Environmental Law Commons^™

Discrimination In The Marcellus Shale: The Dormant Commerce Clause And Hydraulic Fracturing Waste Disposal, Eric Michel

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The environmentally controversial process of hydraulic fracturing (commonly referred to as "fracking") has led to a recent explosion in the supply and sale of natural gas in the United States. However, every fracking operation creates a sizable amount of toxic wastewater that requires disposal, and drillers in Pennsylvania have increasingly been shipping their waste across the border to Ohio because of Pennsylvania's inadequate internal disposal options. In response, Ohio has passed legislation that taxes out-of-state fracking waste at a greater rate than waste derived from natural gas drilling within its borders. This Note examines whether Ohio's taxing scheme violates the …

Police Can Stop You For Having A License Plate Bracket On Your Car, Beau James Brock, Rikki Weger

Beau James Brock

The Fourth Amendment must be protected from police excesses. Now, law enforcement is relying upon the most hyper-technical of violations to stop a vehicle. Both attorneys and judges must guard against the temptation that the ends will justify the means, only to find out later we sold out our freedom to the golden calf of drug interdiction.

The Law Of Words: Standing, Environment, And Other Contested Terms, David Cassuto

David N Cassuto

Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services (TOC), Inc., 528 U.S. 167 (2000), exposes fundamental incoherencies within environmental standing doctrine, even while it ostensibly makes standing easier to prove for plaintiffs in environmental citizen suits. According to Laidlaw, an environmental plaintiff needs only to show personal injury to satisfy Article III's standing requirement; she need not show that the alleged statutory violation actually harms the environment. This Article argues that Laidlaw's distinction between injury to the plaintiff and harm to the environment is nonsensical. Both the majority and dissent in Laidlaw incorrectly assume that there exists an objective …

American Electric Power Company, Inc. V. State Of Connecticut: Brief Of Law Professors As Amici Curiae In Support Of Respondents, Stuart Banner, James R. May

James R. May

No abstract provided.

Federal Constraints: Possible Constitutional Hurdles To Cross-Border Cap-And-Trade,, Shelley Welton

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Erosion Of Federal Common Law: Anticipatory Delegation In American Electric Power Company V. Connecticut, Paul Winters

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

Eleven plaintiffs brought a common law action, seeking injunctive relief against the six largest American producers of greenhouse gases. Because the EPA had not yet promulgated regulations governing the production of greenhouse gases, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that federal law had not displaced plaintiffs ' common law claim. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that even though regulations had not been promulgated, EPA occupied the field nevertheless. The decision marks an extension of the regulatory displacement of federal common law to regulations that are merely anticipated Such extension, or "anticipatory delegation, " represents an unacceptably large incursion into …

The Ecuadorian Exemplar: The First Ever Vindications Of Constitutional Rights Of Nature, Erin Daly

Erin Daly

The 'Sala de le Corte Provincial' - a provincial court in Ecuador - became the first court ever to vindicate the recently constitutionalized rights of nature. Recognizing the indisputable importance of the rights of nature for present and future generations, the court held the provincial government liable for flooding damages caused by dumping of construction debris. This judicial victory is arguably overshadowed by challenges facing the plaintiffs in seeing the courts order enforced, however. A subsequent case bears witness to the judiciary’s vindication of rights of nature in Ecuador with ever increasing legal effect.

Ten Questions With Beau James Brock, Pamela Labbe

Beau James Brock

Interview of Beau James Brock published in the Baton Rouge Bar Association legal journal, Around the Bar.

Judicial Review Of Administrative Action/ Decision As The Primary Vehicle For Constitutionalism: Law And Procedures In Tanzania, Daudi Mwita Nyamaka Mr.

Daudi Mwita Nyamaka Mr.

This paper examines the discretionary powers of the High Court of Tanzania to review decisions and actions of other public bodies as a means to uphold the spirit of the Constitution on checks and balances between the three organs of the state. The writer examines the procedures for judicial review, the legal and procedural requirements and the remedies available under the laws of Tanzania, however, the writer further examines experiences from other countries particularly from case laws.

Check-In, Attendees Of The Symposium

NJTIP Annual Symposium

Check-in for the Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property's 7th Annual Symposium

The Primary Right, Carter Dillard

Carter Dillard

As climate change materializes, legal theorists face the urgent need to develop a normative baseline for environmental regulation. Meanwhile, in the seemingly unrelated field of political exit theory, theorists have presumed that while one ought to be able to exit any polity one cannot exit all polities. This essay challenges that presumption, and simultaneously addresses the baseline problem in environmental law, by combining the analyses to develop a new human right derived from exit right theory called the primary right: a general claim-right of reasonable access to wilderness. The derivation is simple: If consent is necessary to justify political association, …

Empathy With Animals: A Litmus Test For Legal Personhood?, Carter Dillard

Carter Dillard

Is there any relationship between the disposition of some humans to empathize with and respond to the interests of nonhuman animals, and the criteria we ought to use for determining who becomes a legal person? This brief essay argues that there is, by employing a thick conception of legal personhood, and suggests that criteria be used to determine who constitutes our legality in the future.

