Via CalMatters: California ranchers intentionally violated an emergency water order. Now lawmakers want to triple the fines

“The board doesn’t have the tools to act quickly,” said Michael Kiparsky, water program director at the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at UC Berkeley School of Law. “The fish don’t care if the lawyers are trying to figure out who’s right or wrong if they’re dead.”

https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/06/california-water-fines/

#LawFedi #EnvironmentalLaw #WaterLaw #California #LawSchool

#ClientEarth, an #EnvironmentalLaw organisation, filed the formal complaint on Thursday, accusing Cargill of inadequate monitoring and a laggard response to the decline of the #AmazonRainforest and other globally important biomes, such as the #CerradoSavannah and the #AtlanticForest.

#GrainTrader #Cargill faces legal challenge in #US over Brazilian #soya #SupplyChain | #Deforestation | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/04/cargill-faces-legal-challenge-us-over-brazilian-soya-supply-chain-deforestation

More than 5,000 tons of toxic chemicals released from consumer products every year inside homes and workplaces

“Although Prop 65 has reduced the public’s exposure to toxic chemicals both through litigation and by incentivizing companies to reformulate their products, people continue to be exposed to many unsafe chemicals,” says co-author Claudia Polsky, Director of the Environmental Law Clinic at UC Berkeley School of Law. “This study shows how much work remains for product manufacturers and regulators nationwide, because the products in CARB’s database are sold throughout the U.S.”

https://publichealth.berkeley.edu/news-media/research-highlights/more-than-5000-tons-of-toxic-chemicals-released-from-consumer-products-every-year/

#LawFedi #LawProfs #EnvironmentalLaw #UCBerkeley #PublicHealth

The lawsuit against the FAA over the SpaceX Texas launch facility is unlikely to go very far. For one, it's a suit against an administrative agency, so the standard to prevail is that the agency's decision-making process was "arbitrary and capricious." That is a very high standard for a plaintiff to meet. The FAA took a long time and had extensive public comment before making its decision.

🧵

#SpaceX #Starship #FAA #Lawsuit #EnvironmentalLaw

Unleash the deep sea robots? A quandary as EV makers hunt for metals

“Auto companies don’t want EV batteries associated with more destruction than they already have been,” said Ethan Elkind, director of the climate program at UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment. “There has already been a lot of negative publicity around the mining for these metals: human rights abuses, child labor, deaths from mines collapsing. You can imagine the risk with the deep sea. If ecological damage of these sensitive undersea areas comes to light after mining begins, they don’t want to be a part of it.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/04/05/deep-sea-mining-electric-vehicles/
Via @washingtonpost

#EnvironmentalLaw #climatechange #BerkeleyLaw #UCBerkeley #EV

🛡️Is protecting the environment just a right or a duty towards future generations?
👨‍🏫 Find out with Fabrizio Fracchia in part 2 of our #EnvironmentalLaw lecture series! ⚖️

🗓️ 6 April, 16:00–17:30 CET
Info & registration 👉 https://greendealnet.eu/node/189

#CorporateInterests #Watered #Down’ the Latest #IPCC #ClimateReport, Investigations Find. References to #FossilFuels and #MeatConsumption were #removed from the report summary, while language bolstering controversial #CarbonRemoval technologies were added. #censorship #Climate Crisis #GlobalHeating #EnvironmentalLaw #SaudiArabia #China and# India, for example, made repeated attempts to water down references to fossil fuels as the main cause of #GlobalWarming https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28032023/corporate-interests-watered-down-the-latest-ipcc-climate-report-investigations-find/

Could US Oil Companies Be Tried for ‘Climate Homicide’?
#ClimateChange #BigOil #Oil #EnvironmentalLaw #ExtremeWeather #ClimateHomicide #USOilCompanies
https://the-14.com/could-us-oil-companies-be-tried-for-climate-homicide/

Power Surge: Student-Led Group Helps Blaze a Trail for Sustainable, Equitable Energy Solutions

In just its second year, Clean Energy Leaders in Law brings together students with diverse interests in energy and environmental law and policy.

