California
Should we allow electric bikes on hiking paths?
Pending state legislation would allow just that
Bicycling is great for the environment and your health. But it also can be a lot of work, especially when you have to go up a steep hill. That’s where electric bikes can be handy – and thanks to lighter motors and other innovations, they have really taken off. They’re particularly useful when you are …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia’s Effort To Set 2030 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Fails
What are the implications for ongoing climate efforts?
In another, even bigger setback for the environmental community in California, SB 32 (Pavley), the bill to set greenhouse gas targets for 2030 and 2050, was pulled yesterday and will be tried again next year. The winners are the oil companies, who face tough regulations and competition from California’s climate efforts. The failure is a …
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CONTINUE READING“Big Oil” Defeats California’s Petroleum Reduction Legislation, But It May Not Matter
Western States Petroleum Association will likely face tough regulations and market conditions anyway
It was a rare defeat yesterday in the legislature for California’s environmental community. After major victories in 2006 with AB 32 (to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020), in 2008 with SB 375 (to reform transportation and land use planning), and in 2010 with a voter rejection of the oil industry’s attempt …
CONTINUE READINGRegistration Opens for 2015 Yosemite Conference–The Nation’s Top Environmental Law Event
This Year’s Yosemite Conference Promises to Continue a Tradition of Excellence
Registration is now open for the 2015 edition of the State Bar of California’s Environmental Law Conference at Yosemite. That conference, held each fall, is unquestionably the premier environmental law-related event in California. I would go so far as to argue that it’s actually the top such program in the entire United States. The Yosemite Conference …
CONTINUE READINGCA Supreme Court Rejects California State University’s CEQA Dodge–Again
Justices Hold CSU Can’t Pass the Buck re: Environmental Mitigation Measures Tied to Campus Expansion
In an important decision issued last week, the California Supreme Court forcefully rejected the California State University’s efforts to avoid paying for mitigation measures needed to offset the adverse environmental impacts associated with CSU’s ambitious expansion plans. That’s welcome if predictable news from a court that has in recent years been protective of the state’s bedrock …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Governor Jerry Brown: Environmental Saint or Sinner?
Brown’s National & International Environmental Reputation Disputed by Some California Environmentalists
California Governor Jerry Brown has had a most eventful 2015, especially when it comes to environmental policy. He started the year fresh from an overwhelming election victory last November, earning him an unprecedented fourth term as California’s chief executive. Brown began 2015 by declaring a state drought emergency and becoming California’s “educator-in-chief,” repeatedly warning state …
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CONTINUE READINGTragedy of the Commons–California Drought-Style
State Farmers Planting New Almond Orchards Despite Critical Water Shortages
Traveling through California’s drought-striken San Joaquin Valley repeatedly over the past year, I’ve been surprised and disheartened to see that Valley farmers continue to convert their agricultural fields to newly-planted almond orchards. (My anecdotal observations have been confirmed by various recent press accounts.) This development is a striking, current example of Garrett Hardin’s Tragedy of …
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CONTINUE READINGSacramento Judge Halts California Regulator’s Efforts to Impose Water Cutbacks
Court Rules Water Board’s Administrative Process Violates Water Users’ Due Process Rights
A Sacramento judge has thrown a wrench into the California State Water Resources Control Board’s efforts to impose water cutbacks on several of the state’s senior water rights holders. In a July 10th order, Superior Court Judge Shelleyanne Chang ruled that the Water Board’s administrative process, designed to implement drought-based water reductions, violates the due …
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CONTINUE READINGClem Shute to be honored by California bar
Boalt alum will follow Joe Sax as second recipient of environmental law lifetime achievement award
This just in, courtesy of Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger — Clem Shute (Boalt ’64) will be honored this fall with the second Award for Lifetime Contribution to the Field of Environmental Law. (The first Award, of course, went to the late Joe Sax.) Clem richly deserves this prestigious award. He has been a major player …
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CONTINUE READINGA Water Rights Database For California’s Future
A proposal to modernize information for management of water resources
In April, a group of us (Richard Roos-Collins, Michael Kiparsky, Nell Green Nylen, Michael Hanemann, and Holly Doremus) wrote a document arguing for the need to develop a more complete and functional source of legal information on California’s water rights. Since then, this proposal has been circulated widely among the California water community. In the spirit of …
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