Legal Planet

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

As I did the last time Leiter posted these totals, I thought it might be helpful to our readers to have a list that is focused on US scholars who work substantially or primarily on environmental and energy law. I also differ from Leiter in including scholars who are currently in government service in my totals. Vandenbergh. Vanderbilt.

Law 299

Law 2021 2016 2020 299

Legal Planet

AUGUST 25, 2022

On Monday, I explained why this is an especially urgent time for new law students to be thinking about the climate crisis and how they can contribute as lawyers. If you do corporate work, you can focus on ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance). Land Use Law. Land use law also has important links to environmental law.

Law 246

Law Endangered Species Act Carbon Emissions Clean Energy 246

Legal Planet

OCTOBER 30, 2024

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act have resulted in historic levels of public investment to transform existing energy and transportation systems and lay the foundation for emerging climate technologies.

Clean Energy 242

Clean Energy Technology Technology Government 242

Legal Planet

MAY 19, 2023

Monterey County Oil Field (credit: Monterey County Weekly) For the first two decades of this century, and under the able leadership of former Chief Justices Ronald George and Tani Cantil-Sakauye, the California Supreme Court was quite active in interpreting and shaping California environmental law. Well, break’s over.

Law 264

Law Fossil Fuels Climate Change Regulations 264

Union of Concerned Scientists

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

In the wake of the BRICS Summit in South Africa, China’s recently-promulgated Foreign Affairs Law is worth a closer look. China’s new Foreign Affairs Law, which went into force on July 1 st , formalizes its foreign policy practice, codifying the goals, priorities and guiding principles of its engagement with the world.

Law 269

Law Government 2014 2021 269

Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 24, 2023

When diplomacy needs backup, countries turn to resolve their disputes at the ICJ, the United Nations’ principal judicial organ, to set the tone for international law. As an advisory body, the court provides legal opinions on international law questions. What is an advisory opinion?

Climate Change 286

Climate Change Law Paris Agreement Ocean 286

Legal Planet

MARCH 3, 2025

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.

Fossil Fuels 260

Fossil Fuels Climate Change Sea Level Coastal Erosion 260

Legal Planet

MAY 1, 2024

One new set of tools that legal experts are proposing we consider are those available under international criminal law. I was part of the UCLA Law student group, along with Hannah Reynolds (J.D. ‘26) 26) and Selina Novak (Doctoral Program in Law Exchange Student Researcher).

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Law Climate Change Deforestation 2016 264

Legal Planet

APRIL 14, 2025

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.

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Government Electricity Fossil Fuels 2019 217

Circle of Blue

OCTOBER 6, 2022

Coal mine cleanup law is still built for the industry’s roaring ’70s. So in August of 1977, when the nation’s coal mine cleanup law went into effect, it reflected the market’s optimism. To enforce cleanup, the law allowed states to revoke mining permits, a prized commodity. . In the eastern U.S., Photo © U.S.

Law 275

Law Fossil Fuels Politics Natural Resources 275

Legal Planet

NOVEMBER 12, 2024

Section 102(2)(C) requires the agency preparing an impact statement to obtain comments from any other agency that “has jurisdiction by law… with respect to any environmental impact involved.” Yet would anyone say that the government should therefore ignore the risk of a lab accident. It chose not to do so. Argument 3.

Air Pollution 246

Air Pollution Pollution Control Law Regulations 246

Law Columbia

MARCH 27, 2025

City of New York , plumbing and building trade groups challenged New York Citys Local Law 154 of 2021 , a piece of legislation that prohibits fossil fuel combustion in most new buildings. This blog post discusses Local Law 154, unpacks Judge Abrams decision, and ends with a refresher on California Restaurant Association v.

Law 59

Law Natural Gas Fossil Fuels Regulations 59

Legal Planet

APRIL 8, 2025

New methane satellites provide a powerful data capability for governments who want to demonstrate leadership in climate policy. open-source data platforms and international collaborations will be essential in making integrated satellite monitoring a truly global tool for environmental governance.

