Law Commons^™

Clean Air Act Section 115: Is The Ipcc A 'Duly Constituted International Agency'?, Adam D. Orford

Scholarly Works

Does EPA’s receipt of the Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) trigger the agency’s duties under Clean Air Act § 115? The law requires EPA to take action to prevent or eliminate air pollution endangering the public health or welfare of foreign nationals under certain circumstances. If triggered, the argument goes, the law could justify, or compel, EPA’s imposition of nationwide greenhouse gas regulation to combat climate change. One way to justify this, or compel it, is to trigger EPA’s duties “upon receipt of reports, surveys or studies from any duly constituted international agency.” This article …

Environmental Law, Travis M. Trimble

Scholarly Works

In 2020,1 the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that a provision of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA)2 that tolled statutes of limitation in state law claims did not apply to a claim brought under the Price-Anderson Act (PAA),3 providing an exclusive federal cause of action for harm resulting from exposure to radioactive materials, even though the PAA "borrows" all substantive law governing liability, including a relevant statute of limitation, from the law of the state where the harm occurred. 4 The United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia …

Environmental Law, Travis M. Trimble

Scholarly Works

In 2017,1 district courts in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit decided three cases that clarified issues arising under the Clean Water Act (CWA). 2 The United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia preliminarily enjoined the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers from enforcing the Waters of the United States Rule (WOTUS Rule), 3 a regulatory attempt to define the term "Waters of the United States," which is a jurisdictional threshold for agencies' regulatory authority under the CWA.4 Also, the United States District Court for the Northern District of …

Environmental Law, Eleventh Circuit Review, Travis M. Trimble

Scholarly Works

In 2011, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that the intervenors lacked standing to challenge on appeal a consent decree entered into by the main parties and approved by the

district court in a Clean Water Act case. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, in a Clean Air Act case, excluded on Daubert grounds testimony of the government’s experts

purporting to establish that repair and replacement projects at several power plants in Alabama had in fact been major modifications to the plants that resulted in increased air pollutant emissions, which …

Environmental Law, Travis M. Trimble

Scholarly Works

In this survey period, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit decided two cases addressing the scope of agency discretion to interpret statutes. In Friends of the Everglades v. South Florida Water Management District, the Eleventh Circuit held that the Environmental Protection Agency’s adoption of the “unitary waters” definition of navigable waters under the Clean Water Act was reasonable even though that approach had been universally rejected by the courts as an interpretation of the statute prior to the agency’s rule. In Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida v. United States, the Eleventh

Circuit upheld …

Environmental Law, Eleventh Circuit Survey, Travis M. Trimble

Scholarly Works

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit decided cases in 2008 that addressed the scope of agency discretion in several contexts. In an issue of first impression under the Clean Air Act (CAA),the court held that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) properly exercised its discretion in not objecting to the issuance of an operating permit to a power company that the agency had earlier formally accused of violating the CAA. In another case, the court held that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had the discretion to protect endangered species while administering the National Flood Insurance Act and …

Environmental Law, Eleventh Circuit Survey, Travis M. Trimble

Scholarly Works

In 2007 the Eleventh Circuit interpreted the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Rapanos v. United States, regarding the federal government’s jurisdiction over waters under the Clean Water Act (“CWA”), and held that in order for federal jurisdiction to exist over a water that is not navigable in fact, the water must have a “significant nexus” with a water that is navigable in fact. Also under the CWA, the court partially reversed a granting of summary judgment to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, holding that the department had improperly excluded some types of evidence in approving Florida’s 2002 …

Kyoto Comes To Georgia: How International Environmental Initiatives Foster Sustainable Commerce In Small Town America, Peter A. Appel, T. Rick Irvin, Julie M. Mcentire, J. Chris Rabon

Scholarly Works

This Article posits that in response to adoption of Kyoto Protocol targets by governments and multi-national corporations overseas that comprise significant portions of the global economy as well as global financial markets, businesses and state and local governments in the U.S. are also being driven by necessity to undertake sustainable commerce initiatives. Businesses in the EU and other Kyoto-compliant regions that have implemented sustainable commerce programs now require overseas vendors and suppliers-including those in the U.S.-to implement their own sustainable commerce initiatives as a condition of approved supplier status. New EU environmental regulations developed in part to meet Kyoto-specified emissions …

