Legal Planet

OCTOBER 11, 2023

The California Legislature has enacted and Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed into law SB 389 , an important water law reform measure authored by State Senator Ben Allen. SB 389 is part of a broader initiative by the Legislature–and public interest groups–to reform and update California’s water laws.

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Legal Planet

APRIL 3, 2023

In preparing to teach a course on climate law, I was really struck by how broad and rich the field has become. Back in the day, it was nearly all international law, but nowadays there’s a huge amount of U.S. domestic law. and international law. and international law. Nuclear power regulation D. Here goes: I.

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Legal Planet

OCTOBER 26, 2023

In these “carbon intensity” calculations, CARB is not allowed to count reductions in greenhouse gas emissions that are already required by law. The absence of baseline regulation of dairy operations isn’t limited to greenhouse gas emissions. Timestamp at 2:05:10). Agricultural operations are almost uniquely unregulated.

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Legal Planet

DECEMBER 3, 2024

We had large waitlists from both law and college students. There have been over 80 Rights of Nature (RoN) laws passed across the U.S., In all, there have been over 500 RoN laws, cases, policies and declarations around the globe, and the numbers are increasing. One thing is for sure — there is huge student interest in the topic.

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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. This is going to be a growth area for law firms and correspondingly an attractive career path for new lawyers. Land Use Law.

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Legal Planet

MARCH 27, 2023

EPA isn’t a college and doesn’t regulate with the goal of increasing diversity. Under current law, if a regulation refers to race in any way, the government must show that the regulation is narrowly tailored to a compelling government interest. Download as PDF The post When Is It Legal to Consider Race in Regulating?

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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.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

SEPTEMBER 9, 2024

Interestingly and accurately, the OIRA started its report with the simple sentiment that public participation makes better regulations. Case law is interpreted such that agencies are required to provide information about whether and how they accepted or rejected public comments.

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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., In the eastern U.S.,

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Legal Planet

NOVEMBER 12, 2024

The argument is that the Board shouldn’t have to consider that because EPA has authority to regulate air pollution, not the Board. 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.”

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Legal Planet

JULY 25, 2022

Some of the findings are not surprises: stricter regulations actually do result in improved air quality. Many people identify that discipline with cost-benefit analysis and assume that economists are opposed to regulation. By and large, the papers support the utility of regulation. Others are more surprising.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

FEBRUARY 3, 2023

Included in the regulation are requirements for mineral sourcing, life cycle emissions, information sharing, and recycling. These regulations set a precedent for battery policy; an area where the US needs to do more. Why does the EU need new battery regulations?

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Union of Concerned Scientists

JULY 1, 2024

This decision , reached with a 6-3 majority led by Chief Justice John Roberts, marks a significant shift in administrative law and has profound implications for environmental regulations and climate accountability. the EPA or FDA), staffed with experts, to interpret and implement laws within their purview effectively.

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Legal Planet

APRIL 24, 2025

Following up on my prior post about the proposed changes to the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) regulations that protect against habitat modification, what might California do to protect the species within its border? Download as PDF

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Law Columbia

JANUARY 31, 2025

The Sabin Center has previously discussed the regulation of OAE here and here. A new Sabin Center report continues the conversation by focusing on the regulation of OAE in Washington State. OAE projects conducted in near-shore areas off the Washington coast may be subject to regulation at the federal, state, tribal and local levels.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

APRIL 21, 2023

Enacting strong regulations on chemicals by class , rather than individually, can help protect people and the environment from serious harm while still making sure that scientific integrity is upheld and the best available science guides the process. Fortunately, EPA has begun a slow pivot toward assessing multiple chemicals at once.

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PA Environment Daily

OCTOBER 29, 2024

The Environmental Quality Board is scheduled to meet on November 12 to consider a proposed regulation on notification of spills, corrections to Air Quality regulations on RACT requirements for nitrogen oxide and volatile organic compounds and final-omitted regulations on noncoal mine blasting.

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Law Columbia

APRIL 10, 2025

A new Sabin Center report explores the laws governing seaweed cultivation and sinking for CDR in Alaska. Seaweed cultivation and sinking are regulated by a number of different laws at the state and federal levels. The ADF&G regulates seaweed cultivation, providing aquatic farm operation permits.

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Environment + Energy Leader

MAY 5, 2022

New Jersey implements one of the toughest laws on tackling plastic and paper bags in retail settings. The post New Jersey Law Banning Plastic, Paper Bags Goes Into Effect appeared first on Environment + Energy Leader.

