Riley Varner
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rileyvarner.bsky.social
Riley Varner
@rileyvarner.bsky.social
100 followers 370 following 19 posts
Climate Law and Climbing.
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Reposted by Riley Varner
jamellebouie.net
the conventional wisdom has always been that the president has only a modest impact on the economy and that it takes shape over years. apparently not!
April 30, 2025 at 2:20 PM
rileyvarner.bsky.social
Sko Buffs.
ucberkeleylaw.bsky.social UC Berkeley Law @ucberkeleylaw.bsky.social · Mar 26
Dean Chemerinsky and other #lawschool deans "speak as legal educators, responsible for training the next generation of lawyers, in condemning any government efforts to punish lawyers or their firms based on the identity of their clients or for their zealous lawful and ethical advocacy."
March 27, 2025 at 4:08 AM
Reposted by Riley Varner
jennycohn.bsky.social
“One young man sobbed when a guard pushed him to the floor. He said, ‘I’m not a gang member. I’m gay. I’m a barber.’ I believed him. *** He “began to whimper,” as his head was roughly shaved, “folding his hands in prayer as his hair fell.” He “asked for his mother & cried as he was slapped again.”
What the Venezuelans Deported to El Salvador Experienced
Exclusive photos of the arrival of Venezuelan detainees deported from the U.S.
time.com
March 22, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Reposted by Riley Varner
davidho.bsky.social
People might think that whatever destruction is done to science in the US, we can undo in 4 years with a Democratic president and Congress.

The problem is that many areas require specialized knowledge and skills built up over years, and once that's lost, it's hard to get back.
profbobhowarth.bsky.social Prof. Bob Howarth @profbobhowarth.bsky.social · Mar 14
The damage will be far worse than just a 4-yr gap. Both I and the individual who has managed this site for most of the past 50 yrs are retiring within the next 2 years. With this closure, we will not be able to plan a transition.
March 16, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Reposted by Riley Varner
volts.wtf
Holy shit. This is *the* gold-standard measurement of atmospheric CO2 -- the one in all the charts.
washingtonpost.com The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · Mar 14
The Trump administration is planning to cancel its lease at a government laboratory in Hawaii, a site where scientists support key observations of surging greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere, according to a list obtained by Democratic members of Congress and shared with The Post.
Trump moves to close facility that helps track planet-warming pollution
The lab is connected to the Mauna Loa Observatory, where scientists gather data to produce the Keeling Curve, a chart on the daily status of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations.
www.washingtonpost.com
March 14, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by Riley Varner
davelevitan.bsky.social
An imbalance I think about a lot these days is how much harder it is to build things than it is to destroy them
March 13, 2025 at 3:10 AM
rileyvarner.bsky.social
MY @washingtonspirit.com!!!! LETS GO!!
March 8, 2025 at 3:35 AM
Reposted by Riley Varner
sammyroth.bsky.social
Good data dump from @landdesk.bsky.social showing how Page, Arizona, thrived even after a coal plant shut down thanks to the outdoor recreation economy. More important now than ever as Trump attacks public lands: www.hcn.org/issues/57-3/...
The rise of the recreation economy - High Country News
Public-lands tourism outpaces mining and drilling in much of the West.
www.hcn.org
March 6, 2025 at 2:00 AM
Reposted by Riley Varner
mjsdc.bsky.social
The Supreme Court's first and only opinion today is San Francisco v. EPA. The majority substantially weakens the Clean Water Act's limitations on raw sewage discharge. It is 5–4 in relevant part, with Barrett, Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson dissenting. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...
March 4, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Reposted by Riley Varner
davidho.bsky.social
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin urged the White House to repeal the 2009 "endangerment finding," which supports regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. Reversing it would undermine climate protection.
EPA tells White House to strike down landmark climate finding
The Trump administration is weighing whether to repeal the “endangerment finding,” which states that greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health and welfare.
wapo.st
February 26, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Reposted by Riley Varner
antoniajuhasz.bsky.social
Big court win: judge rules Exxon, Shell, Chevron, BP and others must face claims by Puerto Rican towns in a RICO case alleging the companies engaged in a coordinated, decades-long deception campaign to conceal the true dangers of fossil fuel consumption.
www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...
Exxon, others should face climate claims by Puerto Rican towns, US judge says
A U.S. judge said Thursday that Exxon , Chevron , Shell and six other oil companies should face part of a lawsuit in Puerto Rico accusing them of misleading the public about climate change and conspiring to suppress clean energy alternatives.
www.reuters.com
February 22, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Reposted by Riley Varner
janhasselman.bsky.social
#BREAKING: The White House has summarily revoked regulations implementing one of our nation's foundational environmental laws, the National Environmental Policy Act. The rules have been in place for nearly 50 years. Effective immediately.

