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US States and Communities are Suing the Fossil Fuel Industry: Six Things You Need to Know 

Union of Concerned Scientists

In an important win for climate accountability in the United States, the US Supreme Court decided that lawsuits filed in Colorado, Maryland, California, Hawai’i, and Rhode Island against fossil fuel companies including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, Suncor, and others will remain in state courts.

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Making Polluters Pay for Climate Consequences

Legal Planet

These bills are designed to function similarly to the federal Superfund law, which allows the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to seek funds retroactively from polluters to clean up contaminated sites. The state is currently in the process of creating the framework and methodology for implementing this new law.

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Ask A Scientist: How Can Scientists Drive Change Through Climate Lawsuits? 

Union of Concerned Scientists

As the climate crisis deepens, so does the urgency to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for decades of deception. As the fossil fuel industry spares no expense to obscure these truths, the work of scientists who engage with climate litigation is increasingly vital. Who did you look to for guidance and to learn from?

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Five Grid Plans to Cut Fossil Fuel Dependence

Union of Concerned Scientists

Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy from wind and solar will depend on upgrading the electric power grid, which is currently plagued by planning delays and gridlock. The 2021 law allows, but does not require, PJM to plan ahead because various fossil fuel plants must reduce and then cease emissions by a specific date.

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A New Energy Project at UCLA Law

Legal Planet

Ruthie Lazenby, a UCLA Law fellow and Legal Planet blogger who is currently writing a series on community solar , is also contributing to E-CELL. I’m excited to work alongside Emmett Institute faculty like William Boyd, faculty co-director and Michael J.

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Fossil Fuels vs. Renewables: A Price on Reliability?

Union of Concerned Scientists

Utility companies, as well as state and federal government regulatory agencies, made a series of questionable decisions that together created the situation we find ourselves in today. The same scenario has played out with the power plants that use fossil fuels, predominantly methane (“natural”) gas, delivered by pipelines.

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Wildfire Liability in California: A Primer 

Legal Planet

It makes utilities, like state government, liable for taking or damaging private property. If youre wondering about the terminology, condemnation takes place where the government sures to take property; inverse condemnation is when landowners sue because the government has already taken the property.