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Articles 1 - 30 of 33
Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network
Biopiracy: Using New Laws And Databases To Protect Indigenous Communities, Cleo-Symone Scott
Biopiracy: Using New Laws And Databases To Protect Indigenous Communities, Cleo-Symone Scott
Law Student Publications
Indigenous people have a historical link to those who inhabited a country or region at the time when people of different cultures or origins arrived. Traditionally, indigenous people have a special relationship with their ancestral environments. But their way of living has long been under threat. The land that indigenous people live on is home to over 80% of our planet’s biodiversity, but it continues to be appropriated and plundered due to bioprospecting or, as some call it, biopiracy. Bioprospecting is defined as “the exploration and information gathering of genetic and biochemical material to develop commercial products.” While innovation is …
Rural America As A Commons, Ann M. Eisenberg
Rural America As A Commons, Ann M. Eisenberg
University of Richmond Law Review
With many ready to dismiss non-urban life as a relic of history, rural America’s place in the future is in question. The rural role in the American past is understandably more apparent. As the story of urbanization goes in the United States and elsewhere, the majority of the population used to live in rural places, including small towns and sparsely populated counties. A substantial proportion of those people worked in agriculture, manufacturing, or extractive industries. But trends associated with modernity—mechanization, automation, globalization, and environmental conservation, for instance—have reduced the perceived need for a rural workforce. Roughly since the industrial revolution …
Armoring The Just Transition Activist, Abigail Fleming, Catherine Dremluk
Armoring The Just Transition Activist, Abigail Fleming, Catherine Dremluk
Richmond Public Interest Law Review
The fossil fuel energy system, reinforced by oppressive policies and practices,
has disproportionately harmed poor people, Indigenous people, and
Brown and Black people and driven the global climate crisis. A just transition,
which displaces fossil fuels and redistributes renewable energy resources,
requires policies that are rooted in equity and shift power back to
the hands of the most vulnerable. Just Transition Activists, leaders, organizers,
and changemakers in the just transition movement, must develop transformative
skillsets necessary to radically reimagine our world and dismantle
the current unequal system of law and policy. This analysis explores the
skills, attributes, beliefs, and attitudes …
Examining The Relationship Between Environmental Justice And The Lack Of Diversity In Environmental Organizations, Haley Walter
Examining The Relationship Between Environmental Justice And The Lack Of Diversity In Environmental Organizations, Haley Walter
Richmond Public Interest Law Review
This article highlights the ongoing lack of diversity in each of the
three major types of environmental organizations—conservation and
preservation organizations, governmental agencies, and environmental
grantmaking foundations—and assesses how this lack of diversity
has historically marginalized people of color. Assessing the history of
how the environmental movement has marginalized people of color is
key because from this marginalization grew the rise of the environmental
justice movement and recognition from the legal system of environmental
issues that disproportionately impacted people of color. Last,
this article presents solutions on how environmental organizations can
increase and retain diversity in their staff and leadership …
Deconstructing Inequality: Cumulative Impacts, Environmental Justice, And Interstate Redevelopment, Lemir Teron
Deconstructing Inequality: Cumulative Impacts, Environmental Justice, And Interstate Redevelopment, Lemir Teron
Richmond Public Interest Law Review
The siting and development of Interstate 81 in Syracuse, New York, similar
to highway projects across the nation, lead to the displacement of Black
Syracusans
and has exposed thousands of remaining residents at heightened
environmental harm. As the interstate is slated to be redeveloped due to age
and safety issues, national attention has focused on the highway as a potential
exemplar for similar projects across the United States. Federal law mandates
that environmental impact analysis be conducted, and due to the prevalence
of marginalized populations, environmental justice impacts are a
critical feature in this assessment. This article evaluates both the …
Incorporating Environmental Justice Into Benefit-Cost Analysis Of Federal Rulemakings, John D. Graham
Incorporating Environmental Justice Into Benefit-Cost Analysis Of Federal Rulemakings, John D. Graham
Richmond Public Interest Law Review
President Biden proposes to revise the federal rulemaking process to advance
the values of justice and equity. This analysis offers a practical path
forward by adding an equity test to the efficiency test applied to new federal
regulations by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. This article explores
the feasibility of the proposal with applications to regulation of hazardous
air pollutants and drinking water contaminants. The proposal seeks
to advance the interests of low-income Americans in federal rulemaking, a
subgroup that has received little historical priority in the regulatory impact
analyses prepared by federal regulatory agencies.
