Editor’s Note…

by Scott B. Birkey

This issue of Environmental Law News highlights some of the most recent – and technologically cutting-edge – developments in environmental law. The first article is an in-depth look at hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," and recent regulations of fracking throughout the state and elsewhere. Next up is an article on the California Supreme Court’s recent decision regarding access to government-held digitally-formatted data, such as geographic information system, or "GIS" data. The next article covers a case in which the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued the first-ever court ruling on the use of nanotechnology in a consumer product. The fourth article concerns climate change, and in particular raises questions regarding conceptual and practical aspects of adjudicating climate change issues, and offers some alternative solutions for climate change claimants. This is followed by an article that explores nine goals California hopes to achieve by 2020, a year that seems to have some "magical" quality for the California Legislature given that it’s a target deadline for a number of the state’s ambitious goals. The next article is a series of commentaries from a panel at the 2013 Environmental Law Conference at Yosemite discussing the problem of ocean plastic pollution. The final article is a helpful recap of environmental legislation introduced during the state’s 2012-2013 legislative session. We hope you enjoy these articles, and the interesting insights and perspectives each author brings to the practice of environmental law.