📣📥 NEW TEMPLATE COMMENT LETTER 📣📥

Local govs are critical in the Endangerment Finding rulemaking: they can put into the record the harms they'll endure from climate change.

My blog post explains what’s at stake and provides a template comment letter. blogs.law.columbia.edu/climatechang...

I spoke to Smart Cities Dive about yesterday's Endangerment Finding announcement, and how it fits within the broader climate landscape cities currently find themselves in. www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/epa-gut...

Join the Local Infrastructure Hub (and me!) for a post-OBBBA no-cost virtual session on:

📑✏️ Grant application strategy
💪⚙️ Project implementation
☀️🍃 Clean energy investments

usmayors.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

The OBBB Act was signed into law on July 4th. It nearly eliminates or renders unworkable many critical Inflation Reduction Act programs, especially the clean energy and clean vehicle tax credits.

More on the @sabincenter.bsky.social blog.

blogs.law.columbia.edu/climatechang...

🏛️💸 Last week, the Supreme Court closed its term with a decision in Trump v. CASA, a/k/a the birthright citizenship case. The decision says little about citizenship, but has huge implications for cities & community groups fighting unlawful grant terminations. blogs.law.columbia.edu/climatechang...

For those doubting the project of originalism, the Birthright opinion is heavy on it.

Heavy as in "Neither the universal injunction nor any analogous form of relief was available in the High Court of Chancery in England at the time of the founding."

Expect to see FedSoc at Butterworth's tonight.

The Court leaves open the door that a lower court could provide injunctive relief to a state plaintiff by blocking the implementation of an EO for all people within that state, but does not directly opine on the question. Lower courts are almost certainly going to vary in how they interpret this.

The Court identifies class actions as the appropriate way to get large-scale injunctive relief. Class actions designate parties other than the named plaintiffs as parties to a case. These are going to be more labor intensive, and require more plaintiffs to step up, than was the case before today.

The Court effectively says that injunctive relief can, for the most part, apply only to the people who have asked for it. For example, if someone sued to reinstate their own funding, the Court might reason that it would not bring that plaintiff further relief to have an injunction apply to others.

... and the Woonasquatucket injunction covering non-individualized funding terminations from 5 federal agencies. climatecasechart.com/case/woonasq...

These nationwide injunctions are largely no longer permissible. Immediately at issue are the National Council of Nonprofits injunction covering non-individualized funding terminations flowing from the Unleashing EO... www.courtlistener.com/docket/69583...

This morning, the Supreme Court significantly impaired the ability of federal judges to use nationwide or "universal" injunctions. The case at issue relates to birthright citizenship, but the implications run far broader, including for climate/federal funding cases. 🧵
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06...

The New York State Court of Appeals - the state's highest court - has UPHELD Local Law 97! The Court has ruled that the NYS CLCPA does not field preempt local law. This is a huge win for the City and for local building performance standards everywhere.
www.nycourts.gov/ctapps/Decis...

🏙️ The latest installment of @sabincenter.bsky.social's 100 Days of Trump 2.0 series: a post for cities, community groups, and other subnationals summarizing key federal developments. It's been fun to work across the Center on this wide-ranging series. blogs.law.columbia.edu/climatechang...

This is the first in a series of 100 days blog posts from the Sabin Center. Bookmark for much more in the coming days!

“'There is no bat phone anymore,' Dr. Michael Totoraitis, the Milwaukee health commissioner, said in an interview. 'I can’t pick up and call my colleagues at the C.D.C. about lead poisoning anymore.'" www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/u...

Panel 2 kept the party going with our very own Brennon Mendez moderating an interesting discussion on Indirect Source Rules and ZEV-only zones with Earthjustice’s @lasmogguy.bsky.social, CARB’s Jessi Hafer, and Columbia Law’s Amy Turner!

Yesterday President Trump signed an EO threatening to go after state and climate laws, a complete and total perversion of the principles of federalism. What does the order actually mean? I wrote about it for the @sabincenter.bsky.social blog. blogs.law.columbia.edu/climatechang...

Beautiful morning in Wisconsin - thunderstorms (which I love) and a Crawford/Underly victory (which I love even more).

I was so honored to join @c40cities.bsky.social superstars David Miller and my longtime collaborator @kljohnson7.bsky.social to discuss WTF is happening with for climate-ambitious cities in Washington. Please listen if you're interested - it's on the major podcast platforms! lnk.to/Cities1.5_S5E4

“It’s a clear win in that regard, because the 9th Circuit decision has had a chilling effect on local governments. Now there’s a good reason for hope for local governments to bring bldg elec’n to the forefront again.”https://grist.org/buildings/natural-gas-in-new-buildings-nyc-berkeley-lawsuits/

Second piece of good news coming from the courts this week on building electrification!

Some good news out of Washington state — the misleading ballot initiative I-2066, which would protect access to natural gas and weaken state building codes and that squeaked by last November — has been ruled unconstitutional! 🔌💡 www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

Earlier this week, the SDNY upheld NYC's Local Law 154, which prevents new buildings from using natural gas. I spoke to EnergyWire about the win, which “bolsters the case that these policies are legally defensible."
subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...