Law Commons^™

Held V. State, Alec D. Skuntz

Public Land & Resources Law Review

On March 13, 2020, a group of 16 Montana children and teenagers filed a complaint in the First Judicial District, Lewis and Clark County against the State of Montana and several state agencies. These young Plaintiffs sought injunctive and declaratory relief against Defendants for their complicity in continuing to extract and release harmful amounts of greenhouse gases which contribute to climate change. Plaintiffs premised their argument on the Montana Constitution’s robust environmental rights and protections. The Defendants filed a motion to dismiss which the District Court granted in-part and denied in-part. Held provides a roadmap for future litigation by elucidating …

2019 Environmental Law And Justice Clinic Report, Golden Gate University School Of Law

Environmental Law and Justice Clinic

Report on the recent activities of the Environmental Law and Justice Clinic.

Environmental Injustice: How Treaties Undermine Human Rights Related To The Environment, Lisa E. Sachs, Lise Johnson, Ella Merrill

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Growing cries for action to effectively address the climate and other environmental crises hold important implications for the governance of cross-border investments. Policymakers and environmental advocates have often overlooked how provisions granted by states in international investment agreements (IIAs) have been used by investors to challenge government measures taken in the public interest to protect the environment and advance environmental justice.

This 2019 paper, published in the Sciences Po Legal Review issue devoted to the climate crisis, explains how the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism, made available to investors in thousands of bilateral and multilateral trade and investment agreements, may …

Mapping Mining To The Sustainable Development Goals: An Atlas, Columbia Center On Sustainable Investment, Sustainable Development Solutions Network, United Nations Development Programme, World Economic Forum

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

CCSI has been working with the World Economic Forum, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) to create a shared understanding of how the mining industry can most effectively contribute to the SDGs. The report will help mining companies navigate where their activities – from exploration, through operations and mine closure – can help the world achieve the SDGs. Governments, civil society and other stakeholders can also identify opportunities for shared action and partnership with the industry.

A draft report of Mapping Mining to the Sustainable Development Goals: A Preliminary Atlas was released for …

Texas Colonias: Injustice By Definition, Caitlin Lewis

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

Colonias are usually characterized as rural or semi-rural slums inhabited by Mexican-origin immigrants and Mexican Americans. This Comment examines the socioeconomic and environmental burdens faced by Texas colonias and the public and private attempts to address these hardships.

The Safe Drinking Water / Food Law Nexus, Margot J. Pollans

Pace Environmental Law Review

At 2 AM on August 2, 2014, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency issued the following warning to the citizens of Toledo: “Do Not Drink.” The Ohio City's tap water was contaminated with microcystin, a toxin that can cause diarrhea, vomiting, and abnormal liver function. The source was an algal bloom in Lake Erie resulting from high levels of agricultural fertilizers and animal waste. For three days, Toledo residents drank only bottled water.

This is just one of many similar examples of agricultural contamination of urban drinking water supplies. Creating a physical connection between urban and rural communities, this pollution highlights …

Vetoing Wetland Permits Under Section 404(C) Of The Clean Water Act: A History Of Inter-Federal Agency Controversy And Reform, Michael Blumm

Faculty Articles

For most of its four-decade history, section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act could have been considered to be a sleeper provision of environmental law. The proviso authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) overrule permits for discharges of dredged or fill material issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) where necessary to ensure protection of fish and wildlife habitat, municipal water supplies, and recreational areas against unacceptable adverse effects. This authority of one federal agency to veto the decisions of another federal agency is quite unusual, perhaps unprecedented in environmental law. The exceptional nature of section 404(c) …

Citizen Litigants Citizen Regulators: Four Cases Where Citizen Suits Drove Development Of Clean Water Law, Karl S. Coplan

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

One of the key innovations of the 1970s regulatory environmental revolution was the provision for citizen enforcement of regulatory standards. This innovation upset the previous bipolar regulatory model, which was a two-way negotiation between the regulated industries and the (often captive) regulatory agencies. By removing agency enforcement discretion as a means of underenforcing statutory norms, the citizens suit brought a new constituency to the regulatory bargaining table. The citizen suit had the intended effect of implementing a regime of full enforcement of the new environmental norms.

But the revolutionary effect of the newly minted citizen suit was not limited to …

Slides: Appropriate Sustainable Energy Technologies: A Light To The World, Lakshman D. Guruswamy, Jason B. Aamodt, Blake Feamster

2012 Energy Justice Conference and Technology Exposition (September 17-18)

Presenter: Jason Aamodt, Attorney; Adjunct Professor, University of Tulsa

15 slides

Slides: Collaborative Planning And Lessons Learned, Matt Sura

Best Management Practices (BMPs): What? How? And Why? (May 26)

Presenter: Matt Sura, University of Colorado Law School

48 slides

The Clean Water Act And The Demise Of The Federal Common Law Of Interstate Nuisance, Robert V. Percival

Robert Percival

No abstract provided.

Slides: Energy Production And The West's Wild Places, Amy Mall

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Amy Mall, Senior Policy Analyst, Natural Resources Defense Council

28 slides

Slides: Overview Of Groundwater Management Laws In The Western United States, Gary Bryner

Groundwater in the West (Summer Conference, June 16-18)

Presenter: Gary Bryner, Natural Resources Law Center and Brigham Young University (see also Groundwater Law Sourcebook of the Western United States).

37 slides.

The Clean Water Act And The Demise Of The Federal Common Law Of Interstate Nuisance, Robert V. Percival

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Murky Future Of The Clean Water Act After Swancc: Using A Hydrological Connection Approach To Saving The Clean Water Act, Bradford Mank

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

In 2001, the Supreme Court decided Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. United States Army Corps of Engineers (SWANCC). In this five-to-four decision, the Court held that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) lacked the authority under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) to regulate isolated intrastate wetlands and waters that serve as habitat for migratory birds. The Court found the FWPCA's jurisdiction is limited to navigable waters and non-navigable waters that have a significant nexus to navigable waters, such as wetlands adjacent to navigable waters. However, the Court did not clearly define which adjacent wetlands …

Standing At The Edge Of A New Millennium: Ending A Decade Of Erosion Of The Citizen Suit Provision Of The Clean Water Act, Emily A. Berger

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

15th Annual Environmental Law Institute, Office Of Continuing Legal Education At The University Of Kentucky College Of Law, W. Blaine Early Iii, Timothy J. Hagerty, E. Allen Kyle, Lee Colten, Tom C. Van Arsdall, John R. Leathers, Clinton J. Elliott, Thomas J. Fitzgerald, Jeffrey M. Sanders, Richard H. Underwood, Bradley E. Diillon, Henry L. Stephens, Lauren Anderson, David A. Smart

Continuing Legal Education Materials

Materials from the 15th Annual Environmental Law Institute held by UK/CLE in March 1999.