General
One Big Energy Idea for the Next Governor
The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
If the candidates running to be California’s next governor want a prepackaged idea for how to reduce pollution while making energy more affordable in 2026, here’s one that has been hiding in plain sight. Make a modernization plan to direct money for electrification that is currently being diverted unnecessarily into aging gas infrastructure. But don’t …
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CONTINUE READINGIt’s Not the Generation
Ivanpah Solar Energy Generating Project, April 29, 2013, Wikimedia Commons
Abandoning low cost renewable energy generation is not the solution to electricity affordability
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board should not be your first stop for unbiased opinion on the state of energy policy in California. Nevertheless, I could not stop myself from reading Wednesday’s Op-Ed, California’s Stranded Solar Assets, about the ongoing saga of the Ivanpah solar thermal project, a 386 MW power plant near the California/Nevada …
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CONTINUE READINGSCOTUSblog Falls Into the MAGA Orbit
It’s not there yet, but danger signs are appearing. Invest in real journalism to stop the bleeding.
Like most law nerds, I often check out SCOTUSblog when I want to see what the Corrupt Six are doing nowadays. But I had not caught one major change that we should all watch out for: it has become a part of the right-wing media ecosystem. A few months ago, it was purchased by The …
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CONTINUE READINGYes, It’s That Time of Year Again
If you read Legal Planet, you know why the work we do matters.
Like everyone else, I’m sure you find fundraising appeals annoying. That’s why we only do them twice a year. But there couldn’t be a more important time for the work we do, given the urgency of the climate crisis and the ongoing policy disaster in D.C.
Trump’s second term has proved to be even more ruinous than expected for the environment, with a dedicated effort to slash pollution regulation, suppress clean energy, and glorify fossil fuels. That makes the environmental work we do at Berkeley and UCLA more urgent than ever.
CONTINUE READINGTrump is Trying to Make Us Pay More for Gas
The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
At a White House photo op last week, surrounded by rich auto executives and congressional Republicans, Trump delivered his latest blow to Americans’ pocketbooks by announcing a policy change that could cost us consumers up to $185 billion when filling up our tanks at the pump. If you’re scratching your head trying to recall this …
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CONTINUE READINGHow California (And Other States) Can Drive Demand for Clean Trucks
CLEE and the Emmett Institute release new report today and will hold Jan. 13 webinar with Energy Commissioner Nancy Skinner keynote.
This post is co-authored by CLEE fellow Marie Grimm. California’s policies to phase out polluting diesel trucks with zero-emission models took a major hit this year from the federal government. In June 2025, Congress voted to overturn federal permission for California’s zero-emission truck mandate (although this vote is now subject to litigation). In July, Congress …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Top Ten Things to be Thankful for this Year
It’s been a horrible year for federal environmental law, but there are hopeful developments elsewhere.
This is, if not the winter of our discontent, at least the late autumn. In terms of federal environmental policy, 2025 has been a disaster. Trump’s previous term in office pales by comparison. But all is not gloomy. Outside of D.C., there have been encouraging developments within the U.S. and globally.
Here are ten of those positive developments.
Everything is Awesome!
Well, not really, but China’s astonishing progress in curbing emissions points to a technological way forward — and how the United States is being left behind.
There is so much that is awful, so let’s see some good news for once: China’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions were unchanged from a year earlier in the third quarter of 2025, extending a flat or falling trend that started in March 2024. The rapid adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) saw CO2 emissions from transport fuel drop by 5% …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Inaction is an Affordability Problem
The costs of climate change, especially those from climate-related natural disasters, are already substantial for US households.
This post is authored by UCLA Law’s Kimberly A. Clausing along with guest contributors Christopher R. Knittel and Catherine Wolfram. Many of us have seen large increases in our homeowner’s insurance premia in recent years – yet another cost increase that is putting strain on homeowners and driving up rents. In forthcoming work for the …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Promise and Growing Pains of Managed Aquifer Recharge
By Dave Owen, Helen E. Dahlke, Andrew T. Fisher, Ellen Bruno, and Michael Kiparsky
Around the world, groundwater mismanagement is a major driver of water crises. An emerging method for addressing such mismanagement, called managed aquifer recharge, has generated excitement among scholars and water managers. In a newly published article (Owen et al. 2025), we argue that this excitement, while often justified, should also be tempered by acknowledgment …
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