Trump Administration
The Politics of Geoengineering Are Getting Stranger
Of all the pollution threats out there, why are state lawmakers and U.S. EPA targeting solar geoengineering?
There are strange things happening in Climate World, in addition to all the horrifying things. Among the strangest is a surge in state bills to prohibit solar geoengineering. Just as strange is the recent shot across the bow by Trump’s EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin against one tiny startup firm that claims to be doing geoengineering. …
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CONTINUE READING100 Days of Anti-Environmental Mayhem
A flood of anti-environmental initiatives threatens to undo decades of progress.
the Administration has withheld funding for clean technology, denounced the very idea of environmental justice, and begun a campaign to gut environmental agencies. And that’s only the first hundred days of Trump’s second term.How far Trump gets with this anti-environmental jihad will depend partly on the courts but mostly on politics. Events relating to the economy and provision of basic government services are likely to have as much impact on how things play out than anything specific to the environment.
CONTINUE READINGWhat’s the Harm?
Tentative thoughts on Trump Administration’s proposed repeal of the ESA regulation defining harm
The administration has proposed revoking the definition of harm in the regulations implementing Section 9 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Section 9 is the section of the ESA that prohibits taking a member of a listed species. The change is significant because that definition of harm included, in some circumstances, actions that modify the …
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CONTINUE READINGDay After Earth Day, the Climate Pope, and the 89%
The Drain is a new weekly roundup of climate and environmental news from Legal Planet.
Environmental journalists everywhere are breathing easier this morning. They made it through Earth Day — one of two insufferable seasons of cliche, inane PR pitches clogging their inboxes. (The other? The 2-week UN Climate Conference each fall.) Environmental advocates are breathing a little easier too, because the White House blinked first in the war of …
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CONTINUE READING“What We Do Matters:” UCLA’s Charging Ahead Symposium
States and cities have a lot of tools to cut vehicle pollution. It’s time to break them out.
Trump is a bump. A nasty one, but a bump nonetheless, because the world is on the road to zero-emission fuels and vehicles no matter what. That was one takeaway from “Charging Ahead,” the UCLA Emmett Institute’s annual symposium held on April 9 — devoted this year to cutting vehicle pollution during the next four …
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CONTINUE READINGPrecedent, the Trump Administration, and Endangered Species
A new Trump Administration initiative misinterprets the overruling of Chevron
The Trump Administration’s effort to strip away protections under the Endangered Species Act that had previously been upheld by the Supreme Court. The Administration seems to think they’re entitled to ignore that earlier decision because it was decided under the Chevron test and Chevron has since been overruled. They’re wrong. If it wishes to change the existing interpretation, the agency must give a reasoned argument for doing so that discusses the relevant policy issues, including reliance and the impact of its decision on endangered species.
CONTINUE READINGThe NIMBY Presidency
Peter Navarro hates foreign trade. He also hates housing.
Well what a surprise. Not: Before Peter Navarro designed trade wars for President Trump, he orchestrated housing wars in San Diego across five unsuccessful bids for local office. Navarro, then a UC Irvine economics professor, led San Diego’s slow-growth movement in the 1990s, drawing battle lines that still define today’s development fights. His zero-sum view on homebuilding then …
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CONTINUE READINGLocal EV Leadership During Federal Withdrawal
The clean mobility transition is in local hands.
The federal landscape for electric vehicle (EV) investment is laden with pause and uncertainty. High-profile program discontinuations–both planned and executed–threaten to disrupt EV deployment efforts, while unpredictable tariffs interfere with drivers’ ability to afford vehicles. As local leaders work to reconcile ambitious transport decarbonization goals with the current lapse in federal climate leadership, public planners, …
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CONTINUE READINGIs Trump Good for the Oil Industry?
Not particularly, it would appear. If there’s an effect, it’s not big enough to hit the eyes.
No doubt, the industry would rather have Trump in office than Harris. But the effect on industry profits may only be incremental. It would be great to see a rigorous statistical analysis by a finance expert, but a bump to oil profits isn’t obvious in share prices.
CONTINUE READINGMAGA vs NOAA, Executive Orders, and Growing IRA Support
The Drain is a new weekly roundup of climate and environmental news from Legal Planet.
Trump wants to “Make Weather a Mystery Again.” The news that started leaking last Friday is that the Trump administration wants to break up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and essentially end NOAA’s climate work by abolishing its primary research office and forcing the agency to instead help boost U.S. fossil fuel production, according …
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