Law Commons^™

The Future Of The Safe Rule And Achieving More Climate-Friendly Cafe Regulations, Maximo Lacerca-Desrosiers

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

On April 30, 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (“NHTSA”) issued a final rule called the “Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient Vehicles Rule for Model Years 2021-2026 Passenger and Light Trucks” (“SAFE Rule”) to amend the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (“CAFE”) ratings. CAFE standards are regulations first enacted nearly fifty years ago to promote greater fuel efficiency in car manufacturing through a system of incentives and penalties. While the CAFE standards have been revised many times over the years, the SAFE Rule rolled back the more stringent 2012 CAFE standards that sought to align fuel …

Trade And Environment In Nafta’S Replacement: An Old Gas Guzzler Gets A Paint Job, Geoffrey Garver

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)2 is now history, and, depending on where you are, as of July 1, 2020, the Canada- United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) in Canada, the United- States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) in the United States, or the Tratado entre M´exico, Estados Unidos y Canad´a (T-MEC) is in force. The renegotiation of NAFTA fulfilled candidate Donald Trump’s promise to scrap or renegotiate NAFTA in order to protect and restore United States jobs and industrial capacity and increase economic growth, themes that consistently helped define his trade agenda politically as President. But what about the environment? When NAFTA was finalized …

Vertical Consistency In The Climate Change Context, Susan M. Bradford

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

This paper explores the role of general plan consistency in the context of climate change. As California’s statewide response to global warming continues to evolve, new statutory and regulatory requirements are changing the scope of local land use planning, both directly and indirectly. The San Diego case provides one example of how this changing legal framework has led to new kinds of land use conflicts over competing strategies for climate mitigation. The growing imperative for local governments to rethink land uses in response to climate change could signal a larger role for general plan consistency as a lever for enforcing …

Water Management: From An Uncertain Present To A Sustainable Future, Katherine A. Spanos

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

Over the last ten years, two separate water management planning efforts in California—integrated regional water management and climate change planning—have come together in a way that provides similar lessons to help different interests find common ground for water management solutions. This planning synthesis has resulted in a significant change in the way California now addresses issues of water management.

After a brief background discussion (Part II), Part III of this Article examines the history of the merger of these two initiatives. Part IV explores an approach for water management based on the experience gained from this history. This approach is …

Lawyers Write Treaties, Engineers Build Dikes, Gods Of Weather Ignore Both: Making Transboundary Waters Agreements Relevant, Flexible, And Resilient In A Time Of Global Climate Chanage, Glen Hearns, Richard Kyle Paisley

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

This Article identifies and critically reviews the importance of adaptability and flexibility in treaties and institutional arrangements by providing resilience in the face of the anticipated impact of climate change on the good governance of international waters. Building greater resilience and adaptability into international waters agreements is essential to address the uncertainties in hydrological and ocean processes associated with climate change. There is also growing consensus that conflict over natural resources can be linked to extreme events and climate change, and this is receiving increased attention in foreign policy development. Surface water resources are especially vulnerable to the anticipated consequences …

Future Force Sustainability: Department Of Defense And Energy Efficiency In A Changing Climate, Laura Horton

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

Part I of this discussion will begin with background information on the United States military’s contribution to GHG emissions and climate change. It will also look at some examples of exemptions the military has received from federal environmental laws, particularly during times of conflict. Next, it will focus on energy efficiency standards and exemptions, some of which the military has stated it will comply with voluntarily. Part II of this discussion will then survey some of the ways the military has begun to meet energy efficiency standards, including renewable fuel programs and solar installations. That Part will look at these …

Kyoto's So-Called "Fatal Flaws": A Potential Springboard For Domestic Greenhouse Gas Regulation, Denee A. Diluigi

Golden Gate University Law Review

This Comment discusses the United States' capability to initiate a new domestic program to confront climate change in the wake of the current political stance on environmental issues. Additionally, this Comment proposes a program premised on market-based incentives that will serve as a compromise between industry and the environment to ensure that the United States takes affirmative action to reduce and limit domestic GHG emissions. Section II of this comment discusses the various factors that contribute to the scientific phenomenon of global warming. It also addresses the scientific community's divergent positions with respect to the causes of global warming and …

Ratification Resisted: Understanding America's Response To The Convention On Biological Diversity, 1989-2002, Robert F. Blomquist

Golden Gate University Law Review

This Article undertakes a broad, synoptic evaluation of America's complex response to the Convention. It paints an intricate picture of American legal and policy initiatives, on multiple levels, for enhanced domestic and international protection of biodiversity juxtaposed with concomitant legal and policy footdragging. Part I limns, in bold lines, the basic structure of the matter: initially it provides a brief overview of the genesis and contents of the CBD; then,' it sketches a chronological synopsis of America's formal and informal response to the CBD. Part II adds some detailed brushwork: it attempts to deepen understanding of the various tensions, concerns, …

U.S. Climate Change Policy Under G.W. Bush, Armin Rosencranz

Golden Gate University Law Review

In this short article, I review the development of U.S. climate change and energy policy under President George W. Bush, describe various executive branch initiatives to address the issue of global climate change, and assess the prospects for progressive U.S. action to address climate change over the remainder of the Bush Presidency. This is a short article because the repudiation of Kyoto speaks for itself and the domestic initiatives that could arguably influence greenhouse gas abatement seem extraordinarily modest in scope and cost.

U.S. Climate Change Policy Under President Clinton: A Look Back, Amy Royden

Golden Gate University Law Review

This article describes the evolution of the Clinton Administration's policy on climate change and point to factors that influenced its deliberations. It focuses on the U.S. positions in international negotiations, international reaction to these positions, and domestic policies and politics that influenced these positions. More detailed analyses of certain issues - such as full descriptions of all the climate change-related activities undertaken by the federal government, both abroad and at home - are beyond the scope of this article.

Consensus Among Many Voices: Articulating The European Union's Position On Climate Change, Nuno S. Lacasta, Suraje Dessai, Eva Powroslo

Golden Gate University Law Review

This article attempts to provide an overview of key policy elements of the European Union's climate policy since the adoption of the UNFCCC in 1992. Section II discusses the main features of the EU as an actor vis-a-vis its Member States and the international community at large. Section III identifies the key actors at play in the EU context; Section IV analyzes the EU's track record on domestic policies and measures. Section V, in turn, debates selected key topics in the international climate change negotiations from a EU perspective. Finally, section VI debates the prospects of continued international EU leadership …

Greenhouse Gas Regulation And Border Tax Adjustments: The Carrot And The Stick, M. Benjamin Eichenberg

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

Global climate change due to the emission of anthropogenic, or manmade, greenhouse gases (GHGs) has the most widely dispersed costs of any transboundary environmental problem that the international community has yet faced. In other words, it is a global public problem and thus provides few incentives for unilateral or individual mitigation. This makes finding solutions difficult because international coalitions must face the problem of free-riders who benefit from reduced GHG concentrations at zero cost—those who make the economically rational decision to let others reduce atmospheric GHG concentrations while they continue to build GHG-intensive economies. Three of the primary complaints raised …