Events
BP Agrees to Plead Guilty to Felony Charges Arising Out of Deepwater Horizon Disaster
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that British Petroleum has agreed to plead guilty to felony charges stemming from the Deepwater Horizon disaster that killed 11 workers and precipitated the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. As part of the plea bargain, BP has agreed to pay the federal government $4.5 billion in penalties, including …
CONTINUE READINGSaving Public Transit: The Role of Technology
New technologies are quickly changing how we provide and interact with public transit. From Smart Phone applications that chart transit trips, new software that enables ride and bike sharing, or stations that function as “mobility hubs” with new ways to provide rider access, these technologies hold the promise to greatly enhance our existing transit systems. …
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CONTINUE READINGSaving Public Transit: Neighborhoods Matter
Public transit depends on neighborhood design to be successful. Without convenient neighborhoods that orient housing and jobs around transit, buses and trains will waste scarce public dollars by failing to attract sufficient riders and offering poorer quality service to those who do ride. Mott Smith, a Los Angeles-based real estate developer and advocate who focuses …
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CONTINUE READINGSaving Public Transit: Finding the Money
We all know that public dollars are scarce, especially for public transit. As the federal government scales back its investments in the nation’s buses and trains, local governments are stepping up. Los Angeles in particular has innovated a way to leverage their existing sales tax revenue for transit to start building more projects sooner. Gloria …
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CONTINUE READINGPreviewing This Week’s Constitutional Battle Over California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard
On Tuesday morning, October 16th, attorneys will gather at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s majestic courthouse in downtown San Francisco to argue one of the nation’s most important, currently-pending environmental cases. The case is Rocky Mountain Farmers Union v. Goldstene, and the issue is the constitutionality of California’s Low Carbon Fuel …
CONTINUE READINGConference on Saving Public Transit, Friday November 2nd at UCLA Law (Simulcast Available)
Please join us on Friday, November 2nd, for a free (with registration) conference on strategies to save public transit during a time of shrinking budgets. The conference will feature experts on transit finance, real estate development around transit, and new technologies that may revolutionize transit in the coming years. Art Leahy, Chief Executive Officer of …
CONTINUE READINGProperty Rights & the Takings Clause: Prominent on the U.S. Supreme Court’s Docket This Year
Last week the U.S. Supreme Court granted review in a potentially-important regulatory takings case, bringing to two the number of Takings Clause disputes on the justices’ docket this Term. The newly-granted case, Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District, No. 11-1447, involves the question of whether a government-imposed condition on its approval of a …
CONTINUE READINGRussell Train (1920-2012)
We are saddened by the new of the death of Russell Train earlier today. Mr. Train headed the Council on Environmental Quality under Nixon and later EPA under Ford. He represented a happier time when environmental protection was a bipartisan goal. Mr. Train’s father had served Herbert Hoover as an aide. He was a judge …
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CONTINUE READINGNew Report on Electric Vehicle Policies & Capitol Hill Briefing Today at Noon ET (webcast available)
The environmental law centers at UCLA and UC Berkeley Schools of Law today released a new report on industry actions and federal, state, and local policies needed to stimulate long-term, mass adoption of electric vehicles. “Electric Drive by ’25” (available from either UCLA Law or Berkeley Law) is the tenth report in our Climate Change …
CONTINUE READINGA Capitol Hill Briefing on Electric Vehicle Policies, Monday, September 10th (Webcast Available)
Legal Planeteers in the Washington DC area are invited to join the environmental law centers at Berkeley and UCLA Schools of Law as we present a lunchtime, Capitol Hill discussion on policies necessary for long-term, mass adoption of electric vehicle technologies. This free event is sponsored by Congressman Henry Waxman’s office and will also be …
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