Affordability Is Everywhere
How affordability concerns are informing recent developments in electricity, clean energy, and housing policy.
Affordability concerns are increasingly top-of-mind for advocates, academics, and public officials with regard to electricity generation and pricing, the transition away from fossil fuel extraction, and affordable housing. Public support for improving the grid, transitioning to a clean energy economy, and expanding the supply of housing depends on whether policymakers can ensure that the costs of those efforts do not fall on the shoulders of middle- and working-class peo...
CONTINUE READINGDoes Federal Law Still Preempt State Standards Relating to Fuel Efficiency?
The answer may depend on what being “in effect” means.
[The federal government filed suit today to block California's regulations relating to EVs. The government's theory is that the regulations are preempted by federal CAFE standards. For that reason, I'm re-upping this post, which makes an argument for why that type of preemption may no longer exist.] If a tree falls in the forest but no one hears it, does it still make a sound? If a law hasn’t been formally repealed but can be violated with complete impunity, is ...
CONTINUE READINGThe Scent of Spring vs the Stench of Black Rain
Why the war on Iran is an environmental justice crisis we cannot ignore
Here in the Bay Area, the air quality is pristine today. The sky is a clear, uninterrupted blue, and the sweet scent of blooming jasmine catches on the breeze. It’s a picture of absolute peace. Yet, the country I live in is currently orchestrating a devastating war on the other side of the world, a conflict whose impacts are falling on people who had no hand in starting it. These impacts are not just military and economic, but profoundly ecological. Since the US...
CONTINUE READINGNoem’s Disastrous Reign at FEMA
The post-Noem agency is in desperate need of rebuilding.
Kristi Noem has been … Actually, it’s hard to know how to finish that sentence; there’s so much to say. Let’s just say she’s the worst Secretary the Department of Homeland Security has ever had and leave it at that. Among her failings, her damage to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) may not be the worst, but it’s far from the least. Restoring FEMA will be a major undertaking and a heavy lift in an administration best known for agency destructio...
CONTINUE READINGAn “Unprecedented” Heat Wave is Just the Start
The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
Dust off your fan or set the thermostat for your heat pump. A heat wave is in the forecast for the western U.S., bringing 90-plus degree heat to much of California and records are likely to fall. Temperatures that are 20-30 degrees above normal for this time of year are on tap starting today. It’s not normal. The National Weather Service calls it "unprecedented." Some parts of California and the American Southwest that have never before experienced triple-digit ...
CONTINUE READINGThe Trump Governance Playbook, in War and Peace
Going to war is very different than regulating pollutants, but the Trump Administration approaches both decisions similarly.
Although decisions about war and peace are a long way from environmental rollbacks, it's striking how much the Administration’s process for going to war is like its domestic policy process, including its environmental policy. This comparison reveals the Trump Administration’s deep-seated vision of how government ought to work. The common features are monopolizing policy decisions within the White House, ignoring allies, sidelining Congress, downgrading deliberati...
CONTINUE READINGClimate Issues in the 2026 Governor’s Race: Electricity Affordability
Second in a series of posts outlining key challenges and opportunities facing California’s next governor.
Skyrocketing electricity costs pose a formidable political and economic barrier as California pushes to decarbonize its power supply and electrify homes and transportation. The stakes for the incoming governor are incredibly high: average residential rates for large investor-owned utilities (IOUs) increased 8%-10% annually over the last decade, far outpacing the 3.5% inflation rate. While the details of electric rate increases are complicated, the overarching cause ...
CONTINUE READINGSurprise Support for Solar
Solar power is on the Trump Administration hit list, but it turns out to have support in unexpected places.
Here’s a social media post whose content won’t surprise you: “Solar power is the energy of the future. “Giant fusion reactor up there in the sky - we must rapidly expand solar to compete with China.” And from a political ally of Trump, a poll that found three-quarters of Trump voters in five states agreed that solar should be used “to strengthen and increase” the U.S. energy supply. Who were those solar supporters? They’re Katie Miller, wife o...
CONTINUE READINGIs Climate Journalism Up to the Task in 2026?
The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
We need strong climate journalism now more than ever and there’s some good news to report on that front. Important voices on the climate beat are cranking up the volume, especially via new digital platforms. But first, the bad news. We now know that 2025 was Earth's third warmest year on record — featuring firestorms in LA, a deadly heatwave in Europe, and catastrophic flooding in Southeast Asia. And yet, media coverage of climate change last year decreased by...
CONTINUE READINGA Chance to Rebuild Better
AB 2385 by Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris would help local governments spring into action after disasters.
Fourteen months after the Palisades and Eaton fires, many Angelenos remain uncertain if they will ever return to the neighborhoods they call home and policymakers are still grappling with how to help rebuild. Back in September, I wrote about a drafting wrinkle in state law that’s standing in the way of local governments’ ability to recover well from the next big disaster event they experience. As an Angeleno and through my work supporting the Blue Ribbon Commi...
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