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Florida Governor DeSantis’ Head-In-The-Sand Climate Change Policies
New Florida Law Strikes Term “Climate Change” From State Laws, Promotes Fossil Fuels & Rejects Renewable Energy Projects
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, in coordination with an equally myopic and partisan Florida Legislature, has approved new state legislation (HB 1645) that eliminates the term “climate change” from numerous existing Florida statutes that former Republican Governor Charlie Crist signed into law in 2008. The legislation, which takes effect on July 1st, is not just symbolic: …
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CONTINUE READINGNinth Circuit Short-Circuits Juliana v. U.S. Climate Change Lawsuit
Iconic Children Plaintiffs Lack Legal Standing to Pursue Case, Court of Appeals Rules
Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued an order that likely ends one of the most closely-watched climate change lawsuits in recent American legal history: Juliana v. United States. The background of this litigation–which was filed in federal district court in Oregon in 2015–has been analyzed at length in …
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CONTINUE READINGCan GoGreen Advance California’s Home Decarbonization Goals?
The state’s home energy financing program remains modest and needs to scale
Last week, the California Public Utilities Commission released a report evaluating the state’s GoGreen home energy financing program. Residential buildings are responsible for about 10 percent of state greenhouse gas emissions, and home decarbonization routinely ranks among the most challenging of our many emissions reduction challenges. Our buildings and electrical distribution grid are old, retrofit …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Seeks to Protect Homes from Excessive Indoor Heat
Guest contributor Cassandra Vo writes that the state should do more to protect mobile homes dwellers from heat. Work by a UCLA Law Clinic on behalf of Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability points the way forward on inclusive heat resiliency standards.
Guest contributor Cassandra Vo is a J.D. Candidate at UCLA Law (’25) specializing in environmental law. Hotter, deadlier, and more frequent heat waves have become one of the most surefire signs of a changing climate in our day-to-day lives. California recognized the need for action on this issue in 2022 by bringing to life AB …
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CONTINUE READINGWestern States Should Opt In to Regionalized Electricity Markets
Guest contributor Kelly Cook writes that regionalization efforts present a low risk that federal control will threaten state authority.
In the West, the benefits of electricity market regionalization appear more attractive than ever. “Regionalization” refers to efforts to expand coordination between Western states to buy and sell wholesale electricity through centralized federal power markets. Increased coordination, made possible through regional transmission organizations (RTOs – independent non-profit organizations that operate the grid and oversee the …
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CONTINUE READINGHow the ICC is Using International Criminal Law to Prosecute Suspects of Eco Crimes
Guest contributor Aria Burdon Dasbach writes that the International Criminal Court is in the process of weighing dozens of suggestions for how to go after global environmental crimes.
There are many different ways that our global society has attempted to address environmental damage and climate change. We fund climate technology startups. We elect representatives that keep the climate in mind. We start nonprofits dedicated to reestablishing our collective sustainable relationships with earth systems. And we litigate in civil and federal courts at the …
CONTINUE READINGWhy the New Climate Reg for Coal is a Perfectly Normal EPA Rule
EPA’s approach isn’t a novel innovation. It’s just EPA applying its usual approach.
The problem isn’t that EPA’s new climate regulation for power plants will crush the coal-fired generation industry. It’s that much of the industry is so economically weak it can’t survive any kind of regulation.
CONTINUE READINGWe Need a True Debate Over Income-Graduated Fixed Charges
A state bill to cap the fixed charges utilities can collect in California would shut down an important debate about equity and rate design. Here’s a better way forward.
Electricity rate design is unavoidably technical. It also has huge implications for equity, climate change, and ensuring a grid that works. Rate design can be used to promote many different goals, from efficiency to bill stability, but it always entails distributive decisions. Rate design determines how we distribute the costs not just of electricity, but …
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CONTINUE READINGU.S. Supreme Court Revisits, Tightens Regulatory Takings Limits on Land Use Regulation
California Homeowner’s Takings Challenge to County’s Traffic Impact Fee Heads Back to State Court
On April 12th, the U.S. Supreme Court revisited a constitutional doctrine near and dear to its institutional heart: when and under what circumstances does a land use permit condition violate the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause? In yet another “regulatory takings” case from California, the Supreme Court wound up not answering that precise question. Instead, the …
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Wins Major Clean Air Act/Climate Change Case in D.C. Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals Rejects Red States’ Challenge to California’s CAA “Waiver Authority”
This week California and the Biden Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency won a critically-important environmental lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The case involves a constitutional challenge brought by a coalition of conservative (“red”) states to E.P.A.’s delegation of federal Clean Air Act (CAA) authority for California to adopt …
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