Carbon Dioxide 130

Carbon Dioxide Greenhouse Regulations Government 130

Union of Concerned Scientists

FEBRUARY 3, 2023

The EU battery law seeks to increase circularity through a plethora of measures that the US can replicate. The law also requires the increased sharing of information about the battery type and use, making repurposing and recycling more efficient. Essentially, it is decoupling economic activity from resource extraction.

Law 236

Law Recycling 2030 Regulations 236

Union of Concerned Scientists

JANUARY 14, 2025

Governments representing more than a quarter of the US population have filed lawsuits against major corporations including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, and BP, seeking justice for the harm caused by their lies about the dangers of their products. That intersection between science and law is what makes this work so fascinating and impactful.

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Fossil Fuels Climate Change Government Law 166

Legal Planet

NOVEMBER 4, 2024

These initiatives are designed to empower local governments and communities with the tools and funding necessary to build long-term climate resilience. However, an implementation gap remains between ICARP’s vision for a resilient California and the resources available to achieve the State’s priorities.

Sea Level 165

Sea Level Climate Change Government 2024 165

Enviromental Defense

FEBRUARY 20, 2025

Three years after Ontarios government committed to building more homes faster, the number of homes built in Ontario is dramatically down and government sources show that without radical change fewer than half of the 1.5 Why not just get government out of the way by cutting taxes, fees, and red-tape for all new housing?

Waste 142

Waste Government Law 2022 142

Enviromental Defense

NOVEMBER 13, 2024

million homes by 2031, governments need to eliminate minimum parking requirements, reform building codes and legalize six-storey apartments on the avenues and major streets in existing neighbourhoods throughout Ontario. To deliver 1.5 That is the takeaway from a new expert housing report, released today.

Government 145

Government Politics Law 145

Legal Planet

JANUARY 10, 2025

Is federal and California law preventing the amount of prescribed burns or vegetation management we need from occurring? This report (at page 13) notes that in 2017-18, California and the federal government conducted about 80,000 acres of prescribed burns in the state. Ill get into those points in more detail in some posts soon.

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2017 2018 2023 Law 246

Enviromental Defense

APRIL 23, 2025

Nearly 90 per cent of respondents want the federal government to get toxic chemicals out of products, while 86 per cent support federal action on plastic pollution. People in every part of the country recognize the threat that runaway use of unnecessary plastics poses to our health and the environment, and want our government to tackle it.

2025 105

2025 Government Regulations Environmental Protection 105

Union of Concerned Scientists

DECEMBER 30, 2024

Installations of commercial solarsystems on businesses, schools, and government buildings, for examplewere potentially 13% higher in 2024, per Wood Mackenzie. In this vein, 2024 included advances like Massachusettss new clean energy law , which will streamline equitable siting for clean energy projects.

Clean Energy 261

Clean Energy 2024 Wind Power Renewable Energy 261

Legal Planet

JANUARY 2, 2023

The prospect of climate interventions, particularly SAI, might offer large reductions in climate-change risks that are not possible through emissions cuts, adaptations, or atmospheric removals alone, but also raise serious new uncertainties, risks, and governance challenges. This may be on the cusp of changing, but it hasn’t yet.).

Cooling 364

Cooling Atmosphere Regulations Government 364

Legal Planet

MAY 16, 2023

In the past two years, however, the things have started trending upward after years of inaction by conservative governments. As in the US, Australia’s climate policy was long a victim of a lengthy period of divided government and political upheaval. As in the United States, state governments made some effort to pick up the slack.

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2030 Law 2007 2005 264

Law Columbia

FEBRUARY 18, 2025

The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School, together with New York Sea Grant, is pleased to announce a writing competition for law students interested in writing on legal and policy issues associated with marine carbon dioxide removal. Articles should be 15,000 words in length.

Carbon Dioxide 59

Carbon Dioxide Law 2025 Regulations 59

Enviromental Defense

DECEMBER 3, 2024

This law is a clear setback for open and accountable energy planning and will mean Ontarians are left in the dark about how critical decisions regarding our energy system are made. By concentrating this much power in the hands of one office, the province’s energy planning will happen in backrooms, likely to the benefit of government insiders.

