Law Commons^™

When Does Legal Flexibility Work In Environmental Law, Eric Biber, Josh Eagle

Josh Eagle

When Does Legal Flexibility Work In Environmental Law, Eric Biber, Josh Eagle

Eric Biber

Urban Growth, Low Impact Development, And Seattle's Stormwater Management System, Katherine Baals

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental & Innovation Law

No abstract provided.

Proposed Federal Osha Standards For Wildfire Smoke, Keenan Layton

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental & Innovation Law

With the rise of global temperatures, climatologists predict a corresponding increase in the frequency and severity of wildfires in the Pacific Northwest. Rising temperatures are expected to create drier conditions in forests, thereby creating environmental conditions more prone to forest fires. Wildfires have become a common enough occurrence in the Pacific Northwest that summers have become synonymous with smoky conditions, but the issue is not constrained to this region. Though the Pacific Northwest has recently acted as a harbinger of increasing wildfires, environmental scientists forecast an increase in fire risk throughout the Western United States. The predicted rise in forest ...

Responsible Energy Storage For A Renewable Electrical Grid, Matt Longacre

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental & Innovation Law

The United States economy, its national security, and even the health and safety of its citizens depend on reliably available electricity. Electricity is largely available through the grid – more than 9,200 generating units, capable of generating more than one terawatt of electricity, connected to more than 600,000 miles of wire. The grid extends to nearly everything: from charging cellphones to cellphone towers, from light emitting diodes to street lights, and from parking meters to electric cars; the grid has become ubiquitous.

The current grid infrastructure has been valued at two trillion dollars, but much of it is aging ...

Rights Of Nature And Indigenous Cosmovision: A Fundamental Inquiry, Jingjing Wu

OSSA Conference Archive

In this paper, I ask whether we can weigh and balance indigenous cosmovision—the reasoning used as the main source of legitimacy in some rights of nature legislation—within a secular legal system. I examine three barriers that rights of nature and their corollary spiritual reasoning are likely to encounter if they are invoked in secular courts: (a) spiritual reasoning is non-defeasible (Part 3) and (b) irrational (Part 4), and (3) the current concept of human rights as a universal legal norm is based on a circular logic (Part 5). In order to overcome these barriers, I draw inspiration from ...

Financing Our Future’S Health: Why The United States Must Establish Mandatory Climate-Related Financial Disclosure Requirements Aligned With The Tcfd Recommendations, Colin Myers

Pace Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

All Dogs Get Regulatory Protection—And This Means Wolves Too: Extending Species- Specific Animal Welfare Act Protections, Megan Edwards

Pace Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Come Hell Or High-Water: Challenges For Adapting Pacific Northwest Water Law, Robert T. Caccese, Lara B. Fowler

Pace Environmental Law Review

The Pacific Northwest region of the United States has been recognized as a leader in crafting water laws that work to balance human needs and ecological considerations. However, this region is experiencing changing dynamics that test the strength of existing water policies and laws. Such dynamics include increasing populations, new and exempt uses, quantification of tribal treaty rights, species protection, renegotiation of the Columbia River Treaty, and the impacts of a changing climate. Together, these dynamics are stressing the legal framework, which remains vital to ensuring sustainable water supplies now and into the future. The history behind water resources management ...

Bringing Animal Protection Legislation Into Line With Its Purported Purposes: A Proposal For Equality Amongst Non-Human Animals, Jane Kotzmann, Gisela Nip

Pace Environmental Law Review

The United States has a strong history of enacting laws to protect animals from the pain and suffering inflicted by humans. Indeed, the passage of the Massachusetts’ Body of Liberties in 1641 made it the first country in the world to pass such laws. Nevertheless, contemporary animal protection laws in all jurisdictions of the United States are limited in their ability to adequately realize their primary purpose of protecting animals from unnecessary or unjustifiable pain and suffering. This is a result of limited statutory definitions of ‘animal’ and far-reaching exclusions commonly found in animal protection legislation. These exclusions frequently apply ...

Impact Assessment And Responsible Business Guidance Tools In The Extractive Sector: Implications For Human Rights, Gender And Stakeholder Engagement, Penelope Simons, Naiomi Metallic, Meinhard Doelle, Bayo Majekolagbe, Sara L. Seck

Responsible Business Conduct and Impact Assessment Law

This report aims to identify RBC tools referenced in the literature as relevant and/or promoted to Canadian extractive companies operating within and outside Canada. While not appraising or pronouncing on the quality of RBC tools, we consider the different actors that promote these diverse tools and whether there is a coherent framework for the efficient and effective application of current and future tools. We focus on RBC tools on human rights, stakeholder engagement, the rights of Indigenous peoples, and the rights of women and girls. Further, we review the position of scholars on the relationship between RBC and IA.

Deploying Machine Learning For A Sustainable Future, Cary Coglianese

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Law

To meet the environmental challenges of a warming planet and an increasingly complex, high tech economy, government must become smarter about how it makes policies and deploys its limited resources. It specifically needs to build a robust capacity to analyze large volumes of environmental and economic data by using machine-learning algorithms to improve regulatory oversight, monitoring, and decision-making. Three challenges can be expected to drive the need for algorithmic environmental governance: more problems, less funding, and growing public demands. This paper explains why algorithmic governance will prove pivotal in meeting these challenges, but it also presents four likely obstacles that ...