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PA Environment Daily

OCTOBER 12, 2024

Gene Yaw (R-Lycoming) announced plans to introduce legislation to prohibit municipalities from receiving Act 13 drilling impact fees if they set more protective standards on the development of natural gas than required in state or federal law and while a challenge to local restrictions is being litigated. Read more here. Read more here.

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Legal Planet

APRIL 8, 2025

To equip policymakers with necessary information on satellite methane data, UC Berkeley Laws Center for Law, Energy and the Environment (CLEE), the UCLA Law Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment are releasing a guide for policymakers, Hunting Methane Using Satellites.

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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.

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Law Columbia

APRIL 10, 2025

We are proud to welcome Andy Fitch, who joined the Sabin Center as a Climate Finance and Regulation Fellow in April 2025. His work covers intersections of ESG and antitrust law with sustainability and climate-resiliency goals. from Columbia Law School in 2024. He earned a J.D.

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Legal Planet

MARCH 13, 2025

Opponents will undoubtedly argue that such state-based initiatives conflict with federal law.

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SPR Law

FEBRUARY 12, 2025

On January 29, 2025, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) announced the release of Draft Amendments to the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) regulations, codified at 6 NYCRR Part 617, as well as accompanying proposed revisions to NYSDECs Short and Full Environmental Assessment Forms (EAFs).

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Union of Concerned Scientists

APRIL 8, 2025

5 years of stakeholder discussions The progress of SB 615 bill over the legislative session will determine if a comprehensive EV battery recycling policy will finally be made law in California. SB 615 is the culmination of stakeholder conversations that began in 2019 when the California Lithium-ion Battery Recycling Advisory Group first met.

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PA Environment Daily

NOVEMBER 25, 2024

These penalties are in addition to a $670,000 civil penalty DEP accessed against Shell Falcon Pipeline and its contractor Minnesota Limited LLC for violations of its permit and other laws and regulations that occurred in 2019 and 2020 during pipeline construction. Read more here. 1 Electricity Price Changes; Rates Will Vary From 8.4%

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PA Environment Daily

APRIL 1, 2025

DEP has told a series of agency advisory committees they do not plan to adopt new regulations incorporating the EPA rule because state regulations automatically adopt federal requirements. In addition to the model rule requirements, the GP requirements will also contain standard conditions regarding state specific regulations.

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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.

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Legal Planet

MARCH 28, 2025

One possibility is that NEPA serves as a back-stop for other environmental laws, filling in gaps they do not cover. While many environmental effects may already be considered and regulated under other statutes, there may be many other effects that are not considered under other statutes.

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Legal Planet

SEPTEMBER 17, 2023

California leads the nation once again, as we continue to wait for US federal financial regulators to require climate-related disclosures from corporations and financial institutions. Download as PDF

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Legal Planet

JANUARY 2, 2023

And in all likelihood, they are not breaking any current law or regulation. That the firm’s activity is probably not breaking any laws is closely related to its tiny scale. Launching weather balloons is a very lightly regulated activity, pursued by hobbyists and citizen scientists in many countries.

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Legal Planet

JUNE 26, 2023

One of the most important provisions, of the new NEPA law, § 107(f), allows the lead agency to delegate preparation of environmental reviews to project applicants. CEQ might best deal with these issues through by importing some of the requirements of subsection (G) into regulations implementing section 107(f). That seems ambiguous.

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Legal Planet

JULY 11, 2024

Thus, “the holdings of those cases that specific agency actions are lawful—in­cluding the Clean Air Act holding of Chevron itself—are still subject to statutory stare decisis [Latin for standing by past decisions] despite our change interpretive methodology.” What happens if a regulation that was upheld under Chevron is later amended?

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Legal Planet

AUGUST 31, 2023

That means a lot of energy law profs to teach them — many more than we have today. Law schools are waking up to the need to hire in the area. So if you’re thinking of law teaching, it could be worthwhile to dive into this field. About 10% were in the broad area of environmental law, but that was still only 11 people.

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Legal Planet

MAY 15, 2023

Although the Constitution does not say so directly, the Supreme Court has said there are implied limits on state regulations that interfere with interstate commerce. State clean energy laws have been bedeviled by challenges based on this doctrine. Part of Gorsuch’s opinion had five votes and therefore is clearly binding law.

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Legal Planet

JUNE 28, 2024

For example, there’s a current challenge to EPA’s waiver under the Clean Air Act for the Air Resources Board’s Advanced Clean Trucks regulations (ACT), which require that zero-emission trucks represent an increasing proportion of in-state heavy-duty truck sales. (A

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