Transportation

California Climate Policy: A Preliminary Report Card

It’s a bit complicated, but California definitely has made substantial progress.

We all know that California’s climate policies have led the nation. But how well have these policies actually worked?  That’s not as easy to answer as you might think.  You have to do some digging to come up with the numbers, and their meaning isn’t always completely clear.  If you compare California with the country …

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Gov. Newsom Goes to China to Talk Climate

Here’s what Newsom will see, say, and do on his China trip. He should also be listening for what California can learn from China.

We’re learning more about what Gov. Gavin Newsom will see, say, and do on his trip to China. All told, Newsom is slated to visit 6 cities in 5 provinces, including Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Shanghai—where he’s signing a new climate agreement. He plans to meet with representatives from the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and the …

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Reading the Tea Leaves: Biden’s and California’s Vehicle Regs at the D.C. Circuit

A leading environmental lawyer gives his perspective.

Transportation is now the source of 28% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, more than the electric power sector. The transportation sector is also a substantial source of nitrogen oxides and particulates, both of which are dangerous to human health.  The Biden Administration has taken important regulatory actions bearing on these problems, with others in the …

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Vehicle Regulations on Trial

Three big cases in the D.C. Circuit will determine the fate of Biden’s vehicle regulations.

This week, the D.C. Circuit hears three cases challenging  use of federal regulations to push adoption of electric vehicles and to allow California to forge path toward zero-emission cars. If all three cases go badly, the regulatory system would be disabled from playing a role in this area. This would be a huge setback, though …

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How Major Corporate Fleets Can Drive Responsible and Sustainable EV Battery Supply Chains

New CLEE/Ceres report released today with recommendations for corporate EV fleet managers

The electric vehicle (EV) market is growing rapidly, but with this growth comes public pressure to ensure supply chains for EV batteries are sustainable. The soaring demand for batteries relies heavily on the extraction and refinement of critical minerals, processes that have far-reaching environmental and social impacts. Moreover, the global distribution of these operations leaves …

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Cars, Smog, and EPA

Over the past fifty years, EPA has overseen incredible reductions in auto pollution.

This is part of an occasional series of posts about the evolution of pollution standards. Today’s subject is pollution control for new vehicles, which have been known to cause smog since the 1960s. The history of these pollution standards is quite distinctive. At the high temperatures in internal combustion engines, some of the nitrogen in …

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Good News! Policymakers ARE Embracing E-Bikes

A colorful pile of Bike Lane signs

You wouldn’t know it from reading the New York Times, but cities and states are innovating to get people out of cars and on e-bikes. Is California falling behind?

After reading the recent (and very dumb) New York Times expose by Matt Richtel on e-bikes, you’d be forgiven for mistaking electric-assist bicycles for the next big threat to human health. But 3 other news stories about the benefits, and growing pains, of e-bikes show there’s real interest in them as a climate solution. Rather …

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E-bikes are a Climate Solution – Not a Menace

A bike land sign

News stories that frame the rise of e-bikes as one big safety risk are not only short-sighted, they could lead to bad policy.

There’s a dangerous new mobility trend on American streets that’s captured the attention of the New York Times: e-bikes. Or so the Times, and some other media outlets, are suggesting with their editorial choices. “The e-bike industry is booming, but the summer of 2023 has brought sharp questions about how safe e-bikes are, especially for …

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EPA and the Student Loan Decision

Will the major questions doctrine block EPA’s proposed rules?

Biden v. Nebraska, the student loan case, provided a new opportunity for the Court to apply the major question doctrine.  Does this decision increase the threat that EPA’s proposed new regulations will be struck down under this doctrine?  A careful reading of the majority opinion is at least somewhat reassuring. The Court painted a picture …

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Not Just About the Climate

The benefits of the energy transition transcend climate.

The main reason to control carbon is to protect the climate. But cleaning up the energy system has plenty of other benefits. Those benefits will flow to people in rural areas as well as urban ones, to national security and international development, and to nature itself. To begin with, there are the health benefits of …

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