Region: California

AB 32 and post-2020 climate goals

Big Sur California Untitled

What does California’s Global Warming Solutions Act say about emissions after 2020?

I have heard some references, recently, to AB 32 “expiring” in 2020.  It’s easy to understand where this idea comes from: California’s premiere climate change law was passed in 2006 and sets a goal for the state to return to 1990 levels of greenhouse gas emissions by a deadline of 2020.  Moreover, one of the …

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Improving Transportation Spending In California

Joint UCLA / UC Berkeley Law Report Released Today

California spends approximately $28 billion on transportation infrastructure each year.  But are we spending that money as cost-effectively as possible?  And given the major impact that transportation investments have on our land use patterns and the amount of driving we need to do, are we spending this money in ways that align with California’s environmental …

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Clean Energy Data Legislative Briefing In Sacramento

Lunch event will be held on Tuesday, February 24th

UC Berkeley and UCLA Schools of Law will be hosting a free legislative lunch briefing next Tuesday on expanding access in California to clean energy data, the subject of the Knowledge is Power report that the law schools released last month.  The energy data could include improved customer access to long-term usage patterns, utility statistics …

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California Supreme Court to Decide Whether the Mining Law Preempts State Ban on Suction Dredge Mining

Court’s Decision May Affect State’s Ability to Regulate Activities on Federal Lands

The California Supreme Court recently accepted a case that may make it more difficult for the state to protect the environment from the damaging impacts of mining. At issue is the state’s ban on suction-dredge mining in streambeds. Californians engaged in suction-dredge mining have vigorously fought against the state’s ban, and a panel of the …

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Renowned Scholar Jim Salzman to Join UCLA Law, UCSB Bren School Faculties

I am thrilled to share the news that  Jim Salzman is moving west to join the faculties of the Bren School at UC Santa Barbara and  UCLA School of Law.  Jim is  currently the Samuel Mordecai Professor at Duke Law School and Nicholas Institute Professor at Duke’s School of the Environment  but is moving  this summer to become …

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Solar Tariff Wars Heat Up

States that have helped boost rooftop solar installations through so-called net metering policies are beginning to scale back their subsidies under pressure from utilities.   As ClimateWire reported today (here’s the link but it’s behind a paid subscription wall), Hawaii’s largest utility has just proposed rolling back the state’s net metering policy, joining Arizona, California, …

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Zero Trash

Using the Clean Water Act to Control Marine Debris in California

This post is cross-posted on EcoPerspectives, the environmental law and policy blog of the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law. Let’s talk trash. Human-generated stuff that ends up in the ocean, termed “marine debris” or “marine trash,” presents a critical ocean and coastal management challenge. Trash can be found on coastlines and in seawater worldwide, from …

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Expanding Access To Energy Information To Boost The Clean Technology Sector

Joint UC Berkeley / UCLA Law Report Released Today

California is poised for a major energy transformation in the coming decades, with Governor Brown pledging to put the state on a path to 50% renewables and 50% less petroleum usage by 2030. Achieving this transformation will require a robust and thriving clean technology sector, including renewable energy and energy storage developers, energy efficiency contractors, …

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America’s Future on the California Supreme Court

I’m not sure that anyone has pointed this out before: as of last week, when Justices Mariano-Florentino Cuellar and Leondra R. Krueger were sworn, the California Supreme Court does not have a single white male. I believe that that is the first time in US history where that has happened on a high court in …

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California Finally Breaks Ground On High Speed Rail Today

Six years and many lawsuits and political compromises after voters approved it

It’s been over six years since California voters approved a bond measure to fund a two-hour-and-forty-minute Los Angeles to San Francisco high speed rail system. Today groundbreaking finally takes place in Fresno. In the intervening six years, lawsuits and political compromises have delayed the system and likely made the timetables promised to voters impossible to …

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