“Left primarily to their own devices in rebuilding, the fire-impacted communities are moving forward, but predictably, the outcomes look much different depending on individual survivors’ access to resources. It didn’t — and doesn’t — have to be this way.” legal-planet.org/2025/12/23/o...

If the candidates running to be California’s next governor want a prepackaged idea for how to reduce pollution while making energy more affordable in 2026, here’s one: legal-planet.org/2025/12/22/c...

I'm girding myself to listen in to the CPUC meeting today to track the progress on selecting decarbonization priority zones. Kinda wish I had some spiked eggnog. Last time I called in to a CPUC meeting, I sat through 2+ hours of gas industry talking points and tin foil hat conspiracy theories.

Abundance? California HAS abundant energy for everyone – if it better distributes its energy infrastructure spending for maximum public benefit. But policymakers must align gas system spending with the long-term need for an expanded electrical grid. 🧵

Can bioplastics really be composted? See how bioplastic packaging interacts with California’s waste system as @uclalawemmett.bsky.social's Environmental Legislation Clinic tours facilities across the state. @law.ucla.edu legal-planet.org/2025/12/15/c...

Maybe this new blog can respond, in one of its first posts, to the argument that the term “interim docket” is a deliberately misleading attempt to minimize the (very permanent) doctrinal and real-world consequences of #SCOTUS’s rulings on emergency applications? www.stevevladeck.com/p/177-the-no...

The electricity sector is now the largest energy employer, surpassing fossil fuel sector jobs for the first time, ever, according to the IEA. 76 million jobs! www.iea.org/reports/worl...

Join UCLA's LENS and the @uclalawemmett.bsky.social for a conversation with climate journalist @sammyroth.bsky.social about why narrative matters in the fight against climate change. The Jan 9 event is a live taping of the LENS podcast. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

A holiday sequel from @youthvgov.bsky.social: The 13 young Montanans who filed Held v. State of Montana just filed a new petition for original jurisdiction with the Montana Supreme Court today, seeking “enforcement of their historic victory.” www.ourchildrenstrust.org/montana

Why is NextEra Energy, a major renewable energy utility, partnering with ExxonMobil to develop gas plants with carbon capture? Exxon says it has identified sites in Louisiana and Mississippi for plants to power data centers @bengeman.bsky.social @amyaharder.bsky.social www.axios.com/newsletters/...

A coalition of 230+ enviro groups is demanding a national moratorium on new data centers in the U.S., @olliemilman.bsky.social reports this week. But a Silicon Valley campaign is under way to win Trump over on AI regulation, seeking an executive order of some sort www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Near where I work (and bike commute) at UCLA, activists with a group called People’s Vision Zero have been arrested for doing guerrilla pedestrian improvements at dangerous Westwood crosswalks, @suhauna.bsky.social reports for the LA Times. www.latimes.com/california/s...

Traffic is back at record levels, @npr.org’s @joelrose.bsky.social reports. In Greater LA area, the avg commuter lost 137 hours to delays last year, according to the Texas A&M report. Congestion pricing and remote work are working in other areas. www.npr.org/2025/12/05/n...

Trump's CAFE rollback would raise fuel consumption by around 100 billion gallons through 2050, costing Americans up to $185 billion. Reuters reporter @valerievolc.bsky.social lays out those brutal facts when many missed it. www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

"It's fuel economy, stupid." Trump just intervened to essentially make you buy more gas and increase corporate profits, the same week that "affordability" reached peak media saturation. I have more to say about that at The Drain this week legal-planet.org/2025/12/10/t...

The need to address truck pollution remains urgent. This new "Driving Demand" report from CLEE and the Emmett Institute outlines 4 recommendations for the California Legislature and 4 recommendations for state agencies. law.ucla.edu/news/driving...

Anyone who has ever been a student or a teacher knows that someone who gives them self an A+++++ is full of it. Hopefully the WH press corps does a better job of covering Trump's attempt to rebrand his failing economic moves. www.politico.com/news/2025/12...

Just when you thought this campaign couldn't get worse. If anyone has more information about the creatives behind this abomination, I'd like to speak with them immediately

"When Trump’s second term NHTSA guts the standards set by the first Trump NHTSA, you know the proposal is crazy."

Trump's dismantling of CAFE Standards for fuel economy got a lot of coverage this week, but few stories offered any detail. Here's analysis from the expert who wrote the last set of CAFE rules. legal-planet.org/2025/12/05/s...

I don’t use Spotify because it sucks. But if Libby — the library app — had an Unwrapped, then we’d be talking.

NEW: America’s largest gas utility is using ratepayer funds to incentivize rebuilding with fossil gas appliances after LA wildfires SoCalGas is taking advantage of “broken rules” Thank you @missionvespa.bsky.social for going down the rabbit hole with me: insideclimatenews.org/news/0312202...

Did you know that people buy boxes of individual, plastic-wrapped toothbrushes that already have toothpaste applied to them so that they can use them once and then throw them away? I didn't. That's what we're doing now? legal-planet.org/2025/12/03/w...

Happy 55th anniversary EPA--here's hoping you survive your current midlife crisis!

Read our suggestions for how to kickstart the important transformation of our urban environment to help shield residents from the worst effects of rising temperatures @uclaioes.bsky.social @law.ucla.edu @uclasustainablela.bsky.social @luskininnovation.bsky.social law.ucla.edu/news/reducin...

