Law Commons^™

Putting The Brakes On California's Emissions Standards: An Analysis Of The Legal Challenges California's Advanced Clean Cars Ii Standards Will Face, Michael Maloof

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note discusses the legal implications of California’s Advanced Clean Cars II vehicle-emissions standards. These standards, which would affect vehicle model years 2026 through 2035, seek to eliminate the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles in favor of only selling electric, zero-emission vehicles. In light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in West Virginia v. EPA, this type of “generation-shifting” plan stands on broken ground due to the applicability of the Major Questions Doctrine. The agency action here—EPA approval of a Clean Air Act §7543 waiver—is exactly the type of “extraordinary case” that the Court must strike down in order …

Environmental And Natural Resources Law Symposium: Assessing The August 2023 Amendments To The Waters Of The United States Rule In The Wake Of Sackett V. Epa, Ryan Day

Maurer Law Events

In 1982, the Army Corps of Engineers adopted the EPA definition of “waters of the United States.” This brought an end to a smoldering interagency conflict over the definitions under the Clean Water Act. This relationship was formalized with a 1989 Memorandum of Agreement between the EPA and the Corps; the Corps has largely ceded definitional decision making to the EPA, which develops guidance and supporting materials, while the Corps is responsible for most case-specific jurisdictional determinations under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. In 2023, the agencies embarked on their latest round of rulemaking. In January, the Biden …

Sackett V. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: "Waters Of The United States" Defined By 0.63 Acres, Brian Gillis

Golden Gate University Law Review

This case note analyzes Sackett v. U.S. Env’t Prot. Agency, 8 F.4th 1075, 1080 (9th Cir. 2021), a case wherein the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit set forth the proper test for determining whether wetlands are “waters of the United States” within the meaning of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. §1251 et seq. (1972)). In 2007, the Sacketts had purchased a 0.63 acre lot in Idaho, obtained building permits, and began constructing a house, which resulted in the deposit of sand and gravel in areas of standing water on the property. Soon thereafter, the Environmental …

Constitutional Resilience, Shannon M. Roesler

Washington and Lee Law Review

Since the New Deal era, our system of constitutional governance has relied on expansive federal authority to regulate economic and social problems of national scale. Throughout the twentieth century, Congress passed ambitious federal statutes designed to address these problems. In doing so, it often enlisted states as regulatory partners—creating a system of shared governance that underpins major environmental statutes, such as the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act. These governance structures remain important today as we seek to adapt our laws and institutions to the serious disruptions of climate change. But recent Supreme Court decisions challenge this long-established …

Mother Nature On The Run: The Sec, Climate Change Disclosure, And The Major Questions Doctrine, J. Robert Brown, Jr.

San Diego Law Review

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) has proposed a rule that addresses the disclosure needs of investors with respect to climate change. The proposal would require that public companies tell investors about the risks to their business associated with climate change and explain the system and strategy of governance for monitoring those risks. In addition, the proposal would mandate the disclosure of certain greenhouse gas emissions.

The SEC’s proposal arrived contemporaneously with the Supreme Court’s announcement of the “major questions” doctrine. A deliberate attempt to limit the authority of the executive branch, the doctrine would restrict agencies from …

The Great Climate Migration: A Critique Of Global Legal Standards Of Climate-Change Caused Harm, Mariah Stephens

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

Approximately 2.4 billion people, or about forty percent of the global population, live within sixty miles (one hundred kilometers) of a coastline. The United Nations (“U.N.”) determined that “a sea level rise of half a meter could displace 1.2 million people from low-lying islands in the Caribbean Sea and the Indian and Pacific Oceans, with that number almost doubling if the sea level rises by two metres.” The U.N. also reports that “sudden weather-related hazards” have internally displaced an annual average of 21.5 million people since 2008. Within the next few decades, this number is likely to continue to increase. …

State Sequestration: Federal Policy Accelerates Carbon Storage, But Leaves Full Climate, Equity Protections To States, Gabriel Pacyniak

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—the UN’s expert science panel—has found that limiting climate change to prevent catastrophic harms will require at least some use of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) unless the world rapidly shifts away from fossil fuels and reduces energy demand. There is significant uncertainty, however, about the level of lifecycle GHG reductions achievable in practice from varying CCS applications; some applications could even lead to net increases in emissions. In addition, a number of these applications create or maintain other harms, especially those related to fossil fuel extraction and use. For these reasons, many environmental justice …

The Long And Winding Road To Carbon Neutrality: Can California’S Zero Emission Vehicle Survive The Twists And Turns Of The Legal System?, Erin Hudak

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

The effects of climate change are becoming more and more obvious every year, evidenced by extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and increased global temperature. In an effort to mitigate the damage caused by greenhouse gases, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a goal to have all new passenger vehicles sold in California be Zero-Emission Vehicles (“ZEVs”) by 2035. This Article explores the possible legal issues that California’s ZEV mandate faces now and may face in the future. First, California will likely face a federal preemption challenge under the Clean Air Act. Second, the California Air Resources Board’s authority to mandate …

Ohio House Bills 168 And 110: Just Another Drop In The Bucket For Brownfield Redevelopment?, Mia Petrucci

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

This article examines Ohio House Bills 168 and 110. These House Bills provide liability protection to purchasers of brownfield sites, allocate $500 million dollars to brownfield funding—with $350 million allotted for investigation, cleanup, and revitalization of brownfield sites and $150 million for demolition of vacant/abandoned buildings—and create a new Building Demolition and Site Revitalization Program, for the revitalization of properties surrounding brownfield sites. In the first three Sections of this article, the concept of brownfield redevelopment is introduced, the associated challenges with brownfield projects are discussed, and attempts by federal and state governments to address brownfield remediation challenges in the …

Editors' Note, Rachel Keylon, Meghen Sullivan

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

For more than two decades, the Sustainable Development Law and Policy Brief (SDLP) has published works analyzing emerging legal and policy issues within the fields of environmental, energy, sustainable development, and natural resources law. SDLP has also prioritized making space for law students in the conversation. We are honored to continue this tradition in Volume XXIII.

Sanitation: Reducing The Administrative State’S Control Over Public Health, Lauren R. Roth

Scholarly Works

On April 18, 2022, in Health Freedom Defense Fund, Inc. v. Biden, United States District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle vacated the mask mandate issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Following a framework laid out in other decisions restricting CDC actions in response to COVID-19, the court found that the agency lacked statutory authority to protect the public from the virus by requiring mask wearing during travel and at transit hubs because Congress did not intend such a broad grant of power. Countering decades of public health jurisprudence, the federal district court failed to defer to experts and …

Major Problems With The Major Questions Doctrine: The Impact Of West Virginia V. Epa On Environmental Regulations And Judicial Review, Holman Pettibone

CMC Senior Theses

This paper examines the historical and ongoing relationship between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Supreme Court, with a focus on West Virginia v. EPA (2022). In West Virginia, the Court ruled that the EPA lacks the authority to implement the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, invoking the "major questions doctrine." Since 1984, the Court has used "Chevron deference" to guide its rulings on administrative action, which requires judges to defer to the administrative agency if its interpretation is reasonable, and the statute is ambiguous. West Virginia and the major questions doctrine put the future of Chevron deference …

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 …