Amicus briefs submitted by UCLA Emmett Institute faculty on behalf of various clients.
Amicus Brief for Congressional Dems in State of Ohio et al. v. Environmental Protection Agency et al
January 20, 2023 | Cara Horowitz, Gabriel Greif, Daniel Carpenter-Gold
On January 20, 2023, faculty at the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit supporting the right of the Environmental Protection Agency to grant a long-held waiver to California to regulate vehicle emissions more stringently than the federal government. The brief was filed as part of the Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic on behalf of Congressional Democrats by Emmett Institute Executive Director Cara Horowitz along with Emmett/Frankel Fellow Gabriel Grief and Shapiro Fellow Daniel Carpenter-Gold. The amici members of Congress are Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del), chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-New Jersey), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The pair has chaired the two committees with jurisdiction over the Clean Air Act. View Publication page. Download PDF.
Amicus Brief for Local Governments in Chevron U.S.A. Inc v. County of Monterey
October 19, 2022 | Sean Hecht, Gabriel Greif
On October 19, 2022, as part of the Frank G. Wells Clinic in Environmental, clinic co-director Sean Hecht and Emmett/Frankel Fellow Gabriel Greif filed a brief in the California Supreme Court supporting local government authority to limit specific oil and gas extraction-related land uses. The people of the County of Monterey enacted a County General Plan provision, by voter initiative, limiting these land uses. Businesses engaged in oil extraction activities challenged the law, asserting that California state law preempts this local regulation. The Clinic’s brief argues that the law is valid, citing over a century of court decisions upholding local government regulation determining where and whether oil and gas operations may take place, in order to protect public health, safety, and welfare. The brief was filed on behalf of clients League of California Cities, California Association of Counties, and the County of Los Angeles. View publication page. Download PDF.
Amicus Brief for Law Professors in California Restaurant Association v. City of Berkeley
February 8, 2022 | Daniel Carpenter-Gold, Cara Horowitz, Julia Stein
On February 8, 2022, as part of the Frank G. Wells Clinic in Environmental Law, Daniel Carpenter-Gold, Cara Horowitz, and Julia Stein filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of seven law professors in the Ninth Circuit case California Restaurant Association v. City of Berkeley, in which the California Restaurant Association (CRA), an industry association, is challenging a Berkeley ordinance barring natural-gas piping in most new buildings on the ground that it is preempted by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA). The clinic’s clients are leading experts in energy and environmental law: William Boyd, UCLA; Dan Farber, UC Berkeley; Sharon Jacobs, University of Colorado Boulder; Jim Rossi, Vanderbilt; David Spence, UT Austin; Shelley Welton, University of South Carolina and UPenn; Hannah Wiseman, Penn State. The brief argues that state and local control over utility infrastructure siting is an important element of U.S. energy regulation and Congress showed no intent to eliminate that control in enacting EPCA. Consequently, EPCA does not preempt local ordinances like Berkeley’s. View publication page. Download PDF.
Amicus Brief for Grid Experts in West Virginia v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
January 25, 2022 | William Boyd, Cara Horowitz, Andria So
Emmett Institute faculty members William Boyd and Cara Horowitz and Emmett/Frankel Fellow Andria So submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in West Virginia v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the case challenging EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from certain power plants. The brief was submitted on behalf of U.S. electricity grid experts Benjamin F. Hobbs, Brendan Kirby, Kenneth J. Lutz, and James D. McCalley. The brief argues that effective power-sector pollution controls work with the distinctive characteristics of electricity and the interconnectedness of the regional grids; that power companies and grid operators have historically responded to air pollution controls by shifting to lower-emitting generators; and that CO2 pollution control measures are incorporated easily into power-sector operations. View publication page. Download PDF.
Amicus Brief on Behalf of Thomas Jorling in West Virginia v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
January 25, 2021 | Ted Lamm (Berkeley Law), Sean Hecht
In an amicus brief filed to the U.S. Supreme Court in West Virginia v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Sean Hecht and Berkeley Law's Ted Lamm argue Congress wrote the Clean Air Act to achieve an ambitious but clearly stated goal—promotion of public health and welfare through the protection of air quality—and it empowered EPA to achieve this goal by crafting and enforcing a set of emission reduction standards covering all major sources and types of air pollution. Congress did not limit standards in Section 111 of the Act to those that can be applied “to and at” individual sources. Their client, Tom Jorling, served as lead minority (Republican) staff on the Senate committee that drafted and negotiated the pivotal 1970 amendments that form today’s law, and wrote the first definitive treatise explaining the Clean Air Act’s provisions in the early 1970s. Subsequently, Jorling implemented the Act in high-level positions in federal and state government and the private sector throughout his long career. View the publication page. Download PDF.
Amicus Curiae Letter for League of California Cities and California Association of Counties in Chevron v. Monterey County
Sean Hecht | December 17, 2021
On December 17, 2021, Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic Co-Director Sean Hecht submitted an amicus curiae letter in support of petition to review to the Supreme Court of California in Chevron v. Monterey County. The brief was submitted on behalf of clients the League of California Cities and the California Association of Counties. The case centers on a Monterey County voter initiative, Measure Z, that changed the Monterey County General Plan to limit or forbid certain land uses supporting oil and gas drilling. The brief argues a Sixth District Court of Appeal’s opinion in the case adopted a novel analysis that could unduly limit the core police power authority of cities and counties to protect public health and safety through well-established land use controls. The brief urges the California Supreme Court to review the opinion, arguing the Sixth District’s opinion calls into question local governments’ longstanding authority to regulate where oil and gas drilling can take place within their jurisdictions, and would invite other intrusions into core police powers of cities and counties. (Note: On January 26, 2022, the Supreme Court of California granted the petition to review). View publication page. Download PDF.