Heat rash, heat cramps, fainting, heat exhaustion, heat stroke can be prevented by requiring, and incentivizing, the use of cool roofs, cool surfaces, and more shade in L.A. Here's a law and policy road map for how: law.ucla.edu/news/reducin...

Today, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced an order titled “Unleashing American Offshore Energy after months of Undermining American Offshore Energy.

Climate inaction is ALREADY a big expense affecting US households' costs. One of the biggest? The impact of climate-related natural disasters on housing costs. New post and research by @kclausing.bsky.social @knittelmit.bsky.social @cwolfram.bsky.social legal-planet.org/2025/11/20/c...

The 9th Circuit has halted implementation of an important climate disclosure law: California’s Senate Bill 261, a landmark law that requires big business entities to publicly disclose their climate-related financial risks and countermeasures. Related SB 253 proceeds. www.esgdive.com/news/ninth-c...

Don't miss “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” doing public media. It’s as good as any explainer on the absurdity of defunding America’s public media, and much funnier. 🤣 www.youtube.com/watch?v=yknM...

What a wet and wild November! The week-long rainstorm in SoCal brought 13.57 inches near Santa Barbara, and somewhere between 3-7 inches to the Palisades and Eaton burn scars, Jacob Margolis reports for @laist.com laist.com/news/climate...

Tom Steyer's entrance into CA gov's race will get coverage that focuses on how his personal wealth will reshape the race, but it’s just as notable for how Steyer will occupy a climate lane in the race and eject a different type of debate about energy affordability. legal-planet.org/2025/11/19/m...

The Tropical Forests Forever Facility was a major story last week at COP30. @grist.org’s @fridagarza.bsky.social and @miacelselk.bsky.social have a look at why some Indigenous communities say the TFFF doesn’t go nearly far enough. grist.org/global-indig...

Today is “crunch day” to make progress on fossil fuel language with Lula set to fly back to Belém. 82 countries in Europe, the Pacific islands, Latin America and Africa are edging toward a “roadmap” that various countries could agree to @zcolman.bsky.social writes www.politico.com/news/2025/11...

See me use every sports metaphor to describe the state of play in the fight against planet-warming methane emissions. Plus: the crowded field of candidates vying to be California’s next governor now includes a wealthy climate activist. What'll that mean for debates? legal-planet.org/2025/11/19/m...

UCLA’s STOP Methane is a new, user-friendly ranking of super-polluting methane emissions. We just released our Spotlight on the Top 25 in ’25: Oil and Gas Sector. The Top 25 sites are mostly in Turkmenistan — but also Venezuela, Iran, Pakistan, and the U.S. stopmethane.substack.com/p/spotlight-...

UCLA’s STOP Methane Project just released our Spotlight on the Top 25 in ’25: Oil and Gas Sector. Top 25 sites are mostly in Turkmenistan — but also Venezuela, Iran, Pakistan, and the U.S. Why is a Texas gas well on this list of extreme methane emissions? stopmethane.substack.com/p/spotlight-...

The same FEMA chief who was MIA during the Texas flood disaster seems to have missed his own resignation. When E&E News asked Richardson about his departure on Monday morning, he replied “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” www.eenews.net/articles/act...

We just released our Spotlight on the Top 25 Plumes in ’25: Oil and Gas Sector. Oil & gas sites with the largest detected and quantified methane emissions rates worldwide. The Top 25 are mostly in Turkmenistan — but also Venezuela, Iran, Pakistan, and the US. stopmethane.substack.com/p/spotlight-...

NEWS: UCLA’s STOP Methane Project is live, and we have a Top 25 list of extreme methane emissions from oil and gas. Huge thanks to @whitehouse.senate.gov for sharing. Sign up for updates and see all the rankings: stopmethane.substack.com

LA looks like it will record its wettest November in 40 years, and register one-fifth of its annual average rainfall by the end of the weekend. Blessing and a curse like always.

Another Dieselgate - hopeful but not optimistic that the eventual settlement money will get spent better! www.theguardian.com/business/202...

“Either we decide to change by choice, together, or change will be imposed by tragedy. We can change. But we must do it together” — Andre Correa do Lago, #COP30 president, in a letter to negotiators at the start of the UN meeting HT @coveringclimatenow.org

Many Americans today have no memory of the world that spurred modern environmental law. The Documerica project, housed at the National Archives, provides a vivid window into environmental destruction circa the 1970s and reminds us how far we’ve come," writes our Prof. Jim Salzman.

The motion to formally oppose the gondola was passed 12-1 with only John Lee voting in favor of the project. Katy Yaroslavsky and Imelda Padilla abstained because they’re on the Metro board

With 56,118 delegates registered, COP30 is expected to be the 2nd largest in history, says a @carbonbrief.org analysis. There’s a case for changing the format and the cadence of COPs. (Twice a year?) And this year there's a record-number of “virtual delegates.” www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-whi...

“COPs will not solve the climate crisis by themselves, but it looks unlikely that the problem can be solved without COPs” @fionaharvey.bsky.social writes. COP is still the one decision-making arena where all the players in climate politics are present and activated. legal-planet.org/2025/11/12/g...

“Is COP worthwhile?” Some Republicans and environmental justice organizers question the practical value of sending a delegation. The summit can be performative. But CA is filling a power vacuum, and legislators can see solutions that work abroad and bring them home. calmatters.org/environment/...

Newsom grabs the spotlight. Big money for methane reductions. China and Brazil fill the power vacuum. Here's the good and bad of COP30. legal-planet.org/2025/11/12/g...