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Gentle giant. These two words appear over and over again in tributes to the late Rep. Donald McEachin, who died on November 28 from complications from cancer. He was 61. The Virginia Democrat indeed stood tall in the halls of Congress, where he served constituents in and south of Richmond. But he was a giant in the figurative sense of the word, too, particularly when it came to racial equity and environmental justice — issues he championed over two decades in political office.

We asked several of our Member Scholars how the election outcomes will affect policy going forward in our three priority policy areas. Today’s post covers the implications for public protections such as environmental health, clean air and water, and workers’ rights.

Well over a century ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it had power to remedy interstate water pollution. That was in 1901. Six years later, the Court decided its first air pollution case. Notably, these cases came during the conservative Lochner era when the Court was hardly known for its liberalism. Quite the contrary. Yet the Court didn't hesitate to address pollution issues.

This is the third post in a three-part series on recent efforts to place justice and equity at the center of California’s climate plans. Read the first  and second  posts. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and champions of environmental justice in the state legislature and advocacy community are cheering the recent passage of a series of new laws that […]

This is the second post in a three-part series on recent efforts to place justice and equity at the center of California’s climate plans. The first post and third post are also available on our blog. Environmental justice advocates are calling on California regulators to strengthen protections for underserved and overburdened communities — which are disproportionately […]

This is the first post in a three-part series on recent efforts to place justice and equity at the center of California’s climate plans. Part II and Part III will run October 11 and 12. In a major victory for climate justice, California regulators recently announced significant improvements to the statewide plan, the AB32 2022 Scoping Plan Update, to […]

From family farmers to biofuel investors, over 900 people and advocacy groups submitted comments on California’s draft plan for achieving carbon neutrality by 2045. In their comments, environmental advocates and justice groups expressed three major concerns with the state’s draft “scoping” plan. First, the plan fails to recognize the urgency of transitioning to a clean energy economy. Second, it relies too heavily on unproven technology. And third, it fails to specify concrete implementation measures.

Production and combustion of fossil fuels impose enormous costs on society, which the industry doesn't pay for. I want to talk about some options for using the tax system to change that.

With the signature of President Joe Biden, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) now marks the most significant climate policy action the United States has ever taken. The defining feature of this law is that it seeks to wring carbon dioxide emissions out of the U.S. economy by relying heavily on policy "carrots," like subsidies, instead of policy "sticks," such as regulating the fossil fuel industry or attempting to capture the external costs of greenhouse gas emissions through carbon pricing.