Forty Years Of Environmental Justice: Where Is The Justice?, Jon A. Mueller, Taylor Lilley
Forty Years Of Environmental Justice: Where Is The Justice?, Jon A. Mueller, Taylor Lilley
Richmond Public Interest Law Review
Environmental Justice (or“EJ”) has been recognized as a concept since
at least 1982. After decades of incremental and ineffective efforts by the federal
government, it has become clear that EJ must evolve beyond the concept
stage if it is to be an effective vehicle for social and legal change. At its heart,
EJ is a function of social inequities and environmental harms, and the disproportionate
correlation between those components can no longer be ignored
by state and federal actors. The way forward must be paved with practical
legal solutions and affirmative application of regulatory authority. This
article examines the history …
A Legal Update On Environmental Justice In Virginia: Where Are We Now?, Jasdeep S. Khaira, Patrice Lewis, Abigail Thompson, Scott Foster
A Legal Update On Environmental Justice In Virginia: Where Are We Now?, Jasdeep S. Khaira, Patrice Lewis, Abigail Thompson, Scott Foster
Richmond Public Interest Law Review
Environmental justice (“EJ”) is rapidly evolving in Virginia while people
are still trying to understand what EJ actually means. As a result, regulators
are unsure of how to incorporate environmental justice in their decisionmaking
process while the regulated are uncertain of how to proceed in the
ever-changing political, social, and regulatory landscape. This article gives
an overview of EJ’s evolution in Virginia, synthesizing notable environmental
justice legal decisions; providing supplementary research on environmental
justice studies, workgroups, and reports; and offering several predictions
on EJ’s fate in the Commonwealth.
Examining The Relationship Between Environmental Justice And The Lack Of Diversity In Environmental Organizations, Haley Walter
Examining The Relationship Between Environmental Justice And The Lack Of Diversity In Environmental Organizations, Haley Walter
Law Student Publications
This article highlights the ongoing lack of diversity in each of the three major types of environmental organizations—conservation and preservation organizations, governmental agencies, and environmental grantmaking foundations—and assesses how this lack of diversity has historically marginalized people of color. Assessing the history of how the environmental movement has marginalized people of color is key because from this marginalization grew the rise of the environmental justice movement and recognition from the legal system of environmental issues that disproportionately impacted people of color. Last, this article presents solutions on how environmental organizations can increase and retain diversity in their staff and leadership …
Toxic Floodwaters: Strengthening The Chemical Safety Regime In The Climate Change Era, Noah M. Sachs
Toxic Floodwaters: Strengthening The Chemical Safety Regime In The Climate Change Era, Noah M. Sachs
Law Faculty Publications
Extreme flooding linked to climate change has caused toxic chemical spills across the United States, yet policymakers are not prioritizing industrial chemical safety in planning for climate change. Many scholars and industry executives have argued that existing private law mechanisms, such as insurance and tort-based deterrence, can adequately manage the risk of flood-induced chemical releases from industrial sites. But private law mechanisms have failed to prevent past incidents of mass contamination, and there is little evidence that tort law deters industrial firms from the practices that put communities at risk. In this Article, I engage in a comparative analysis of …
Clean Energy Justice: Charting An Emerging Agenda, Joel B. Eisen, Shelley Welton
Clean Energy Justice: Charting An Emerging Agenda, Joel B. Eisen, Shelley Welton
Law Faculty Publications
The rapid transition to clean energy is fraught with potential inequities. As clean energy policies ramp up in scale and ambition, they confront challenging new questions: Who should pay for the transition? Who should live next to the industrial-scale wind and solar farms these policies promote? Will the new “green” economy be a fairer one, with more widespread opportunity, than the fossil fuel economy it is replacing? Who gets to decide what kinds of resources power our decarbonized world? In this article, we frame these challenges as part of an emerging agenda of “clean energy justice.” Mapping this agenda highlights …
Should The United States Create Trading Markets For Energy Efficiency?, Noah M. Sachs
Should The United States Create Trading Markets For Energy Efficiency?, Noah M. Sachs
Law Faculty Publications
This Comment examines whether the vision for energy efficiency markets matches the reality. It explains how energy efficiency markets work, examines the handful of energy efficiency markets that have been established to date, and explores the policy challenges inherent in commodifying energy efficiency and making it a tradable good.
