[Source: The Sacramento Bee] California and like-minded states are girding for a legal battle with the Trump administration on whether those states have gone too far in controlling greenhouse gases from automobiles, a prospective case that legal scholars say — barring a last-minute settlement — is sure to reach the U.S. Supreme Court. The Environmental Read More…
Newsroom
County supervisors place parcel tax for stormwater cleanup on November ballot
[Source: Los Angeles Business Journal] The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on July 17 voted to place a parcel tax on the November ballot to raise a projected $300 million a year to reduce runoff of polluted stormwater. The 4-1 vote puts on the ballot the Safe Clean Water Program, which imposes a 2.5-cent Read More…
California is cutting greenhouse gases, but not from cars. Can that change?
[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…
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…