Law Commons^™

Mitigating Climate Change By Zoning For Solar Energy Systems: Embracing Clean Energy Technology In Zoning’S Centennial Year, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Adopting land use regulations that encourage solar and other clean energy systems is an essential strategy for promoting clean power and one that focuses on the essential role that local governments play in mitigating climate change. This article explores efforts at the state and local level to reform zoning and land use regulations to permit, encourage, require, and incentivize rapidly-evolving clean energy systems, particularly solar, that, in the aggregate, have the ability to significantly increase power generation and decrease carbon emissions. The article illustrates how zoning, as it approaches its 100th anniversary, is encrusted with provisions that prohibit or discourage …

The Clean Power Plan Puzzle: The Future Of Efforts To Control Climate Pollution In The Northeast, David Gahl, Pearl Gray, Nick Martin

Environmental Law Program Publications @ Haub Law

In October 2015 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized the first national plan to cut climate pollution from power plants. Called the Clean Power Plan (CPP), the effort requires a 32% nation-wide reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the power sector. The CPP also gives states multiple pathways to comply. Now states are on the clock: they must submit their individual compliance plans or signal their intent to submit multi-state plans by September 2016.

The nine states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the first market-based trading platform established to cut climate pollution from power plants …

Carbon-Tuning New York’S Electricity System: Uncovering New Opportunities For Co2 Emissions Reductions, Nick Martin

Environmental Law Program Publications @ Haub Law

Distributed energy resources (DER), including technologies and services such as behind-the-meter generation, demand response, energy management, and energy efficiency, are touted as effective ways to improve electric system efficiencies and reduce harmful air emissions. The New York State Public Service Commission’s landmark Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) proceeding aims to unleash competitive forces that will invest in DER across the state with the explicit goal of reducing customer bills and the environmental impact of electricity production.

As initiatives like New York’s REV continue, understanding the emission impacts of DER deployment becomes vital to ensure these efforts achieve the greatest environmental …

The Damage From Mega-Sporting Events In Brazil, J. Justin Woods

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Student Publications

Over the past several years, Brazil’s federal government and the city and state governments of Rio de Janeiro have invested tens of billions of dollars to develop the transportation, stadium, tourist, communications and security infrastructure required to host the 2007 Pan American Games, 2014 World Cup, and 2016 Summer Olympics. As Brazil seeks to use these mega- sporting events to assert itself as a major economic player on the word stage, its strategy demonstrates how hosting mega-events serves to attract regional and global capital, and to reinforce unequal power structures at the expense of the public treasury, environmental quality and …

Promoting Sustainable Development Through Environmental Law: Prospects For Saudi Arabia, Faisal K. Alturki

Dissertations & Theses

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia enjoys a rich cultural and natural heritage and has an advanced state of socio- economic development. It also suffers from a wide range of growing environmental problems such as securing its potable water supply, coping with solid and liquid waste, ensuring clean air or protecting the marine environment. It is the objective of sustainable development to ensure that further development in the Kingdom does not damage the public health of the people or the natural environment. The policies underlying sustainable development have developed internationally over the past four decades and are well explained in Agenda …

Maine Distributed Solar Valuation Study, Benjamin L. Norris, Philip M. Gruenhagen, Robert C. Grace, Po-Yu Yuen, Richard Perez, Karl R. Rábago

Environmental Law Program Publications @ Haub Law

During its 2014 session, the Maine Legislature enacted an Act to Support Solar Energy Development in Maine. P.L Chapter 562 (April 24, 2014) (codified at 35‐A M.R.S. §§ 3471‐3473) (“Act”). Section 1 of the Act contains the Legislative finding that it is in the public interest is to develop renewable energy resources, including solar energy, in a manner that protects and improves the health and well‐being of the citizens and natural environment of the State while also providing economic benefits to communities, ratepayers and the overall economy of the State.

