Environmental Law

Catherine Lhamon, executive director of the Edley Center and CLEE Executive Director Louise Bedsworth hosted a panel  entitled “Science, Democracy, and the Environment: Developing a Community of Practice for Strategy and Action,” which  highlighted what might be the path to a more scientifically informed democratic future.

The EPA and navy are legally required to ensure that dust kicked up during the clean-up does not present a health risk to workers and nearby residents, said Steve Castleman, supervising attorney of Berkeley Law’s Environmental Law Clinic.

“California has one of the most robust climate frameworks and has been quite successful in delivering on its goals,” said Louise Bedsworth, executive director of the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at the University of California at Berkeley. But she said the Trump administration poses “a major challenge that’s going to make continuing to reduce emissions harder.”

Ethan Elkind, director of the Climate Program at UC Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment discusses what the federal repeal of environmental laws could mean for California’s climate agenda. 

UC Berkeley law professor Daniel Farber and Ethan Elkind, who directs the climate program at UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment weigh in whether or not California could go it alone if the federal government stops regulating greenhouse gases. 

The US Supreme Court had several opportunities to address the issue, but declined each time, said Holly Doremus, an environmental law professor at the University of California-Berkeley School of Law.

Ethan Elkind, director of the Climate Program at CLEE joins Forum to discuss California’s climate goals.

Mike Kiparsky, director of the Wheeler Water Institute at the UC Berkeley School of Law, said the need is about to explode with the advent of artificial Intelligence. “The data centers that we see now will just multiply,” he said. “And their need to cool their servers will multiply along with them.”

Michael Kiparsky, director of the Wheeler Water Institute at the UC Berkeley School of Law, said requiring data on water use is a good first step, but local officials may not know what to do with that number alone.

Dave Jones, director of the Climate Risk Initiative for the CLEE at UC Berkeley Law School and former California insurance commissioner discusses the impacts of climate change on insurance.