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Alan Ramo @envirolawprof.bsky.social · 17h

Excellent perspective by Evan George in Legal Planet. "Energy affordability is important, but oil and gas facilities always come with costs, usually paid by vulnerable communities." Good News About the El Segundo Chevron Explosion legal-planet.org/2025/10/07/s...

Some Good News About the El Segundo Chevron Explosion - Legal Planet

The El Segundo explosion is a good reminder of the air pollution from oil and gas: The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental news.

legal-planet.org

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Alan Ramo @envirolawprof.bsky.social · 8d

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Newsom Courts Big Oil as Gas Prices Threaten Political Ambitions

Last year, Governor Gavin Newsom stood before Californians and declared the oil industry the “polluted heart of this climate crisis.” Big Oil, he said, was lying, manipulating and profiteering. “They’...

www.bloomberg.com

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Alan Ramo @envirolawprof.bsky.social · 19d

“It seems there is now no path that remains for Valero to remain" - It appears Newsom and state legislative leaders got played by oil interests, allowing increased oil drilling and suspending cap on profits to try to save Valero refinery. www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...

Major Bay Area refinery on track to close, city official says

Benicia leaders said this oil refinery’s departure in Solano County could reduce the city’s budget by more than $10 million.

www.sfchronicle.com

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Alan Ramo @envirolawprof.bsky.social · 21d

"It probably also disadvantaged environmental justice advocates who have spent years organizing in California but were largely relegated to the backseat." California Takes a Stab at Climate and Energy Costs legal-planet.org/2025/09/16/w...

California Takes a Stab at Climate and Energy Costs - Legal Planet

Which Climate and Energy Bills Did California Pass? The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.

legal-planet.org

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Alan Ramo @envirolawprof.bsky.social · 21d

Stanfod Prof. Sivas correctly identifies the fallacy in California's laast minute capitulation to oil interests and California's reall opportunity for a transition away from oil production. calmatters.org/commentary/2...

Fast-tracking new oil drilling won’t lower California gas prices but it’ll raise environmental risks | Opinion

Lawmakers just enabled fast-tracking of new oil drilling permits in Kern County. If gas prices move, though, expect other economic forces at work.

calmatters.org

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David Sacerdote @davidsacerdote.bsky.social · 24d

We need a better approach to deal with falling demand for oil in California than 'drill more' — that's just not useful from a climate standpoint or from a consumer cost standpoint.

www.sacbee.com/news/politic...

California lawmakers pass climate deal extending cap-and-trade, permitting more drilling

One progressive Democrat from San Jose called it a “regulatory giveaway to Big Oil”

www.sacbee.com

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Alan Ramo @envirolawprof.bsky.social · 24d

What is the date of the sunset? It appears to me to be 2046.

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Alan Ramo @envirolawprof.bsky.social · 24d

Witness California's capitulation to oil interests under threat of refinery closures reversing its cap on oil profits and unleashing new oil drilling in the recent legislative session led by Gov. Newsom.

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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 25d

The 16-year-old who shot two students in a Colorado high school on the same day Charlie Kirk was killed was a virulent white supremacist and antisemite www.denverpost.com/2025/09/11/e...

‘Radicalized’ Evergreen High School shooter appeared to hold antisemitic, violent views in online accounts

Social media accounts that appear to be connected to the 16-year-old shooter are littered with references to mass shootings and antisemitic views, The Denver Post found.

www.denverpost.com

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Fossil Free California @fossilfreeca.org · 26d

Governor Newsom is trying to push through an oil-billing expansion in the last days of the legislative session. Rank-and-file workers say NO TO SB 237! Call your reps today using this toolkit: tinyurl.com/nodrillbaby

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Alan Ramo @envirolawprof.bsky.social · Sep 3

It is not so straight forward. E.g., Sweden has no minimum wage. US does. Yet in Sweden 70% of workers in unions, protected by laws enforcing labor rights. US has 11% in unions. Which economy is "less regulated"? Sweeden is in EU, with rules addressing climate & human rights. US ignores these.

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JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · Aug 26

The IRA was surprisingly effective at spurring investment in green energy. Where it failed was making it *politically* sustainable by delivering immediate tangible benefits to the public. In that sense, the Green New Deal was, in retrospect, the more prudent and realistic approach. on.ft.com/4n4Ayra

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Mark Vossler, MD (he/him) @markvmd.bsky.social · Aug 31

Donald Trump wants you to pay more for electricity & breathe air that damages your lungs, heart, & brain all to preserve the profits of his cronies whose business model requires subsidies & regulatory capture. The Republican Party can either stop this nonsense or be destroyed in the midterms

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Alan Ramo @envirolawprof.bsky.social · Aug 31

It would be quite a foreign policy accomplishment to lose both India and Ukraine. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/o...