The Silent Killer, Breanna Dashanae Cavanaugh

Senior Theses

Many people around the world follow the slogan “Go Green” or “keep green and keep our planet green”. Do all countries and people within them follow those slogans? Do all countries uphold the standards of what it means to go green to keep the planet clean? The question can be answered with this simple statistic: The top 20 countries with the most polluted urban areas in order, Pakistan, Qatar, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, UAE, Mongolia, India, Bahrain, Nepal, Ghana, Jordan, China, Senegal, Turkey, Bulgaria, Mauritius, Peru, Serbia and Iran. [1]Now, based off this image you will be able to see ...

Maintaining A Picture-Perfect Environment: Shifts In The Standing Doctrine After League Of Conservation Voters V. Trump, Monica P. Matias Quiñones

Villanova Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Energy Economics: Just Compensation Under State Law In Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company V. Permanent Easement For 7.053 Acres, Spencer J. Miller

Villanova Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Southern California Surfer's Perspective On Marine Spatial Planning, Edward C. Kisiel Iii

Villanova Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Contemplating Aggregation In Pursuits Of Conservation: Clean Air Council V. Commonwealth And The Project Aggregation Principle, Melissa A. Griest

Villanova Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

It's A Revolution I Suppose: The Supreme Court's Radioactive Decision In Virginia Uranium Inc. V. Warren, Samantha Pankey Martin

Villanova Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

New Policies Give Solar Users An Economic Boost, Olivia Fowler

Marriott Student Review

The future looks bright for Solar Energy, as more States and Territories in the United States commit to moving to 100% renewable energy. What are the different states and territories committing to exactly, and what economic incentives are they bringing? Find out in this article by author Olivia Fowley.

When Improper Disposal Leads To More Than Hospital Visits: The Need For A National Standard For Used Medical Sharps, Albana Zherka

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

A Necessary Negative: Analysis Of The Tidewater Virginia Surry-Skiffes Creek Transmission Tower Litigation, Geoffrey Robert Grau

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Concerning Catskill: Missed Opportunity, Broken Precedent And The Plight Of American Waters, Chase Corey

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

As society progresses and the population grows, uninhibited and unregulated pollution has become a pressing dilemma for current and future generations. Whether it is plastic on the beaches, oil in the oceans, or smog in the air, modern citizens of the Earth face a daily onslaught of visible consequences from the actions of polluters. But what about the not so visible consequences? Every day there is pollution occurring at a microscopic level, yet many are unaware of its presence. This infinitesimal issue is nutrient pollution, and despite its diminutive cause, it is deeply affecting one of the world’s most ...

The Politics Of Cost-Benefit Analysis: A Risky Bet For Environmental Law And Policy In Brazil, Julio Borges

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Seeking to disseminate cost-benefit analysis as part of a global agenda of reforms on regulatory policy, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (“OECD”) has advocated this economic tool to all its member countries. A key partner of that international organization since 2007, Brazil officially sought in 2017 to be a permanent OECD member, which means accepting orientation from that organization on policy reforms, namely regulatory policy. This Article disagrees with OECD’s recommendation because traditional cost-benefit analysis has been technically flawed and politically biased towards a deregulatory agenda. The purpose of this Article, therefore, is to analyze the potential ...

The Iarc Monographs Program And The Federal Advisory Committee Act--Never The Twain Shall Meet?, David B. Fischer

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Evaluating The Effects Of Fossil Fuel Supply Projects On Greenhouse Gas Emissions And Climate Change Under Nepa, Michael Burger, Jessica Wentz

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Despite the high certainty of our looming climate catastrophe, fossil fuel production and consumption, and the greenhouse gas emissions that result, are increasing. In the United States, fossil fuel production reached record levels in 2018, and oil and gas pipelines are being constructed at an unprecedented pace. The National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) provides the legal framework for the federal government to evaluate the climate impacts of these supply projects, such as leasing public lands and approving pipelines and export terminals. Yet, while federal agencies have begun to analyze how such projects impact climate change there are major inconsistencies in ...

Climate Change Science And The Daubert Standard, Fred K. Morrison, Craig Manson, Matthew C. Wickersham

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Climate change science attempts to predict the future based on complex modeling of potential levels of CO2, other greenhouse gases, manmade conditions, and naturally occurring events. Even the most widely cited analysis of climate change studies expressly acknowledges the limitations on accurately predicting the effects of climate change on anything other than a macro basis.1 These studies acknowledge substantial uncertainty in the prediction of climate change and its effects on a regional level, much less on a local level.2 Recent lawsuits brought by the State of Rhode Island; the counties of King (Washington), Marin (California), and San Mateo ...

Feeding The World: How Changes In Biotech Regulation Can Jump-Start The Second Green Revolution And Diversify The Agricultural Industry, John A. Erwin, Robert Glennon

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

As the Earth’s population climbs from 7.7 billion in 2019 to almost 10 billion by mid-century, farmers will need to increase food production by 70 percent. This Article analyzes the tools available to achieve this demanding goal. We assess changes in agriculture related to both the organic industry and the high-tech sector that are enabling farmers to become more efficient. Critically, biotechnology offers great promise to hasten the pace of increased agricultural efficiency through genetic engineering. While genetic modification has been controversial, we cannot exclude any viable policy option, especially one with so much promise. Yet the current ...

Out With The New, In With The Old: Re-Implementing Traditional Forms Of Justice In Indian Country, Nicholas R. Sanchez

American Indian Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Mapping A Way Through Disaster And Emergency Issues Involving Indian Country And The Importance Of Legal Preparedness, Brian T. Candelaria

American Indian Law Journal

No abstract provided.

P2p Lending Can Increase Capital To Capitally Starved Indian Country, Craig Nichols

American Indian Law Journal

No abstract provided.