Most recent 20 articles: Legal Planet
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Climate Action for Earth Day - Legal Planet (Apr 22) |
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Apr 22 · Don’t believe what you’ve heard. There is one single thing you can give up that will help address climate change: voter apathy.
One-third of eligible voters - 80 million Americans - did not vote in the presidential election last time around. Why not? Because they just “weren’t registered” or they “weren’t interested in politics,” according to this Ipsos survey. It’s so much worse for local elections. Turnout in 10 of America’s largest cities was less than 15%, according to the Who Votes for Mayor project. In Dallas, just 6% voted in recent local elections.
Earth Day is a perfect day to register to vote and to make sure people in your life are registered - and fully aware ... Read more ...
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Could Trump Cancel the IRA? - Legal Planet (Apr 22) |
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Apr 22 · The Inflation Reduction Act is Biden’s signature climate initiative. Trump has already called for repealing it, and so have some Republicans in Congress. Given the IRA’s huge cuts in carbon emissions, that would be a tragedy. Can he do that?
He would certainly face some very significant barriers. Trump would need Republican majorities in the Senate (very likely) and the House (less likely). When Trump was in office before, the Republicans found it difficult to pass legislation, and today’s GOP House can barely manage to function. Although they’ve expressed vociferous opposition to the IRA, it wouldn’t be at the top of their list of legislative priorities. And the IRA is ... Read more ...
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Filling in the Picture: The Latest From Kennedy about Climate - Legal Planet (Apr 16) |
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Apr 16 · I did a post on Thursday flagging some “unanswered questions” about RFK, Jr. and climate change. I had no intention of ever posting about his campaign again, let alone this soon. But by a wild coincidence, E&E News released a story the very next day about its interview with Kennedy that addressed those questions. Some of his answers may be what you expected. Others may surprise you, like his embrace of natural gas as a fuel and his reservations about regulating emissions.
Climate policy
Kennedy hadn’t previously said much policy approach to climate change during the campaign. The interview filled in some of the picture, although other points remain ... Read more ...
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Five Myths and Half-Truths About California Cap and Trade - Legal Planet (Apr 16) |
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Apr 16 · A key part of California’s climate policy has always been its cap and trade system. Because the regulations aren’t very transparent, there have been a lot of misconceptions about the system. I’ve been digging into the rules, the explanatory website set up by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), and secondary sources to try to figure some of these things out.
Despite complexities, the basic idea behind the trading system is simple. The state sets an annual cap on emissions, distributes allowances (permits to emit a ton of carbon), and then allows the recipients to trade those allowances amongst themselves. The idea is to allow the private market to figure out the cheapest ... Read more ...
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California Wins Major Clean Air Act/Climate Change Case in D.C. Circuit - Legal Planet (Apr 12) |
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Apr 12 · This week California and the Biden Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency won a critically-important environmental lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The case involves a constitutional challenge brought by a coalition of conservative (“red”) states to E.P.A.’s delegation of federal Clean Air Act (CAA) authority for California to adopt regulations limiting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from motor vehicles and mandating the state’s steady transition from sales of conventional cars and light trucks to electric vehicles.
The D.C. Circuit’s long-awaited decision is State of Ohio v. Environmental ... Read more ...
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Shanahan, Kennedy and Climate Change: Unanswered Questions - Legal Planet (Apr 11) |
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Apr 11 · In a flare-up between former allies last week, Rep. Ro Khanna, a progressive Democrat, asked Nicole Shanahan to think twice about continuing as RFK Jr.’s running mate. His argument was that the campaign could ultimately send Donald Trump back to the White House, risking the destruction of U.S. climate efforts.
The resulting public exchange is revealing about what motivates independent candidates like Shanahan. It also points to a conundrum for the Kennedy-Shanahan ticket: how to address concerns about the climate implications of another Trump Administration.
Khanna’s point was simple: Shanahan cares about climate change, but the RFK candidacy might help elect Trump, who ... Read more ...
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Power of the People: Environmental Advocacy in China - Legal Planet (Apr 10) |
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Apr 10 · China’s global rise has raised concerns about impacts on the environment in a bewilderingly wide range of issues. These include global climate change, deforestation, impacts on rare and endangered species, harm to fisheries, environmental impacts of overseas infrastructure, mining, and energy sector investments, to name just a few. Popular attention has often focused on Chinese government action (or lack thereof) and the behavior of Chinese companies “going out” into the world. What role are Chinese civil society organizations playing these days?