Public Hazard, Personal Peril: The Impact Of Non-Governmental Organizations In The Environmental Justice Movement, Andrea Y. Simpson
Public Hazard, Personal Peril: The Impact Of Non-Governmental Organizations In The Environmental Justice Movement, Andrea Y. Simpson
Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest
This article argues that the local emphasis of what I call micromovements that form the larger Environmental Justice Movement could gain more traction from relationships with Non-Governmental Organizations. Such partnerships are emerging on a national level; however, since the localized movements communicate with, but are not partners with, national organizations such as the National Black Environmental Network, it is unclear how such partnerships add value to the activities of local groups. Moreover, some partnerships are forged for the organization of a specific event such as a conference or working group study Part II of this article discusses an overview of …
Environmental Justice As Civil Rights, Wyatt G. Sassman
Environmental Justice As Civil Rights, Wyatt G. Sassman
Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest
Environmental justice litigation using the Equal Protection Clause and civil rights statutes has largely failed. This article explains that failure as a result of a general shift by federal courts to limit the scope of civil rights law rather than an improper characterization of environmental justice as a civil rights issue. This explanation is important to both encourage and caution environmental justice advocates and scholars as they approach claims under Title VIII. I suggest that Title VIII's ability to bridge property and dignity may still present a powerful and much-needed tool for bringing equality to environmental law, but that, based …
Nrdc Sues Epa For A Failure To Issue Hazardous Substance Regulations: The End Of A Decades-Long Public Risk In Sight, Jack Morgan
Nrdc Sues Epa For A Failure To Issue Hazardous Substance Regulations: The End Of A Decades-Long Public Risk In Sight, Jack Morgan
Law Student Publications
Currently there are no federal regulations that prevent hazardous substance spills at onshore facilities, such as tank farms, or in communities where a spill of those chemicals could threaten water supplies. On July 21, 2015, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filed a complaint on behalf of the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform (EJHA) and People Concerned About Chemical Safety (PCCS) against EPA and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy in her official capacity as administrator, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The case has been assigned to Judge Shira A. Sheindlin. The …
Environmental Justice As Civil Rights, Wyatt G. Sassman
Environmental Justice As Civil Rights, Wyatt G. Sassman
Richmond Public Interest Law Review
Environmental justice litigation using the Equal Protection Clause and civil rights statutes has largely failed. This article explains that failure as a result of a general shift by federal courts to limit the scope of civil rights law rather than an improper characterization of environmental justice as a civil rights issue. This explanation is important to both encourage and caution environmental justice advocates and scholars as they approach claims under Title VIII. I suggest that Title VIII's ability to bridge property and dignity may still present a powerful and much-needed tool for bringing equality to environmental law, but that, based …
Public Hazard, Personal Peril: The Impact Of Non-Governmental Organizations In The Environmental Justice Movement, Andrea Y. Simpson
Public Hazard, Personal Peril: The Impact Of Non-Governmental Organizations In The Environmental Justice Movement, Andrea Y. Simpson
Richmond Public Interest Law Review
This article argues that the local emphasis of what I call micromovements that form the larger Environmental Justice Movement could gain more traction from relationships with Non-Governmental Organizations. Such partnerships are emerging on a national level; however, since the localized movements communicate with, but are not partners with, national organizations such as the National Black Environmental Network, it is unclear how such partnerships add value to the activities of local groups. Moreover, some partnerships are forged for the organization of a specific event such as a conference or working group study Part II of this article discusses an overview of …
