[Source: San Francisco Chronicle] California’s greenhouse gas emissions are falling faster than state leaders hoped when they launched their fight against climate change 12 years ago. But there’s a glaring exception. Emissions from transportation — cars, trucks, trains, planes and ships — keep rising. And since transportation accounts for more greenhouse gas emissions than any other Read More…
Newsroom
Brett Kavanaugh will mean challenging times for environmental laws
[Source: BuzzFeed News] In naming Brett Kavanaugh as his pick for the Supreme Court’s open seat, President Donald Trump is advancing a judge widely seen as unfriendly to environmental regulation. The seat opened in June with the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, providing an opportunity for Trump to tilt the court rightward for years to come. Kavanaugh, Read More…
California revives 100-percent carbon-free energy bill
[Source: Associated Press] California lawmakers on Tuesday revived a long-stalled proposal to set a goal of generating 100 percent of the state’s energy from carbon-free sources. With other controversial and high-stakes energy legislation also moving forward, California lawmakers face an array of decisions with vast implications for the Western energy grid, the future of renewable Read More…
The Energy 202: Kennedy’s retirement could bring a seismic shift to environmental law
[Source: The WashingtonPost/PowerPost] Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s announcement that he will soon step down from the Supreme Court sent shock waves through Washington on Wednesday. Should President Trump and Senate Republicans succeed in replacing the swing-vote jurist with a stalwart conservative, the ideological shift could bring seismic changes to federal environmental policy. As with so many other issues, Kennedy served as Read More…
Look in the mirror for climate change
[Source: Fox & Hounds/ Ronald Stein, P.E.] Until the first steam locomotives were invented in the early 19th Century, man could travel as far as he could walk or as far as his horse would take him. Life was dirty, smelly, difficult – and short. Life expectancy was short and human misery was assured. There Read More…
2 key environmental policies Scott Pruitt was dismantling this week amid his scandals
[Source: VOX] Video by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt made his staff run personal errands like fetching Greek yogurt and protein bars. He had his full-time security detail hunt for a Ritz-Carlton lotion. He had an aide ask for a used Trump hotel mattress. He tried to score a Chik-fil-A franchise for his wife. Read More…
Californians appear poised to reject measure controlling how climate change funds are spent
[Source: Los Angeles Times] Four statewide ballot propositions were passing in California on Tuesday, while an effort to control spending of funds collected through the state’s climate change program appeared headed toward a defeat. Proposition 70 would have required both houses of the Legislature, six years from now, to approve spending of cash collected from Read More…
NASA satellite helps collect 15 years of Southern California air pollution data
[Source: Melanie Turner/ California Air Resources Board, Office of Communications] A new scientific study using satellite technology provides clear evidence that California’s tough clean air programs are working to reduce emissions of fine particle pollution throughout the state. Scientists from Emory University, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Air Resources Board worked together to Read More…
Green jobs still a small fraction of the California economy
[Source: California Center for Jobs and the Economy] As part of its ongoing research and analysis of trends and policies affecting the California economy, the California Center for Jobs and the Economy issued a new report today assessing the extent to which the state has transitioned to a Green Economy and concluding that green job Read More…