Chinese environmental groups had somewhat of a renaissance in the early 2000s, with groups such as Friends of Nature, Global Village ... Read more ...
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Not All Community Benefits Are Created Equal - Legal Planet (Apr 9) |
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Apr 9 · CLEE has just released a new report, Offshore Wind & Community Benefits Agreements in California: CBA Examples, detailing the CBA and other community provisions in California’s offshore wind leases, as well as examples of CBA precursors and models from other industries. Read it here.
As California offshore wind moves forward, there are opportunities for underserved, environmental justice, and tribal communities to secure benefits and community investment (if communities are interested in negotiating with developers). This is because California’s current offshore wind leases contain different types of community-beneficial measures, including Community Benefits Agreements, or ... Read more ...
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Climate Change and Nigeria - Legal Planet (Apr 8) |
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Apr 8 · By the time my youngest granddaughter is thirty, Nigeria will be the world’s third-largest country. It’s also one of the countries that’s least prepared to adapt to climate change, which will be much worse by then.
Nigeria’s population is expected to roughly double by 2050, to around 400 million. The population was previously expected to double again by 2100, but the current estimate is that it will reach “only” about 550 million. In the meantime, China’s population is expected to fall; as a result, Nigeria’s population will be about three-fourths that of China.
The Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative rankings show that Nigeria as the 17th most vulnerable ... Read more ...
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A Total Eclipse of the Heat - Legal Planet (Apr 7) |
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Apr 7 · Millions of Americans traveled this week to the path of totality to hunker down with loved ones and total strangers to gaze upwards at one of the most amazing astronomical events of our lives and share something like a transcendent, spiritual experience. I hope we can collectively reckon with another terrifyingly awesome atmospheric event: the hottest year.
Multiple relentless heat waves occurred in 2023, with much of the globe experiencing 20 more “heatwave days” than in the previous three decades. The annual-average temperature was 1.48 C above the pre-industrial average, just shy of the 1.5 target set by the Paris Agreement – and an astonishing 0.17 C hotter than the ... Read more ...
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No, EVs are Not Worse for the Planet - Legal Planet (Apr 5) |
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Apr 5 · If you have somehow managed to escape the frenzied political headlines about electric vehicles, first I envy you and second, I must regrettably inform you that the EV has become an acronym of partisan rancor on par with IVF, DEI, and CRT. There’s a lot of reasons for this electric car culture war: President Biden has made EVs central to his climate and economic policies. They intersect with labor politics and growing tensions with China. And cars remain a symbol of American freedom, so the idea of regulating them is an easy boogeyman for Republicans who want to exploit the rural-urban divide.
It’s tempting for climate policy people to just ignore the car culture war, ... Read more ...
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Ranking the Candidates’ Focus on Energy & Climate - Legal Planet (Apr 4) |
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Apr 4 · I thought it would be helpful to provide some kind of objective measure of how much various candidates focus on energy and climate. I based this on how extensively they discuss these issues on their websites. By this ranking, Biden came in first - surprisingly, ahead of progressives Jill Stein and Cornel West.
Also surprisingly, RFK Jr. and Jill Stein came in last in terms of focus on climate change. In fairness, Stein endorsed the general idea of a Green New Deal but provided little explanation. Kennedy’s environmental tab is fairly long, but says little about climate change. Still, neither one presented any sort of climate plan.
My measure is simple if maybe a little ... Read more ...
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The 'Year of Climate’ in International Courts - Legal Planet (Apr 2) |
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Apr 2 · “The Year of Climate in International Courts” by guest contributor Rebecca Hamilton was originally published on Just Security
This year promises to be the 'Year of Climate’ in international courts and tribunals with opinions slated to be coming down from the European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, and the International Court of Justice. The European Court of Human Rights will decide on three contentious cases brought by individual applicants, and the other three courts will issue advisory opinions at the request of different States. But all cases overlap to some degree on the question of ... Read more ...
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Ripped from the Headlines - Legal Planet (Apr 1) |
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Apr 1 · Here’s a selection of recent headlines, which I only wish I had made up for April Fool’s Day.
