Environmental Justice
100 Days of Anti-Environmental Mayhem
A flood of anti-environmental initiatives threatens to undo decades of progress.
the Administration has withheld funding for clean technology, denounced the very idea of environmental justice, and begun a campaign to gut environmental agencies. And that’s only the first hundred days of Trump’s second term.How far Trump gets with this anti-environmental jihad will depend partly on the courts but mostly on politics. Events relating to the economy and provision of basic government services are likely to have as much impact on how things play out than anything specific to the environment.
CONTINUE READINGUnsheathing a Weapon for Clean Air: ISRs
New UCLA Law report focuses on how to use Indirect Source Rules to fight pollution from mega facilities.
We don’t have to tell you that air pollution remains a serious threat to communities across California, from Oakland to the Inland Empire. But what if we told you that most air regulators are fighting air pollution with one hand tied behind their back, unnecessarily? It turns out there is a powerful weapon that can …
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CONTINUE READINGChevron’s Losing Play to Avoid Big Damages
Chevron sponsored Super Bowl LIX events and science classes for New Orleans children just weeks before a Louisiana jury ordered it to pay $745 million in damages.
In February and March, Chevron generated headlines for its charity at the Super Bowl in Louisiana. This month, the oil company made very different headlines for being ordered to pay $745 million for damage to the Louisiana coast after a jury verdict. One of these stories shows the company as a town hero in a …
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CONTINUE READINGHelp Shape the Bay Area’s Climate Future
Seeking input from local leaders, organizations, and individuals to shape California’s Fifth Climate Assessment for the region
The California Climate Change Assessment is a key initiative to understand and address the state’s climate impacts and build resilience through informed decision-making. California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment included a series of technical reports, regional summaries, and a statewide synthesis covering key issues such as extreme heat, wildfires, and sea level rise—providing critical guidance for …
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CONTINUE READINGCommunity Benefits from Climate Infrastructure Investments
Tracking Investments Under BIL and IRA
Community Benefits tools, including Community Benefits Plans (CBPs), Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs), Host Community Agreements, and other variations are tools that can accompany infrastructure investments and bring benefits to communities that host those projects. There are different drivers that result in the use of community benefits tools and the tools employed (i.e., agreements, plans, etc) …
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CONTINUE READINGSuccess! Removing the Klamath Dams
A “Good News” Environmental Story (For a Change)
Most of the environmental law and policy matters discussed on Legal Planet–especially over the past few months–have dealt with natural resource crises, environmental rollbacks, hostile political actors and actions in Washington, D.C., etc. So let me take this opportunity to share an upbeat and inspirational environmental story in these otherwise troubled environmental times. In 2022, …
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CONTINUE READINGWhat is Life Like Inside Trump’s EPA?
Three EPA employees talk about DOGE, work anxiety, regulatory rollbacks, and the impact on protecting health and the environment.
The new head of the U.S. the Environmental Protection Agency — whose mission is to protect human health and the environment by developing and enforcing regulations — this week made what he proudly called the “largest deregulatory announcement in history” in the form of nearly three dozen policy reversals and “reconsiderations.” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s …
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CONTINUE READINGNew Tools for Communities Seeking to Leverage Energy Infrastructure Projects for Community Priorities
Local action becomes even more important under a new federal regime
The Biden Administration placed substantial emphasis on community benefits mechanisms in federal climate infrastructure investments, building on years of legal and community advocacy work that laid the foundation for federal community engagement standards for project developers. With the Trump Administration taking a different approach at the federal level, the role of stakeholders at the local …
CONTINUE READINGWhy Isn’t Hydrofluoric Acid Banned at Oil Refineries?
The Torrance Refinery Action Alliance and Rep. Maxine Waters have renewed calls to ban hydrofluoric acid at SoCal refineries. Here’s why and how that could work.
On the morning of Feb. 18, 2015, pent-up gases at ExxonMobil’s refinery in Torrance triggered an explosion so powerful it registered as a magnitude 1.7 earthquake and sent industrial ash over entire neighborhoods. It’s been called the near-miss disaster that most people have never heard of. But that near miss is raising new calls to …
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CONTINUE READINGTrump Goes to War Against Environmental Justice
Apparently it’s “woke” to worry about excessive pollution in minority communities.
There is little or no basis for Trump’s claim that Clinton environmental justice order violated either civil rights laws or the Constitution. Trump’s embrace of this extremist view is an indication of just how much more radical his second term may be compared with his first. The law does not require the government to close its eyes to the harm its own policies may be causing to minority communities.
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