Law Commons^™

Coal Pollution And Climate Change, Alan Ramo

Publications

No abstract provided.

A Salmon Eye Lens On Climate Adaption, Paul S. Kibel

Publications

This Article discusses the current gap in climate adaptation law and policy, emphasizing the potential role that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Endangered Species Act (ESA) and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) could play in filling this gap. It focuses on the provisions in these laws that establish that agency planning and decision-making should be based on the best available science, and notes that the best available science now confirms that GHG emission-induced climate change is happening now and will continue to happen during this century. This Article posits that the most appropriate and effective way to factor expected …

The California Offset Game: Who Wins And Who Loses?, Alan Ramo

Publications

California is implementing the most comprehensive global warming regulatory program in the United States. A key part of this program is its cap-and-trade system. Integral to the cap-and-trade requirements are provisions for offsets, whereby companies, to meet their caps, can purchase credits from certain unregulated entities whose activities are deemed to have resulted in real and additional emission reductions. California has attempted to avoid the Kyoto Protocol's project-by-project lengthy and problematic review of offsets with a performance standard approach for domestic offsets and a sector approach for international offsets. Offsets, even if done right. raise serious environmental justice questions as …

U.S. Military Accountability For Extraterritorial Environmental Impacts: An Examination Of Okinawa, Environmental Justice, And Judicial Militarism, Alan Ramo

Publications

Local resistance to the relocation of a U.S. military base to a Bay threatening an endangered sea mammal off the coast of the island of Okinawa raises important issues regarding the extraterritoriality of U.S. environmental laws, the role of the courts in reviewing military operations and ultimately environmental justice. Federal courts continue inconsistently to sort out the extraterritoriality of U.S. laws, including environmental laws. Strong arguments remain that the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act should also apply to the U.S. military’s actions in Okinawa. Although the modern U.S. Supreme Court has reversed earlier cases and given …

Transitioning A Community Away From Fossil-Fuel Generation To A Green Economy: An Approach Using State Utility Commission Authority, Alan Ramo, Deborah N. Behles

Publications

A transition is starting throughout the nation as renewable energy resources are developed and older fossil-fuel facilities retire. The communities that bear the brunt of fossil-fuel pollution will also likely bear this transition’s economic impacts. Yet, there is no guarantee that these communities will share in the transition’s economic benefits—in particular, the building, operation, and ownership of new renewable energy resources. Renewable energy laws generally do not consider these types of impacts when determining where to site new resources.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), in a case involving Native Americans in Arizona affected by the operations and closure of …