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Litigation

Blowing in the Wind

Three offshore wind turbines stand in the ocean under a blue sky.

The Trump Administration once again proves shortsighted and spiteful.

Just as sponsors are making a push to get a bipartisan permit reform bill through the lame duck session of Congress, the Trump Administration has apparently decided to sabotage the process. Democrats have worried that it does no good to streamline permitting for clean energy projects if the government simply yanks the permits later. That’s exactly what the Administration is planning to do, yet again, in a case where it has repeatedly lost in court.

The Arguments We Did and Didn’t Hear in Suncor v. Boulder

Oral arguments in the climate case before the Supreme Court gave hints to possible outcomes. But one of Boulder’s strong answers to the “tort suits are regulation” objection went unmade.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in Suncor Energy v. County Commissioners of Boulder County. At issue is whether the city and county of Boulder can move forward with its state court case against defendants Exxon Mobil Corporation and Suncor Energy for allegedly deceiving the public about their products’ role in climate change. Some …

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Get Out the (Green) Vote

A pile of green buttons featuring the word VOTE in bold black letters and white stars on a green stripe.

The Drain is a roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.

Paying people for their vote in the midterms was one of those bizarre ideas that Trump floated and even some Republicans dismissed. But there is actually an incentivized Get Out the Vote effort happening right now that makes more sense (and is legal). Patagonia, a longtime corporate supporter of environmental activism, is offering customers a …

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‘Solar for All’ Victories and the Future of Grantee Litigation

A rainbow arcs across a blue sky over a suburban neighborhood with red-roofed houses, many covered in solar panels, and green fields in the distance.

Two courts vacated U.S. EPA’s termination of solar funds. Guest contributor Adam Earl King outlines what to watch for on appeal.

Guest contributor Adam Earl King is a student at The University of Texas School of Law (JD ’27) and a Summer ’26 Legal Research Assistant at UC Berkeley’s CLEE. This time last year, local-government and non-profit grantees’ hearts dropped when EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced via X that he’s ending the “boondoggle.” The so-called “boondoggle” …

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I Skipped NY Climate Week and Read These Books Instead

Two books side by side: The Carbon Wave by Leah C. Stokes with a blue wavy cover, and Brought to You By by Amy Westervelt with an orange cover featuring coiled tentacles.

The Drain is a roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.

Climate World descended on New York City this week for the annual mad dash of panel discussions, press briefings, newsmaker interviews, influencer gatherings, and sponsored parties that is NY Climate Week, but I stayed home and read books instead. To be more specific, I went to my local bookstore (Village Well in Culver City!) …

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UCLA Law Clinics File Brief in the “Mecheros” Case

A group of people in raincoats walk toward two tall gas flares burning brightly, surrounded by lush green trees and grass, under a grey, overcast sky.

UCLA’s Human Rights Litigation Clinic and Environmental Law Clinic represent experts in a long-running case that seeks to stop harmful gas flaring in Ecuador.

Guest Contributors Incia Haider and Enrique Garcia are J.D. candidates of UCLA School of Law, ‘27. This month, the Human Rights Litigation Clinic and the Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic at UCLA School of Law filed an amicus brief with the Constitutional Court of Ecuador on behalf of a group of law professors and international legal scholars: our own Kate Mackintosh of UCLA Law, …

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The Polluter-Pays Principle and Its Enemies

A corner of the Supreme Court building being hit by afternoon sun

An essay by Alejandro Camacho and Robert L. Glicksman on corporate fraud, weaponizing preemption, and the survival of climate accountability.

This post by Alejandro Camacho and Robert L. Glicksman is an excerpt from an article first published in the University of Chicago Law Review. On the morning of December 30, 2021, the Marshall Fire ignited in Boulder County, Colorado. Driven by hurricane-force winds and fueled by vegetation desiccated by years of drought, it burned more than six …

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The EPA Power Plant Rule Repeal Don’t Make No Sense

A large red button labeled ENERGY EMERGENCY is illuminated on a dark, industrial control panel with various switches and dials.

The Drain is a roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.

The hair-on-fire news this week was the Environmental Protection Agency announcing that it is repealing rules that limit planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from power plants fueled by coal and fossil gas. I saw the headline (“EPA Poised to Repeal Carbon Rules for Coal, Gas Power Plants“) on Sunday evening, when Zahra Hirji, Jen Dlouhy, and …

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The Rise and Fall of an Energy Emergency

Frantic federal efforts to keep uneconomical coal plants from closing met their doom in a new court decision.