Reading The Standing Tea Leaves In American Electric Power Co. V. Connecticut, Bradford C. Mank

University of Richmond Law Review

The U.S. Supreme Court by an equally divided vote offour to four affirmed the Second Circuit's decision finding standing and jurisdiction in the case in American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut. While not binding as precedent beyond the Second Circuit,the case offers clues to how the Court is likely to rule in future standing cases. This article discusses the likely identities of the four Justices on each side of the standing issue in the case, as well as how Justice Sotomayor might have voted if she had not recused herself. Furthermore, the article examines how the decision expand- ed on …

Judge Posner’S 'Practical' Theory Of Standing: Closer To Justice Breyer’S Approach To Standing Than Justice Scalia’S, Bradford Mank

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

In American Bottom Conservancy v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit questioned three different grounds articulated by the U.S. Supreme Court for the constitutional doctrine of standing in federal courts and instead argued that the “solidest grounds” for the doctrine of standing are “practical.” In part because of his self-described “pragmatic” approach to legal reasoning, Judge Posner’s maverick views may have led Republican presidents to pass him over for being nominated to the Supreme Court in favor of less brilliant but more predictable conservative judges. Judge Posner’s pragmatic or practical approach to standing …

American Legal History Survey: Syllabus, Anders Walker

All Faculty Scholarship

This syllabus provides an overview of American Legal History, focusing on the manner in which law has been used to organize American society. Several themes will be traced through the semester, including law’s role in encouraging innovation and regulating social relations, in part through the elaboration of legal disciplines like property, tort, contract, criminal law, tax, business associations, administrative law, environmental law, securities regulation, commercial law, immigration, and health law. Emphasis will also be placed on the origins and evolution of constitutional law, from the founding to the present.

The Constitutionality Of Citizen Suit Provisions In Federal Environmental Statutes, Jeffrey G. Miller

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The Supreme Court’s decisions under the pollution control statutes administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reach startlingly anti-environmental results, but they are explained more by the Court’s overwhelming hostility toward the private enforcement of statutes, rather than an anti-environmental bias. Adding insult to injury, in one of the rare victories for private environmental plaintiffs in those decisions, Justice Kennedy queried whether citizen suits intrude on the President’s Article II executive power and violate the separation of power principles. While other Justices have raised the same concern, Justice Kennedy’s invitation is particularly significant because he is a swing vote in …

Regulatory Takings And Property Rights Confront Sea Level Rise: How Do They Roll?, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Under the Beach and Shore Preservation Act, the State of Florida is authorized to conduct extraordinarily expensive beach renourishment projects to restore damaged coastal properties. The statute advances the State’s interest in repairing the damage to the coastal ecosystem and economy caused by hurricanes, high winds, and storm surges. The effect of a renourishment project conducted under the statute is to fix the legal boundary of the littoral property owner at an Erosion Control Line. Plaintiffs in Walton County v. Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc. claimed that the statute took their common law property rights to their boundary, which would, …

Constitutional Protection For Environmental Rights: The Benefits Of Environmental Process, Erin Daly

Erin Daly

More and more constitutions around the world -- from Bangladesh to Bolivia, and from the Philippines to the countries of the EU -- are explicitly protecting environmental rights and the values of a clean and healthy environment. In many instances, environmental rights are recognized not as substantive entitlements (which would allow litigants to sue if the government polluted their rivers or clearcut their forests), but as procedural rights. Examples of procedural rights include imposing on governments the obligation to consult with communities before they take actions that will affect their environment or giving individuals the right to participate in governmental …

The Practice Of Criminal Defence: Why We Fight And Defend Those Most Imperilled, Every Day, Beau James Brock

Beau James Brock

Being a criminal defense attorney is a special calling. Aside from dealing with the human element, they also fight daily to see the government acts within the bounds established by the Bill of Rights.

The Empire Strikes Back: How To Prepare & Respond To Environmental Criminal Investigations, Beau James Brock, Andre Belanger

Beau James Brock

Powerpoint presentation on defending corporations, individuals, and governmental entities who are under criminal investigation by EPA.

Mongoose Basketball Playbook, Beau James Brock

Beau James Brock

Mongoose Girls Basketball Playbook, Beau James Brock

Beau James Brock

Mongoose Basketball Practice Regimen, Beau James Brock

Beau James Brock