California
Ban The Palm?
Streets For All Wants To — But Is it More About Attention Than The Environment?
Nine times out of 10, when you see a graphic about Los Angeles, somewhere in it you will see a palm tree. It’s the iconic image of this city. When Walter O’Malley built Dodger Stadium, he made sure to include towering palm trees at the Stadium. The problem is that that’s mostly a lie. Palm …
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CONTINUE READINGI Skipped NY Climate Week and Read These Books Instead
The Drain is a roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
Climate World descended on New York City this week for the annual mad dash of panel discussions, press briefings, newsmaker interviews, influencer gatherings, and sponsored parties that is NY Climate Week, but I stayed home and read books instead. To be more specific, I went to my local bookstore (Village Well in Culver City!) …
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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 READINGWhither the Governor’s Mansion?
Some big environmental battles are brewing in Sacramento. But where will the next Governor stand?
Those of you who tuned in to the extra-long season finale of my favorite reality TV show, the California State Legislature, on September 1 (a full half-day after session was supposed to end, mind you: Drama!) may have, as I did, audibly gasped at the moment when the Assembly simply declined to vote on a …
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CONTINUE READINGA summary of BACA
An overview of my analyses of Proposition 45
I’ve written a lot on the Cal Chamber sponsored initiative to dramatically change CEQA, BACA, which is Proposition 45 on this year’s ballot. Here are some key takeaways from what I’ve written, as well as links to the relevant blog posts. First, BACA will not just apply to CEQA. It broadly expands vested rights and …
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CONTINUE READINGThe end of endangered species habitat protections in California?
Not quite, but the combination of the Trump Admin and Prop 45 will drastically reduce protections.
California likes to portray itself as an environmental leader, and in many ways it is. But in the context of one of the most important areas of environmental law – protecting endangered species – California is on the verge of eliminating most of its protections for the habitat of endangered species. That is the result …
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CONTINUE READINGA Warning to Local Planners in California
If Proposition 45 is passed, you may get blindsided by projects you cannot stop. You may want to prepare yourself.
A lot of the debates over BACA, the Cal Chamber supported initiative to fundamentally change CEQA (Proposition 45 on the ballot) focus on the initiative’s impacts on CEQA. But from a local government and planning perspective, I would argue that far more important are the sweeping vested rights provisions in the initiative. As I noted …
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CONTINUE READINGTwo Wins from this Legislative Session — Awaiting Newsom
As Gov. Gavin Newsom’s term ends, these two bills present an opportunity to promote ratepayer affordability.
It’s September, and that means another legislative session has come to an end here in California. With it came some welcome news for those of us who have been following California’s efforts to avoid wasteful spending on new natural gas infrastructure. Two important bills, AB 2313 (Berman) and SB 1359 (Stern), both passed the legislature …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia — The Resilient State. Really.
In the midst of a historic heat wave, the state’s power grid has so far passed with flying colors
Remember rolling blackouts in California? At least at this point, they appear to be a thing of the past. Earlier today, I noticed a tweet from Cody Hill, who refers to himself as a “batteries and clean energy infrastructure developer,” pointing to a rather stunning development. Despite a massive heat wave that has put more …
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CONTINUE READINGMore on BACA and data centers
Considering the arguments in a recent op-ed arguing Prop 45 does not cover data centers
A key issue in the debate over the Cal Chamber of Commerce CEQA initiative (BACA, or Proposition 45 on the ballot) is whether it includes data centers as the types of projects that are eligible for the CEQA exemptions and vested rights provisions in the initiative. I’ve written about why they may well fall within …
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