Energy
The Local Role for Promoting Energy Efficient Homes and Businesses
One of the most cost-effective ways to fight climate change is to make homes and businesses more energy efficient. Yet this is also one of the most difficult goals to achieve. In UC Berkeley and UCLA Law’s 2010 report “Saving Energy,” we found the key barriers to be the highly individualized nature of retrofitting buildings …
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CONTINUE READINGBeyond “NIMBY”
Brad Plumer has a thoughtful posting about NIMBYism over at WonkBlog. He points out that local opposition in Nebraska played a big role in getting the XL Pipeline delayed. More generally, Residents in Cape Cod have tangled up an offshore wind project for years, partly because it would obstruct scenic beach views. Solar farms in …
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CONTINUE READINGKlamath dam removal bill introduced in Congress
On November 10, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Representative Mike Thompson (D-CA) introduced the Klamath Basin Economic Restoration Act in Congress (H.R. 3398 / S. 1851). The bill would approve two Klamath agreements and give the go-ahead to potentially remove four hydroelectric dams from the Klamath River. As we have discussed previously on LegalPlanet, this set …
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CONTINUE READINGEnergy Storage in California by 2020: A New Report From the California Energy Commission
Yesterday, the California Energy Commission’s Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program released a strategic assessment of energy storage technologies in California by 2020. The report was prepared by a three-campus University of California team, including Berkeley Law, UC Los Angeles, and UC San Diego. Along with co-blogger Steve Weissman and Jessica Intrator (who did the …
CONTINUE READINGAdministration reportedly will put off Keystone XL decision
The Washington Post is reporting that the Obama Administration will study alternative routes for the Keystone XL pipeline, delaying a final decision on the pipeline until after the 2012 elections. There had been a perception that the Administration felt caught between environmentalists and unions on the pipeline issue. Nebraska’s opposition to the current proposed route, …
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CONTINUE READINGUC Berkeley / UCLA Law Conference on Local Government Climate Change Policies
The UC Berkeley and UCLA Schools of Law are holding a free public conference at UC Berkeley on Friday, December 2nd to discuss local government climate change policies. Conference speakers include some of the state’s top policy, business, and environmental leaders, who will report on promising ways that cities and counties can address climate change …
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CONTINUE READINGWho Killed the Ozone Rule?
It seems that Bill Daley did: Obama’s surprise move to block an ozone regulation from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) followed immense pressure from industry trade associations, which made numerous personal appeals to White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley. Daley met with the heads of several business groups more than two weeks before Obama …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Problematic Pipeline Approval Process
The State Department has announced that its Inspector General will be looking into the process for approval of the controversial pipeline. There are certainly reasons to worry about the integrity of the process. The State Department held public hearings, but turns out to have no plan for actually considering the comments; in the meantime, it …
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CONTINUE READINGLisa Jackson Speech
Following up on Holly’s post, here is video of the speech. (And no, contrary to a rumor in the blogosphere, she didn’t call conservative critics “jack-booted thugs.” Instead, as you’ll see, she commented that they used this term about EPA.) [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcNeR6-EEGc]
CONTINUE READINGDeploying Large-Scale Solar on Marginal Agricultural Land: A New Berkeley / UCLA White Paper
With California committed to achieving 33 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, some solar and wind developers are rushing to propose large-scale installations on California farmland. These sites can be attractive because they are close to existing transmission lines and substations and have good sun exposure. However, proposed projects on farmland tend …
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