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Articles 1 - 30 of 490
Full-Text Articles in Law
Bridging Silos: Environmental And Reproductive Justice In The Climate Crisis, Sara A. Colangelo
Bridging Silos: Environmental And Reproductive Justice In The Climate Crisis, Sara A. Colangelo
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
The climate crisis is a perilous yet underexamined example of the intersection of environmental injustice and reproductive injustice. The physical manifestations of the climate crisis affect key elements of reproductive justice: women’s rights to have children, to not have children, and to parent children in healthy, sustainable communities. Reams of studies document climate disaster-driven gender violence, loss of access to healthcare and reproductive services, as well as direct and deadly health effects of climate change on maternal health, fetal development, infants, and children. Despite these profound impacts, the environmental and reproductive justice movements remain largely siloed, particularly in the legal …
Sidestepping Substance: How Administrative Law Plays An Outsized Role In Shaping Environmental Policy And Why Recalibration Is Necessary, Sanne H. Knudsen
Sidestepping Substance: How Administrative Law Plays An Outsized Role In Shaping Environmental Policy And Why Recalibration Is Necessary, Sanne H. Knudsen
Articles
Administrative law and environmental law are companion fields. Still, they are not interchangeable. They promote different values. And yet, sometimes when courts resolve environmental disputes by relying on administrative doctrines, courts elevate the values of administrative law over those codified in environmental statutes. This is particularly concerning when courts rely on judicially-created administrative law doctrines to sidestep congressional intent as expressed by the substantive aims of environmental statutes.
To reduce the risk of sidestepping—whether inadvertent or intentional—this Article critically examines how administrative law doctrines can undermine environmental law. Drawing on prominent case examples, including the Supreme Court decision in Sackett …
The Materiality Of Esg Information: Why It May Matter, Joan Macleod Heminway
The Materiality Of Esg Information: Why It May Matter, Joan Macleod Heminway
Scholarly Works
No abstract provided.
Fischman Elected To Defenders Of Wildlife Board, James Owsley Boyd
Fischman Elected To Defenders Of Wildlife Board, James Owsley Boyd
Keep Up With the Latest News from the Law School (blog)
An environmental law professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law has been elected to the board of directors of a national conservation organization dedicated to the protection and restoration of imperiled species and their habitats in North America.
Rob Fischman, the George P. Smith, II Distinguished Professor of Law and an adjunct professor at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, was elected to the Defenders of Wildlife board on Tuesday, May 21.
His teaching, research and service align closely with the organization’s conservation vision of a future where diverse wildlife populations in North America are secure …
The Private Litigation Impact Of New York’S Green Amendment, Evan Bianchi, Sean Di Luccio, Martin Lockman, Vincent Nolette
The Private Litigation Impact Of New York’S Green Amendment, Evan Bianchi, Sean Di Luccio, Martin Lockman, Vincent Nolette
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
The increasing urgency of climate change, combined with federal environmental inaction under the Trump Administration, inspired a wave of environmental action at the state and local level. Building on the environmental movement of the 1970s, activists have pushed to amend more than a dozen state constitutions to include “green amendments” — self-executing individual rights to a clean environment. In 2022, New York activists succeeded, and New York’s Green Amendment (the NYGA) now provides that “Each person shall have a right to clean air and water, and a healthful environment.”
However, the power of the NYGA and similar green amendments turns …
Sabin Center For Climate Change Law Annual Report 2023, Sabin Center For Climate Change Law
Sabin Center For Climate Change Law Annual Report 2023, Sabin Center For Climate Change Law
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
This year the Sabin Center for Climate Change introduces its first annual report, which highlights and synthesizes our cutting-edge research and innovative engagements in 2023.