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Nuclear Power 2017 Climate Change Law 119

Legal Planet

APRIL 14, 2025

As part of this process, the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment (CLEE) at UC Berkeley Law is leading the development of the San Francisco Bay Area Regional Report which will help guide climate adaptation and mitigation efforts throughout the region.

Climate Change 130

Climate Change Sea Level 2026 2025 130

Legal Planet

SEPTEMBER 3, 2024

It also wants to destroy environmental regulation, especially climate law. There’s no logical connection between a belief in authoritarian government, upholding traditional hierarchies, and views about protecting the environment or the reality of climate change. That’s not a coincidence. Other factors may also be relevant.

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Politics Paris Agreement 2025 Environmental Protection 59

Legal Planet

MARCH 13, 2025

But the federal government in the United States has failed to address it so far. Opponents will undoubtedly argue that such state-based initiatives conflict with federal law. Aviation is a significant and growing source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Clean Air Act 173

Clean Air Act Carbon Emissions Regulations Greenhouse 173

Circle of Blue

OCTOBER 26, 2021

In Pennsylvania, where the constitution already recognizes environmental rights, the state Supreme Court has used the provision to strike down parts of state law. The proposed amendment is a brief but powerful statement of principle, according to John Dernbach, a law professor at Widener University Commonwealth Law School.

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2021 Environmental Protection Law 2013 328

Enviromental Defense

APRIL 3, 2025

At its core, the ongoing Greenbelt scandal is about the government stripping away permanent protection from Greenbelt land at the request of sprawl developers, all while falsely representing the removals (and other opening of farmland, forests and wetlands to sprawl) as part of a strategy to increase housing supply.

Government 105

Government Law 105

Enviromental Defense

NOVEMBER 8, 2024

It’s the government’s job to protect us and the environment from harmful chemicals in plastic…and they need to get on it While the plastics industry claims its products are sanitary and safe, the truth is much more complicated. Governments around the world, including in Canada, are caught up in the powerful plastics industry.

Fossil Fuels 98

Fossil Fuels Environmental Protection Government Regulations 98

Legal Planet

NOVEMBER 11, 2024

In addition, the impact statement was governed by the 1970 version of NEPA and the 1978 White House NEPA regulations. It was a surprise that the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. The facts are quite unusual. Neither of those is in effect today. Thus, the relevance of any ruling to future agency actions is unclear.

Climate Change 279

Climate Change Environmental Protection Greenhouse Regulations 279

Union of Concerned Scientists

JULY 8, 2024

The principle states that, when the language of a law is ambiguous, experts at federal agencies can interpret it to create rules to implement and enforce the law. In SEC v Jarkesy, a 6-3 majority undermined federal agencies’ ability to enforce laws by issuing fines to individuals or organizations that break those laws.

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Law Air Pollution Climate Change Environmental Protection 336

Union of Concerned Scientists

FEBRUARY 29, 2024

Taken together, the need for governments to meaningfully regulate these super polluters has never been clearer. This guidance has been solicited from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), Interamerican Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), and International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Climate Change 247

Climate Change Fossil Fuels Law Government 247

Legal Planet

MARCH 16, 2023

A special focus of the Commission’s deliberations will be whether and to what extent California’s most important and overarching environmental law is impeding efforts by the Legislature and Governor Newsom to address the state’s chronic and well-documented housing crisis.

Politics 277

Politics Law Government Regulations 277

PA Environment Daily

FEBRUARY 28, 2025

The Department of Environmental Protection published notice in the March 1 PA Bulletin announcing that Impecca is prohibited from selling its products in Pennsylvania as a result of its violation of the state electronics waste recycling law. ( Read more here. Read more here.

Recycling 52

Recycling Waste Law 2025 52

Legal Planet

OCTOBER 21, 2024

UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy, & Environment (CLEE) is sponsoring a series of papers evaluating aspects of Project 2025, The Heritage Foundation publication, entitled “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise,” which has received attention in the Presidential election campaign.

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2025 Politics Natural Resources Climate Change 130