climate change litigation
News Flash: 10th Cir. Rebukes Government Over Coal Leases
Today’s important ruling on standing, public lands, and climate change
In an important ruling this morning, the Tenth Circuit rejected the government’s assertion that it could ignore carbon emissions tied to renewing coal leases. In WildEarth Guardians v. BLM, the court also rejected the mining company’s attack on the standing of environmental groups to raise this claim.The mines in question are in the Powder River …
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CONTINUE READINGThe ostrich administration
Ostriches actually don’t hide their heads in the sand, but the Trump administration sure wants to
It’s a myth (of course) that ostriches hide their heads in the sand when they’re afraid. Hiding one’s head is about the worst possible way to react to danger: it won’t make a threat go away, but it will make it awfully difficult to respond effectively. Ostriches are not that stupid. (They apparently do sometimes …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Standing with a Twist
Rather than prove they will be specifically harmed by increased carbon emissions, plaintiffs can use other kinds of harm as a basis for climate standing.
Plaintiffs got a Christmas present from the D.C. Circuit in the form of a pathway to prove standing in climate change cases. The Supreme Court has considered two cases dealing with standing to sue based on injuries caused by climate change. The Court found standing in one case 5-4 and split 4-4 in the second …
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CONTINUE READINGTrolling for Anti-Environmental Plaintiffs
A reader sent me a an email from the Coalition of Energy Users trying to find plaintiffs for a challenge to AB 32 implementation. CEU claims to be a grassroots group that does not have a deep-pocket funding source, and that may be true. On the other hand, its interests are so precisely aligned with …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Last Standing Article You’ll Ever Have to Read
Using the Supreme Court’s ruling on public nuisance law and climate change as an example, the essay argues that standing doctrine has become so incoherent and manipulable that it has lost any real function.
CONTINUE READINGThe Clean Air Act and Greenhouse Gases: Full Employment Act for Lawyers
For several years now, large law firms have sought work related to climate change, though prior to President Obama’s election the work was relatively thin. Sure there were challenges to California’s legislation to regulate greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from cars; defenses to claims under the National Environmental Policy Act and California Environmental Quality Act; and …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Environment and the California AG Race
My original plan was to do four posts, each covering a major party candidate for Governor or Senator. But the California Attorney General race is also significant in environmental terms. Under Jerry Brown and his predecessor Bill Lockyer, the AG has been a major player on environmental issues — in particular, providing national leadership on …
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CONTINUE READINGTracking U.S. Climate Change Litigation
The most famous case about climate change is Massachusetts v. EPA, which led to a key decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. But there have been dozens of other lawsuits, and more are coming all the time. Fortunately, there’s a handy on-line resource for tracking all these cases. It’s worth taking a look at.
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