Natural Resources Defense Council

CEQA and Local Land Use Regulations: Shakedown Street

Local Government Discretion Has Powerful Political Support

Eric’s post the other day about CEQA and local land use regulation states an important and often-overlooked truth: environmental review can only hold up a project if it is discretionary. If local land use regulations state clearly what a developer can and cannot do, then no amount of environmental review could change a decision, and …

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Guest Blogger Miriam Seifter: The Environmental Dimension of American Trucking

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard argument in American Trucking Associations, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles, a case addressing the preemptive scope of the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAAA).  Over at Scotusblog, I’ve discussed the two relatively technical questions presented in the case.  The first asks whether two provisions in the Port of …

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Should Environmentalists Oppose Susan Rice for Secretary of State?

My RBC colleague James Wimberley thinks so — and not because of the fake, nothingburger scandal over Benghazi that the Right has cooked up.  Instead, James’ argument centers on climate change. As we all know, NRDC’s OnEarth broke the story a couple of weeks ago that Rice and her husband hold fairly massive investments in fossil fuels in …

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Whatever Happened to Environmental Politics?

Mayor Bloomberg’s endorsement of President Obama on climate-change grounds is depressing because it is so surprising.  It tells us something quite bleak that 1) someone had to make clear the relevance of climate to Hurricane Sandy; and 2) someone doing so came as a shock to people.  Indeed, through the campaign, climate has been essentially …

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Emmett Center and NRDC Publish New Report on the Environmental, Energy, and Fiscal Benefits of Smart Roofs

My colleague and co-blogger Cara Horowitz has just published a new report on the potential benefits of adoption of “smart roofs” throughout Southern California.  Looking Up: How Green Roofs and Cool Roofs Can Reduce Energy Use, Address Climate Change, and Protect Water Resources in Southern California, co-authored with UCLA Law alumnus Noah Garrison of NRDC, …

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No Free Lunch In The Desert

A tough, heartbreaking story from the Los Angeles Times about the painful choices environmentalists are faced with in combatting climate change.  The issue is BrightSource Energy’s Ivanpah solar power project, a massive, 6-square-mile city of 173,500 mirrors that will scar much of California’s desert beyond recognition.  This was a hard compromise, reports Julie Cart, as “the …

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