According to the Department of Energy, decrepit coal-fired power plants had to be kept open to avoid “unacceptable reliability risks within five years” unless something changed. You could be forgiven for thinking that calling this hypothetical situation an emergency was something of a stretch. The legality of the orders reached the D.C. Circuit in a Michigan case involving a coal plant that seemingly everyone except Trump wanted to close. The court found no basis for the order. The opinion avoids directly calling out the government’s abuse of power. Instead, it keeps focused on basic issues of statutory interpretation. The statute clearly didn’t give DOE anything like the authority to take over the power system that it was claiming.

The Legal Planet Guide to Suncor Energy v. County Commissioners of Boulder County

The Supreme Court building with two protest signs in front; one says PROTECT OUR PLANET with a globe, the other says BE COOL and STOP GLOBAL WARMING with earth illustrations.

UCLA Law experts explain everything you need to know about Suncor v. Boulder as the climate case heads to the U.S. Supreme Court.

LAST UPDATED SEPT. 30 The Supreme Court hears oral arguments on October 5, 2026 in Suncor Energy v. County Commissioners of Boulder County. The plaintiffs in this case are local governmental entities in the State of Colorado that face substantial and rising costs to mitigate the impacts of climate change in the form of heat …

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Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.

The Drain is a roundup of climate and environmental news from Legal Planet delivered to your Inbox once a week.

Permitting Reform Bill: NEPA Remedies

Efforts to tailor remedies for NEPA violations address an important issue, but may have misfired

Permitting Wars

Environmental groups should engage constructively with permitting reform

How to Deconstruct Federal Regulation

Section 1401 of the Permitting Reform Bill is a stealth repeal of a wide swath of federal regulatory law, not just environmental law

Improving permitting reform

Suggestions to make the permitting reform bill work better and avoid unintended results

NEPA Remedies Revisited

Guest contributor Justin Pidot writes that the permitting bill known as BAAJA would end judicial review of most NEPA claims — but it sure is hard to figure that out.

Litigation

The Trump Administration once again proves shortsighted and spiteful.

Oral arguments in the climate case before the Supreme Court gave hints to possible outcomes. But one of Boulder’s strong answers to the “tort suits are regulation” objection went unmade.

The Drain is a roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.

Two courts vacated U.S. EPA’s termination of solar funds. Guest contributor Adam Earl King outlines what to watch for on appeal.

The Drain is a roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.

UCLA’s Human Rights Litigation Clinic and Environmental Law Clinic represent experts in a long-running case that seeks to stop harmful gas flaring in Ecuador.

An essay by Alejandro Camacho and Robert L. Glicksman on corporate fraud, weaponizing preemption, and the survival of climate accountability.

The Drain is a roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.

Frantic federal efforts to keep uneconomical coal plants from closing met their doom in a new court decision.

UCLA Law experts explain everything you need to know about Suncor v. Boulder as the climate case heads to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Join Our Mailing List

Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.

The Drain is a roundup of climate and environmental news from Legal Planet delivered to your Inbox once a week.

TRENDING

Environmental groups should engage constructively with permitting reform

This October, we officially celebrate the coal and oil industries. Says President Trump.

What can we expect if Dems flip the governorships in red states?

Section 1401 of the Permitting Reform Bill is a stealth repeal of a wide swath of federal regulatory law, not just environmental law

Suggestions to make the permitting reform bill work better and avoid unintended results

Guest contributor Justin Pidot writes that the permitting bill known as BAAJA would end judicial review of most NEPA claims — but it sure is hard to figure that out.

The permit certainty provision in the permitting reform bill appears to (inadvertently) change the basic standard for enforcement of most federal law

Concerns about passing 1.5C and ‘global dimming’ are driving attention to the prospect of large-scale interventions in Earth systems.

The Trump Administration once again proves shortsighted and spiteful.

Part of it is a move in the right direction. But one provision raises serious questions.

Efforts to tailor remedies for NEPA violations address an important issue, but may have misfired

Environmental groups should engage constructively with permitting reform

Section 1401 of the Permitting Reform Bill is a stealth repeal of a wide swath of federal regulatory law, not just environmental law

Suggestions to make the permitting reform bill work better and avoid unintended results

Guest contributor Justin Pidot writes that the permitting bill known as BAAJA would end judicial review of most NEPA claims — but it sure is hard to figure that out.

The permit certainty provision in the permitting reform bill appears to (inadvertently) change the basic standard for enforcement of most federal law

Concerns about passing 1.5C and ‘global dimming’ are driving attention to the prospect of large-scale interventions in Earth systems.

The Drain is a roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.

NEPA provisions are substantial in their changes, but (mostly) leave the core of the Act in place

What began as a war on science has now reached your kid’s doctor.