Staying on top of the legal and policy developments in the climate change arena is no small task. As a special service to our members, the Environmental Law Institute provides a series of monthly conference calls with national experts on climate law and policy to keep you up to date and to answer your questions.
Topics addressed in this month's call:
- The climate components of the Biden infrastructure proposal.
- Second Circuit decision affirming the dismissal of the City of New York's lawsuit against several oil companies for damages caused by climate change.
- US Supreme Court's ruling in water dispute between Florida and Georgia, concerning the reasons for the collapse of Florida's oyster fisheries and harms to Florida's river ecosystem.
- Motion by the plaintiffs in Juliana v. US to amend their complaint to seek only declaratory and not injunctive relief.
- Granting by DC Circuit of several motions from EPA for voluntary vacatur of rules that were issued by the Trump administration and under litigation.
- Decision by federal district court in Utah that Bureau of Land Management failed to adequately consider GHG and climate change impacts of proposed coal lease.
- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has proposed that he will use $1 billion of the $1.9 trillion in COVID relief funds (American Rescue Plan) to go towards the Resilient Florida grants program.
- Governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts has signed Senate Bill 9 – An Act Creating a Next Generation Roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Policy – into law.
- Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has signed H.B. 1965 – The Clean Cars Bill – which will require that the state implement CA’s more stringent tailpipe emissions standards.
- Maine is slated to receive nearly $8 million in federal loans to go towards developing three new solar projects within the state as part of a $598 million loan package from the US Department of Agriculture.
- Rhode Island lawmakers have passed a wide-ranging bill to address climate change that would require the state to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, and Gov. Daniel McKee (D) has indicated he will sign it.
Speakers:
Edan Dionne, Vice President, Environmental, Energy & Chemical Management Programs, IBM
Michael Gerrard, Founder and Director, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice, Columbia Law School
Matthew Goetz, Senior Associate and Program Manager, Georgetown Climate Center, Georgetown University Law Center
Robert Sussman, Principal, Sussman & Associates
Materials:
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or used without the express written permission of ELI and the panelist.