Region: California
Energy Innovation and the Law @ UCLA
A full-day UCLA Law Review symposium on Friday, November 1
The UCLA Law Review is holding a symposium next Friday, November 1 – Toward a Clean Energy Future: Powering Innovation Through Law. Leading scholars from around the country will be at UCLA School of Law for the day to discuss innovative energy technologies, international energy issues, the challenge of new energy technology diffusion, and the …
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CONTINUE READINGCEQA Reform 2013 Holds Promise for Improving the Environment
Despite grumblings, the new law contains significant victories for infill development and urban investment
Governor Brown recently signed into law this year’s version of “CEQA reform,” which as Eric noted was decidedly stripped down from what it could have been. SB 743 (Steinberg) got a lot of negative attention for giving the Sacramento Kings basketball arena proponents accelerated environmental review and immunity from injunctive relief unless the project is …
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CONTINUE READINGProgress In Biosolids Management Illustrates Challenges For Innovation
Cross-posted at the ReNUWIt blog. A pilot project to convert biosolids from Delta Diablo Sanitation District’s wastewater treatment plant will begin next year in Antioch. The prize would be recovery of energy content from biosolids that, if successful and expanded to a national scale, will move the entire wastewater treatment industry in the direction of producing …
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CONTINUE READINGWelcome to the New Legal Planet
New design with augmented functionality
We have just completed a redesign geared towards improving your reading experience. Please take a look around! If you would like to change your Legal Planet email delivery preferences, please click on the “Manage Subscriptions” link at the end of this, or any, email notification from us. You have the option to receive email notices …
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CONTINUE READINGEnvironmental Impacts of Fracking: Three Layers of the Onion
This summer, The Emmett Center at UCLA jointly sponsored with the Union of Concerned Scientists a two-day workshop on unconventional oil and gas production technologies, aka fracking: two days of expert working groups on science and risk assessment, law and regulation, and public information and engagement, followed by a public forum. The public forum was …
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CONTINUE READINGPesticide Registration: Time for an Upgrade
UCLA Study Offers Recommendations to Improve the Pesticide Approval Process in California
We love our fresh fruits, vegetables and nuts in California. They are healthy for us and for our economy; California leads the nation with agricultural revenues of over 44 billion dollars annually, and produces nearly half of the fruits, nuts and vegetables grown in the U.S. But modern agriculture relies heavily on fumigants to produce this bounty …
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CONTINUE READINGReforming Groundwater Adjudications: New Pritzker Environmental Policy Brief
A new report discusses groundwater in CA.
The Emmett Center on Climate Change and the Environment has released its latest Pritzker Environmental Law and Policy Brief, “Allocating Under Water: Reforming California’s Groundwater Adjudications.” California leads the nation in groundwater extraction, but it lags behind in updating groundwater-related laws and regulations. As a result, protracted litigation clogs the courts and often fails to protect water …
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CONTINUE READINGBreaking News: Ninth Circuit Upholds California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard
Does California’s life cycle analysis of the carbon intensity of transportation fuel facially discriminates against out-of-state ethanol?
In a sweeping victory for the California Air Resources Board, the Ninth Circuit today issued an opinion in Rocky Mountain Farmers Union v. Corey upholding the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) and reversing a lower court ruling that the LCFS facially discriminated against interstate commerce in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The court also vacated the …
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CONTINUE READINGCEQA Reform 2013: Long-Overdue Changes for Infill and the Environment
It looks like State Senate pro Tem Darrell Steinberg might finally be putting the “E” back in “CEQA,” at least when it comes to how California’s premiere environmental law treats traffic impacts. His bill SB 731 to reform the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), previously discussed by Eric, is taking aim at the law’s perverse …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Poised to Take a Major Step Forward on Energy Storage
Energy storage isn’t called the “Holy Grail” for nothing. Without it, we simply cannot meet our long-term greenhouse gas reduction goals. To decarbonize the energy supply, intermittent renewable energy from the sun and wind must be stored for later dispatch when those resources aren’t available. We’ve covered this subject extensively here and here. Now California …
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