On May 24, 2018, Ann Carlson testified before the California State Legislature's Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policies. Carlson's testimony discussed how the committee might exercise oversight over the question of the potential overallocation of allowances in California's cap-and-trade program. Carlson identifies several goals of the cap-and-trade program and suggests that any solution to the overallocation problem may involve tradeoffs among these objectives.
This paper, the seventh paper in the Emmett Institute’s Pritzker Brief series, focuses on Assembly Bill 2516, an innovative new law that requires California to develop an online database of actions taken by state agencies and selected other entities to plan for sea level rise.
On April 25, 2018, Cara Horowitz, Nat Logar, & 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, submitted a comment letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with and on behalf of five electric grid experts: Benjamin F. Hobbs, Brendan Kirby, Kenneth J. Lutz, James D. McCalley, and Brian Parsons. The comment letter opposes EPA’s proposal to repeal the Clean Power Plan to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from existing fossil-fuel-fired electric generating units.
In 2013, University of California President Janet Napolitano announced one of the most ambitious environmental programs in the country, the Carbon Neutrality Initiative. The CNI sets a goal to reach net zero carbon emissions from the system’s 10 campuses by 2025.
California will need widespread consumer adoption of electric vehicles (EV) in order to achieve the state’s environmental and energy goals. But achieving these goals will require a significant boost to EV charging infrastructure, particularly in workplaces, multi-unit dwellings, and fast charge "plazas."
In California, surface water storage has become a hot topic. California's recent drought has fueled the discussion, with a number of agricultural interests forcefully arguing that the state needs to store more water. Their efforts have been successful, and California's water bond, Proposition 1, has earmarked $2.7 billion for the public benefits of storage projects.
On December 9, 2013, two Frank Wells Environmental Law Clinic students, Jaimini Parekh (J.D. 2015) and Thomas Oh (J.D. 2014), traveled to Washington, DC along with Emmett/Frankel Fellow Megan Herzog to speak on a panel at a briefing focused on the topic of plastic marine pollution. "Preventing Marine Plastic Pollution: Legal & Policy Briefing and Workshop," which was sponsored by the UN Environment Programme, U.S.
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.
Making existing buildings more energy efficient is one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce emissions and save building owners money. Fixes like improved lighting through LED fixtures and more efficient heating, ventilation and air conditioning can yield returns relatively quickly, despite higher upfront costs. Yet California's energy efficiency efforts to date have not kept pace with increasing demand, primarily because they rely largely on voluntary, consumer-financed programs.
People are exposed throughout their lifetimes to mixtures of chemicals and other agents; this may result from numerous exposure circumstances, including contaminated drinking water, polluted air, intake of pharmaceuticals, use of cosmetics and consumer products, occupational exposures, proximity to industrial facilities, and pesticide exposures. Conventional agriculture relies heavily on pesticides, often applied as mixtures of products. Each chemical in the mixture targets different soil pests, and co-application saves farmers time and fuel.