Your Guide to Emerging Issues in Environmental Regulation and Litigation.
In 2015, California’s former governor Edmund Brown Jr. set methane emissions-reduction targets for the state. Senate Bill 1383 requires that California reduce organic waste disposal 75 percent by the year 2025. Although most Californians did not begin to understand what these targets meant, 2022 marked the beginning of new waste disposal requirements for many statewide. These requirements …
ELM readers may remember our October 6th post detailing a study that found gas flaring actually releases much more methane into the atmosphere than previously thought. The emission of methane gas, given it is a potent greenhouse gas, contributes significantly to global warming. Flaring is the process of burning excess natural gas at a well. …
Due to increasing droughts, wildfires, flooding, and more severe storms, most of the scientific community and political leaders around the world agree that climate change is a real and significant threat facing this planet requiring more action to be taken sooner rather than later to address. Those that share this assessment also agree that it …
Oil and gas manufacturers have long relied on a process known as “flaring” to limit the venting of natural gas from their refineries. Specifically, flaring is the process of burning natural gas escaping from oil and gas wells and aims at combusting the powerful greenhouse gas methane to minimize its emission. Flares are designed to eliminate 98% of the …
Despite California’s most recent, two-year legislative session ending on September 1 with a flurry of new bills aimed at fighting global warming getting passed, one noticeable bill failed to pass on the last day. Senator Scott Wiener’s S.B. 260, i.e., California’s Climate Corporate Accountability Act, died on the legislative floor by one vote. Co-authored by …
Faced with back-to-back years of unprecedented flooding, wildfires, and soaring temperatures, sixteen teens and children from Montana, ages 2-18, are suing their home state in what may precipitate the next wave of climate-change litigation. With favorable rulings from a state judge and the Montana Supreme Court, the children’s lawsuit is on track to become the …
President Biden is reportedly contemplating the declaration of a “national climate emergency” (NCE). According to his advisors, all options are on the table for the administration as it seeks to meet its ambitious climate goals. But what are these options, and what practical effect would they have? The most probable economic consequence of an NCE …
The Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment (CLEE) at Berkeley Law last month, in conjunction with the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA Law, issued Driving Equity, a new reportaimed at presenting important policy solutions to make California’s switch to electric vehicles more realistic for lower income citizens. Topping their …
In April, various California communities moved one step closer to holding energy companies liable for damage to public infrastructure allegedly caused by climate change. The communities claimed this damage occurred due to the companies’ use of and advocacy for fossil fuels despite the companies’ understanding of those fuels’ negative environmental impacts. Local governments argue that …
Federal appeals courts in Maryland and Colorado have sent lawsuits seeking to hold energy companies responsible for climate change back to state court even after the U.S. Supreme Court directed the Fourth Circuit to take a second look in the Maryland case. In Maryland, the City of Baltimore seeks millions of dollars in damages for, …