Just had time to read this article on the great new work from @JesseJenkins and his colleagues. I come away from it agreeing with Sue Tierney when she says the real challenge is social and political, not technical. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/climate/america-next-decade-climate.html

Because I'm an environmental/energy/admin lawyer, I would frame this in those terms. Environmental law - really administrative law - traces its origins to pushback against overreach of the administrative state as it built the infrastructure we currently use in the post-WWII boom.

It was pushback against unelected bureaucrats bulldozing communities to build highways, transmission lines and power plants. People demanded public process. And a clear and publicly accountable articulation of why the harms they suffered were necessary for the greater good.

The greatest challenge that we now face is that really solving the climate crisis requires a level of infrastructure development that we have not seen SINCE BEFORE the revolt occurred and environmental statutes were enacted. We haven't built like this since Env. Law was a thing.

But these laws are not fit to purpose in the current setting - they do not take account of the urgency and irreversibility of climate change. They do provide procedural and substantive accountability that protects people, communities and the environment. And they are the law.

Therefore the truly critical - and largely unanswered - question is how we fundamentally reshape the application in law of our democratic and environmental principles to take account of the climate crisis rapidly developing before our eyes.

I once had the temerity to ask for data regarding the timing of construction of the bulk transmission system components in CA. When I was asked why and said I wanted to study the relationship between its siting and advent of environmental law, I was told I couldn't have the data.

@russellgold and @KatherineBlunt eventually got some of the data I wanted in the aftermath of the #CampFire. And it shows what I long suspected - at least for one utility in one state (albeit a big one in a big state). @russellgold wrote a great book about these issues too.

But the absolutely essential question to be asking is what to do about it. How to solve for justice in the present (community impacts) and climate justice (for our children and their children) as we plan and permit the necessary infrastructure to build a clean energy future.