Section 2 of the Act requires the Public Utilities Commission …

Incorporating Ny Land Banks Into The Delinquent Property Tax Enforcement Processes, J. Justin Woods

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Student Publications

This article argues that New York municipalities should integrate land banks into the tax enforcement process to break the unhealthy cycle perpetuated by real estate and lien speculators. By transferring all tax liens and foreclosed properties to local land banks, municipalities can generate an important funding source that will help cover land banks' operations while simultaneously maximizing land banks' ability to reinvest lien proceeds and equity into redeveloping or demolishing properties with little or no value. If New York municipalities use their Land Bank Act powers fully, local and regional land bank efforts can become a vital tools for planning …

Land Use Planning For Solar Energy: Resource Guide, Jessica A. Bacher, John R. Nolon, Tiffany Zezula

Environmental Law Program Publications @ Haub Law

This document was created to help New York State localities develop and adopt solar friendly policies and plans. It begins by presenting the local government’s role in land use planning and regulation and introduces common characteristics of “solar friendly” communities. The resource then describes how municipalities should begin a solar energy initiative through an official policy statement that provides support for solar energy and that authorizes a task force to shepherd the process, appropriate studies, training programs for staff and board members, inter-municipal partnerships, and outside funding sources. Next, the document explains how municipalities should engage the entire community in …

Charting The Course For Energy Efficiency In New York: Lessons From Existing Programs, John Bowie, David Gahl, Nick Martin, Sam Swanson

Environmental Law Program Publications @ Haub Law

This report examines the performance of the existing suite of energy efficiency efforts run by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the state’s investor owned utilities. The latest data shows that through 2014 EEPS program administrators had achieved 79 percent of their to-date savings goals.

The report focuses on the best ways to transition from the EEPS program model to the emerging REV model. Reviewing publicly available information, this analysis takes stock of what the EEPS has achieved and calls for a REV planning and delivery program that builds upon lessons learned from decades of past …

Zoning For Solar Energy: Resource Guide, Jessica A. Bacher, John R. Nolon

Environmental Law Program Publications @ Haub Law

This document is designed to help New York State localities amend zoning and other land use regulations to permit the development of solar energy systems in their jurisdictions. While it applies to many types of solar energy systems, this resource guide focuses primarily on solar electric or photovoltaic (PV) systems. It begins by describing the local government’s role in land use planning and regulation. It then discusses the importance of defining all solar energy systems that a community wants to allow in existing zoning districts and shows how to incorporate those definitions in the zoning ordinance. Next, the guide explains …

Microgrids & District Energy: Pathways To Sustainable Urban Development, Dan Leonhardt, Tom Bourgeois, Brad Bradford, Jordan Gerow, Nick Martin, Laxmi Rao

Environmental Law Program Publications @ Haub Law

A microgrid is an energy system specifically designed to meet some of the energy needs of a group of buildings, a campus, or an entire community. It can include local facilities that generate electricity, heating, and/or cooling; store energy; distribute the energy generated; and manage energy consumption intelligently and in real time. Microgrids enable economies of scale that facilitate local production of energy in ways that can advance cost reduction, sustainability, economic development, and resilience goals. As they often involve multiple stakeholders, and may encompass numerous distinct property boundaries, municipal involvement is often a key factor for successful implementation.

This …

Creating Order Amidst Food Eco-Label Chaos, Jason J. Czarnezki

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Eco-labels, certifications, and seals of approval serve a variety of functions including communicating to businesses and consumers the environmental attributes of a particular product and incentivizing improvements in production. Eco-labels also provide a basis for companies to set measurable sustainability goals for sourcing, improvements, and transparency. As they gain greater traction in the marketplace, however, there has been a massive proliferation of labels, certifications, and green seals of approval. This has led to consumer confusion, inaccurate and misleading claims, and inconsistent standards. A 2009 survey identified about 600 labels that denote some definition of “environmentally friendly” worldwide, including more than …

Building Resilient Communities In The Wake Of Climate Change While Keeping Affordable Housing Safe From Sea Changes In Nature And Policy, Shelby D. Green

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article will explore the twin interests of responding to climate change and preserving accessible and affordable housing. Part II will give a broad overview of the scientists' climate change predictions. Part III will discuss what these predictions portend for populations, housing, and communities. Part IV will describe the broad responses that the federal, state, and local governments are making to climate change to create communities that are thriving and resilient. Part V discusses the efficacy of these responses and their potential impact on the poor, housing, and communities. Part VI looks for parallels between the resilient cities movement and …

Plain Meaning, Precedent, And Metaphysics: Interpreting The “Navigable Waters” Element Of The Federal Water Pollution Offense, Jeffrey G. Miller

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article, the third in a series of five, examines the meaning of “navigable waters” under the Clean Water Act. It traces the traditional judicial interpretation of navigable waters and how Congress and EPA attempted to extend its meaning, then examines how the term has been applied in the context of tributaries and wetlands, isolated waters, groundwater, and EPA’s unitary theory of navigable waters. The author then analyzes EPA and the Corps’ 2014 proposed amendments to the definition of “waters of the United States,” and concludes that those amendments may resolve much of the interpretive crisis.

