Region: California
Can California keep its federal lands public?
SB 50, introduced in State Senate, seeks to retain public ownership of federal lands in the state
There’s been a fair amount of national debate lately about whether federal public lands in the West should be transferred to state or private ownership. Rep. Chaffetz (R) from Utah had introduced a bill to transfer millions of acres of federal land in a range of Western states to private or state ownership – he …
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CONTINUE READING2050: The Challenges Ahead
How will we cope with a huge population increase and climate change?
Let’s look past today’s political travails and think longer-range. What will things look like in 2050? There are more details below, but here’s the general picture. World population will probably grow by 2.5 billion people between now and 2050, with about half of the increase in Africa. Given historically weak economic growth in those areas …
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CONTINUE READINGUnderstanding why California housing costs so much
Is the problem CEQA, local land-use regulations, both or neither?
Housing costs in the Bay Area and Los Angeles continue to get a lot of attention in the press and academic literature. This New York Times article highlights this recent paper from Ed Glaeser at Harvard and Joe Gyourko at Penn – the paper’s analysis concludes that land-use regulations have significantly increased the price of …
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CONTINUE READINGTrump’s Environmental Assault Begins
Clean Power Plan, Waters of the U.S. Rules First on the Chopping Block But What Remains in Place Varies Dramatically
The Washington Post is reporting that the Trump Administration will very shortly roll out two executive orders to curtail environmental protection. These rollbacks follow on the heels of the Senate’s confirmation of Scott Pruitt, who has made no secret of his antipathy for federal environmental regulations. The first executive order, as widely expected, will tell the …
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CONTINUE READINGA Coalition of the Willing
States need to work together to make progress happen in the age of Trump.
In the short time since the election, it’s already become a truism that state governments will have to keep the flame alive for environmental protection. But it’s not just individual state governments. It’s also crucial for states to work together. There’s been a lot of loose talk about “Calexit” out here. Secession is unconstitutional. (As …
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CONTINUE READINGHow States Can Defend Themselves Against Trump
States have a number of tools for protecting their own environments from the Feds.
Suppose the Trump Administration launches environmentally harmful projects in a state or wants to allow more pollution there than the state wants. Does the state have any possible recourse? The answer is yes, although states’s defenses have their limitations. There are a number of mechanisms states can use to defend their own environments, if not the …
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CONTINUE READINGPublic Lands Watch: House Joint Resolution 36
A proposal to revoke an Obama Administration rule on methane flaring on public lands
Additional Update: It is being considered in the Senate as Senate Joint Resolution 36. Update: The resolution passed the House on the morning of Saturday, Feb 4. It will next go to the Senate. House Joint Resolution 36 (now being considered as part of House Resolution 74) “Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia’s Best Investment in the Fight Against Climate Change
Trump is on a search-and-destroy mission against climate science & energy research. We need to fill the gap.
How can California best move the ball on the climate issue? Ann Carlson and I have just published an op. ed. in the Sacramento Bee making the case for a state climate-research fund and explaining how it could be implemented. Here’s why investing in new knowledge is such an important move for California. California can …
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CONTINUE READINGScott Pruitt, Senator Harris and the California Question
California leadership in peril?
Scott Pruitt, Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, elided many questions yesterday and made some somewhat surprising commitments to appease Senate Democrats in response to others (acknowledging that humans are at least partially responsible for climate change; saying he’ll use the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gases). But his response to …
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CONTINUE READINGNew Study: California Climate Policies Bringing Over $13 Billion To San Joaquin Valley
Report commissioned by Next 10 and written by Berkeley Law’s CLEE and UC Berkeley’s labor center
Climate policies are under political attack, both in California and nationally. The common argument is that these policies hurt the economy and destroy jobs, particularly in disadvantaged communities. To assess those claims, the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment (CLEE) at UC Berkeley Law and UC Berkeley’s Donald Vial Center on Employment in the …
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