Win-Win Environmental Regulations For Crypto Mining: Developing A Regulatory Program That Reduces Environmental Harm And Promotes Innovation And Competition, Bradley R. Finney
Win-Win Environmental Regulations For Crypto Mining: Developing A Regulatory Program That Reduces Environmental Harm And Promotes Innovation And Competition, Bradley R. Finney
Scholarly Works
The crypto space is a rapidly growing industry with a rapidly growing carbon footprint. The industry’s expanding energy use has sparked a vigorous debate over whether and how best to regulate crypto mining’s environmental effects. The Biden Administration and many members of Congress have studied the industry’s environmental impact and concluded that there should be environmental regulations for the industry. Regulation, however, faces an obstacle in the form of concern that regulation may unduly stifle innovation and competition within the industry. This is a major reason why Congress has yet to enact environmental regulations for crypto mining.
This Article proposes …
Annual Seqra Review: Project Applicants Winning More Cases, Michael B. Gerrard
Annual Seqra Review: Project Applicants Winning More Cases, Michael B. Gerrard
Faculty Scholarship
New York courts are showing impatience with local governments that withhold or stretch out approval of projects without valid environmental grounds. In seven cases last year under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA),courts overturned municipal actions that rejected projects or delayed approvals. In all, the courts decided 46 cases under SEQRA in 2023. Where the government agency had decided that an environmental impact statement (EIS) was not needed, that choice was upheld in 23 cases and overturned in eight. Where an EIS had been prepared, the EIS was upheld in 11 and found inadequate in only one. The remaining …
Environmental Law For A Just Transition, Dayna Nadine Scott
Environmental Law For A Just Transition, Dayna Nadine Scott
Articles & Book Chapters
The environmental justice movement, which turns our attention to fairness in the distribution of environmental benefits and burdens and in the processes, biases and
structures that determine those distributions, is challenging the foundations of environmental law.
• ‘Extractivism’ – a mode of accumulation that necessitates both a high pace and a large scale of taking of natural resources such as fossil fuels – is deeply embedded in environmental law, producing uneven costs/benefits and intense, concentrated impacts on people and ecosystems. Even as we move towards a greener economy, environmental laws and regulations governing such areas as facility siting, pollution permitting, …
Corporate Climate Targets: Between Science And Climate Washing, Nadav Orian Peer
Corporate Climate Targets: Between Science And Climate Washing, Nadav Orian Peer
Publications
The use of corporate climate targets has exploded in recent years. Over three thousand corporations, including the largest and most profitable in the world, have adopted corporate climate targets as commitments to align their actions with climate science and the Paris Agreement. However, the broad adoption of these targets raises important questions: are these commitments truly aligned with science in the way they are advertised, or do they raise “climate washing” concerns, i.e., do they exaggerate the benefits and significance of the climate targets? This Article investigates the role that science actually plays within targets, and explores potential theories of …
Transitioning To Regenerative Agriculture One French Fry At A Time, Alexia Brunet Marks
Transitioning To Regenerative Agriculture One French Fry At A Time, Alexia Brunet Marks
Publications
Regenerative agriculture—a farming practice that sequesters atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) into the soil—has potential to turn into big business in this climate crisis. If farmers can accurately measure the amount of trapped carbon in their soil, they can sell that stored carbon as a “carbon credit,” a tradeable certificate representing the right to emit one metric ton of carbon dioxide (CO2) or the equivalent amount of another greenhouse gas. As more than seventy countries race to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 in order to meet Paris Agreement1 goals, carbon credits are becoming the “new currency” to meet or exceed …
Lest We Be Lemmings, Claire Wright
Lest We Be Lemmings, Claire Wright
Faculty Articles
Lest We Be Lemmings concerns global warming, which is the most grave threat facing humanity today. In this article, I first: (1) discuss how the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Executive Branch, for decades, have been aware of the existence of global warming and its main cause – the burning of fossil fuels and emission of CO2 - but have consistently failed to regulate the fossil fuel industry, reduce the lucrative subsidies that they provide to the fossil fuel industry, and hold the fossil fuel industry responsible for global warming; (2) explain how the fossil fuel industry, for decades, …
Maurer Environmental Law Expert Is Lead Author On Science Insights Policy Forum Article, James Owsley Boyd
Maurer Environmental Law Expert Is Lead Author On Science Insights Policy Forum Article, James Owsley Boyd
Keep Up With the Latest News from the Law School (blog)
Environmental champions and conservationists will mark the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act later this month. That is the law requiring federal agencies to use all methods necessary to prevent extinctions and ensure that federal actions not jeopardize the continued existence of species on the brink of disappearing from the face of the Earth.
