Articles on or after 4/9/2024: Legal Planet
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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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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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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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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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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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