Amicus Brief for Members of Congress in Competitive Enterprise Institute, et al. v. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), et al.
January 21, 2021 | Cara Horowitz, Julia Stein, Benjamin Harris, Beth Kent, Siyi Shen
UCLA Emmett Institute faculty members Cara Horowitz, Julia Stein, Benjamin Harris, Beth Kent and Siyi Shen submitted an amicus brief on January 21, 2021, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit challenging the Trump administration’s rollback of federal vehicle pollution and fuel economy standards. The brief was filed on behalf of Sen. Tom Carper, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. View Publication Page. Download PDF. Read U.S. House Committee on Energy & Commerce Press Release. Read UCLA Newsroom Q&A with Cara Horowitz.
Amicus Brief in Defense of Clean Air in Imperial County, California
August 24, 2020 | Sean Hecht, Charles Corbett
On August 24, 2020, UCLA Law faculty members Sean B. Hecht and Charles R. Corbett filed an amicus brief for the Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic in a case before the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (Case No. 20-71196) concerning the regulation of air pollution in Imperial Valley, California. The brief was filed on behalf of Comité Civico del Valle, an environmental justice and public health organization that advocates for better pollution controls in Imperial County. View publication page. Download PDF.
Amicus Brief on Trump Administration’s Attempt to Revoke California’s Clean Car Standards
July 6, 2020 | Cara Horowitz, Julia Stein, Benjamin Harris, Ann Carlson
On behalf of 29 U.S. Senators and 118 U.S. Representatives, the Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic filed an amicus brief on July 6, 2020, in a D.C. Circuit case challenging the Trump administration's attempt to revoke California's clean car standards. View publication page. Download PDF.
Amicus Brief for National Parks Conservation Association and the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks in Union of Concerned Scientists, et al. v. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
July 1, 2020 | Sean Hecht, Ted Lamm
On July 1, 2020, Sean Hecht and Ted Lamm of Berkeley Law filed a brief on behalf of the National Parks Conservation Association and the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks in Union of Concerned Scientists, et al. v. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The authors show that climate change- and air pollution-related harms occurring in California's National Parks provide direct evidence of the compelling and extraordinary conditions that justify California’s vehicle emissions program. View publication page. Download PDF.
Amicus Brief for Grid Experts in American Lung Association v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
April 23, 2020 | William Boyd, Ann Carlson, Charles Corbett, Cara Horowitz
On April 23, 2020, Emmett Institute faculty members Cara Horowitz, William Boyd, Ann Carlson, and Charles Corbett submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in American Lung Association v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the case challenging the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) Rule and the repeal of the Clean Power Plan. View publication page. Download PDF.
Amicus Brief on Behalf of Thomas Jorling in American Lung Association v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
April 20, 2020 | Ted Lamm, Sean Hecht
In an amicus brief filed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in American Lung Association v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Sean Hecht and Berkeley Law's Ted Lamm argue the Affordable Clean Energy Rule is directly opposed to what Congress intended, and said, when it crafted the Clean Air Act. Their client, Tom Jorling, is a renowned Clean Air Act expert who served as a staffer on the Senate committee that drafted and negotiated the pivotal 1970 amendments that form today’s law. View publication page. Download PDF.
Amicus Brief to Court of Appeal of the State of California in World Logistics Center Case
December 26, 2019 | Cara Horowitz, Julia Stein
On December 26, 2019, Cara Horowitz and Julia Stein, counsel for amici California CEQA and climate policy experts, filed an amicus brief to the Court of Appeal of the State of California in a case concerning the World Logistics Center, a proposed 40 million square foot warehouse development in Moreno Valley, CA, that is estimated to draw 70,000 truck trips per day at full buildout. View publication page. Download PDF.
Amicus Brief in Court of Appeal of the State of California, Sixth Appellate District in Chevron v. County of Monterey
August 9, 2019 | Sean Hecht, Benjamin Harris
On August 9, 2019, Sean Hecht and Benjamin Harris of UCLA Law School’s Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic filed an amici curiae brief on behalf of the League of California Cities and California State Association of Counties in Chevron v. County of Monterey. View publication page. Download PDF.
Amicus Brief for Scientists in Weyerhaeuser Company v. United States Fish and Wildlife Service, et al.
July 5, 2018 | Sean Hecht
On July 5, 2018, students and faculty in the UCLA Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of a group of world-class scientists including E.O. Wilson, Stuart Pimm, and UCLA's Brad Shaffer. Sean Hecht authored the brief with assistance from students Jen Garlock '19 and Heejin Hwang '19. The brief argued the Court and federal agencies should employ a scientific understanding of habitat, not a dictionary definition that would inadequately protect species, to implement the Endangered Species Act in the way Congress intended. View publication page. Download PDF.
Amicus Brief for Grid Experts in Support of EPA's Clean Power Plan
April 1, 2016 | Megan Herzog, Cara Horowitz, Sarah Duffy, Ann Carlson, William Boyd
On April 1, 2016, Megan Herzog, Cara Horowitz, Sarah Duffy, & Ann Carlson of UCLA Law School’s Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, together with William Boyd of University of Colorado Law School, filed an amici curiae brief on behalf of five electric grid experts: Benjamin F. Hobbs, Brendan Kirby, Kenneth J. Lutz, James D. McCalley, and Brian Parsons in support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s "Clean Power Plan" to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from existing fossil-fuel-fired electric generating units. View publication page. Download PDF.