In the leadup to the December 27th anniversary, several publications have begun examining the Act’s history and impact over five decades.
Science, the world’s third-most influential scholarly journal based on Google Scholar citations, invited experts from around the country to look ahead as well …
A Landmark Environmental Law Looks Ahead, Robert L. Fischman
A Landmark Environmental Law Looks Ahead, Robert L. Fischman
Articles by Maurer Faculty
In late December 1973, the United States enacted what some would come to call “the pitbull of environmental laws.” In the 50 years since, the formidable regulatory teeth of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) have been credited with considerable successes, obliging agencies to draw upon the best available science to protect species and habitats. Yet human pressures continue to push the planet toward extinctions on a massive scale. With that prospect looming, and with scientific understanding ever changing, Science invited experts to discuss how the ESA has evolved and what its future might hold.
Using Objective Characteristics To Target Household Recycling Policies, W. Kip Viscusi, Joel Huber, Jason Bell
Using Objective Characteristics To Target Household Recycling Policies, W. Kip Viscusi, Joel Huber, Jason Bell
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Household recycling is valuable because it reduces demand for virgin raw materials and lessens the cost of making products containing paper, metal, glass, or plastic. Effective recycling programs limit the amount of materials sent to landfills. Understanding the policies and contexts that are most conducive to promot- ing recycling can assist in the development of more effective recycling systems. It can also help businesses that are concerned with the disposition of their products and packaging. Using the most comprehensive data set on U.S. household recycling behavior, this Comment quantifies the relative impact on recycling of characteristics associ- ated with recycling …
The Green's Dilemma: Building Tomorrow's Climate Infrastructure Today, J. B. Ruhl, James Salzman
The Green's Dilemma: Building Tomorrow's Climate Infrastructure Today, J. B. Ruhl, James Salzman
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
"We need to make it easier to build electricity transmission lines." This plea came recently not from an electric utility executive but from Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, one of the Senate's champions of progressive climate change policy. His concern is that the massive scale of new climate infrastructure urgently needed to meet our nation's greenhouse gas emissions reduction policy goals will face a substantial obstacle in the form of existing federal, state, and local environmental laws. A small but growing chorus of politicians and commentators with impeccable green credentials agrees that reform of that system will be needed. But how? How …
Environmental Law, Travis M. Trimble
Environmental Law, Travis M. Trimble
Scholarly Works
In 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that a plaintiff and the organization to which she belonged had standing, based on her claimed injury to her aesthetic well-being, to bring a Clean Water Act (CWA) citizen suit against a developer who had allegedly filled a wetland in violation of its permit, even though the plaintiff had never visited the wetland and even though the wetland was on private property not accessible to the plaintiff. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama concluded that acid mine leachate from a refuse pile …
The End Externalities Manifesto: Restatement, Loose Ends, And Unfinished Business, J. B. Ruhl
The End Externalities Manifesto: Restatement, Loose Ends, And Unfinished Business, J. B. Ruhl
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Don Elliott and Dan Esty were among the chief architects of Environmental Law 2.0-the shift that infused so-called command-and- control regulatory regimes with market-based tools in search of cost- effective solutions. The mix of incentives, trading, banking, reporting, bubbles, and other techniques revolutionized the way we think about how to attack environmental problems like pollution and habitat loss.
