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To Manage Water Scarcity, California Needs a Framework for Fair and Effective Water Right Curtailment
by Nell Green Nylen, Dave Owen, Jennifer Harder, Michael Kiparsky, and Michael Hanemann
After three years of drought, a parade of storms brought flooding, landslides, and a massive snowpack to California. With water temporarily so abundant, it is tempting to push planning for water scarcity to the back burner. But California does not have this luxury. The state’s water management challenges during wet and dry times interrelate, and …
CONTINUE READINGThree Questions about the Ninth Circuit Panel’s CRA v. Berkeley Decision
This recent decision has important implications for state and local efforts to protect their residents and reduce greenhouse-gas emission, but boy is it hard to wrap your head around.
On Monday, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit issued a ruling in California Restaurant Association v. City of Berkeley, addressing whether the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) invalidates a Berkeley municipal ordinance specifying when natural-gas infrastructure can be extended into new buildings. Many in the housing-quality and building-decarbonization space have been eagerly …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Latin American Lithium Industry is at a Crossroads
Policies set now by Argentina, Bolivia and Chile could determine the course of lithium mining—and the fight against climate change.
It may be one of the most overused clichés favored by headline writers, but nonetheless, it is true that the Latin American lithium industry is at a crossroads. The regulatory decisions made by the Governments of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile in the following months and years will set the course for the lithium industry, …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Impacts of Explicitly Racist Land Use Practices Persist in California Communities. Is It Time for State Intervention?
A new report from the Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic explores the relationship between California’s long history of racism in land use and environmental permitting. It also shows the path forward.
The Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic and the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability have released a new report, Concentrated Overburden, that explores the connection between California’s history of racialized land use practices and environmental injustice throughout the state. The report provides recommendations for actions by the California Legislature to soften the impacts of …
CONTINUE READINGBrazil Advances in Climate Change Litigation
A new wave of cases is gaining momentum to protect the Amazon and they differ from traditional environmental lawsuits in historic ways, writes guest contributor Silvia Fregoni.
Climate litigation is gaining momentum in Brazil as a tool to protect the Amazon rainforest from illegal deforestation. A new wave of cases differs from traditional environmental lawsuits by highlighting the connections between preserving the Amazon and the climate, the grave risk of greenhouse gas emissions caused by deforestation, and the critical role of the …
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CONTINUE READINGHow Can We Build Transmission Infrastructure Responsibly?
The IIJA and IRA offer a chance to speed up electricity-transmission development, but can it be done fairly?
This is the second of a series of posts previewing the Emmett Institute’s 2023 Symposium, coming up on April 12. Check out the first post, introducing some of the big questions around the IIJA and IRA, and the third post, on transportation infrastructure; and RSVP for the Symposium here! The clean-energy transition that is one …
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CONTINUE READINGHow Should We Implement the New Federal Climate Laws?
An upcoming symposium by the Emmett Institute will explore the key climate impacts of IIJA and the IRA and unpack some of the obstacles and controversies around their implementation.
This is the first of a series of posts previewing the Emmett Institute’s 2023 Symposium, coming up on April 12. Check out the second post, on transmission infrastructure, and the third post, on transportation; and RSVP for the Symposium here! The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act of …
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CONTINUE READINGCritical Native American Water Rights Cases Come Before the Supreme Court: Arizona v. Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation Has the Equities on Its Side, But the U.S. Department of the Interior May Well Have the Law in Its Favor
Today the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments in the last natural resources cases on its docket this Term: Arizona v. Navajo Nation and U.S. Department of the Interior v. Navajo Nation. These consolidated cases are consequential for several reasons: to determine the scope of the federal government’s trust obligations to Native American tribes; to …
CONTINUE READINGStakeholder Engagement in California Offshore Wind Development
State leaders have an opportunity to forge a national example on stakeholder engagement and energy justice.
As California continues to develop plans for floating offshore wind (OSW) implementation, state leaders have an opportunity to forge a national example on stakeholder engagement and energy justice. California can achieve this, not just by (for example) incorporating environmental justice (EJ) principles into agency analysis and planning or by increasing consultation with tribal entities, but …
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CONTINUE READINGHow Garden-Variety Air Pollution Regulation Promotes Environmental Justice
Cleaning up our nation’s air benefits the disadvantaged most of all.
Evidence is mounting that air pollution regulation is an effective way of reducing health disparities between disadvantaged communities and the population as a whole. The basic reason is simple: Air pollution is the biggest environmental threat to poor communities and communities of color. As the American Lung Association has said: “The burden of air pollution …
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