Region: California
AB 32 and post-2020 climate goals
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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CONTINUE READINGImproving 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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CONTINUE READINGClean 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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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia 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 …
CONTINUE READINGRenowned 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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CONTINUE READINGSolar 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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CONTINUE READINGZero 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 …
CONTINUE READINGExpanding 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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CONTINUE READINGAmerica’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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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia 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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