Culture & Ethics

DC Circuit’s Unanimous Decision to Uphold Greenhouse Gas Rules Across the Board Major Victory for EPA

As Dan just noted, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit — in a unanimous decision — handed the U.S. EPA a sweeping victory in upholding across the board four separate components of the agency’s rules to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.  The opinion can be found here. A little background is in order …

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UCLA and City of Los Angeles Publish First-Ever Detailed Long-Term Climate Forecast for a City’s Neighborhoods

A team led by UCLA researcher Dr. Alex Hall has released a study that projects temperature trends by neighborhood within the Los Angeles region for the mid-21st century.  The report is the most sophisticated regional study of climate trends that has ever been developed, and is based on climate modeling two orders of magnitude higher …

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Emmett Center and NRDC Publish New Report on the Environmental, Energy, and Fiscal Benefits of Smart Roofs

My colleague and co-blogger Cara Horowitz has just published a new report on the potential benefits of adoption of “smart roofs” throughout Southern California.  Looking Up: How Green Roofs and Cool Roofs Can Reduce Energy Use, Address Climate Change, and Protect Water Resources in Southern California, co-authored with UCLA Law alumnus Noah Garrison of NRDC, …

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Is Environmentalism Bad for Fighting Climate Change?

Sure, it sounds like a paradox.  The environmental movement has done a lot of good for the planet and for pollution.  But in the face of the greatest environmental threat of our time, the movement may be fundamentally ill-suited to tackle the climate crisis. For most of its history, environmentalism has essentially been about stopping …

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It’s All Greek to Me

Via E&E News, here’s a leading climate skeptic’s explanation of his qualifications to pass judgment on climate science: While he acknowledged he had no scientific credentials that would allow him to speak with authority on climate science, Monckton said he was uniquely qualified to explain the various logical fallacies that supporters of man-made climate change …

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May 17th Sacramento Lunch on California Infill Policies, Featuring State Sen. pro Tem Darrell Steinberg

For those planning to be in the Sacramento area next Thursday, May 17th, please join us for a lunch event on California’s land use policies, featuring a keynote address by State Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg. Here are the details: The Future of Infill:  How CEQA Reform and the End of Redevelopment Will Affect …

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Los Angeles’ Expo Line: A Cautionary Tale For Building Rail

This weekend, the long awaited Expo Light Rail Line will finally open in Los Angeles, connecting the traffic-choked Westside with the rest of the city’s rail network, more than two decades after the region’s first modern rail line opened.  The relatively short light rail line (8.6 miles, 12 stations) took an absurdly long amount of …

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The World’s Most Interesting Environmental Lawyer

You’ve heard the ads.  But what about the world’s most interesting environmental lawyer? He met his Kyoto commitments — in 2003. His air basin is an extreme ATTAINMENT area. Justice Scalia decides based on his commitee reports. He has standing whenever he wants it. He never defers to the administrative agency. Any others? Stay thirsty, my friends….

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New Summary Report on California’s Law to Streamline Environmental Review of Infill Projects

As this blog has chronicled, California has undertaken some ambitious efforts to streamline environmental review for certain infill projects under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). One of the most recent and potentially far-reaching attempts, SB 226 (Simitian, 2011), creates an in-depth administrative process to define the standards for what constitutes a “good” infill project.  …

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The Public Trust Doctrine Revisited

The U.C. Davis Law Review has just published its annual, symposium issue, this year devoted to the Public Trust Doctrine. Back in 1980, the U.C. Davis Law School sponsored a first-ever conference focusing on the public trust doctrine’s role in modern environmental law.  A year later, the U.C. Davis Law Review published a symposium volume dedicated …

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