Targets And Timetables: Good Policy But Bad Politics?, Daniel M. Bodansky

Scholarly Works

From a policy perspective, a climate architecture based on economy-wide, binding emissions targets, combined with emissions trading, has many virtues. But even such an architecture represents good climate policy, it is far more questionable whether it represents good climate politics -- at least in the near-term, for the upcoming "post-2012" negotiations. Given the wide range of differences in national perspectives and preferences regarding climate change, a more flexible, bottom-up approach may be needed, which builds on the efforts that are already beginning to emerge, by allowing different countries to assume different types of international commitments – not only absolute targets, …

Environmental Law, Eleventh Circuit Survey, Travis M. Trimble

Scholarly Works

In general, 2006 was a good year to be a defendant in environmental cases that reached the Eleventh Circuit. The court placed a narrow construction on operator liability for corporate parents under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA”) and backed agency interpretations of the Clean Air Act (“CAA”) regulations in the face of challenges to their interpretation and use. In an issue of first impression, the court held that the agency’s failure to carry out a nondiscretionary duty under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) constituted a one-time, and not a continuing, violation for purposes of applying the …

Environmental Law, Eleventh Circuit Survey, Travis M. Trimble

Scholarly Works

In 2005 the Eleventh Circuit courts addressed issues of regulatory interpretation of the Clean Air Act (“CAA”); compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) in connection with the development of wetlands; and a conflict between the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (“FEMA”) coastal flood insurance program and the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”). First, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals invalidated a rule of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management that exempted certain stack emissions that otherwise violated the State Implementation Plan under the CAA. Also, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama heard one of several …

Environmental Law, Eleventh Circuit Survey, Travis M. Trimble

Scholarly Works

In 2004 courts in the Eleventh Circuit addressed several Clean Water Act issues. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals arguably expanded the scope of the injuries a plaintiff may allege to have standing to sue under the Clean Water Act. The court held that the federal court had jurisdiction over a Clean Water Act citizen suit alleging violations of a permit issued by the State of Georgia under its permitting program authorized under the Act. The Eleventh Circuit also addressed whether a Florida state regulation effectively revised or added to the state's Clean Water Act, which mandated water quality standards, …

Legislation And Implementation Of International Environmental Law By African Countries: A Case Study Of Ghana, Brigitte L. Okley

LLM Theses and Essays

The purpose of my thesis is to bring to the light the efforts of African countries, in this case Ghana, in implementing their environmental commitments under international law and some of the problems they face in this regard. African countries played a tremendous role in the emergence of international environmental law, after which environmental institutions and legislations have been set up for the conservation and management of natural resources. The thesis will discuss environmental issues particularly in Ghana, its obligation under various multilateral environmental conventions. The thesis will also focus on some of Ghana’s policies on the environment and its …

Sustainable Development Scenarios For The Richard B. Russell Parkway, Jesse Fountain, Judith R. Wasserman, Jamie Baker Roskie

Land Use Clinic

For many years local elected officials, the state legislative delegation, and community leaders worked diligently to get Richard Russell Parkway extended to Interstate 75 and provide the Warner Robins area with a second interchange to serve the City and Robins AFB. The project became a reality in the spring of 2002 when the Georgia Department of Transportation awarded a construction contract for the Parkway's extension. During the spring of 2003, with construction work progressing toward an October 31, 2004, completion date, the Mayor and City Council decided to explore alternative development concepts for the Parkway.

The goal of this document …

Environmental Law, Eleventh Circuit Survey, Travis M. Trimble

Scholarly Works

In 2003 the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit decided two cases concerning the Clean Air Act, holding that provisions allowing the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) to address compliance issues through the issuance of administrative compliance orders are unconstitutional2 and that the Clean Air Act does not waive the United States’ defense of sovereign immunity in an action for punitive penalties for past violations of air pollution laws. The court also considered for the first time the circumstances under which a state enforcement action would preempt a citizen suit under the Clean Water Act. This Article also …