Two more recent NEPA studies
These studies have better methodological approaches, and highlight the ways in which NEPA does (and does not) matter for renewable energy
In a prior blog post, I criticized a recent NEPA study from the Breakthrough Institute for some key methodological limitations. Two more studies of NEPA have since come out from Resources for the Future that I want to highlight because I think they have stronger methodological foundations. There are still important limits on what these studies can and can not say about NEPA, but they do give us some important insights into how NEPA works on the ground. The two NEP...
CONTINUE READINGLeveraging Cap-And-Trade Proceeds for Long-Term Utility Bill Savings and Pollution Reduction
State leaders have an opportunity to expand the benefits with cap-and-trade reauthorization.
California’s decades-long role as a climate action pioneer is facing serious headwinds. While the Trump administration and its allies have launched a full-scale attack on clean technologies, state leaders are also wrestling with an electorate now more focused on lowering prices than environmental protection. Energy costs stand in the middle. This dynamic is playing out right now as state leaders debate the post-2030 future of the state’s cap-and-trade program, whi...
CONTINUE READINGHow We Teach Environmental Law is Changing
UCLA Law faculty talk about how they are teaching environmental law differently in challenging times.
Environmental law is still relatively new and keeps changing all the time. After all, the field of environmental law didn’t really exist in the U.S. until pollution fears in the 1950s and ’60s spurred political activism. From 1970 to 1978, Congress passed more than a dozen of the most important environmental laws by overwhelming bipartisan majorities. Over the years, the field has evolved wildly due to technology, new case law, scientific findings, global wa...
CONTINUE READINGWatch “Clearing the Air: The War on Smog”
LAPL
The American Experience's "Clearing the Air: The War on Smog" tells an extraordinary story. It premieres on PBS this Tuesday.
A few years back, a colleague of mine, who I very much wanted to remain at UCLA, approached me because he was contemplating accepting an offer at a Washington, D.C. law school. He feared remaining in Los Angeles, even though he wanted to stay, because he didn't want his young daughter exposed to the southland's legendary air pollution. He sought my counsel about whether his fears were valid. I sent him to a website that showed him -- much to his surprise -- tha...
CONTINUE READINGThe Imperious Presidency
Executive Orders by Biden and Trump speak volumes about their perspectives.
I’ve been reading a lot of executive orders (EOs) lately. Trump’s orders have a special tone, combining bluster about his own authority with attacks on his opponents as ideologues who threaten the country. It struck me that this aura of imperiousness and hostility was something new in the world of presidential documents. To test this out, I compared Day One orders on climate change by Trump and Biden. It's not just the substance that differed; their language itse...
CONTINUE READINGOwens Valley Redux: Los Angeles was Right
Far from a theft, the decision to divert water to Los Angeles made economic, environmental, and equitable sense.
I have a new piece out in The Urban Lawyer about the Owens Valley that might be of interest to Legal Planet readers. Here is an abstract: Everyone knows that Los Angeles stole its water from the Owens Valley, creating environmental devastation and a legacy of rapacity. It is such a commonplace that it needs only assertion. Even the finest journalists can say in passing that “the City of Los Angeles reach[ed] up and over the mountain to steal the Owens River.” Ou...
CONTINUE READINGState Agencies Respond to Trump’s EV Threats
A solid list of proposals - are they enough?
The Trump Administration and Congress have spent much of the year attacking vehicle electrification efforts–everything from executive orders threatening electric vehicle policies and incentives (in the name of promoting “true consumer choice”) and the repeal of vehicle emission standards (backed by false claims of consumer savings) to the elimination of EV tax credits and manufacturing programs and the purported elimination of California’s preemption waivers for ...
CONTINUE READINGWhich Effects Count?
Conservatives argue that only the effects that they care about should matter.
Not that long ago, conservatives demanded that the government balance costs and benefits. They still do, but with a twist: They demand special limits on consideration of environmental effects. But that makes no sense. Whatever rules we have about costs should apply to all types of costs, and the same with benefits. The result of the skewing the analysis is, not surprisingly, that we get conservative results more often. Take a recent Supreme Court case, Seven Cou...
CONTINUE READINGStates Should Not Wait to “Make Polluters Pay”
Guest contributors Laura Fox and Doug Kysar write that now is the right time for more states to adopt climate accountability laws, despite ongoing legal challenges.
As states weigh whether to adopt climate accountability legislation like Vermont’s Climate Superfund Act, some are hesitating out of concern that the Second Circuit’s decision in City of New York v. Chevron Corp., 993 F.3d 81 (2d Cir. 2021), dooms such efforts. That concern is misplaced. In fact, now is precisely the time for states to act. Not only is City of New York v. Chevron limited in scope and geographic reach, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agen...
CONTINUE READINGWhy Does Misinformation Follow Extreme Weather?
The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
Nowadays when an extreme weather event strikes in America, what follows is a secondary emergency in the form of misinformation on social media. We’ve seen it play out after floods and heat waves, but this phenomenon really goes into overdrive after hurricanes and wildfires. A recent report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate looked at why this happens and concludes that Meta, X, and YouTube helped spread misleading information after Hurricanes Helene and...
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