Environmental Privacy, Katrina Fischer Kuh

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article looks to nuisance doctrine, surveillance under environmental statutes, and Fourth Amendment cases arising in implementation of fish and game laws (the hunter enforcement cases) to better understand our experience, to date, balancing the need for environmental information with privacy. Section A analyzes common law nuisance and its relationship to individual privacy concerns and concludes that the law affords little *7 value to or protection of privacy in the context of at least one type of environmental externality -- conduct that gives rise to a common law nuisance. Recognizing that most environmentally significant individual behaviors do not constitute a …

Regulating Farming: Balancing Food Safety And Environmental Protection In A Cooperative Governance Regime, Margot J. Pollans

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

After providing a brief overview of regulation in each area, Part I of this Article identifies three types of discordance between produce safety and environmental protection on farms. First, because of limited resources, farmers will have to choose between implementing food safety practices and implementing environmental practices. Second, indirect trade-offs between the two regulatory goals result in damaging collateral consequences for the environment. Food safety regulation may exacerbate a range of existing environmental harms. Third, there is at least one direct clash that may make compliance with food safety law incompatible with participation in certain environmental programs. Part I also …

Land Use And Climate Change Bubbles: Resilience, Retreat, And Due Diligence, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article examines events on the ground in several localities where climate change is lowering property values and analyzes how those changes in value can be reckoned with by regulators. It merges practices and principles of real estate transactions and finance with those of land use and environmental regulation.

Climate change is a planetary phenomenon whose environmental implications are far-reaching. Reports on climate change consequences increasingly focus on what is happening locally and presently, while speculation continues about long-term global consequences. In numerous communities, property values are declining because of repeated flooding, continued threats of storm surges, sustained high temperatures, …

An Environmental Understanding Of The Local Land Use System, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article is adapted from Chapter Three of John R. Nolon, Protecting the Environment Through Land Use Law: Standing Ground, published in 2014 by ELI Press. The book updates and expands on the author’s previous work, describing in detail how localities are responding to new challenges, including the imperative that they adapt to and help mitigate climate change and create sustainable neighborhoods. This Article outlines a comprehensive framework for understanding how traditional local land use authority can be used to preserve natural resources and environmental functions at the community level.

New York City Rules! Regulatory Models For Environmental And Public Health, Jason J. Czarnezki

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Scholars have become increasingly interested in facilitating improvement in environmental and public health at the local level. Over the last few years, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York City Council have proposed and adopted numerous environmental and public health initiatives, providing a useful case study for analyzing the development and success (or failure) of various regulatory tools, and offering larger lessons about regulation that can be extrapolated to other substantive areas. This Article, first, seeks to categorize and evaluate these “New York Rules,” creating a new taxonomy to understand different types of regulation. These “New …

A Primer: Air And Water Environmental Quality Standards In The United States, Jason J. Czarnezki

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article, designed as a resource for environmental law professors both domestically and abroad, addresses how environmental quality standards are created, implemented, and enforced in the United States. The answers to these questions are useful to those teaching U.S. environmental law and international scholars, especially in the European Union, who are faced with the challenge of creating new environmental quality standards under both national and EU directives. It must be noted that this project is complicated by the federal system within the country, and, thus, attention must be devoted to the federal-state relationship. In fact, the major relevant statutes, the …

Plain Meaning, Precedent, And Metaphysics: Interpreting The “Point Source” Element Of The Clean Water Act Offense, Jeffrey G. Miller

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article, the fourth in a series of five, examines the continuing struggles to define “point source” and “nonpoint source” under the Clean Water Act. State regulation of nonpoint sources is neither pervasive nor robust, and most continuing water pollution problems can be traced primarily to nonpoint sources. EPA should define nonpoint sources by regulation and begin to expand the definition of point source by incorporating established case law and Agency practice to bring more nonpoint sources into the point source definition.