The New York Times, January 5, 2011 by Lawrence Hurley
http://nyti.ms/i7qhjh

“The short answer is that, at least in the long term, EPA is quite likely to win the legal battle,” said Richard Frank.

Daniel Farber, an environmental law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, also noted that the 12 other states that objected to the EPA rules have all been able to reach an interim agreement. He accused Attorney General Abbott of being “willing to sacrifice jobs and industry in Texas just in the hope of harassing EPA.”

The New York Times, October 27, 2010 by Debra Kahn
http://nyti.ms/doxOMq

“I think, for better or worse, most Californians view the AG as the state’s top cop,” [Frank] said. “They have a fairly narrow and focused view of the attorney general, and most voters don’t know or don’t care that the AG has many responsibilities above enforcing the death penalty.”

-Daily Journal, October 26, 2010 by Fiona Smith
http://bit.ly/akDNox (requires registration; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips for article)

The new definition of what is a tax or a fee is not simple, and the issue will likely play out in court on this and in many other cases, said Richard Frank, executive director of the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment…. “[Prop. 26] is a real sleeper,” Frank said. “I think [Prop.] 26, if enacted, could have a broader and more long-range adverse consequences to public health and safety than Proposition 23.”

-Daily Journal, October 29, 2010 by Richard Frank
http://bit.ly/akDNox (requires registration; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips for article)

Voters and political analysts have largely ignored another initiative measure on next week’s ballot—Proposition 26—despite the fact that its passage would have profound and broad impacts on government efforts to protect public health, safety, and environment.

Fox Business, Varney & Co., October 6, 2010 Host Stuart Varney
http://bit.ly/cnMeH9

The energy prices may increase as a result of climate change laws; they may increase only incrementally, or not at all, but … as a result of California refinery and energy laws and conservation laws, per capita energy use in California is 18% less than it was 40 years ago, while per capita energy use in the 49 other states continues to rise substantially.

Los Angeles Times, October 4, 2010 by Daniel Farber and Richard Frank
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-farber-prop23-20101004,0,551916.story

In an era when California government is often called a model of dysfunction, our state’s climate change and renewable energy policies stand out as one example of visionary, effective public policymaking. Proposition 23, if passed in November, would substantially undermine California’s impressive leadership and progress on the climate change, green jobs and renewable energy fronts.

Los Angeles Times, September 14, 2010 by Richard A. Serrano and Carol J. Williams
http://lat.ms/9j0Dre

Richard Frank, an environmental law professor at UC Berkeley, said the government’s separate-track proposal doesn’t necessarily conflict with the public interest. “As long as the federal litigation is overseen by the same judge and he can coordinate to the extent he deems appropriate, that should address the need for judicial economy and efficiency,” said Frank, noting that responsibility for recovering the costs of responding to the spill and countering its effects on the environment lies with the federal government.

-The Daily Journal, September 9, 2010 by Fiona Smith
http://www.dailyjournal.com/ (requires registration; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips for article)

The unreasonable use claims, combined with the public trust doctrine “have really been sleeping giants in California water politics, policy and law and I’m not surprised to see them coming to the fore,” said Richard Frank, executive director of UC Berkeley School of Law’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment and member of a recent task force that advised the governor on delta policy.

-The Capitol Weekly, September 10, 2010 by Richard M. Frank
http://www.capitolweekly.net/ (requires registration; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips for article)

The Delta Smelt, which stands precipitously close to extinction as a result of those activities, now depends on the Endangered Species Act for its survival. PLF’s ill-considered court challenge to federal efforts to preserve the smelt is without legal merit. It also represents fundamentally unsound public policy. The Delta deserves to be protected and restored. So does the Delta smelt.

The Daily Journal, June 24, 2010 by Richard M. Frank
http://www.dailyjournal.com/ (requires registration; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips for article)

The 9th Circuit’s Aerojet decision underscores a significant criticism of CERCLA that many commentators have voiced ever since Congress first enacted the statute three decades ago: by relying on a fault-based system to assess legal and financial responsibility for hazardous waste pollution and clean-up, CERCLA guarantees a process under which complex, costly and time-consuming litigation is the norm.

The Christian Science Monitor, June 22, 2010 by Mark Guarino
http://bit.ly/a6eqg2

Courts “generally give the executive branch of government a fair amount of deference when responding to emergency events” and it is likely that the next judge will give the administration “a more favorable response. I wouldn’t think the Obama administration would have to work too hard to justify the need for this type of moratorium it imposed here based on the record,” Frank says.

