Conservatives Who Support Climate Action
No, not here. The British Tories.
There is continuing conservative support for climate action. Not so much here, of course, but in the UK. The British government is firmly in the grip of the Conservative Party. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is no Donald Trump, but he does have at least a whiff of Trumpiness about him. Like the GOP, the Tories have moved somewhat away from their traditional constituencies to embrace working class voters on an anti-internationalist platform. And yet, the UK remains firmly c...
CONTINUE READINGAfter the Court Rules: Gaming out Responses to a Cutback in EPA Authority
The Supreme Court is almost certain to cut back on EPA’s power to regulate greenhouse gases. What then?
In West Virginia v. EPA, the Supreme Court is reviewing Obama’s Clean Power Plan. The Clean Power Plan (CPP) itself no longer has any practical relevance, but there’s every reason to predict the Court will strike it down anyway. The ruling will also restrict EPA's future options. The big question is what the Biden Administration should do next. That depends on the breadth of the Court’s opinion. The Clean Power Plan was the centerpiece of the Obama Administratio...
CONTINUE READINGGood News from “Down Under”
Australia’s election signals a welcome change in climate policy.
Australia has had a change of government. The Liberal Party — conservative in everything but name — lost control of the federal government to Labor. Australia was recently ranked last out of sixty countries in climate policy.The victorious Labor candidate told his supporters, “Together we can end the climate wars. Together we can take advantage of the opportunity for Australia to be a renewable energy superpower.” The new premier's views sharply contras...
CONTINUE READINGWorld-Changing Opportunity for California
$100 Million for Methane Satellites
Governor Newsom’s May Revise budget proposal includes this item: Methane Satellites—$100 million Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund on a one-time basis to expand the number of satellites launched for methane observations, which would provide weekly measurement of large methane emissions in the state and enhance enforcement capabilities. This data will allow California to identify the source of these emissions, work with programs to hold emitters accountable for violation...
CONTINUE READINGIncome-Targeted Environmental Policies, Episode 2
Affordable housing and the Transit-Oriented Communities program
This is the second post in a short series on income-targeted environmental policies. You can read the first post, introducing the concept of "Area Median Income," here. In this second part of my series on income-targeted environmental programs, I want to talk about affordable housing, and one particular housing program, Transit-Oriented Communities (TOC). TOC has been billed as a double-win: it encourages new housing to be located near public transit—a boon for clim...
CONTINUE READINGMy Kind of Town
Climate change is coming to Chicago and Lake Michigan.
“My kind of town, Chicago is my kind of town.” Or so Frank Sinatra sang. I’m not sure he really felt that way himself, but the song rings a chord with me. I didn’t grow up in Chicago but we visited frequently to see my parents’ families. Chicago is also, as it turns out, ground zero for climate change. The Chicago lakefront has been a site of contestation, development, and preservation since its early days. Climate change is making old solutions obsolete. ...
CONTINUE READINGA “Hunger Catastrophe” in the Making
Understanding the Current Global Food Crisis
The global food system is in crisis for the third time in fifteen years. Food prices are hitting all-time highs, pushing hundreds of millions of people deeper into poverty and food insecurity and threatening political stability in regions around the world. The World Food Programme has called the current situation a “hunger catastrophe,” noting that since 2019, the number of people facing acute food insecurity has more than doubled—from 135 million to 276 mill...
CONTINUE READINGMaking Electric Vehicles More Accessible for Lower-Income Californians
New policy report on solutions to improve equity in EV deployment | Webinar May 24
Join us for a webinar to discuss the report findings and EV equity solutions with state, local, and industry leaders on Tuesday, May 24 at 1pm PT. RSVP here. Today, the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment (CLEE) at Berkeley Law and the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA Law are releasing a new report, Driving Equity, which highlights key policy solutions to ensure that California’s electric vehicle (EV) transition is equitable an...
CONTINUE READINGHow Cohesive Are the Conservative Justices?
Signs of internal tensions within the conservative supermajority could be good news for environmental protection.
Back in the days of the Soviet Union, people known as Kremlinologists used to try to figure out what was going on behind the scenes by seeing who was standing next to whom in official photos. We have a bit more visibility into the Supreme Court, but only a bit. That being said, there are signs that the conservative supermajority has already begun to experience internal tensions. That could be good news for environmental law. The main evidence consists of two recent sp...
CONTINUE READINGSmoke But No Fire
No, the draft Supreme Court abortion decision doesn’t threaten the standing of environmental groups
The implications for environmental law are far from being the most important aspect of the leaked draft of a Supreme Court opinion overruling Roe v. Wade. The aggressiveness of the opinion in the Dobbs case signals a kind of activism that is definitely worrisome in other areas. At the end of last week, however, there was a flap over whether the opinion threatens the standing of environmental organizations. That particular fear is based on a misunderstanding. The m...
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