Ellison extends a proud history: Holding ExxonMobil and Koch accountable
Writing in MinnPost, Alexandra Klass applauds the effort to hold major corporate contributors to climate change accountable by means of a consumer protection lawsuit against ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, and the American Petroleum Institute. The suit seeks restitution and penalties for the harm to Minnesotans from the industry's decades-long effort to mislead the public about climate change and its origins.
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Author(s): Alexandra Klass
Carbon Pricing Is Not Enough to Fight Climate Change
Writing in The Hill, Alice Kaswan praises the judgment of the House Select Committee on Climate Crisis that carbon pricing is one of several tools necessary to combat climate change. Carbon pricing, she writes, is necessary but insufficient.
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Author(s): Alice Kaswan
Webinar: Supporting Sustainable Farmers During a Pandemic and Beyond
On June 3, 2020, CPR and Fair Farms hosted a webinar discussion with Maryland and Virginia farmers and organizers on supporting sustainable agriculture during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
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Author(s): Laurie Ristino
Time to decarbonize 'critical infrastructure'
Writing in The Advocate (Baton Rouge and New Orleans), Member Scholar Karen Sokol observes that, " During the pandemic, the [energy] industry is using its 'critical infrastructure' status to further accelerate its polluting activities. The industry asked the Trump administration for an indefinite suspension of its obligations to comply with basic environmental and public health protections even though communities near polluting facilities have suffered higher death rates from COVID-19. The administration responded quickly, depriving communities of these vital safeguards with no clear date for reinstating them."
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Author(s): Karen Sokol
Webinar: Climate Justice: Vulnerability and Resilience to COVID-19 and the Climate Crisis
On CPR's April 29, 2020, webinar, participants will hear from leading experts on pandemics, public health, and climate change, as part of our series of Climate Justice webinars. Dr. Monica Schoch-Spana is an expert in epidemic and disaster management, with decades of experience advising federal, state, and local officials on health security. Dr. Aaron Bernstein brings experience as a pediatrician on the front lines and cutting-edge expertise on the intersection of public health and climate change. Finally, seasoned environmental lawyer and CPR Member Scholar Daniel Farber offers expertise in legal and policy tools, such as the Stafford Act, that may be used to help protect vulnerable communities from bearing the greatest burden of the pandemic.
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Author(s): Daniel Farber, Darya Minovi
Webinar: Climate Justice: Holding the Fossil Fuel Industry Accountable Through State Tort Law
On March 24, 2020, webinar participants heard from from three leading experts on the climate crisis and tort law about the growing movement of local and state governments, as well as small business owners and workers, seeking climate justice in state courts across the United States. The discussion of these climate justice lawsuits considered recent, ongoing, and prospective litigation, as well as the increasingly clear science showing that the harms of climate change are largely attributable to fossil fuel producers. Presenters also examined the legal, policy, and scientific challenges for plaintiffs, which include local governments in California, Colorado, Maryland, as well as the state of Rhode Island and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations.
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Author(s): Alexandra Klass, David Flores, Karen Sokol
Tracy Testimony on SB841 (Maryland) re Pollution Control and Poultry Operations
Katie Tracy’s written testimony before the Maryland Senate Committee on Education Health and Environmental Affairs in support of SB 841, a bill addressing Water Pollution Control, Discharge Permits, and Industrial Poultry Operations, March 12, 2020.
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Author(s): Katie Tracy
From border security to climate change, national emergency declarations raise hard questions about presidential power
"Presidential emergency powers could provide useful tools for addressing climate change, but taking this route sets an important precedent," Dan Farber writes for The Conversation. "If presidents increasingly make free use of emergency powers to achieve policy goals, this approach could become the new normal – with a serious potential for abuse of power and ill-considered decisions."
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Author(s): Daniel Farber
Webinar: Climate Justice: How Enforcement Can Help Communities at Risk
On February 26, 2020, CPR Board Member Joel Mintz, Cynthia Rice of California Rural Legal Assistance, and Jon Mueller of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation discussed challenging low-road employers who take advantage of people who face immediate threats from extreme heat, holding polluters accountable for their contributions to the climate crisis, and the challenges of using 1970s-era laws to address community-level impacts of the climate crisis and opportunities for progress.
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Author(s): Joel Mintz
Webinar: What Migration Means for Labor and Communities
On January 31, 2020, CPR President Rob Verchick hosted a webinar featuring CPR Member Scholar Maxine Burkett, Resilience Force's Saket Soni, and Florida State's Matt Hauer -- an engaging discussion about the biggest climate migration and resilience challenges that residents and workers are facing in communities across the U.S., legal and policy barriers, emerging research and solutions, and opportunities for engagement. Watch and listen!
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Author(s): Robert Verchick, Maxine Burkett, Katie Tracy