Your Guide to Emerging Issues in Environmental Regulation and Litigation.
In 2023, the California State Assembly approved two bills – SB 253 and SB 261 – as part of the state legislature’s climate accountability package. SB 253 mandates that public and private companies doing business in California with annual gross revenues above $1 billion disclose their greenhouse gas emissions, and SB 261 requires that companies …
On August 13, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California denied the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s motion for a preliminary injunction seeking to halt enforcement of SB 253 and SB 261, requiring disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related financial risks, respectively. SB 253 requires business entities — formed under the laws …
Earlier this summer, as part of the state’s annual budget deal, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation that alters how the existing California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) would apply to certain housing development projects in the Golden State. A landmark law signed in 1970 by then-governor Ronald Reagan, the CEQA was intended to reduce environmental …
California – as part of effort to reduce the environmental impact of maritime shipping, particularly within vulnerable port-side communities – has implemented one of the most ambitious port-emission control programs to date. California’s At-Berth Regulation (ABR), implemented in 2007, is a key environmental policy created to reduce air pollution from nonvehicular sources. Since 2014, the …
Our blog has reported previously on California PFAS regulations, including its watershed laws with novel definitions of PFAS and the noted problems with the total organic fluorine testing method. (Prior CA blog posts on PFAS). We have also written on California’s PFAS ban in many children’s products and in disposable food packaging (here), California’s requirements on …
California’s Air Resources Board (CARB) on Jan. 13 sent a letter to withdraw its request to the Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to Sections 209(b) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) for a federal waiver that would require commercial truckers to switch to using zero-emissions vehicles in accordance with the CARB’s Advanced Clean Fleets regulation (ACF). …
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Jan. 12 issued an executive order in response to the devastating wildfires, suspending environmental reviews required under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and permitting requirements under the California Coastal Act. CEQA requires for any “public project” — defined broadly as an action requiring a “public agency’s discretionary funding or …
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on October 14 signed into law Assembly Bill X2-1, significantly increasing the authority of the California Energy Commission (CEC) to create requirements for the state’s oil refiners to preserve minimum inventories of state-compliant refined transportation fuels. Authored by assemblymembers Gregg Hart and Cecilia Aguiar-Curry in conjunction with Sen. Nancy Skinner, the …
The ELM blog has covered several lawsuits filed over the past several years against major fossil fuel companies by plaintiffs seeking damages due to climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions. The claims in these lawsuits have been based on not only common law principles such as public nuisance, but also state laws, including California’s …
In an update to the Environmental Law Monitor’s continuing coverage of California’s historic climate disclosure laws, California State Sen. Scott Weiner put forth on August 13 proposals to Senate Bill 219 that would delay the effective date of the Golden State’s 2023 emissions and climate-related financial risk corporate disclosure laws. As our readers may remember, …