Environment Now Releases Top So Cal Enviro Achievements
After so much bad environmental news, here's a post that highlights some actual accomplishments just in case you fear they never occur. Environment Now, a Southern California nonprofit group, has released its 6th Annual Top Achivements of the Environmental Community in Southern California. The report includes the top achievements in six environmental areas; Sean Hecht and I served as judges for two of those (Climate and Energy for me, Freshwater Protection and Resto...
CONTINUE READINGDo Californians eat endangered whale meat?
Yes, apparently we do, but only at the most upscale of sushi restaurants. See the LA Times story here (and note the $600 price tag for the meal). Here's some information about sei whales (the species being served), courtesy of NOAA's Office of Protected Resources: During the 19th and 20th centuries, sei whales were targeted (along with blue and fin whales) and greatly depleted by commercial hunting and whaling, with an estimated 300,000 animals killed for their meat ...
CONTINUE READINGEnforcement Pushback–Making It Personal
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that enforcement staff and managers (including the regional office director and an enforcement attorney) in Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) were held personally liable for 6.5 million in damages relating to a series of enforcement actions against one company. MFS Inc., a manufacturer of industrial insulation and ceiling tiles, alleged that the four DEP employees pursued aggressive enforcement against it...
CONTINUE READINGDirty Money Supporting Anti-AB 32 Initiative Causes Ted Costa to Withdraw Support
I predicted earlier that an initiative campaign to delay the implementation of AB 32 until the state's unemployment rate falls dramatically would not qualify for the ballot. I made this prediction based on the lack of evidence of significant financial backing and the fact that the initiative appeared to be primarily the work of Ted Costa's People's Advocate -- a group that hardly appears to be well-funded judging from its website. So here's one troubling piece of n...
CONTINUE READINGCash for Transit
Jonathan proposes reinstating the vehicle license fee that Governor Schwarzenegger eliminated back in 2003. The repeal was highly successful in 1) getting Schwarzenegger elected governor and 2) contributing to the destruction of the state's fiscal health. But even reinstating the fee is unlikely to help transit. With the state's huge budget shortfall, that money would likely be used to fill up the black hole that is the state budget, and the legislature would surely r...
CONTINUE READINGHappy Birthday, Legal Planet!
Legal Planet has been up and running for a year now.* In that time, we've had almost 240,000 viewings, 839 comments, and over 860 posts . If we could just manage to have someone to reveal "LegalPlanetgate,"** we could become instantly world famous and ramp up our audience share even more! ------------- *Actually, this is an approximation because we had a predecessor blog (Environmental Law and Policy) for a few months and because we didn't immediately go public...
CONTINUE READINGPetitions, agency expertise and dispersed information in environmental law
“Agency expertise” is a familiar phrase to anyone who has had any significant experience in environmental law. Courts defer to agencies in part because of the perception that agencies have more expertise in technical matters than the courts or the plaintiffs who might be challenging agency decisions. One of the criticisms of various forms of public participation in regulatory process – such as citizen suits or petition provisions that allow the public to reques...
CONTINUE READINGFinancing Lower Fares for Low-Income Bus Riders
Ethan, it's obvious where the money is: just repeal the cut in the Vehicle License Fee. No, I'm not running for anything. And that's a very good thing......
CONTINUE READINGIncreasing bus ridership by making it cheaper
Jonathan presents an interesting idea for stimulating bus ridership in Los Angeles among "choice" riders (aka affluent commuters who could drive if they wanted to). For years, San Franciscans have enjoyed real-time data on bus and train arrivals (via nextmuni.com). It makes a huge difference when trying to catch a bus by minimizing unpleasant wait times, and anything you can do to make public transit faster will attract more choice riders. For some reason, the Los Ange...
CONTINUE READINGGet On The Bus — Even in Los Angeles
A few days ago, Ann cited the newspaper story highlighting the supposed "miracle" of a 26-year-old white woman taking the bus in Los Angeles. But the funny thing is that it would be actually pretty easy to increase bus ridership in LA if the MTA was just a little smart about it. I start from one unproven but plausible presumption. Otherwise automobile-dependent people do not hate taking the bus: they hate waiting for it. Waiting time is tedious, uncomfortable and ...
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