environmental problem. China is Taking over the Solar Energy Market. Apparently somebody thinks there's money in renewables. UC Campuses Go Green. Three UC Campuses, including UCLA and Berkeley, are leading the charge for more sustainable univers...
CONTINUE READINGDecriminalizing Our Public Lands
According to media reports, government fire investigations reveal that the recent, extensive brush fires that have destroyed nearly 100,000 acres in Santa Barbara County, California, were ignited as a result of illegal marijuana operations being conducted on federal forest lands. As news accounts point out, clandestine drug operations carried out on public lands may be a new phenomenon for besieged firefighters. But they're a depressing, all-too-familiar story to forest...
CONTINUE READINGMore proof that economics does not run the world
The Washington Post has a fascinating story today about Maryland abandoning its reverse auction strategy to buy up small crabbing licenses. The scheme was cooked up by a bunch of economists, and apparently neither they nor state officials thought to talk to any of its targets before implementing it. According to the story, there are currently 3,676 "limited crab catcher" licenses in Maryland, which allow the holder to set up to 50 pots. Most of the holders of those li...
CONTINUE READINGFastrack to Nowhere?
President Obama has announced a commitment to high speed rail, envisioning a network that could: connect areas like the cities of the Pacific Northwest; southern and central Florida; the Gulf Coast to the Southeast to our nation's capital; the breadth of Pennsylvania and New York to the cities of New England; and something close to my heart, a central hub network that draws the cities of our industrial heartland closer to Chicago and one another. In the Washington Post t...
CONTINUE READINGAtrazine in drinking water
Atrazine is suddenly very much in the news. Today's New York Times features a major story about whether the EPA's current standard for acceptable levels of atrazine in drinking water is tight enough to protect human health. Yesterday's Peoria Journal carried a story about a class action lawsuit filed in Illinois state court against Syngenta, the primary manufacturer of atrazine. And NRDC has just issued a report accusing EPA of ignoring the atrazine problem (summary here...
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