Legal Planet

MARCH 7, 2024

It’s all very well to complain about how badly a law was written. But it’s still the law, and we need to know what it means — “we” meaning judges, federal agencies, private firms, environmental groups, and affected communities. There are only a few real breaks with existing law. Download as PDF

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Legal Planet

JANUARY 3, 2024

It seems likely that the conservative majority of the justices will erode or, perhaps, dramatically jettison longstanding principles of environmental law and policy in the coming months. In Sheetz , the landowner argues that the doctrine should be expanded to quasi-legislative fees like the one assessed against him.

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Legal Planet

DECEMBER 18, 2023

We saw rapid implementation of landmark federal climate laws, a series of big actions on methane emissions , a deal on Colorado River water usage, and bigger-than-expected climate victories in Sacramento. Federal courts have thus far upheld the administration’s decision in the face of challenges. climate movement.

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Legal Planet

JANUARY 3, 2023

A ruling in this case , now back in the Supreme Court a second time, could slash federal protection of wetlands and small streams, especially in the West. The case involves a California law prohibiting sale of pork produced from pigs that were not humanely raised. Biden has now proposed imposing similar rules on federal contractors.

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Circle of Blue

FEBRUARY 13, 2023

Water is poised for prominence this year in state law and policy. So it is with bulging pockets that state lawmakers return to their capitals for new legislative sessions. One reason state budgets are strong is the effect of federal assistance. And billions more are yet to come from federal climate and infrastructure packages.

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Politics Carbon Emissions Law Conservation 312

Legal Planet

JANUARY 29, 2024

It turns out that I missed some, as I discovered when working on the new edition of my environmental law casebook. They really aren’t all that subtle, and it’s hard to see how they got through the legislative process without anyone noticing. Prior law simply said “alternatives.”] Subsection F. Here’s the problem.

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Legal Planet

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

The federal government is now supporting that role with federal funding for states. The first of these developments is federal support for states. On the East Coast, Massachusetts’s GOP governor, Charlie Baker, approved sweeping climate legislation that will help the state meet its net zero by 2050 target. climate policy.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

APRIL 24, 2023

The US federal government is, once again, about to reach the limit on our national debt. On Wednesday last week, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy released draft legislation that would raise the debt limit, but also make a variety of other sweeping changes to current law. 1 would increase federal spending by $430 million by 2033.

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Enviromental Defense

MARCH 21, 2024

The federal withdrawal takes place within Ontario’s ongoing case against the designation. Ontario cannot go ahead with the project without seeking other federal approvals for harm to federally protected wildlife. The federal government should commit to re-designating Highway 413 under the new Act.

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Legal Planet

FEBRUARY 19, 2024

On the domestic front, the head of EPA managed to maneuver the Administration into endorsing federal authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. When he took office, there were high hopes that Congress would pass climate legislation. Barack Obama’s embrace of climate action.

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Legal Planet

DECEMBER 11, 2023

After a landmark 2022—a record $54 billion committed to climate spending and legislation that codified the state’s goals of carbon neutrality by 2045 and 90 percent clean electricity by 2035—a significantly gloomier budget forecast gave rise to fears that California’s climate programs would take a hit.

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Legal Planet

OCTOBER 18, 2022

The Clean Water Act (CWA), one of the nation’s most important environmental laws, is 50 years old today. It’s proven to be one of the most successful of America’s bedrock federal environmental statutes. Another key element of the CWA was its incorporation of “environmental federalism” principles.

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Legal Planet

APRIL 17, 2023

But whether the law will be reversed before it can get going is not one of those questions. That’s the most basic takeaway from the April 12 policy symposium convened by the UCLA Emmett Institute about the new federal laws to address climate change. Zolt Chair in Tax Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

JUNE 26, 2023

Although both sides of the aisle in Congress are now interested in legislation to reform the grid permitting process, their definitions of permitting “reform” vary widely, and some of those definitions would entail unacceptable tradeoffs. Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) $2.5

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Union of Concerned Scientists

JULY 25, 2023

Congress can make scientific integrity policies enforceable Political appointees, senior officials, and other high-level personnel have a long history of violating scientific integrity at federal agencies, which makes the passage of a congressional bill to protect scientific integrity all the more pressing.

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Inside Climate News

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

As many as 2 million children attend elementary schools near farms where pesticides are likely applied, as federal legislators aim to gut state and local health protections.

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Legal Planet

APRIL 12, 2024

’s delegation of federal Clean Air Act (CAA) authority for California to adopt regulations limiting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from motor vehicles and mandating the state’s steady transition from sales of conventional cars and light trucks to electric vehicles. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

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Legal Planet

DECEMBER 29, 2022

The Democrats lost control of Congress, eliminating the chances for significant climate/energy legislation in the next two years. The Supreme Court heard the Sackler case, which will have a huge impact on federal regulation of wetlands. The oral argument suggested that the Justices were looking for a middle ground.

