Articles

As the holidays approach, California is siphoning billions of dollars in auction revenue proceeds generated under CARB’s cap-and-trade program governing greenhouse gas emissions for purposes that are unrelated to greenhouse gas emissions.  Fast speed rail, disadvantaged communities (identified by zip codes), natural resources “divers ...

Monday of this week, I argued that EPA’s decision allowing California to enforce its statewide controls over emissions of particulate matter and nitrogen oxides from tractors and other nonroad diesel vehicles should be vacated by the D.C. Circuit.  The federal Clean Air Act preempts all state mobile source emissions standards but provides th ...

The briefing in our lawsuit challenging the auction component of CARB’s cap-and-trade regulation has been completed for many months, but the California Court of Appeal, Third District, has yet to set a date for oral argument.  Although the panel was appointed last June, we wont know the identities of the judges until an oral argument … ...

Last week, the California Legislature resoundingly rejected Governor’s Brown’s efforts to cut carbon dioxide emissions beyond the levels required by AB 32, which requires California to reduce emissions in the state to 1990 levels by 2020.  The proposed new law, known oddly enough as SB 32, would have required substantial further reduct ...

On Friday, May 1, 2015, we filed our final brief in California’s appellate court in connection with our challenge to CARB’s scheme to sell carbon dioxide emissions allowances at auction to the highest bidders.  CARB intends to generate billions of dollars of revenue for the state from the auctions and use the funds for a … ...

It was only a matter of time. On the heels of the Cap-and Trade Regulation, on May 22, 2014, the California Air Resources Board adopted a regulatory plan that is so severe and so inimical to the interests of the state that it almost defies description.  Officially refered to as the First Update of the AB 32 Scoping Plan, the new … ...

2013 was a big year for PLF’s air litigation program, and 2014 is sure to continue the trend.  Nothing gets me more fired up than bureaucrats who break the law while writing rules the rest of us must obey.  The current crop of greenhouse gas regulations is an egregious example of air emissions controls running amok. … ...

Today the trial court ruled against PLF’s clients on its AB 32 claims, holding that AB 32 authorized the auctions and that the auction revenues were not unconstitutional taxes.   Morning Star Packing Company v. CARB, DECISION111413.  We strongly disagree with the ruling and will appeal to the California Court of Appeal, where the appella ...

On Friday, August 9, 2013, I’ll be speaking to lawyers from around the nation converging at the annual meeting of the American Bar Association in San Francisco, regarding PLF’s legal challenge to CARB’s Cap and Trade Regulation.  The regulation is the only one of its kind among the 50 states, and the lawsuit has garnered natio ...