Air Quality
Windows of Opportunity Open in the States
The most exciting new prospects for environmental progress are far outside the Beltway
The new Congress will be a significant thorn in the President’s side. But Trump’s veto power will severely limit its ability to enact policies of its own. It is in the state governments where exciting opportunities exist for major policy changes. The political configuration and policy potential varies state by state. The opportunity is biggest in states where Democrats won trifectas: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota and Nevada, with Arizona expected to join the list. The last time this happened in Minnesota, the state’s clean energy policies took major steps forward.
CONTINUE READINGWhy the Midterms Matter for Energy & Environment
Trump could still pursue his fossil fuel dominance agenda – but not as easily.
Trump still can take many administrative actions regardless of who controls Congress. But the election still matters for the future of the U.S. energy system and the planet. A President who has the support of a united Congress can do a lot more than a President who must contend with serious congressional opposition. Here’s why it matters.
CONTINUE READINGOur Powerful ‘Eye in the Sky’ Just Multiplied
The Drain is a roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
Next month, scientists and diplomats from all over the world will arrive in Antalya, Türkiye for the UN climate conference known as COP31. The host country wants to make global progress on reducing planet-warming methane from landfills, which could be a big deal. So, UCLA’s STOP Methane used satellite data to create a Top …
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CONTINUE READINGGorsuch is (Partly) Right
Justice Gorsuch is wrong about the cure, but delegation has gotten out of hand.
Justice Gorsuch has made it a personal crusade to revive the nondelegation doctrine, in part because of concerns about the rising tide of presidential power. The nondelegation doctrine tries to limit the ability of Congress to delegate authority to the executive branch. That’s an unworkable solution, but Gorsuch is right that Congress has put far too much trust in the good faith and sound judgment of the President and his subordinates. That’s especially true of national security and emergency powers.
CONTINUE READINGSome (Very) Modest Progress on EV Charging Policy
Three new bills address challenges, but bigger opportunities await
Last week, Governor Newsom signed a batch of legislation intended to promote installation of electric vehicle (EV) chargers around the state. California is home to over 200,000 publicly accessible EV chargers, which is both an outstanding infrastructure achievement and a far cry from the million chargers that the California Energy Commission estimates we will need …
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CONTINUE READING“National Security” is Becoming a Punch Line
Whenever he wants to roll back environmental protections, Trump cooks up a new national security justification.
A recent NY Times article recounts how often President Trump has invoked national security. It earnestly dissects his latest and most absurd claim: that the Arc deTrump he wanted to build will be filled with snipers, ammunition, and drones. It turns out that the snipers would be in an excellent position to shoot out the crosses in Arlington National Cemetery but not to protect anything of strategic importance. The environment has been one of Trump’s most fertile grounds for pretextual national security claims.
CONTINUE READINGThe Rise and Fall of an Energy Emergency
Frantic federal efforts to keep uneconomical coal plants from closing met their doom in a new court decision.
According to the Department of Energy, decrepit coal-fired power plants had to be kept open to avoid “unacceptable reliability risks within five years” unless something changed. You could be forgiven for thinking that calling this hypothetical situation an emergency was something of a stretch. The legality of the orders reached the D.C. Circuit in a Michigan case involving a coal plant that seemingly everyone except Trump wanted to close. The court found no basis for the order. The opinion avoids directly calling out the government’s abuse of power. Instead, it keeps focused on basic issues of statutory interpretation. The statute clearly didn’t give DOE anything like the authority to take over the power system that it was claiming.
CONTINUE READINGThe Logical Next Step After Renaming Lake Ontario
How does the “National Oceanic and Manospheric Agency” sound?
Trump: The air resource is a tremendous asset to the United States and part of our Nation’s heritage The air has long been an integral asset to American exploration, settlement, commerce, and defense. American men pioneered air travel, starting with the Wright Brothers. Moreover, we have exploited the air’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide more than any other nation on earth. Under my Administration, the Secretary of Defense has taken steps to ensure the world’s highest testosterone levels for our great Air Force. I claim the manosphere for America.
CONTINUE READINGWildfire and Air Quality Law
Reforming how the Clean Air Act handles smoke from wildfires
This blog post was co-authored with Dave Owen, at UC Law SF. The draft article this blog post series is based is here. This is the fourth in a series of blog posts on our proposal to reform wildfire law in the United States. The first post is here. The second post is here. The …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Challenges of Wildfire
Why wildfire management is so difficult to reform
This blog post was co-authored with Dave Owen, at UC Law SF. The draft article this blog post series is based is here. This is the second in a series of blog posts on our proposal to reform wildfire law in the United States. The first post is here. Why is fire such a hard …
Continue reading “The Challenges of Wildfire”
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