In their End Environmental Externalities Manifesto ("Manifesto") they are at it again. This time, however, their proposed revolution goes in a different direction. They argue that the guiding light of economic efficiency, which took environmental law far in improving environmental conditions, is …
Changes In Household Recycling Behavior: Evidence From Panel Data, Joel Huber, Jason Bell, W. Kip Viscusi
Changes In Household Recycling Behavior: Evidence From Panel Data, Joel Huber, Jason Bell, W. Kip Viscusi
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This article uses a longitudinal national U.S. dataset with 232,309 pairs of same-household observations to estimate one-year or two-year changes in recycling behavior. Most households recycled at least one material, as 83% recycle paper, cans, glass, or plastic in the past year, with an average recycling rate of 2.8 materials. Recycling habits are stable, as 68% of households do not change the number of materials recycled from the previous year. Changes in county recycling are reflected in immediate changes in household behavior but at 25% of the change in the county recycling rate. Recycling rates are greater after being newly …
A Major Answer To The Major Questions Doctrine, Edward L. Rubin
A Major Answer To The Major Questions Doctrine, Edward L. Rubin
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The Supreme Court’s use of the major questions doctrine in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency to invalidate the agency’s regulation of greenhouse gas emission has elicited widespread criticism from commentators. David Driesen’s contribution to this chorus of condemnation goes to the heart of the issue, focusing on the role that the Supreme Court has arrogated to itself in reaching this decision.
The Court’s based its decision on the relationship between Congress and the Executive, speaking at length about the structural roles of these two institutions. What it forgot, as Professor Driesen notes, is that the Court is also an …
The Case Against Regional Transmission Monopolies, Kristen Van De Biezendos
The Case Against Regional Transmission Monopolies, Kristen Van De Biezendos
Faculty Scholarship
Over the next decade, the United States will need to build significant regional transmission infrastructure to achieve the country’s goal of net-zero power by 2035. However, there is a significant barrier: the transmission system is almost entirely owned by private monopolies. As a result, the grid has grown not to serve the public interest but in accordance with the economic priorities of these monopolies, which are not incentivized to innovate, find efficiencies, or lower costs. Past attempts to encourage competitive bidding for regional transmission projects have been stymied by laws intended to protect the monopolies, including the right of first …
Statehood And Sea-Level Rise: Scenarios And Options, Michael B. Gerrard
Statehood And Sea-Level Rise: Scenarios And Options, Michael B. Gerrard
Faculty Scholarship
Sea-level rise may make some low-lying nations uninhabitable by the end of this century, if not before. If a country is under water, is it still a state? Does it still have a seat in the United Nations? What is the citizenship, if any, of its displaced people?
These questions take on increasing urgency as the world continues doing too little to avert catastrophic climate change. Many climate policy analyses agree the goal should be to keep global average temperatures within 1.5°C (2.7°F) above pre-industrial temperatures. That is the level that the small island states have demanded, as a matter …
Ny, New Jersey Adopt Laws Requiring Flood Risk Disclosure For Homebuyers, Tenants, Michael B. Gerrard, Edward Mctiernan
Ny, New Jersey Adopt Laws Requiring Flood Risk Disclosure For Homebuyers, Tenants, Michael B. Gerrard, Edward Mctiernan
Faculty Scholarship
In the wake of several incidents of unprecedented rainfall and disastrous flooding, both New York and New Jersey have adopted laws requiring the sellers of residential properties to tell buyers, and landlords to tell tenants, about known flood risks. The New Jersey law also requires disclosures in commercial transactions. A New York enactment also eliminates the commonlyused ability of sellers to avoid making property disclosures (not only about flood risk) by taking $500 off the purchase price.
The Exoskeleton Of Environmental Law: Why The Breadth, Depth And Longevity Of Environmental Law Matters For Judicial Review, Sanne H. Knudsen
The Exoskeleton Of Environmental Law: Why The Breadth, Depth And Longevity Of Environmental Law Matters For Judicial Review, Sanne H. Knudsen
Articles
Environmental law is pragmatic, inevitable, and intentional. In the aggregate, the numerous federal environmental statutes are not simply a patchwork of ad hoc responses or momentary political breakthroughs to isolated public health problems and resource concerns. Together, they are a group of repeated, legislatively-backed commitments to embrace self-restraint for self-preservation.