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Legal Planet

MARCH 6, 2023

Within the US, Congress would enact legislation cutting carbon emissions. California passed ambitious climate legislation without waiting for the federal government. And near the end of Bush’s term, the Supreme Court ruled that EPA had the power to regulate greenhouse gases under a 1970 air pollution law.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

JANUARY 16, 2024

State legislatures have used their baseless allegations as a rationale for passing laws that restrict voting rights. That’s more than in any other year this past decade besides 2021, when legislators passed more than 30 restrictive laws. Many states passing new restrictive laws are the places where it is already hard to vote.”

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Union of Concerned Scientists

DECEMBER 14, 2023

On our side of the pond, California lawmakers leapfrogged the federal government in September by passing two bills mandating corporate disclosure in their state. Gavin Newsom quickly signed the bills into law, and companies will begin reporting in 2026. In addition, the new laws are now facing a legal backlash.

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Legal Planet

MARCH 21, 2024

The standard does not mimic previous legislation rejected by Congress. Third, the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Law both include billions of dollars relating to electric vehicles. EPA has decades of experience and expertise regarding vehicle technology. The rule is not unprecedented.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

MAY 31, 2022

On the last day of the 2022 Minnesota legislative session, state legislators had a real case of the Mondays: They failed to deliver on climate and energy policies that would have accelerated renewable energy enough to forge a clear path to carbon-free electricity and set the state on track to meet science-based emission reduction targets.

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Legal Planet

NOVEMBER 8, 2021

Late Friday, the House passed Biden’s infrastructure bill, the Build Back Better law. As the Washington Post aptly observed, the bill is the biggest climate legislation to ever move through Congress. The law also addresses a big bottleneck in the energy system: lack of adequate long-distance transmission capacity.

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NRDC

APRIL 28, 2023

Senators Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NV) and Jim Risch (R-ID) have introduced legislation that makes it easier for mining companies and others to acquire rights to federal land and to be able to use them as dumping grounds and worse.

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Law 124

Legal Planet

NOVEMBER 21, 2021

Juliana was a valiant effort by a group of young people to force the federal government to plan for stringent reductions in U.S. law over past decades, some of the basic foundations they needed weren’t there or were very shaky. Lack of legislated support. There is also no legislation in the U.S. carbon emissions.

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Legal Planet

OCTOBER 10, 2022

Supreme Court will hear arguments in an animal welfare case from California that could have profound, negative impacts on a host of the Golden State’s environmental laws and policies. Specifically, the trade groups claim that the California law violates so-called “dormant” Commerce Clause principles. Constitution.

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Legal Planet

JANUARY 24, 2024

Donald Trump could “F” the federal government. Far-right policy strategists are laying plans, largely endorsed by the Trump campaign, for getting rid of federal government workers who might otherwise stand in the way of a radical deregulation agenda. Trump did it once before. People will lose their jobs,” Kevin D.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

OCTOBER 6, 2022

Congress shares power with federal agencies. When Congress passes a law, it normally delegates to the relevant federal agency (or agencies) the responsibility of writing regulations to implement that law. What the executive and legislative branches can do. West Virginia v. EPA upends this arrangement.

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Clean Air Act Regulations Politics Law 240

Legal Planet

APRIL 25, 2022

But it deserves to be remembered as a milestone in federal policy. On April 20, 1832, Andrew Jackson signed legislation to set the springs and surrounding mountains from development. That ruling cleared the way for active federal management of the land by the Interior Department. 698 (1875). The land is now a National Park.

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Law Government Conservation 244

Energy and Climate Law

NOVEMBER 13, 2020

The German Federal Constitutional Court decided yesterday that the way in which compensation under the Atomic Energy Amendment Act of 10 July 2018 has been organized infringes the German constitution. Vattenfall viewed this as expropriation and, together with other companies, took its case to the German Federal Constitutional Court.

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PA Environment Daily

APRIL 22, 2024

This situation underscores the urgent need for legislative action to protect both utilities and consumers from undue financial strain. The PUC stands ready to work collaboratively with federal lawmakers and stakeholders to enact meaningful legislation that addresses this pressing issue.

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Legal Planet

MARCH 19, 2023

Remarkably, however, and despite the fact that the federal government negotiated two important 19th century treaties with the Navajo Nation, the U.S. government has never seen fit to expressly provide federal water rights to the Nation to make its expansive reservation fully habitable. Navajo Nation and U.S. Navajo Nation.

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Enviromental Defense

APRIL 15, 2024

Problems with the current Impact Assessment Act always meant the current assessment designation of Highway 413 would eventually need to be discontinued and re-instituted under an updated version of the law.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

AUGUST 24, 2023

A reporter recently asked me what the next big piece of climate legislation would ideally include. Didn’t Congress just pass some climate legislation? 10 things on our climate legislation wish list A different–and more bipartisan–process and a different focus. Great question, right?

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Legal Planet

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

We convened legislative leaders, agency leaders and financial experts to share the recommendation and further refine it. We then drafted state legislation to require disclosure of climate change-related financial risks, which was introduced by California State Senator Henry Stern as SB 449 (Stern) in the 2021-2022 session.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

NOVEMBER 27, 2023

Michigan legislators recently passed a series of energy-related bills that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is expected to sign into law tomorrow. That criteria should be applied to other significant utility filings, including rate cases, but they were scaled back in the final legislation.

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