Disasters
Willful Ignorance as Government Policy
The Trump Administration is systematically shutting down sources of vital information.
There is a deep anti-intellectualism embedded in MAGA. As RFK Jr. advises people, why pay attention to scientists when you can just “do the research” in the far corners of the internet?
There’s also the fear that data and research may not fit its political agenda. For instance, better information about extreme weather could support more robust programs to deal with those threats rather than supporting massive budget cuts. More robust government programs aren’t part of the MAGA agenda. Even worse, information about extreme weather would also shed light on climate change, a taboo subject.
Governor Narcissist
Gavin Newsom’s snub of LA Mayor Karen Bass demonstrates that he cares about only one thing: himself.
Buried deep within Evan’s morose but accurate roundup at The Drain lurked this item, which tells you pretty much everything you need to know about California Governor Gavin Newsom. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is in Sacramento lobbying legislators for relief money in the wake of January’s devastating wildfires. She probably won’t get close to …
Continue reading “Governor Narcissist”
CONTINUE READINGMAGA vs NOAA, Executive Orders, and Growing IRA Support
The Drain is a new weekly roundup of climate and environmental news from Legal Planet.
Trump wants to “Make Weather a Mystery Again.” The news that started leaking last Friday is that the Trump administration wants to break up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and essentially end NOAA’s climate work by abolishing its primary research office and forcing the agency to instead help boost U.S. fossil fuel production, according …
Continue reading “MAGA vs NOAA, Executive Orders, and Growing IRA Support”
CONTINUE READINGWildfire Liability in California: A Primer
California has a unique approach to lawsuits against utilities for causing fires.
Like other states, California allows wildfire lawsuits against utilities based on negligence. When a plaintiff can prove that the utility was negligent – in other words, failed to exercise reasonable care – plaintiffs can recover for environmental damage, reforestation costs, and loss of profits. But California also allows recovery even when a utility did nothing wrong, under a theory called inverse condemnation. The PG&E bankruptcy made it clear that no-fault utility liability could threaten the financial health of the power system. The legislature created a new fund to deal with the problem.
CONTINUE READINGTwo Cheers for Tariffs
Stupid climate mitigation is better than none.
So Donald Trump has imposed massive tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and then paused them, and then imposed them again, and then paused them — as always, he is the master of political coitus interruptus. But Canada has not backed off and is maintaining its current retaliatory tariffs: Trump has already promised more and is …
Continue reading “Two Cheers for Tariffs”
CONTINUE READINGA Disinformation Deluge on California Policies
Trump and House Republicans are trying to ‘flood the zone’ when it comes to wrongly blaming California environmental regulations for the LA fires.
Trump’s longtime strategy of ‘flooding the zone” — aka overwhelming opponents with a flurry of announcements and superficial initiatives — took a literal turn last week, when his administration ordered the release of a significant amount of water from two dams in the Central Valley to try to score political points. As the New York …
Continue reading “A Disinformation Deluge on California Policies”
CONTINUE READINGSaving Disaster Law From the Imperial Presidency
Trump’s efforts to deconstruct disaster relief have serious legal flaws
In recent days, Trump has said that he won’t provide relief for the LA fires unless California changes its voting laws and its water regulations. And he also suggested that he’d like to abolish FEMA entirely. The first of those proposals seems clearly unconstitutional. The second one is both a terrible idea and beyond his legal authority.
CONTINUE READINGDid California Policies Make the LA Fires Worse?
California’s environmental and climate regulations did not make the climate-fueled Palisades and Eaton fires more destructive or harder to fight. Here’s why.
We know climate change is partly to blame. Are California’s environmental policies regarding land and water management also to blame for the supercharged firestorm that has ravaged Los Angeles? It’s not just conspiracy theories on social media or misguided news stories; that’s the position of some congressional Republicans and President-elect Trump, who hold power over future …
Continue reading “Did California Policies Make the LA Fires Worse?”
CONTINUE READINGHuge Snub for Big Oil at the Supreme Court
Oil companies failed to persuade the justices to shield them from the growing number of state lawsuits seeking damages for the harms caused by climate change.
Big Oil has failed to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to shield it from numerous state climate lawsuits filed across the country seeking damages for the harms caused by climate change — harms like the historic, supercharged urban fires burning in Los Angeles. The justices held a conference on Friday, January 10 to determine whether …
Continue reading “Huge Snub for Big Oil at the Supreme Court”
CONTINUE READINGA Crisis in Climate Communications
Deadly windstorms, wildfires, and hurricanes constitute something more horrific than just “climate change.”
What’s best for communicating urgency: phrases like “global warming” and “climate change” or “climate crisis” and “climate emergency”? What do audiences take away from these semantic choices? Does it matter what words we use? What about when the entire nation is watching a series of wildfires engulf Los Angeles, fueled by unusually dry vegetation during …
Continue reading “A Crisis in Climate Communications”
CONTINUE READINGJoin Our Mailing List
Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.
