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Full-Text Articles in Law
State Sequestration: Federal Policy Accelerates Carbon Storage, But Leaves Full Climate, Equity Protections To States, Gabriel Pacyniak
State Sequestration: Federal Policy Accelerates Carbon Storage, But Leaves Full Climate, Equity Protections To States, Gabriel Pacyniak
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—the UN’s expert science panel—has found that limiting climate change to prevent catastrophic harms will require at least some use of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) unless the world rapidly shifts away from fossil fuels and reduces energy demand. There is significant uncertainty, however, about the level of lifecycle GHG reductions achievable in practice from varying CCS applications; some applications could even lead to net increases in emissions. In addition, a number of these applications create or maintain other harms, especially those related to fossil fuel extraction and use. For these reasons, many environmental justice …
Fracking The Public Trust, Kevin J. Lynch
Fracking The Public Trust, Kevin J. Lynch
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
This Article explores the application of the public trust doctrine to fracking, specifically as it relates to regulations designed to prevent harms of continued greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as a result of the extraction and burning of fossil fuels.
Enforcement Or Fiction? Considering Grants Of Authority Under The California Global Warming Solutions Act Of 2006 And An Alternative To Compel Enforcement, Jessica Kirshner
Enforcement Or Fiction? Considering Grants Of Authority Under The California Global Warming Solutions Act Of 2006 And An Alternative To Compel Enforcement, Jessica Kirshner
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
California has long established itself as a leader in climate change policy, with a deeply entrenched and ever-developing regulatory framework. The state is home to some of the earliest research on, and regulations targeted at, mitigating the severe implications of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, like carbon dioxide (CO2), on Earth’s atmosphere. It is therefore unsurprising that California’s regulatory approaches for climate change mitigation and GHG emissions reductions influence local and national climate change law and policies. This influence also notably percolates international climate policy. However, before California may definitively proclaim itself as a global model for successful climate change efforts, …
A Broader Vision For Climate Policy: Lessons From California, Alice Kaswan
A Broader Vision For Climate Policy: Lessons From California, Alice Kaswan
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
As the federal role in addressing climate change shrinks, state and local action is once again taking center stage. States are facing innumerable challenging policy questions about the best mechanisms for addressing climate and energy, and many are looking to California for inspiration. This article focuses on a particular and unique feature of California’s approach: the integration of social and environmental justice concerns into the state’s climate and energy policies. As decisionmakers grapple with the fundamental and existential shifts associated with a clean energy transition, California’s efforts to incorporate environmental justice—and the state’s broader social, economic, and environmental vision–provide important …
The Trump Effect On Power Plant Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Thomas O. Mcgarity
The Trump Effect On Power Plant Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Thomas O. Mcgarity
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
This Article will probe the legal, technological and economic underpinnings the Trump Administration initiatives and the viewpoint that their initiatives will have little impact on CO2 emissions from power plants. Part II will highlight the Trump Administration’s views on the extent to which human activities are the leading contributing factor. Part III will describe the radical change in direction that that the Trump Administration is taking with respect to regulations designed to reduce GHG emissions from power plants. Part IV will offer predictions about the likely effect of the Trump Administration’s rollbacks on the electric power and coal industries, on …
Net Neutrality Powers Energy And Forestalls Climate Change, Catherine J.K. Sandoval
Net Neutrality Powers Energy And Forestalls Climate Change, Catherine J.K. Sandoval
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
Drawing on my experience as a Commissioner of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) from January 2011 to January 2017, this Article explores the interdependence of the electricity sector and the open and neutral internet. Section II of this Article discusses the evolution of critical infrastructure laws and policies. Section III examines California’s energy loading order adopted in 2003 to increase energy reliability and protect the environment. Section IV analyzes the evolution of federal and state Smart Grid policies to infuse communications and information technologies including the internet into the energy ecosystem. Section V discusses FERC’s authorization of demand response−the …
Carbon Pricing Initiatives In Western North America: Blueprint For Global Climate Change Policy, Nancy Shurtz
Carbon Pricing Initiatives In Western North America: Blueprint For Global Climate Change Policy, Nancy Shurtz
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
In the absence of effective international and federal initiatives to combat the impacts of global climate change, many state, local and regional jurisdictions are passing or proposing measures to curb carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The province of British Columbia, Canada, as well as the cities of San Francisco, California and Boulder, Colorado have carbon taxes in place, and similar actions have been proposed in the Oregon and Washington state legislatures. The state of California and the province of Québec have linked together in a joint cap-and-trade system. This Article will examine the fundaments of carbon taxation, including identification of the …
Climate Change & The Public Trust Doctrine: An Analysis Of Atmospheric Trust Litigatin, Kassandra Castillo
Climate Change & The Public Trust Doctrine: An Analysis Of Atmospheric Trust Litigatin, Kassandra Castillo
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
As Professor Charles Wilkinson explains, “The public trust doctrine is rooted in the precept that some resources are so central to the well-being of the community that they must be protected by distinctive, judge-made principles.” Because a healthy and habitable atmosphere is essential to the survival of the human race, it is imperative that the public trust doctrine be interpreted in a way to include the atmosphere within its scope. Civil litigation is an effective legal mechanism to expand the public trust doctrine’s scope by way of the judiciary. Once a state judiciary can determine the applicability of the public …
Climate Change And Environmental Justice: Lessons From The California Lawsuits, Alice Kaswan
Climate Change And Environmental Justice: Lessons From The California Lawsuits, Alice Kaswan
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
This essay does not debate the political wisdom of suing; instead, it takes the suits as a given and attempts to enhance understanding of the environmental justice community’s climate justice agenda. It describes the role of environmental justice in the development of California’s climate law, AB 32, describes the lawsuits, and suggests some of the larger lessons about climate policy, cap-and-trade, and environmental justice that these lawsuits reveal. Ultimately, the environmental justice lawsuits highlight two primary themes: (1) the importance of a holistic approach to climate change policy that recognizes and integrates its multiple dimensions, including co-pollutant implications; and (2) …
Electric Power Resource "Shuffling" And Subnational Carbon Regulation: Looking Upstream For A Solution, Jim Rossi, Andrew J.D. Smith
Electric Power Resource "Shuffling" And Subnational Carbon Regulation: Looking Upstream For A Solution, Jim Rossi, Andrew J.D. Smith
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
The potential for shuffling in wholesale power markets thwarts California’s ability to meet its AB 32 GHG emission reduction goals, and may even lead to emissions increases. Yet, as California’s efforts illustrate, resource shuffling is extremely difficult to regulate at the state level. Short of California aggressively reducing its emissions limits to reflect the leakage problem of shuffling, the state is incapable of solving the problem on its own.
As states follow California’s lead in crafting their own approaches to regulating GHG emissions, national solutions will be necessary to address the problem of resource shuffling, given interstate markets in wholesale …