Finality In Brownfields Remediation And Reuse, Joel B. Eisen
Finality In Brownfields Remediation And Reuse, Joel B. Eisen
Law Faculty Publications
The intersection of brownfields redevelopment and these broader concerns presents a host of issues. Does redevelopment of brownfields connect to a larger vision for the city that links with "smart growth" and climate action goals? Retooling the original developer-centered vision of VCPs to promote broader goals is an ongoing challenge. Has the affected community been involved in planning for brownfields remediation, or has the developer controlled the process? The latter narrows the ability to view the project as part of a community-wide plan, and undermines its legitimacy. Finally, if brownfields redevelopment yields benefits, how can we measure success over the …
Finding The Proper Forum For Regulation Of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: The Legal And Economic Implications Of Massachusetts V. Epa, George F. Allen, Marlo Lewis
Finding The Proper Forum For Regulation Of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: The Legal And Economic Implications Of Massachusetts V. Epa, George F. Allen, Marlo Lewis
University of Richmond Law Review
No abstract provided.
Pining For Sustainability, Timothy M. Mulvaney
Pining For Sustainability, Timothy M. Mulvaney
University of Richmond Law Review
In the legal academic community, there are significant positive signs demonstrating attention to sustainable practices, from course offerings to many day-to-day operations. Scholarly research also reflects this positive trend. Much of this recent scholarship assesses sustainability-focused regulatory and normative efforts to address the impacts associated with a warming planet in marked detail, and there is an additional plethora of writing on the many topics beyond the changing climate that raise sustainability questions.
Brownfields At 20: A Critical Reevaluation, Joel B. Eisen
Brownfields At 20: A Critical Reevaluation, Joel B. Eisen
Law Faculty Publications
Following a basic description of the New Jersey program, I will discuss two specific developments, the BDA initiative and the recent "Grace Period Rule," that changed some aspects of the program. My aim is more modest than a full-scale re-evaluation of all brownfields programs (or indeed of the New Jersey program in its totality); instead I look at the experience within one program to assess whether there is movement toward the development-centered approach. I find that some developments in New Jersey are positive, notably the BDA's approach to addressing multiple brownfield sites concurrently in the same location. On the other …
Creation, Liberation, And Property: Virtues And Values Toward A Theocentric Earth Ethic, W. Wade Berryhill
Creation, Liberation, And Property: Virtues And Values Toward A Theocentric Earth Ethic, W. Wade Berryhill
Law Faculty Publications
Religion continues to play a significant role in shaping our attitudes toward nature.2 Time-honored principles of stewardship of the land demand that we owe a duty to future generations to allow them to inherit a healthy environment. Essential to this obligation is spiritual faith, not the trendy brand of secular humanism espoused by ecodogmatists seeking environmental justice through means unmoored from centuries-old principles of creation. What secular humanism ignores-and what religious traditions the world over have recognizedis the reality that we are a "creative expression of the earth's own evolution."3 Thus, in light of our duty to posterity, mere emphasis …
Brownfields Redevelopment, Joel B. Eisen
Brownfields Redevelopment, Joel B. Eisen
Law Faculty Publications
Critiquing how brownfields programs expanded without much attention to developments in the international environmental arena will illustrate some ways to alter them to comport with Agenda 21 and other prerequisites for sustainable development. Another interesting aspect of this analysis for the Rio+ 10 review is its timing. The state and federal programs have mushroomed since 1992; for example, while a small of states had "voluntary cleanup programs" 10 years ago, virtually every state has one now, and there is considerable increasing experience with them. If adjustments to these programs should be developed to comport with the prescriptions of Agenda 21 …
A Case Study Of Sustainable Development: Brownfields, Joel B. Eisen
A Case Study Of Sustainable Development: Brownfields, Joel B. Eisen
