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Full-Text Articles in Law
New York City Relaxing Environmental Review Rules For Housing Construction, Michael B. Gerrard
New York City Relaxing Environmental Review Rules For Housing Construction, Michael B. Gerrard
Faculty Scholarship
Faced with a severe housing shortage, New York City is exempting the construction of much new housing from the environmental review processes and taking many other steps to encourage such construction throughout the city. Several of these moves will also help the transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
New York Environmental Legislation In 2023, Michael B. Gerrard
New York Environmental Legislation In 2023, Michael B. Gerrard
Faculty Scholarship
In 2023, New York enacted laws to aid the state in achieving the renewable energy and greenhouse gas emissions reduction mandates of the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).The state also now has new laws to reduce exposure to lead in drinking water and paint; to ban natural gas furnaces and stoves in new buildings; to restrict neonicotinoid pesticides; and to encourage “nature-based solutions” for stabilizing tidal coastlines. These and other new and amended environmental and energy laws—as well as notable vetoes—are discussed in this article.
California And Europe Require Scope 3 Climate Disclosures Despite Sec Retreat, Michael B. Gerrard
California And Europe Require Scope 3 Climate Disclosures Despite Sec Retreat, Michael B. Gerrard
Faculty Scholarship
In March 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued proposed regulations on disclosure of climate-related information by public companies, including their material Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This created a firestorm, drawing more than 24,000 comment letters.On March 6, 2024, the SEC issued its final rule, significantly narrowing the requirements and, notably, eliminating the Scope 3 disclosures. Companies that do not want to make Scope 3 disclosures should not rejoice and environmental advocates and others who do want to see such disclosures should not despair, because new requirements from both California and Europe do mandate this information …
Waste And Chemical Management In A 4°C World, Michael B. Gerrard
Waste And Chemical Management In A 4°C World, Michael B. Gerrard
Faculty Scholarship
Many chemicals and hazardous substances are kept in places that can withstand ordinary rain, but not severe storms or floods. If these events occur and the chemicals are released, people and the environment may be endangered. This Article discusses the hazards posed to chemical and waste disposal facilities by extreme weather events that would be worsened as a result of climate change, and how U.S. laws do (or do not) deal with these hazards; and considers how the law would need to change to cope with what would happen to these facilities in a potentially 4°C world. It is adapted …
New York's Green Amendment: The First Decisions, Michael B. Gerrard, Edward Mctiernan
New York's Green Amendment: The First Decisions, Michael B. Gerrard, Edward Mctiernan
Faculty Scholarship
On Nov. 2, 2021, the voters of New York by a margin of more than 2-1 approved an environmental rights amendment to the Bill of Rights in the New York State Constitution. Article I Section 19 reads in its entirety: “Environmental Rights. Each person shall have a right to clean air and water, and a healthful environment.” In the little more than a year since then, one of the great questions in New York environmental law has been — what does this mean? It looks significant, but just how much? That is left to the courts to decide. We now …
Energy Insecurity Mitigation: The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program And Other Low-Income Relief Programs In The Us, Andrea Nishi, Diana Hernández, Michael B. Gerrard
Energy Insecurity Mitigation: The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program And Other Low-Income Relief Programs In The Us, Andrea Nishi, Diana Hernández, Michael B. Gerrard
Faculty Scholarship
Energy insecurity, defined as the “inability to meet basic household energy needs,” can be both a chronic and an acute problem. Chronic energy insecurity manifests as an inability to access or afford adequate supplies of energy, while acute energy insecurity arises when infrastructural, maintenance, environmental, or other external sources disrupt or impede access to energy. A substantial number of individuals and families across the United States experience energy insecurity, which can lead to a variety of adverse consequences including residential instability and poor health outcomes.
Regulation Of Polyfluoroalkyl Chemicals In New York, Michael B. Gerrard, Edward Mctiernan
Regulation Of Polyfluoroalkyl Chemicals In New York, Michael B. Gerrard, Edward Mctiernan
Faculty Scholarship
Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) are two polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFAS) – a class of over 7,000 compounds with unique chemical structures that repel lipids and water. As a result, PFOA and PFOS have been used in numerous household products, such as nonstick cookware and stain-resistant carpets, and commercial applications such as firefighting foam. PFOS and PFOA are frequently referred to as “emerging contaminants,” a label with no precise regulatory definition but generally understood to refer to chemicals for which there are few published standards designed to protect human health and the environment from perceived hazards. Many PFAS compounds …
Domesticating Guidance, Peter L. Strauss
Domesticating Guidance, Peter L. Strauss
Faculty Scholarship
This Essay, written for an occasion celebrating the scholarship of Professor William Funk of Lewis & Clark Law School, builds in good part on his analyses of soft law documents — statements of general policy and interpretive rules — that today one generally finds discussed under the rubric “guidance.” These are agency texts of less formality than hard law regulations adopted under the procedures of 5 U.S.C. § 553, that inform the public how an agency intends to administer its responsibilities, as a matter of policy or (what may seem just one instance of that) via the interpretation of its …
Profile In Public Integrity: Joseph Ferguson, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity
Profile In Public Integrity: Joseph Ferguson, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity
Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)
Joseph Ferguson is in his second term as Chicago’s Inspector General. Ferguson came to the Inspector General’s Office following 15 years with the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the Northern District of Illinois. From 1994 through 1999 he represented the United States in cases before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals involving employment discrimination (Title VII), civil rights, environmental law, and government program fraud. From 2000 to 2009, Ferguson worked in the Criminal Division of the USAO, prosecuting public corruption, mail/wire fraud, tax, healthcare and government program frauds, …
Territoriality, Risk Perception, And Counterproductive Legal Structures: The Case Of Waste Facility Siting, Michael B. Gerrard
Territoriality, Risk Perception, And Counterproductive Legal Structures: The Case Of Waste Facility Siting, Michael B. Gerrard
Faculty Scholarship
The siting of hazardous and nuclear waste facilities has proven to be a task of enormous difficulty in our federal system. In this Article, the Author argues that one of the major causal factors for this difficulty is that the legal regime surrounding waste facility siting decisions is not structured in a manner sensitive to the human factors involved. The siting of a hazardous waste facility is likely to generate a negative community response where the imposition of externally made decisions and externally generated wastes fails to take into account the innate human trait of territoriality. Territoriality is a powerful …