Regulation
Wetlands, WOTUS and California
California Regulators Can and Should Adopt Strong State Wetlands Protection Rules
For the past year, an overriding concern of many Californians has been whether and how state legislators and regulators can fill the environmental law and policy gap left by a Trump Administration that is in the process of reversing a host of Obama-era environmental rules and that has otherwise largely abandoned the field of environmental …
Continue reading “Wetlands, WOTUS and California”
CONTINUE READINGOf Dreamliners and Drinking Water
Michael Kiparsky and Christian Binz
As we have written previously, potable water reuse (recycling water to augment water supplies) is a promising way to diversify urban water supply portfolios. Direct potable water reuse (DPR), the injection of highly purified wastewater into drinking water systems, is among the newest, and most controversial, methods for augmenting water supplies. DPR is garnering increasing …
Continue reading “Of Dreamliners and Drinking Water”
CONTINUE READINGESA Under Attack. Again.
The Washington Post tomorrow is running an Op Ed written with Peter Alagona, a colleague in environmental studies at UCSB. We were approached by the Post and asked to write a piece addressing the current raft of bills that seek to weaken the Endangered Species Act and sharing our views about alternatives. With a tight limit …
Continue reading “ESA Under Attack. Again.”
CONTINUE READINGA Major Defeat for Property Rights Advocates
Hardly anyone noticed a decision last June limiting the rights of property owners against regulators.
Murr v. Wisconsin was a sleeper case decided by the Supreme Court last June. But it deserves a lot more attention than it has gotten. As I discuss in a new paper, Murr was a major defeat for property rights advocates and a big win for land use planners and environmentalists. Murr has escaped much …
Continue reading “A Major Defeat for Property Rights Advocates”
CONTINUE READINGHot Off the Presses: An Intro to Climate Change Law and Policy
The Paris Agreement. The Clean Power Plan. Geo-Engineering. Trump. And there’s more!
I’m really excited to announce the publication of Climate Change Law: Concepts & Insights (Foundation Press 2017), by Cinnamon Carlarne and me. There are lots of great scholarly tomes on the subject — either monographs or collected volumes. But there really hasn’t been anything that provides a comprehensive introduction to climate law as a whole, …
Continue reading “Hot Off the Presses: An Intro to Climate Change Law and Policy”
CONTINUE READINGRenewable Energy in the Mountain West: A Tale of Two States
Wyoming and Colorado are very different places — but renewables are thriving in both states.
Politics play an important role in determining the fate of renewable energy in particular places, but so does economics. The Trump Administration is trying to shift the economics, but it seems unlikely they’ll be able to have much impact. For now, at least, there are a variety of motivations for states to embrace renewables, as …
Continue reading “Renewable Energy in the Mountain West: A Tale of Two States”
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia’s AB 313–A Solution in Search of a Problem
Governor Brown Should Veto Ill-Conceived Bill That Would Undermine State Water Board’s Enforcement Authority
Overall, the California Legislature had a most productive year when it comes to environmental issues. It extended until 2030 the cap-and-trade program that’s a centerpiece of the state’s ongoing efforts to reduce California’s aggregate greenhouse gas emissions. It passed the mis-named “gas tax” legislation, which not only provides funding to rebuild California’s once-proud but now …
Continue reading “California’s AB 313–A Solution in Search of a Problem”
CONTINUE READINGState of Play: Trump v. the Environment
Here’s a roadmap to what he’s done — and how things will probably unfold.
How has Trump impacted environmental law? What’s going to happen next? CLEE has issued a new report assessing the state of play in environmental law seven months of the Trump presidency. The report, 200 Days & Counting, reviews the Administration’s environmental proposals and offers a glimpse into what may be coming down the pike. The report focuses …
Continue reading “State of Play: Trump v. the Environment”
CONTINUE READINGWebinar: Net Economic Impacts Of California’s Major Climate Programs On The Inland Empire
Free on-line event will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 12th, from 10-11am
Following the state legislature’s landmark approval extending California’s cap-and-trade program through 2030 by a supermajority vote, Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy & The Environment (CLEE) and our research partners have completed the first comprehensive, academic study of the economic effects of existing climate and clean energy policies in Southern California’s Inland Empire. Together with …
CONTINUE READING200 Days & Counting: State and Local Action
States and cities can do a lot to push back against Trump, but they do face some legal challenges.
In the Trump era, what avenues are open to state and local governments to use self-help to protect the environment? I’ve posted before about the opportunities for state and local governments taking action to protect their own environments. (here and here). Perhaps the most important recent development is the extension of California’s cap-and-trade program to …
Continue reading “200 Days & Counting: State and Local Action”
CONTINUE READING