Self-restraint and discipline are the essence of environmental law. Indeed, if one studies the patterns and repeated choices in environmental law 's many statutory texts, one can start to appreciate environmental law 's indispensable role in society: it serves as an enduring "exoskeleton," a sort of protective armor created over …
Private Environmental Nudges, Anthony Moffa
Private Environmental Nudges, Anthony Moffa
Faculty Publications
Environmentalist outcry against single-use plastics has rapidly translated into municipal and state policy. Bans and taxes on plastic bags, and, to a lesser extent, polices targeting plastic food/drink containers and plastic straws, have popped up all over the country. Many large national corporations, including Starbucks, Disney, and Hyatt to name a few, have also taken steps to reduce the amount of single-use plastics that their customers add to the waste stream.
Two ongoing discussions in the environmental law scholarship parallel these innovations in policy. The first re-examines the proper role for subnational governments in environmental policymaking, reviving a debate about …
New York Adopts Nation’S Strongest Environmental Justice Law, Michael B. Gerrard, Edward Mctiernan
New York Adopts Nation’S Strongest Environmental Justice Law, Michael B. Gerrard, Edward Mctiernan
Faculty Scholarship
On March 3, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the strongest environmental justice (EJ) law in the United States. While federal guidelines and the laws of some other states — notably California, Massachusetts, and Washington — require analysis, disclosure and consideration of EJ issues, only a New Jersey law adopted in 2020 imposed substantive limitations, as we discussed in our May 12, 2021, column. New York’s new law—building on enactments in 2019 and 2020 — is even more restrictive.
The new law — which we’ll call the EJL — provides that the Department of Environmental Conservation(DEC) “shall not issue an …
Survey Of 2022 Cases Under State Environmental Quality Review Act, Michael B. Gerrard, Edward Mctiernan
Survey Of 2022 Cases Under State Environmental Quality Review Act, Michael B. Gerrard, Edward Mctiernan
Faculty Scholarship
The courts in New York issued 43 opinions in 2022 under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). Of these, the largest number — 27 — upheld agency decisions not to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS), and eight overturned such decisions. Six cases upheld actions that had been the subject of an EIS; none overturned such actions. Two cases can’t be classified in this fashion.
These numbers are in line with the longstanding pattern that a project’s greatest litigation vulnerability under SEQRA is the failure to prepare an EIS; if an EIS has been prepared, very rarely will the …
In California And Europe, A New Dawn For Corporate Climate Disclosure, Magali Delmas, Michael B. Gerrard, Eric Orts
In California And Europe, A New Dawn For Corporate Climate Disclosure, Magali Delmas, Michael B. Gerrard, Eric Orts
Faculty Scholarship
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to finalize a new rule this month to cover required corporate climate disclosures by public-reporting companies. But the bigger news is that California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has announced that he will soon sign into law two climate change disclosure bills passed by the state Legislature.
Suffering In Search Of A Methodological Frame: Interdisciplinarity In The Context Of The Gendered Impact Of Climate Migration, Becky L. Jacobs
Suffering In Search Of A Methodological Frame: Interdisciplinarity In The Context Of The Gendered Impact Of Climate Migration, Becky L. Jacobs
Scholarly Works
In this essay, the author places the gendered impact of climate migration within the methodological frame of scholars such as geographers Sylvia Winters and Doreen Massey, historian Achille Mbembe, philosopher Gilles Deleuze, philosopher and psychoanalyst Félix Guattari, and anthropologist Tim Ingold. The author discusses the importance of interdisciplinarity and describes the gender-specific risks related to climate displacement before delving into theory.
The Environmental Citizen: Participant And Problem, Monika U. Ehrman
The Environmental Citizen: Participant And Problem, Monika U. Ehrman
Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters
Citizen participation is a cornerstone of modern American environmental governance. Public participation in decision-making, monitoring, and enforcement increases regulatory transparency, community engagement, and ensures policymakers are informed at the local level. To William D. Ruckelshaus, the first (and fifth) Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there was no role as powerful or indispensable. In his inspiring essay, The Citizen and the Environmental Regulatory Process, Ruckelshaus championed the role of the participant citizen, whose involvement in multifaceted environmental decision-making provided legitimacy to regulatory proceedings. Throughout his storied career, Ruckelshaus returned to this core ideology that public participation in …