“Earth just had its hottest year ever recorded - by far.” - NBC
“Hurricanes are getting so intense, scientists propose a Category 6” - Washington Post
“Parts of Amazon rainforest could tip toward collapse by 2050, study warns.” – Washington Post
“Critical Atlantic Ocean current system is showing early signs of collapse, prompting warning from scientists.” –- CNN
“Scientists discover an alarming change in Antarctica’s past that could spell devastating future sea level rise.” - CNN
Those headlines look like they’re taken from a dystopian science ... Read more ...
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A Word on Congestion Pricing - Legal Planet (Mar 28) |
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Mar 28 · Yesterday, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority approved the city’s long-planned and hotly debated congestion pricing program, the first of its kind in the US. The program will involve a $15 toll for vehicles entering midtown or lower Manhattan, with discounts for some qualifying drivers and credits for bridge and tunnel tolls so drivers aren’t double-charged. It is expected to raise about $1 billion annually for transit and transportation investments.
The plan is already being challenged in court by the expected mix of outer-borough and neighboring state representatives who call the plan an unfair tax on commuters and right-wing groups that oppose regulation and ... Read more ...
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Election 2024: The Current Outlook - Legal Planet (Mar 28) |
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Mar 28 · Last November, it appeared that the Democrats had a small edge in terms of electoral votes. In congressional races, however, the Republicans had the edge in the Senate and perhaps the House. Since then, the electoral vote situation has become foggier, gerrymandering in North Carolina has given the Republicans a bit more of an advantage in the House, and the Senate has become an even tougher battle for the Democrats.
As I said in November, not being a political expert, I’m relying on two respected political website, Sabato and Cook . Here are the reasons for the shifts since then:
There are still a lot of unknowns in terms of the presidency and the House. The improving ... Read more ...
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Florida is a Climate-Denying Hellscape - Legal Planet (Mar 27) |
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Mar 27 · Take the latest, science-backed climate policies that are gaining traction in state houses around the country - and then do the exact opposite. That seems to be the Florida playbook for dealing with the climate crisis facing Floridians in the form of rising sea levels and deadly temperatures.
This legislative session, state lawmakers in the Sunshine State focused on erasing climate change from their laws, killing offshore wind, and banning local heat protection ordinances that are meant to keep people safe in the hottest state in the nation.
Last year, residents of Miami suffered through 46 straight days of the heat index topping 100 degrees while coastal waters rose to ... Read more ...
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New Bill Takes Up Local Oil Drilling Phase-Outs - Legal Planet (Mar 25) |
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Mar 25 · When the California Supreme Court ruled last August that Monterey County could not enforce its voter-approved ban on new oil and gas wells, lawyers for Chevron said the company was “pleased” to end the 7 years of litigation. Monterey County is home to the eighth-largest oil field in California, so there was plenty at stake on the face of the case. But this legal battle was about much more than the San Ardo Oil Field; it was the latest in a line of coordinated legal efforts to sow confusion and doubt about the scope of local power to limit oil and gas drilling in cities and counties throughout California.
Hopefully, Assembly Bill (AB) 3233––a new bill introduced last Friday by ... Read more ...
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Critical Insights on the Mineral Boom: Part III - Legal Planet (Mar 21) |
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Mar 21 · The topic of critical minerals and the energy transition is one of choices and priorities, at least according to author and journalist Ernest Scheyder, who spoke at the second panel in our recent “Powering the Future” symposium. This panel, Critical Minerals and Global Supply Chains, discussed some of the fundamental choices that governments, industry, and individuals have made and will make in the coming years to facilitate the energy transition. It also spoke to how we can––and must––navigate an uncertain future as we move from an extractive economy built on fossil fuels to a still-extractive economy built on lithium and other critical minerals.
It’s an issue that implicates ... Read more ...
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How Can Cities Deliver Equitable EV Charging to the Curbside and Public Right of Way? - Legal Planet (Mar 21) |
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Mar 21 · As California and other states transition to one hundred percent zero-emission new vehicle (ZEV) sales by 2035, local governments will play a crucial role in addressing inequities in the ZEV transition. Limited access to abundant and reliable charging equipment remains a key barrier to ZEV adoption for all, and city governments can lead efforts to broaden charger availability. Specifically, cities can help coordinate stakeholders, streamline permitting processes, and elevate innovative charging models that orient electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure toward equity-centered practices.
Curbside and public right-of-way (PROW) locations are a key venue for city governments to lead ... Read more ...
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