The U.S. Supreme Court is deciding whether EPA permissibly determined that regulation of GHGs from motor vehicles triggered permitting requirements for GHG-emitting stationary sources. In this featured article from the ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources' "Trends" Newsletter (Vol. 45, No. 4), Ann Carlson and Megan Herzog discuss the question currently before the Supreme Court and the potential impact of the decision.
Single-use plastics have infiltrated our daily diets—contaminating our drinking water and table salt—and have polluted our roads and waterways. Moreover, single-use plastics are created from oil and gas; the creation, slow breakdown, and incineration of plastics all contribute to climate change.
California has set laudable goals for ensuring that all residents have access to clean, affordable drinking water. Though the state has taken steps toward achieving these goals, they remain largely aspirational for many communities, particularly those that depend on small water systems in Los Angeles County and throughout California.
Senate Bill 100 (de Leon, 2018) requires California's major utilities to obtain 60 percent of their electric power from renewable sources by 2030 and 100 percent from carbon-free sources by 2045. California has met and exceeded its renewable energy targets to date, with over one-third of the utilities' electricity coming from renewable sources.
On October 29, 2018, Emmett Institute faculty submitted a comment letter with and on behalf of a group of nationally renowned experts on the operations of the U.S. electric grids, in response to the recent proposal by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to promulgate the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) Rule in place of the Clean Power Plan (CPP). The authors write in firm opposition to EPA’s ACE proposal. The authors argue the ACE Rule reflects an artificially constrained approach to regulating CO2 emissions from power plants, one that fights against the operations of the U.S.
On October 29, 2018, Emmett Institute faculty submitted a comment letter in support of California Air Resources Board’s proposed Tropical Forest Standard. The authors conclude that approving the standard presents an opportunity for CARB to lead the world in tropical forest protection and conservation. Tropical forest protection is an indispensable strategy for fighting climate change, protecting public health, preserving biodiversity, and protecting and enhancing the livelihoods of forest-dependent peoples.
On October 25, 2018, Emmett Institute faculty members Julia Stein, Ann Carlson, Cara Horowitz, Sean Hecht, and Meredith Hankins submitted comments on the proposed Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule for Model Years 2012-2026 Passenger Cars and Light Trucks.
On behalf of 68 environmental and administrative law professors affiliated with 47 universities around the country, UCLA Emmett Institute faculty members Sean Hecht and Julia Stein filed a comment letter urging EPA's Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler to withdraw the "Strengthening Transparency in Science" proposed rule.
To address the challenges and policy solutions to achieve zero-emission freight at the Southern California ports, UCLA Law’s Emmett Institute on Climate and Environment and Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment (CLEE) hosted a conference at UCLA on June 8, 2018, Toward Zero-Emission Freight at Southern California’s Ports, sponsored by Bank of America. The speakers included leading representatives from vehicle manufacturers, the ports, state and local government, nonprofit advocates, and community groups.
California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) is an ambitious, innovative, and controversial policy that controls greenhouse-gas emissions associated with transport fuels – a large emissions source mostly neglected by prior climate policies, with unique technical challenges of uncertainty, long time-horizons, and network effects, that hinder its response to economy-wide emissions-pricing policies. The LCFS was introduced in 2011 as one measure to pursue the goal of California's landmark 2006 climate law, returning emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.