California
Air Quality Watchdog Agrees to Get Tougher on Refineries
There’s a favorable settlement in the case brought by Earthjustice on behalf of EYCEJ with help from UCLA law students.
Last year, the South Coast Air Quality Management District was accused of not properly enforcing a state law that requires petroleum refineries to install air-quality monitoring systems around their perimeter. Essentially, the air quality watchdog exempted smaller refineries from having to follow the rules. Now, the SCAQMD has agreed to reverse course and move to …
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CONTINUE READINGTaming the Dormant Commerce Clause
A new Supreme Court opinion is good news for state climate regulators.
Although the Constitution does not say so directly, the Supreme Court has said there are implied limits on state regulations that interfere with interstate commerce.. This is known as the dormant commerce clause doctrine. State clean energy laws have been bedeviled by challenges based on this doctrine. The Supreme Court has just made it easier …
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CONTINUE READINGSupreme Court Allows Major State, Local Government Climate Change Litigation to Proceed on Merits
Justices Decline to Intervene in Government Lawsuits Seeking Damages from Fossil Fuel Industry
This week the U.S. Supreme Court gave state and local governments a big–if preliminary–legal win against the fossil fuel industry. The justices declined to take up numerous cases in which government entities have sued oil, gas and coal companies, seeking compensation for the climate change-related damage the jurisdictions they claim to have suffered, and which …
CONTINUE READINGTo Manage Water Scarcity, California Needs a Framework for Fair and Effective Water Right Curtailment
by Nell Green Nylen, Dave Owen, Jennifer Harder, Michael Kiparsky, and Michael Hanemann
After three years of drought, a parade of storms brought flooding, landslides, and a massive snowpack to California. With water temporarily so abundant, it is tempting to push planning for water scarcity to the back burner. But California does not have this luxury. The state’s water management challenges during wet and dry times interrelate, and …
CONTINUE READINGBuilding Climate Resilience in California’s Insurance Sector
New report recommends strategies to prepare industry for a changing climate and economy – plus interview with Insurance Commissioner Lara
California’s insurance sector faces significant risks from climate change. These include both the transition risks facing all financial institutions as the global economy shifts toward decarbonization, and the singular combination of physical risks–wildfire, drought, coastal hazards, extreme heat—that threaten California’s communities and businesses. Accurately assessing these risks will be vital to ensuring the long-term viability …
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CONTINUE READINGCan Sunshine Lower Sky-high Gas Prices?
Gov. Newsom and lawmakers think transparency can lower gas prices at the pump. What about transparency for the price of natural gas?
Calls are growing for more transparency in California’s energy markets. Gov. Gavin Newsom just signed his bill shining a light on gas prices at the pump. But when it comes to the recent surge in natural gas prices that jolted electricity and gas bills this winter, the next step is murkier. Regulators at the California …
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CONTINUE READINGInfill Housing & Conservationists Finally Team Up
AB 68 represents long overdue legislation on where California should and shouldn’t grow
So where should the state build more housing, according to AB 68? It defines those places in the following “climate smart” ways: If a housing development is proposed in these areas, the project gets “ministerial” approval (i.e. exempt from environmental review), and a local government cannot limit the development beyond any of the following: There …
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CONTINUE READINGProposed Legislation Would Make Groundwater Adjudications More Fair
Guest Contributors Adrianne Davies, Owen McAleer, and Gabi Rosenfeld explain AB 779, a bill they worked on with State Assemblymember Lori Wilson.
By Adrianne Davies, Owen McAleer, and Gabi Rosenfeld California’s groundwater adjudication process is complex and inaccessible for many water users. As students in UCLA Law’s California Environmental Legislation and Policy Clinic, we partnered with State Assemblymember Lori Wilson’s office to find ways to improve this process. This project resulted in the introduction of AB 779, which will …
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CONTINUE READINGNot Quite a “Windfall Tax”
SBX1-2 passes out of the California Senate… but won’t get Californians their money back.
As Californians endured staggering prices at the gas pump during the summer and fall of 2022—in excess of $2 higher per gallon than the national average—Governor Newsom accused oil companies of “rank price gouging” and vowed to put money back in Californians’ pockets. He announced a special session of the California Legislature to address the …
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CONTINUE READINGA New Battleground in Big Oil’s War on Drilling Setbacks
Big Oil’s referendum on setbacks is the latest in a line of questionable signature-gathering campaigns. Would a new bill reform California’s referendum process?
Earlier this month, my colleague Beth Kent wrote a thorough overview of the referendum seeking to reverse SB 1137, a bill passed by the California Legislature establishing a 3,200-foot setback between new oil and gas wells and sensitive receptors, including homes, schools, and hospitals. That referendum (Ballot Measure 22-0006) will appear on the November 2024 …
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