-NPR, All Things Considered, June 17, 2010 by Nina Totenberg
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127911461

Richard Michael Frank, executive director of the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at the University of California, Berkeley, says that in terms of water-boundary law “the Florida law as interpreted here represents kind of the majority view among coastal states. So to the extent that the court has articulated and for the most part reaffirmed longstanding state coastal boundary law principles, they are likely to have relatively broad application across the country.”

-The Daily Journal, June 18, 2010 by Lawrence Hurley
http://www.dailyjournal.com/ (requires registration; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips for article)

Richard M. Frank, executive director of the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at UC Berkeley School of Law, said similar arguments have been made “so far unsuccessfully” in various California cases.

Capital Press, May 27, 2010 by Wes Sanders
http://www.capitalpress.com/print/ws-climate-bill-052110

Rick Frank, director of the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment at University of California-Berkeley, says political energy will move Congress next year, not the profile of its membership. That means lawmakers will enact some means of regulating emissions if public opinion pushes it. “These issues of climate change are not going away,” he said.

The Daily Journal, May 18, 2010 by Richard Frank
http://www.dailyjournal.com/ (requires registration; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips for article)

Justice Stevens’ influence on the nation’s environmental jurisprudence goes well beyond the fact that he has served on the Supreme Court longer than anyone in U.S. history save the justice he replaced: William O. Douglas. And it comes in spite of the fact that—unlike Justice Douglas—Justice Stevens’ personal and professional history reveals no particular affinity for the great outdoors or environmental causes. Nevertheless, a key (and largely overlooked) part of Justice Stevens’ judicial legacy is the fact that he’s responsible for many of the Court’s most influential environmental decisions over the past several decades.

Contra Costa Times, April 2, 2010 by Matt Krupnick
http://www.contracostatimes.com/politics-government/ci_14810595?source=rss&nclick_check=1

The transaction “should sound a note of warning,” said Rick Frank, a former California chief deputy attorney general who teaches land-use law at UC Berkeley and UC Davis. The district’s purchase—after the quitclaim deed was signed—raises questions that need to be answered, he said. “That strikes me as somewhat odd,” he said. “It would pique my curiosity, let’s put it that way.”

Contra Costa Times, March 19, 2010 by Mike Taugher
http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_14712353

“It could be the launching point for something very significant, or, depending on how it works out, it could be much ado about nothing,” said Richard Frank, executive director of the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at UC Berkeley’s School of Law.

Los Angeles Times, March 15, 2010 by Maura Dolan
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-court-pollute16-2010mar16,0,1952414.story

In ruling against the air district, the court said a proper environmental review must now be done, even though the project was completed in 2006. “In all likelihood, mitigation measures will be identified in that report, which can be adopted retroactively,” said Richard Frank, executive director of UC Berkeley’s Center on Law, Energy and the Environment, which represented the plaintiffs.

Sacramento Business Journal, February 12, 2010 by Mark Anderson
http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2010/02/15/story4.html (requires registration; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips for article)

“It is a savvy move on Downey Brand’s part,” said Rick Frank, lecturer in residence at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. “Renewable energy and green technology are growing fields, and the Bay Area is ground zero for those practice areas. It is a very timely move and part of a very thoughtful strategy.”

California Magazine, February 2010 by Sandy Tolan
http://alumni.berkeley.edu/news/california-magazine/winter-2009-food-thought/waterworld

“The levee system,” says Frank, “was never designed to protect and accommodate residential development.”

California Planning & Development Report, November 15, 2009 by Paul Shigley
http://www.cp-dr.com/node/2488 (requires registration; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips for article)

“At one level, I’m quite pleased with it. Virtually all the core policies in the Delta Vision plan are incorporated in the legislation.” Frank said. “It’s far from perfect. But it’s a significant improvement over the status quo.”

Contra Costa Times, December 6, 2009 by Mike Taugher
http://www.contracostatimes.com/top-stories/ci_13936872

“It has been a bottom-up, state and local government-led effort,” said Richard Frank…. In a state already struggling financially and politically, the progress in California on climate protection “is a very encouraging bright light in an otherwise dark scene,” Frank said.

Carbon Control News Blog November 23, 2009
http://ee.iwpnews.com/index.php/ccn/show/experts_cite_legal_barriers_for_californias_cap_and_trade_program/ (may require registration; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips for article)

Rick Frank, another EAAC member who is executive director of the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at the University of California-Berkeley School of Law, suggested that the committee “be a little wary of focusing too much on the legal constraints,” and rather advance what it considers to be the best policy recommendations and leave potential legal hurdles to CARB staff.