California
What Does a Trump Presidency Portend for California’s Environmental Policies?
Constitutional Issues Loom Large in Future, Likely Federal-California Legal Confrontations
Sensing political storm clouds ahead, California Governor Jerry Brown yesterday issued a statement on the presidential election results that concludes: “We will protect the precious rights of our people and continue to confront the existential threat of our time–devastating climate change.” Several of my Legal Planet colleagues have recently posted thoughtful commentary on what Donald Trump’s …
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CONTINUE READINGCould A Trump Presidency Actually Slow Climate Change?
A Trump-induced recession could temporarily slow global emissions
This might sound crazy, but Donald Trump’s presidency could actually have a temporarily positive impact on climate change. How? Nothing reduces emissions like a recession, and according to economists, Trump’s stated policies are likely to cause one. Specifically, if Trump follows through on his promise to start a trade war with countries like China, he …
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CONTINUE READINGAnother Job For California: Energy & Climate Research
If Trump guts research funding, California should step into the breach.
During the campaign, Trump said he would save $100 billion by cutting climate programs. His campaign staff referred as support to a report, which said that 75% of the funding was energy related and included “about 68 percent for energy technology, 23 percent for science, 8 percent for international assistance and 1 percent for adaptation …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia’s Big Land Use And Transportation Initiatives To Watch Today
Measures in both San Francisco and Los Angeles could have a big impact on the future of the state
Yes, there’s a lot happening today in the national election. Lost in the shuffle though are three big initiatives before some California voters that could have a big impact on the state’s transit and development future. Measure RR to restore BART: this is an unusual transit measure because it’s one of the first I’ve seen …
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CONTINUE READINGTahoe Regional Planning Agency Wins Big in Ninth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals Rejects Challenge to TRPA’s Regional Plan
This week the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) won a major legal victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. A unanimous three-judge panel of that court rejected environmentalists’ challenge to TRPA’s adopted Regional Plan for the Lake Tahoe Basin in Sierra Club v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. The Ninth Circuit decision effectively …
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CONTINUE READINGUC Berkeley & UCLA Law Launch New Climate Policy Website
Register for a webinar on the new site’s features on Wednesday at 2pm, with a keynote by Mary Nichols
To meet the challenge of climate change, California and other governments will need to adopt a suite of policies affecting multiple sectors. Reducing economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions will take reforms in energy, land use, transportation, and agriculture, to name just a few. Since 2009, UC Berkeley and UCLA Schools of Law, with the generous support …
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CONTINUE READINGMy Environmental Law Wish List For A California Legislative Super-Majority
Tuesday could give Democrats enough seats to make a major impact on environmental policies
The presidential election next week is making most of the news these days, but while the rest of the country flirts with electing Donald Trump as the next president, California is going its own progressive way. The Republican Party has been all but completely marginalized in this state, for a variety of demographic reasons and …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Steadily-Dying Sierra Nevadas
Drought, Bark Beetle Infestation, Climate Change Imperil Sierra Pine Forests
Like over 600 other environmental lawyers, professors, law students and regulators, I attended the 25th annual Environmental Law Conference at Yosemite last weekend. As always, the Conference–sponsored by the California State Bar’s Environmental Law Section–was a big success, filled with inspirational speakers and thought-provoking panels. But the major topic of conversation–during the Conference proceedings, in …
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CONTINUE READINGWhat’s The Future Of California’s High Speed Rail System?
Join My KALW Radio Conversation Tonight With Authority Chair Dan Richard At 7pm
California’s high speed rail system has been moving at a low speed since voters approved a bond issue to launch it in 2008. That ballot measure authorized a bullet train from San Francisco to Los Angeles and eventually Anaheim, at speeds of 220 miles per hour and stops in Central Valley cities like Fresno and …
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CONTINUE READINGOf Initiative Wars, Plastic Bags and Poison Pills
Deciphering California’s (Intentionally) Confusing Plastic Bag Propositions
California’s longstanding efforts to eliminate single-use plastic bags from the marketplace and the environment have finally reached California voters. The November 8th general election ballot contains a breathtaking 17 separate propositions–16 proposed initiative measures and one referendum measure. Propositions 65 and 67 both deal with the same subject–a proposed ban on single-use plastic bags. Those dueling measures …
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