https://www.law.berkeley.edu/article/clean-energy-leaders-in-law-student-led-pro-bono-program-environment-sustainability/

#LawSchool #LawStudents #LawFedi #EnvironmentalLaw #EnergyLaw #UCBerkeley

Implications for #EnvironmentalLaw #HistoricPreservation #indiginouslandrights #lawfedi #climate

From: @TheConversationUS
https://newsie.social/@TheConversationUS/109835316959418883

RT @NoonanJoe
State broadcaster needs to show its workings on this big claim:

“Overall, it is expected that the bill will ensure better alignment with environmental and European obligations.”

#AccessToJustice #EnvironmentalLaw #BadPlanning https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2023/0126/1351996-draft-planning-development-bill/

Had one of those days today where I talked to several people who do amazing work in environmental law and suddenly realized: fuck, the world is literally being held together by a small and determined number of people trying to protect life on Earth from greed (corporate or otherwise), indifference, and people who just want to watch it all burn. I admire them and their work so much, but it also terrifies me.

#EnvironmentalLaw #environment

Anyone working in nature conservation in Europe: In your country, is there a central database of monitoring and distribution data on species and biotopes? We were discussing at work how useful it would be to have something like that for anything from biodiversity impact assessments to reporting under the Habitats Directive, but couldn't come up with a good example of such a database.

#EnvironmentalLaw #biodiversity #NatureConservation #monitoring #database

Trying to sneak "classic economics is lazy bullshit" into a thesis on legal protections for biodiversity without being too obvious... the problem is, I don't actually want discuss any of the arguments, I just want to say that it's stupid and lacks any basis in actual physical reality and move on to more interesting things.

#ThesisWriting #EnvironmentalLaw #biodiversity #economics

Good summary of the problems with the current CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) legal regime and possible court and administrative solutions.

Chris Elmendorf oped in @sfchronicle
#EnvironmentalLaw #California #housing #climatechange

https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/california-ceqa-environment-law-17713699.php

"You have to admire the climate advocates in Washington who get repeatedly smashed down but always get to their feet again to continue the fight."

– Prof. Dan Farber, Faculty Director for the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at Berkeley Law, on 30 Years of U.S. Climate Policy

https://legal-planet.org/2023/01/12/30-years-of-u-s-climate-policy/

#LawProfs #LawSchool #LawFedi #EnvironmentalLaw #ClimatePolicy #Climate #Law

Janki is one of those unique and brave people who take on giants like Exxon.

She wrote the environmental protection into Guyanese law yet somehow it was ignored when Exxon moved in with promises of untold riches (Guyana won’t get rich Exxon will).

#EnvironmentalLaw
#CarbonBomb
#Guyana
#Exxon

https://www.democracynow.org/2022/12/23/guyanas_carbon_bomb_exxonmobil

These California Environmental Laws Go into Effect in 2023 | Governing www.governing.com/next/these-california-environmental-laws-go-into-effect-in-2023

#legislation #California #ClimateChange #EnvironmentalLaw

Los Angeles Times reporter Sammy Roth interviewed Dan Selmi (an excellent #EnvironmentalLaw prof) about the #MineralKing lawsuit. Selmi highlights the crucial importance of #CitizenSuits for compelling government agencies to consider the environmental impacts of their actions.

“Public agencies now have to justify what they’ve done in much greater depth than they did before. It’s like night and day. They have to be concerned with the law.“

Protect #NEPA and #CEQA

https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2023-01-05/how-disneys-sierra-nevada-ski-resort-changed-environmentalism-forever-boiling-point

RT @NoonanJoe
"The environment cannot speak for itself and it can and may need to be represented by NGOs such as the applicant."
- Bolger J. at para. 82
Important judgment on planning law and enforcement.
#AccessToJustice #Bogs #EnvironmentalLaw #Proof #ExpertEvidence
https://www.courts.ie/acc/alfresco/057812ab-2549-4615-961f-bd862cb526e1/2023_IEHC_3.pdf/pdf#view=fitH