California
California’s Recall Election Has Serious Climate and Environmental Implications
A new governor wouldn’t disrupt core mandates but could redirect spending and priorities
(Many thanks to my colleagues Ken Alex, Louise Bedsworth, Jordan Diamond, Nell Green Nylen, and Katie Segal for their contributions.) On September 14, California will hold a gubernatorial recall election to decide two questions: 1) whether to remove Governor Gavin Newsom from office; and if a majority of voters choose removal, 2) who will replace …
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CONTINUE READINGTop 10 Biggest Environmental Wins In California’s History
Ranking the victories that saved priceless landscapes and environmental features
California is generally known as an environmental leader, but the state has also faced tremendous environmental degradation and destruction. I chronicled my “top 10” worst environmental decisions in the state’s history last year. But what about the good things state policy makers have done? Here is my list of the most significant environmental wins in …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Recall
Here are the replacement candidates’ views on climate.
With the California recall election coming up a month from now, it’s time to take a look at the candidates. The environment hasn’t been a signature issue for incumbent, Gavin Newsom, but he has strongly supported climate action. Now let’s take a look at who might replace him. It’s hard to know who, out of …
CONTINUE READINGBlue Skies and Wildfire in California
An opinion piece in the NY Times reveals a disconnect between history and what we expect from wildfires and air quality
There’s a lot of news coverage about the wildfires on the West Coast right now, and rightly so. But with that news coverage comes a lot of commentary, some of which might lead us down the wrong policy path. I want to highlight an example from the New York Times opinion page, not because it …
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CONTINUE READINGFull Speed Ahead? Biden Administration Set to Release New CAFE Standards
As E&E News reported today, the Biden administration is expected to announce tomorrow new fuel economy and tailpipe emissions standards for light-duty vehicles model years (MY) 2023 through 2026. The move is long-awaited; one of the Biden administration’s first actions was to direct EPA and NHTSA by executive order to revise the Trump era version …
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CONTINUE READINGProfs. William Boyd and Alex Wang Join Prof. Ted Parson in Emmett Institute Faculty Leadership
Faculty Take on New Roles at Emmett Institute
This month, the Emmett Institute is thrilled to welcome two of our core faculty members, William Boyd and Alex Wang, to new roles at the Institute. Both will serve as faculty co-directors alongside our faculty director Ted Parson. In their new roles, Prof. Wang and Prof. Boyd will help lead the Emmett Institute’s ambitious research, …
CONTINUE READINGSupreme Court Finds California Labor Access Regulation Works Unconstitutional Taking of Private Property
What Are the Implications of the Cedar Point Nursery Decision for Environmental, Natural Resources & Public Health Programs?
In a closely-watched property rights decision, the U.S. Supreme Court today held unconstitutional a longstanding California regulation allowing labor unions intermittent access to agricultural workplaces for labor organizing purposes. Reversing a decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a 6-3 Supreme Court majority ruled that the challenged regulation triggers a per se, compensable government “taking” …
CONTINUE READINGFacing Up to Reality
More frequent heat waves. Droughts. Wildfires. The West is getting a glimpse of its future climate.
The western U.S. is staring climate change in the face. Most of the West is experiencing “severe” or “exceptional” drought. We could be heading into the worst drought period in centuries. Major dam reservoirs are down to record low levels. The region is also in the grips of a record-breaking heatwave. We can expect another …
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CONTINUE READINGSmall Cannabis Growers and Large Red Tape?
A complicated cannabis regulatory system may be squeezing out small cannabis cultivators
In a prior blog post, I discussed how California’s experiment in legalizing cannabis has not been as effective as hoped for in bringing cultivators into the legal regulatory system. Low levels of compliance might be undermining the possibility of improved environmental outcomes – proponents of legalization argued that bringing formerly illegal cannabis cultivation into a …
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CONTINUE READINGDiagnosing Why More Growers Aren’t In California’s Cannabis System
Understanding why more outdoor cultivators aren’t entering into the new legal regulatory system for cannabis is important for reducing the environmental impacts of cannabis cultivation
When California voters legalized cannabis in 2016, a key argument for legalization was that legalization would benefit the environment. If cannabis growers necessarily operated outside the law, then they had little incentive to comply with environmental regulatory standards. Instead, cannabis growers might trespass on private and public lands, cause significant damage to habitat, use illegal …
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