Opinion | The U.S. Wooed India for 30 Years. Trump Blew That Up in a Few Months.

www.nytimes.com

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Daniel Ziblatt @dziblatt.bsky.social · Aug 28

A new piece I wrote appearing in FOREIGN AFFAIRS today

www.foreignaffairs.com/germany/warn...

Warnings From Weimar

Why bargaining with authoritarians fails.

www.foreignaffairs.com

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Center for Biological Diversity @biologicaldiversity.org · Aug 28

"Lawmakers should not exempt oil drilling from environmental review and community input. Expanding oil drilling in the face of the facts is reckless, ruthless and, for many, it’s deadly," writes the Center's Shaye Wolf in a letter to the editor in @latimes.com ⬇️

Letters to the Editor: Study on methane leaks shows why expanded oil drilling would be ‘ruthless’

'Benzene — just one of the dangerous chemicals discharged from dozens of major methane leaks in California — is a chemical linked to leukemia, blood disorders and reproductive harms,' writes an L.A. T...

www.latimes.com

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Mark Z. Jacobson @mzjacobson.bsky.social · Aug 24

New study: oil & gas are major killers

Oil & gas cause 91,000 air pollution deaths per year, 9,100 pre-term birth incidences/y, 216,000 asthma incidences/y, 1600 cancers/y in US

4,800 deaths/y from extracting & processing fuels
86,200 deaths/y from burning fuels

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The health burden and racial-ethnic disparities of air pollution from the major oil and gas lifecycle stages in the United States

Largest total population health burden is from O&G end-use, but greatest relative disparities are linked to downstream activities.

www.science.org

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Alan Ramo @envirolawprof.bsky.social · Aug 26

"Texas and California have the greatest burden for almost all pollutant-health outcome risks and O&G lifecycle stages" per the study. Newsom & California democratic legislators want to increase oil and gas drilling and keep refineries from closing.https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adu2241

Dr. Sandra Steingraber 🏳️‍🌈 @ssteingraber1.bsky.social · Aug 26

That’s 247 U.S. funerals per day—every day of the year—just from the air pollution created by two of the three fossil fuels.

Some of the dead are people you know.

It’s not okay that our energy system demands literal human sacrifices. Alternatives exist.

Prof. Bob Howarth @profbobhowarth.bsky.social · Aug 25

New study shows health damage in US from oil & gas emissions, 90,000 premature deaths nationally, with California, New York, and Texas suffering the most.
@doreenharris.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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David Weiskopf believes in you @dave.bzky.team · Aug 25

The thing you want to kill CEQA to enable? Probably CEQA already allows a fast track or waiver for it.

Dustin Mulvaney @dustinmulvaney.bsky.social · Aug 25

As we reported in this white paper, solar projects under a master planning framework/CEQA are approved via mitigated negative declaration on average somewhere around 35 days.
rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

Planning to Build Faster: A Solar Energy Case Study - Roosevelt Institute

In a new Roosevelt Institute analysis in collaboration with the Climate and Community Institute, authors Johanna Bozuwa, Dustin Mulvaney, Isabel Estevez, Adriana DiSilvestro, Kristina Karlsson, and Su...

rooseveltinstitute.org

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Alan Ramo @envirolawprof.bsky.social · Aug 24

From the article, "The Open AI CEO has invested $375 million in the US-based nuclear fusion firm Helion Energy. The company has set a target of producing energy at a commercial scale by 2028."

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Alan Ramo @envirolawprof.bsky.social · Aug 24

Guess he missed the Vietnam War ending too.

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Bloomberg News @bloomberg.com · Aug 23

President Lai Ching-te said the referendum failed after fewer than 25% of eligible voters voted in favor of restarting the Maanshan nuclear plant.

Taiwan Referendum to Restart Nuclear Power Plant Fails

A referendum to restart a Taiwan nuclear plant failed due to poor voter turnout, dealing a blow to attempts by some groups to revive atomic power after the government shut all reactors.

bloom.bg

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Alan Ramo @envirolawprof.bsky.social · Aug 21

I first knew Dan in high school. Very smart guy bringing a special expertise for the public interest to nuclear issues.

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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · Aug 17

It was 3% and 1% respectively!!!!

"An empirically grounded approach to permitting reform would address the true causes of delay and reject the prevailing zero-sum perspective that assumes deregulation is the only option"

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

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Erik Schlenker-Goodrich @riogranderift.bsky.social · Aug 17

The struggle is very real, but this is shallow reporting that references and quotes only Big Greens and wealthy donors.

The path out of the ruins for the climate justice and environmental movement will, IMO, be led by groups and voices rooted in place and community.

Environmental Groups Face ‘Generational’ Setbacks Under Trump

www.nytimes.com

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