Climate Change
Does Keystone Matter?
A recent analysis suggests that the pipeline could result in production of a billion extra barrels between now and 2030.
Many people who have studied the issue tell me that the Keystone XL issue is mostly symbolic, because the Alberta oil sands are going to be used one way or another. But I’m having some second thoughts because of arguments made (here) by Berkeley economist Max Aufhammer. He’s a pretty hard-headed analyst, not given to …
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CONTINUE READINGEmmett Center To Become Emmett Institute, Dan and Rae Emmett Provide Generous New Support
We are very pleased to announce that UCLA’s Emmett Center on Climate Change and the Environment has now become the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment as a result of a generous new gift from Dan and Rae Emmett and a reorganization and consolidation of UCLA Law’s environmental resources. The Emmetts today announced …
CONTINUE READINGA New Low for Fictional News Network
Guess which cable news network misleads on climate?
Well, what a shock: To gauge how accurately [cable news] networks inform their audiences about climate change, the Union of Concerned Scientists analyzed the networks’ climate science coverage in 2013 and found that each network treated climate science very differently. Fox News was the least accurate; 72 percent of its 2013 climate science-related segments contained …
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CONTINUE READINGAs Oil by Rail Gains Momentum, Is California On Track to Protect Human Health and the Environment?
A closer look at the data and key legal issues
California will soon see a surge in the number of trains carrying crude oil into the state, as oil production in North Dakota’s Bakken region and Canada continues to increase, sending more crude to California refineries. Last week, the California Senate Environmental Quality Committee and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on the safety of …
CONTINUE READINGReduced VMT from Millennials: Good News From an Unlikely Source
Younger people are driving less, even controlling for the flat economy
Last week I reported on the Caltrans survey findings showing that Californians seem to be driving less. Too good to be true? Perhaps. My always-pessimistic colleague Brian Taylor suspects that this is more about the Great Recession than about real changes in driving habits. Brian and his colleagues at the University of California Transportation Center recently …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia’s Path to 2050
Recent research shows that California can meet its 2050 climate goals at an affordable cost.
Could California make deep cuts in carbon by 2050 (80% below 1990 levels)? Are the economics feasible? Those are important questions for California, but they also have a lot to say about what’s feasible for the U.S. and other developing countries as a whole. Last December, UC Davis hosted a forum on the models that …
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CONTINUE READINGTwo good recent articles on environmental law
Regulating diffuse harms is a key future challenge for environmental law
JOTWELL is a blog dedicated to highlighting some of the best, recent legal scholarship. I recently posted a review there of two excellent recent articles in environmental law — I think they’re both terrific because they both highlight what I think will be an increasingly important issue in the future of environmental law: How we …
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CONTINUE READINGUpcoming Climate Practitioners’ Workshop at UCLA
Explore recent legal developments in Federal and California greenhouse gas regulation for CLE credit
Why not earn your continuing legal education (CLE) credits while learning about recent developments in climate change law? Next Friday, March 14, 2014, the Emmett Center on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA School of Law is co-hosting an all-day practitioners’ workshop that will explore cutting-edge developments in greenhouse gas regulation. “Navigating Climate Regulation on Dual …
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CONTINUE READINGGeorge Will and Conservative Climate Denial
The three types of conservatism all tend to reject climate science, but for different reasons.
A couple of weeks ago, George Will told the Fox News audience that humans have nothing to do with climate change — it’s just natural fluctuations. Will himself has changed his brand of conservatism in the past few years, as the New Republic has noted. At this point, he has sampled two of the three …
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CONTINUE READINGUtility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA: Another Take on the SCOTUS Oral Argument
Decision favoring EPA seems likely
The venerable pastime of U.S. Supreme Court-watching always involves divergent opinions that, as Rick Frank noted, all should be taken with a grain (or even a pound) of salt. The outcome of Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA is decidedly uncertain, but I left the oral argument yesterday more optimistic than my Legal Planet colleague. …
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