California
Huge Snub for Big Oil at the Supreme Court
Oil companies failed to persuade the justices to shield them from the growing number of state lawsuits seeking damages for the harms caused by climate change.
Big Oil has failed to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to shield it from numerous state climate lawsuits filed across the country seeking damages for the harms caused by climate change — harms like the historic, supercharged urban fires burning in Los Angeles. The justices held a conference on Friday, January 10 to determine whether …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Fires in Los Angeles
Wildfire policy and the tragic fires in Southern California?
National attention is (rightly) focused on the terrible fire situation in Los Angeles. At the moment, the top priority is supporting first responders who are trying to control the fires, prevent more damage, and help the people who have lost homes and loved ones. There is (of course) a bunch of chatter on social media …
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CONTINUE READINGLA Fires and the Climate Connection
New UCLA research connects the dots between the climate crisis and the supercharged LA wildfires. “Hydroclimate whiplash” means worse floods, droughts, and fires.
Like millions of Angelenos, I’ve been staying indoors and off the roads, glued to the Watch Duty app, radio, and TV coverage as LA is engulfed by these historic fires. The last 48 hours of coverage has focused, understandably, on the firefight and immediate devastation. Now, it’s time to start hearing about the climate connection, …
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CONTINUE READINGA Crisis in Climate Communications
Deadly windstorms, wildfires, and hurricanes constitute something more horrific than just “climate change.”
What’s best for communicating urgency: phrases like “global warming” and “climate change” or “climate crisis” and “climate emergency”? What do audiences take away from these semantic choices? Does it matter what words we use? What about when the entire nation is watching a series of wildfires engulf Los Angeles, fueled by unusually dry vegetation during …
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CONTINUE READINGGood & Bad Environmental News From the U.S. Supreme Court
Escalating Legal Attacks on California’s Longstanding Clean Air Act “Waiver” Authority
This past week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued important orders in two closely-related environmental cases previously decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Last Friday the justices granted review in Diamond Alternative Energy v. Environmental Protection Agency, agreeing to decide whether fossil fuel manufacturers have legal standing to challenge an …
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CONTINUE READINGOur Mission: Keeping Hope Alive
If you read Legal Planet, you know the work of the environmental law centers at Berkeley and UCLA is critical. Now is the time to support it.
The Trump Administration is planning a tsunami of anti-environmental actions.. States like California will be the best hope for making progress in the next four years. Keeping the torch burning — helping California succeed — will be challenging. So will fending off hostile actions from Washington. Our centers at Berkeley and UCLA are at the heart of this work.
CONTINUE READINGEPA Grants California’s Waivers for Clean Cars and Clean Trucks
By finally granting the Advanced Clean Car II waiver, the agency just undercut Trump’s planned attack on electric vehicles.
EPA just made the incoming Trump Administration’s efforts to stop the move toward clean, zero emission vehicles a whole lot tougher. And ironically, the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial decision overturning deference to agency actions, Loper Bright v Raimondo, may help California in any litigation over the legitimacy of the waiver request. EPA finally granted California …
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CONTINUE READINGHow to Make Climate as Compelling as Egg Prices
While politicians are right to focus on cost of living, it’s dangerously wrong to assume voters rejected climate policies in the 2024 election.
How do we make the climate crisis as compelling to voters as the price of eggs? That’s a question—an existential question—I’ve been asking myself for weeks now. My UCLA Emmett Institute colleagues and I have some ideas that I’ll be sharing over the next weeks and months. We’re hardly alone: Two months after a disheartening …
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CONTINUE READINGA Framework for Equity and Local Leadership in the EV Transition
New tools to help local governments plan for equitable and effective investments
Eliminating fossil fuel-powered vehicles from the road is necessary to fight climate change and save thousands of lives at risk due to poor air quality. As governments and the auto industry advance the switch to electric vehicles, this rapid technology transition may disrupt traditional mobility patterns–and, without equitable planning and policy, it has the potential …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Can Protect Climate Policies—and Pocketbooks
Lawmakers can use climate policies to alleviate some cost burdens. They should also resist the narrative that climate progress is driving affordability concerns.
Affordability is the name of the game at the California Legislature this session, with leaders in both the Assembly and the Senate talking explicitly about cost of living. But legislators’ focus on bringing costs down for average Californians doesn’t need to come at the expense of forward-thinking climate policy. Here are a few things legislators …
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