Law Commons^™

Suffering Matters: Nepa, Animals, And The Duty To Disclose, David N. Cassuto, Tala Dibenedetto

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires the federal government to disclose potential environmental harms arising from agency actions. Animal suffering is an environmental harm, yet no court has ruled that its infliction triggers a reporting obligation under NEPA. This Article argues that animal suffering should be a cognizable environmental harm under NEPA, that considerations of animal suffering should factor into whether an agency must prepare an EIS--and should be discussed in the content of the EIS.

Part II of this Article introduces and explains the procedural requirements of NEPA. Part III discusses animal suffering--how it is defined, how laws …

Revisiting The Tense Relationship Between The U.S. Supreme Court, Administrative Procedure, And The National Environmental Policy Act, Jason J. Czarnezki

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article addresses the possibility, under the prevailing understanding of NEPA, that an agency might draft a comprehensive report containing information about potential environmental effects and alternate approaches to a proposed plan--and then wholly disregard all of this information in making its final decision. Although an agency may contend that it has “considered” the environmental consequences of alternative courses of action, what if these factors have no actual impact on its final decision? Hypothetically, an agency could simply “steamroll” toward its preferred decision, hurdling NEPA's procedural obstacles without genuinely considering potential environmental harms or the means to avoid them.

This …

Defining The Project Purpose Under Nepa: Promoting Consideration Of Viable Eis Alternatives, Jason J. Czarnezki

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Comment examines how courts should construe EIS project goals under NEPA. Part I provides the basic foundation for EIS alternative analysis by outlining NEPA's goals, framework, and legal development. Part II identifies and discusses two conflicting positions in current case law supporting narrow versus general goal formulations in project purpose evaluation. To resolve this conflict, Part III suggests that courts should reject the narrow formulation in evaluating a project's purpose and objectively inquire into the effect and purpose of the agency's action.

Summary Of The United States Seminar On Our National Environmental Laws, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

My objective today is to summarize the discussion that took place at a seminar we held in the United States which described and evaluated our nation's environmental protection laws. The purpose of that seminar was to draw from that experience lessons that should help us, and perhaps Argentina, as we both consider how to improve the laws that affect natural resource use and conservation in our countries.

The National Land Use Policy Act, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Professor Miller talked about a particular road that we traveled beginning in the 1970s. Professor Robinson discussed a different road that we traveled when we adopted the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in 1969. I would like to talk about the road not traveled, a road that led in the direction that Professor Miller just charted. We considered a different more comprehensive approach in the early 1970s when our national environmental policies were being formed. The time may be right to reconsider what we then narrowly rejected, both here and in Argentina.

United States Pollution Control Laws, Jeffrey G. Miller

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The environmental assessment process established by NEPA has been a success and was a step forward on the path of integrating environmental and economic policy. The national pollution abatement laws that were adopted in the decade after NEPA, however, operate in a very different fashion. They, too, have been very successful in a number of important respects, but have achieved less than we had hoped for because of certain flaws in their design. To analyze these laws for us, I would like to introduce another colleague, Professor Jeffery Miller, who has also travelled in Argentina. In fact, Professor Miller conducted …

Extraterritorial Environmental Protection Obligations Of Foreign Affairs Agencies: The Unfulfilled Mandate Of Nepa, Nicholas A. Robinson

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article will focus on the initial Department of State position, as set forth in a legal memorandum which interpreted NEPA as not requiring compliance by a foreign affairs agency. It will then examine the language of the Act and its legislative history. Finally, the article will reveal a pattern of official self-insulation from national environmental policy, illustrated by the Export-Import Bank's continuing refusal to comply with NEPA's requirements. It will suggest that much remains to be done if NEPA is to be fully effective in governing the extraterritorial consequences of the federal government's actions.