Regulatory Policy
The End of the Juliana Litigation–Or Is It?
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Denies Rehearing, But Landmark Climate Change Litigation’s Impact Will Endure
Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied rehearing en banc in one of the nation’s most closely-watched climate change lawsuits: Juliana v. United States. But the legal and policy impact of this landmark litigation will endure. And the case itself may not be concluded. Juliana involves a novel legal argument: that …
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CONTINUE READINGExpertise versus Politics Under Biden
Experts will no longer be pariahs under Biden. But will their voices be heard?
One of the abiding issues in governance is the balance between democratic leadership and experts. We don’t want government solely by technocrats. Nor do we want government steered solely by ideology and politics, as under Trump. Biden will be a vast improvement, but there’s still some question about whether he’ll get the balance right. I …
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CONTINUE READINGBiden and Regulatory Review
Big changes may be coming to White House regulatory oversight.
President Biden seems to be poised to dramatically change how the White House reviews proposed agency regulations. I argued in a recent post that it would be better to expand the focus of regulatory review beyond cost-benefit analysis to include important values such as social justice and environmental quality. Biden may be moving in that …
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CONTINUE READINGThree of Yesterday’s Stories of Climate Progress
There was Biden’s Executive Order, of course. And two other things. Or maybe three.
Yesterday, I read three encouraging stories about the U.S. and climate change. One was about action by the federal government, one about action by the states, and one about action by the private sector. The biggest news was from the federal government, in the form of Biden’s Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at …
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CONTINUE READINGLegal Planeteer Ann Carlson Joins Biden Administration
UCLA Environmental Law Professor Named NHTSA General Counsel
President Joe Biden has appointed UCLA environmental law professor–and frequent Legal Planet contributor–Ann Carlson to serve as General Counsel of the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). NHTSA, part of the U.S. Department of Administration (USDOT), plays a key regulatory role in charting federal transportation policy. Professor Carlson has anchored UCLA School of Law’s …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Controversial Congressional Review Act
Biden has a congressional shortcut to cancel Trump’s regulatory rollbacks, but it comes with risks.
The Trump administration dedicated itself to deregulation with unprecedented fervor. It rolled back scores of regulations across government agencies, including more than 80 environmental rules. The Biden administration can reverse some of those actions quickly – for instance, as president, Joe Biden can undo Donald Trump’s executive orders with a stroke of the pen. He …
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CONTINUE READINGThe problem with “follow the science”
Science is necessary, but not sufficient, for good policymaking
In the wake of the poor performance of the Trump Administration’s efforts to address the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, there has been advice that the Biden Administration should “follow the science” in developing its coronavirus policies and strategies. While an emphasis on a clean break from the prior Administration’s rejection of the nature …
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CONTINUE READINGTrump’s Pro-Environmental Acts — A VERY Short List
Despite its general hatred of environmental protection, the Trump Administration did manage a few positive steps.
This being the last day of Trump’s presidency, it’s appropriate to look back on his environmental record. Basically, Trump was to environmental law as General Sherman was to Georgia. In the time between his “American carnage” Inaugural Address to his unleashing of carnage on Capitol Hill, he and his minions devoted themselves to environmental destruction. …
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CONTINUE READINGStrategies to Reverse Federal Environmental Rollbacks
Last month, CLEE released a website that compiled over 180 Trump Administration environmental policy rollbacks, from the repeal of the Clean Power Plan to the removal of government climate change websites. We tracked and evaluated these rollbacks based on their environmental, climate, public health, and programmatic impacts; identified the pathway and difficulty of reversal; and …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Clean Air Act Turns Fifty
A half century of progress in cleaning up the air began New Year’s Eve 1970.
On December 31, 1970, President Richard M. Nixon signed the Clean Air Act. William Ruckelshaus and Russell Train, who later led the way in implementing the new law, stood by his side with beaming smiles. Nixon supported the basic features of the bill. But he had considered vetoing the final version because Senator Ed Muskie …
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