earthjustice.org/press/2025/c...
CEQ Eviscerates NEPA, Communities Pay the Price
The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) eliminated all of the rules that implement the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
earthjustice.org
February 20, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Reposted by Riley Varner
nycsouthpaw.bsky.social
AUSA Hagan Scotten, former clerk for John Roberts, really put some mustard on his resignation letter.
BY EMAIL Re: United States v. Eric Adams, 24 Cr. 556 (DEH) Mr. Bove, I have received correspondence indicating that I refused your order to move to dismiss the indictment against Eric Adams without prejudice, subject to certain conditions, including the express possibility of reinstatement of the indictment. That is not exactly correct. The U.S. Attorney, Danielle R. Sassoon, never asked me to file such a motion, and I therefore never had an opportunity to refuse. But I am entirely in agreement with her decision not to do so, for the reasons stated in her February 12, 2025 letter to the Attorney General. In short, the first justification for the motion-that Damian Williams's role in the case somehow tainted a valid indictment supported by ample evidence, and pursued under four different U.S. attorneys is so weak as to be transparently pretextual. The second justification is worse. No system of ordered liberty can allow the Government to use the carrot of dismissing charges, or the stick of threatening to bring them again, to induce an elected official to support its policy objectives. There is a tradition in public service of resigning in a last-ditch effort to head off a serious mistake. Some will view the mistake you are committing here in the light of their generally negative views of the new Administration. I do not share those views. I can even understand how a Chief Executive whose background is in business and politics might see the contemplated dismissal-with-leverage as a good, if distasteful, deal. But any assistant U.S. attorney would know much i i red oril, in this ily. wing the perset arthro he Reside is ving to, give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me. Please consider this my resignation. It has been an honor to serve as a prosecutor in the Southern District of New York. Yours truly, Hagan Scotten Assistant United States Att…
February 14, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Reposted by Riley Varner
harrylitman.bsky.social
Strong rumor with credible sourcing: DOJ has put all of public integrity line attorneys in a room and told them they have an hour for someone to choose who will sign motion to dismiss and if nobody does, they will all be fired. The nastiest strong-arming in DOJ history by a long shot.
February 14, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Reposted by Riley Varner
aterkel.bsky.social
SCOOP from @nbcnews.com — A senior FEMA official instructed subordinates to freeze funding for a wide array of grant programs Monday, just hours after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration — for the second time — to stop such pauses.

www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...
FEMA official ignores judge's latest order, demands freeze on grant funding
Federal workers are being swept into the fight between Donald Trump and federal courts, with four FEMA aides fired Tuesday for being "deep state activists."
www.nbcnews.com
February 11, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Reposted by Riley Varner
busbyj2.bsky.social
Having worked at the Pentagon on climate change, most of the programming is intended to make US bases resilient to climate impacts. Many of them are quite vulnerable!

The combatant commands' work on climate was about how to prepare for the destabilizing impacts of climate in their regions.
jbendery.bsky.social Jen Bendery @jbendery.bsky.social · Feb 11
Pete Hegseth tells reporters he welcomes Elon Musk and DOGE to the Pentagon, because there is waste that needs to be addressed. Like DOD climate programs.

"The Defense Dept is not in the business of climate change, solving the global thermostat. We're in the business of deterring and winning wars."
February 11, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Reposted by Riley Varner
nycsouthpaw.bsky.social
Someone at the American Bar Association ate their Wheaties this morning.
ABA It has been three weeks since Inauguration Day. Most Americans recognize that newly elected leaders bring change. That is expected. But most Americans also expect that changes will take place in accordance with the rule of law and in an orderly manner that respects the lives of affected individuals and the work they have been asked to perform. Instead, we see wide-scale affronts to the rule of law itself, such as attacks on constitutionally protected birthright citizenship, the dismantling of USAID and the attempts to criminalize those who support lawful programs to eliminate bias and enhance diversity. We have seen attempts at wholesale dismantling of departments and entities created by Congress without seeking the required congressional approval to change the law. There are efforts to dismiss employees with little regard for the law and protections they merit, and social media announcements that disparage and appear to be motivated by a desire to inflame without any stated factual basis. This is chaotic. It may appeal to a few. But it is wrong. And most Americans recognize it is wrong. It is also contrary to the rule of law. The American Bar Association supports the rule of law. That means holding governments, including our own, accountable under law. We stand for a legal process that is orderly and fair. We have consistently urged the administrations of both parties to adhere to the rule of law. We stand in that familiar place again today. And we do not stand alone. Our courts stand for the rule of law as well.
February 10, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by Riley Varner
rellmidnight.bsky.social
Nikes first Superbowl commercial in 27 years. What a way to pop back out 🔥
February 10, 2025 at 1:25 AM
Reposted by Riley Varner
allisonwgood.bsky.social
Hearing DOGE is cutting off access to EIA and NREL datasets 🔌💡
February 7, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Reposted by Riley Varner
pixelatedboat.bsky.social
Most of the world’s brightest minds are hard at work developing new ways for you to get depression from a computer
February 7, 2025 at 1:40 AM
rileyvarner.bsky.social
Thinking of the good folks at ENRD whose doors were always open to me when I had questions as a summer law clerk today… 😔
February 5, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Reposted by Riley Varner
jael.bsky.social
Scoop: The Trump admin has quietly issued stop work orders on projects funded under contracts with the Energy Department that reference community benefit plans, an attempt to target a crucial part of Biden’s environmental justice legacy

cc @heatmap.news

heatmap.news/politics/tru...
Trump’s Other Funding Freeze Attacks Environmental Justice
Companies, states, cities, and other entities with Energy Department contracts that had community benefit plans embedded in them have been ordered to stop all work.
heatmap.news
February 4, 2025 at 1:25 AM
Reposted by Riley Varner
jasondovemark.bsky.social
Mic drop from @abrahm.bsky.social:
"Climate change is upending the basic assumption that Americans can continue to build wealth and financial security by owning their own home. In a sense, it is upending the American dream."
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/03/o...
Opinion | The New Evidence Climate Change Will Upend American Homeownership
A new analysis predicts an extraordinary reversal in housing fortunes for Americans.
www.nytimes.com
February 3, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Reposted by Riley Varner
kylec.bsky.social
Colorado’s top import markets:
1. Canada ($374M)
2. China ($150M)
4. Mexico ($88.6M)

Colorado’s top export markets:
1. Mexico ($148M)
2. Canada ($104M)
4. China ($55.4M)

Source: OEC, Oct 2024
February 2, 2025 at 3:52 AM