Region: California
Wildfires: Managing the Risks
How can we limit the spread of wildfires and save people and property?
Wildfires are already a serious problem, and climate change will only make the problem worse, as I’ve discussed in my two prior posts. Reducing carbon emissions can help keep the problem from growing, but we need to deal with the risks we’re already facing. That is going to require a portfolio of risk management strategies. We …
Continue reading “Wildfires: Managing the Risks”
CONTINUE READING“What stands in the way becomes the way.”
Using current climate policies to address future political barriers to more stringent policy
Countries around the world are struggling with the political and policy challenges of developing effective tools to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and decarbonize their economies. (See coverage here for Canada, and here for Australia.) Moreover, even these policy proposals are as of yet inadequate to accomplish the goals of limiting climate change to below two …
Continue reading ““What stands in the way becomes the way.””
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Raises Its Ambition for a Low-Carbon Fuel Future
First in a Series About California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard Program
[Post co-authored by Sean Hecht and Ted Parson] California’s Air Resources Board (CARB) has just enacted new regulations that strengthen the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). The LCFS is a major component of California’s greenhouse-gas control strategy, but receives surprisingly little attention, compared to other policies like the statewide cap-and-trade system and the renewable …
Continue reading “California Raises Its Ambition for a Low-Carbon Fuel Future”
CONTINUE READINGIf You Can Buy a Coast, You Can Buy a Newspaper
Supreme Court’s California Coast Decision Will Be Back, No Matter What the Papers Say
High-fives, or at least, sighs of relief, from environmentalists this week, as the Supremes denied cert in Surfrider Foundation v. Martin’s Beach, a case where Sun Microsystems founder and multibillionaire Vinod Khosla challenged aspects of California’s Coastal Act. Article after article after editorial is celebrating this as a great victory for the environment and the …
Continue reading “If You Can Buy a Coast, You Can Buy a Newspaper”
CONTINUE READINGBurning in the Heat
Wildfires were bad enough already. Climate change is making them worse.
Fires have been unusually severe lately. According to one scientist, “’[I]n the late 20th and early 21st century, with these hot droughts, fires are ripping now with a severity and ferocity that’s unprecedented,’ says Tom Swetnam. . . . A fire in the Jemez Mountains Swetnam studies burned 40,000 acres in 12 hours, a ‘horizontal …
Continue reading “Burning in the Heat”
CONTINUE READINGMitigating Increased Driving Miles From New Projects Under CEQA
New Berkeley Law/CLEE report released today; Webinar discussion on Tuesday, October 30th
California law now requires developers of new projects, like apartment buildings, offices, and roads, to reduce the amount of overall driving miles the projects generate. Senate Bill 743 (Steinberg, 2013) authorized this change in the method of analyzing transportation impacts under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), from auto delay to vehicle miles traveled (VMT). …
Continue reading “Mitigating Increased Driving Miles From New Projects Under CEQA”
CONTINUE READINGGuest Bloggers Jennifer Garlock and Michelle Melton: California Enacts Law to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Ride-Hailing Companies
Governor Brown Signs SB 1014, Allowing Innovative Approaches to Emissions Reduction
As part of its broader efforts to tackle climate change, California has set its sights on a new, and fast-growing, source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions: ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft. On September 13, Governor Brown signed SB 1014, making California the first U.S. jurisdiction to require that ride-hailing companies—also known as transportation network …
CONTINUE READINGSpreading Like Wildfire
They don’t get as much attention as floods or earthquakes, but wildfires are deadly serious.
This is the first of a three-part series about wildfires. Massive wildfires are a growing problem, posing risks to people and the environment. Considering that my house is located only a few miles from the 1991 Oakland Hills fire, which killed 25 people, destroyed 2800 homes, and caused $1.8 billion in damage, this is an …
Continue reading “Spreading Like Wildfire”
CONTINUE READINGCalifornians Strongly Oppose Rolling Back Clean Car Standards
Day-long hearing in Fresno shows clear opposition to Trump administration proposal
Along with hundreds of others, I traveled to Fresno, California to testify today against EPA’s proposed rollback of vehicle standards. We’ve covered EPA and NHTSA’s legally flawed proposal in a number of previous Legal Planet posts. Today’s hearing started out with NHTSA’s chief counsel accidentally referring to EPA as the “Energy Protection Agency,” but has …
Continue reading “Californians Strongly Oppose Rolling Back Clean Car Standards”
CONTINUE READINGChina at the Global Climate Action Summit
Climate Action from the World’s Largest Emitter
Governor Brown’s Global Climate Action Summit came to a close this past Friday in San Francisco. A large delegation of Chinese government officials, researchers, business leaders and civil society representatives were on hand for the proceedings. Xie Zhenhua, China’s special representative on climate change, reaffirmed China’s commitment to action on climate change. While Xie had …
Continue reading “China at the Global Climate Action Summit”
CONTINUE READINGJoin Our Mailing List
Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.
