Climate Change

Calif court tentatively rules AB 32 implementation unlawful

A California superior court has issued a proposed decision, not yet final, holding that ARB failed to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in its adoption of the Scoping Plan that is guiding its implementation of AB 32, California’s landmark climate change law.  The ruling proposes to set aside ARB’s CEQA documentation and to …

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California Environmental Blueprint: Environmental monitoring & modeling

This post is the second in our ongoing series on our Environmental Blueprint for California. In our Blueprint, we recommended that Governor Brown establish an independent, statewide agency or council devoted to compilation, modeling, prediction and presentation of environmental quality data. I want to elaborate on what this agency might look like and why we believe …

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The State of the Union Address: Good on Energy, MIA on Climate

President Obama’s State of the Union address had good news for research universities and for renewable energy: We’ll invest in biomedical research, information technology, and especially clean energy technology – an investment that will strengthen our security, protect our planet, and create countless new jobs for our people. Already, we are seeing the promise of …

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There’s No Such Thing as Global Warming, Nope, None at All

From the NY Times blog today: New figures issued on Thursday in Britain show that 2010 was the second-warmest year in the historical record. That comes on the heels of reports last week from two American agencies that 2010 was tied for the warmest year in the record books. All three sets of numbers come …

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Los Angeles and Renewable Energy

Much to the surprise of many observers, including me, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (the country’s largest municipally-owned utility) has met its 2010 goal of providing 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources.  I’ve written previously about the implementation problems LADWP and other utilities are likely to face in cutting greenhouse …

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Changing the Climate in the Bay State

Massachusetts has adopted an ambitious goal of reducing GHG levels 20% below the 1990 level by 2020.  According the NY Times, the program involves a mix of tools: Importing more hydropower from Quebec. Reducing vehicle miles driven through insurance incentives. Encouraging owners of old oil furnaces to replace them with more efficient systems. Using the …

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More Garbage Conservative Constitutional Theory

James Joyner is one of the few conservatives who actually try to come up with intellectually coherent policy positions, and he often does.  So maybe we should give him a pass when he blows it. But wow, is this one a doozy.  The EPA has decided to begin to issue greenhouse gas regulations, as it …

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Obama, the GOP, and the Environment

The NY Times has a Christmas Day editorial about the need for the President to take a strong stance in defense of EPA: Republicans in the next Congress are obviously set on limiting the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate a wide range of air pollutants — even if it …

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State Dep’t: Legally binding emissions limits not happening “anytime soon”

I wasn’t on the beach in Cancun at the latest international climate summit, but like lots of folks I followed its (pseudo) progress.  It wrapped up on Saturday with a package of incremental agreements on important issues (LA Times has a good analysis here), but once again without getting far on the 10,000 gigaton question: Will …

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Google Earth Engine and Forest Offsets in California Cap-and-Trade

Last week, Google Labs released Google Earth Engine, an online platform for viewing and analyzing satellite imagery and data.  The platform’s strengths are ease of use for viewing images, collaboration tools, and use of Google’s computing infrastructure to analyze the satellite data.  Google intends to use the platform to, among other things, help developing countries …

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