Law Faculty Publications
Critiquing how brownfields programs expanded without much attention to developments in the international environmental arena will illustrate some ways to alter them to comport with Agenda 21 and other prerequisites for sustainable development. Another interesting aspect of this analysis for the Rio + 10 review is its timing. The state and federal programs have mushroomed since 1992; for example, while a small minority of states had "voluntary cleanup programs" 10 years ago, virtually every state has one now, and there is considerable and increasing experience with them. If adjustments to these programs should be developed to comport with the prescriptions …
Adr At The Environmental Protection Agency, Joel B. Eisen
Adr At The Environmental Protection Agency, Joel B. Eisen
Law Faculty Publications
This chapter examines how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods to help resolve complex environmental disputes. In recent years, the EPA's use of ADR has increased dramatically in a wide variety of settings. The EPA has made ADR a central feature of its environmental enforcement strategy, encouraged its use in Title VI and environmental justice conflict settings, and turned to negotiated rulemaking as an alternative to the cumbersome notice-and-comment process for development of new federal regulations. Other EPA programs, such as the Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative, promote nonadversarial methods for tackling complex environmental problems. …
Environmental Law Slogans For The New Millenium, Michael Allan Wolf
Environmental Law Slogans For The New Millenium, Michael Allan Wolf
University of Richmond Law Review
Contrary to the bleakest predictions offered by environmental fatalists during the latter half of the 1900s, humanity and much of the plant and animal kingdom survived New Year's Eve 1999. Similarly, contrary to the dire warnings of industrial organizations and lobbyists that overburdening environmental regulations would spell the end of profitable, American capitalism, the year 2000 dawned in the United States with the world's most extensive array of anti-pollution and pro-conservation measures regulating the globe's most impressive economic engines.
Alternative Dispute Resolution At The Environmental Protection Agency, Joel B. Eisen
Alternative Dispute Resolution At The Environmental Protection Agency, Joel B. Eisen
Law Faculty Publications
This chapter examines how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods to help resolve complex environmental disputes. In recent years, the EPA's use of ADR has increased dramatically in a wide variety of settings. The EPA has made ADR a central feature of its environmental enforcement strategy, encouraged its use in Title VI and environmental justice conflict settings, and turned to negotiated rulemaking as an alternative to the cumbersome notice-and-comment process for the development of new federal regulations. Other EPA programs, such as the Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative, promote nonadversarial methods for tackling complex environmental …
Brownfields Policies For Sustainable Cities, Joel B. Eisen
Brownfields Policies For Sustainable Cities, Joel B. Eisen
Law Faculty Publications
My analysis begins in Part I with a short summary of brownfields law and policy, and a description of our current understanding of "sustainable development." There is no hard and fast definition of the term, but it is increasingly more clear that a body of sustainable development "law" will take shape as the product of a host of decisions made now and in the near future. The optimal way to ensure that brownfields programs mesh with this body of law-whatever it turns out to be-is to incorporate basic norms of sustainable development about which there is widespread agreement. Those agreed-upon …
Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Environmental Law, Kelley A. Kinney, Andrea West Wortzel
Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Environmental Law, Kelley A. Kinney, Andrea West Wortzel
University of Richmond Law Review
This article reviews the key environmental developments at the federal and state levels during the period from June 1996 to June 1998. Legislation and judicial decisions are presented topically. Certain issues, such as public participation and environmental justice, are playing an increasing role and will likely impact all media.