Environmental Law Commons^™

Enforcing International Human Rights Law Against Corporations, Barnali Choudhury

All Papers

International human rights law is generally thought to apply directly to states, not to corporations since the latter is not a subject of international law. Some domestic courts are, however, enforcing these norms against corporations in domestic settings. Canadian courts have, for instance, recognized that corporations can be liable for breach of customary international law norms while UK courts have enforced international human rights norms indirectly against corporations relying on a combination of domestic corporate and tort law.

At the same time, some states are choosing to enforce international human rights norms against corporations using regulatory initiatives. These initiatives, known …

Creating Land With Artificial Oyster Rings: Legal Challenges From State Owned Bottom Land To Living Shorelines, Faith Parker, Will Reach

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

The Virginia Sea Grant program approached VCPC to conduct research in partnership with the William & Mary Public Policy Program and a James Madison University (JMU) architecture professor, Jori Erdman. Professor Erdman is researching the viability of creating land with artificial oyster rings based on similar projects seen in Louisiana. Professor Erdman has provided the diagrams of the project used throughout this paper. Ultimately, this paper examines some legal issues raised by the use of these rings to prevent coastal erosion or act as a flooding buffer for commercial or residential buildings. With this goal in mind, this paper addresses …

Free, Prior Informed Consent And Extractive Industry: Indigenous Action Is The Past, Present, And Future Of Global Environmental Justice, Paige Bellamy

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

Free, Prior Informed Consent ("FPIC") from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has been central to global Indigenous action against extractive industries’ harmful practices. Yet, it is often not fully recognized as a sovereign right, which hinders Indigenous peoples’ ability to use it to its full potential. Historically, FPIC has been deemed a consultation right, not a right to “veto” industry action on Indigenous land. Countries that have interpreted FPIC as a mere consultation right have allowed further exploitation of Indigenous peoples, usually leading to environmental and humanitarian disasters. However, when courts have respected the right to …

Soaps And Shampoos: Proposals To Reform Regulation In The United States Personal Care Market To Decrease Deforestation From Palm Oil Imports, Kelsey Weston

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

Palm oil is the world's most highly sought-after vegetable oil due to its multifaceted uses and cheap cost of production. However, producing this versatile oil comes at a high cost to one of the largest biodiversity on the planet. Over the last two centuries, Indonesia and Malaysia have become the main producers and exporters of palm oil but they are also home to the largest number of mammal species in the world that have seen a staggering decline in populations. Furthermore, palm oil production has caused excessive release of greenhouse gases, increased disruption of forestland, and economic poverty for smallholders …

Nuclear Powered International Commercial Shipping: A Note On The Greenest Solution And The Challenges Of International Regulation, Rebecca Mcreynolds

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

To meet the environmental demands imposed by the International Maritime Organization, the commercial shipping industry’s use of predominantly marine diesel fuel will need to change drastically. Current answers to these environmental concerns include the use of biofuels, battery packs, and liquified natural gas, but these are short-term solutions that will not fully meet environmental demands in the long run. Nuclear propulsion, however, is a tried-and-true resolution. The use of nuclear energy results in virtually no environmental impact and has successfully been used by the US Navy for the past 75 years. Unfortunately, the commercial use of nuclear propulsion is stalled …

Reversing Quiet Destruction: Florida's Attempt To Regulate Pfas Known As Forever Chemicals, A. Colleen Donald

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

Introduced by manufacturing companies in the 1940s, Per-and polyfluorinated substances (“PFAS”) which consist of a group of over 6,000 chemicals, have insidiously made their way into the bloodstream of humans and into the environment. These nearly indestructible, “forever chemicals” that were once thought to be safe for use in firefighting foams, cosmetics, food packaging, non-stick cookware, and water-resistant clothing, are now found to be toxic. PFAS have been found in animals, aquatic life, and natural resources, and are associated with illnesses in humans: PFAS have been linked to various cancers, reproductive issues in women, and birth defects in children. As …

Water Quality: Successes, Shortcomings, And The Future, Jaley F. Adkins

The Cardinal Edge

No abstract provided.

Climate Change And The Courts: Balancing Stewardship And Restraint, Susan Glazebrook

Judicature International

No abstract provided.

Expert Insights On Best Practices For Community Benefits Agreements, Matthew Eisenson, Romany M. Webb

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

This report outlines 35 recommendations for developers and host communities when negotiating and drafting Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs) for direct air capture hubs and other clean energy projects. These recommendations come from interviews with attorneys and other experts who have collectively negotiated dozens of CBAs for climate infrastructure and other types of projects.

Permitting Co2 Pipelines, Martin Lockman

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Both emissions reductions and removal of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere are essential if we hope to minimize the damage caused by climate change and globally reduce our net emissions of greenhouse gasses to zero. Some CO2 removal techniques, like “direct air capture” that uses chemical and electrochemical processes to capture atmospheric CO2 at relatively low concentrations, generate a stream of captured CO2 that is then injected into underground rock formations referred to as “geologic storage.” CO2 pipelines represent the most efficient way to transport high volumes of captured CO2 to geologic storage locations. However, while …

2023-2024 Executive Board Announcement, Cardozo Environmental Law Society

Flyers 2023-2024

No abstract provided.

Balancing Justice And The Planet: Navigating The Path To Sustainable Law Practice, Cardozo Environmental Law Society

Flyers 2023-2024

Professor Dov Greenbaum of Reichman University will be giving a lecture on how a law practice can be climate friendly or not.

Determining An Effective Regulatory Framework For Businesses To Report On The Environment, Climate, And Human Rights, Paco Mengual

Pace International Law Review

The objective of this article is to identify the existing dynamics and clarify the reasoning behind reporting on environmental, climate, and human rights information in search of effective and binding frameworks to enhance transparency. To that effect, this article relates the evolution from a corporate sustainable business focus to reporting on environmental social and governance and increasing corporate accountability. It then expands on defining non- financial information and ESG reporting with regards to recent European Union Regulations (SFDR, Taxonomy) as well as the challenges associated with defining sustainable investments. This article aims to compare and understand the various regulatory strategies …

Lone Star Crime: The Criminal Enforcement Of Environmental Law In The State Of Texas, Dr. Joshua Ozymy, Dr. Melissa Jarrell Ozymy

St. Mary's Law Journal

Most transgressions of environmental law in the United States are remedied with civil or administrative tools. When crimes involve significant harm or culpable conduct, criminal enforcement tools may be applied. With the importance of environmental criminal enforcement for punishing offenders and deterring future offenses, we still have little empirical understanding of this phenomenon in Texas. We use content analysis of 2,588 federal environmental criminal prosecutions that result from EPA criminal investigations from 1983 to 2019 and select all prosecutions occurring in Texas. Our approach allows us to explore prosecution patterns over time, examine charging and sentencing trends, and draw out …

Indonesian Compliance With Tripartite Agreement In Controlling Marine Environmental Pollution In The Malacca Strait, Vita Cita Emia Tarigan, Akmal Handi Ansari Nasution, Mohammad Ekaputra, Rizki Nanda Saputri

Indonesian Journal of International Law

Indonesia bears interest in the Malacca strait as one of its stakeholders in its effort on maritime navigational safety and environment in navigational safety and environment. Its efforts are fundamental in controlling, preventing, and recovering pollution from vessels. Referring to the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982, Indonesian contribution to controlling marine life pollution is vital. Therefore, Indonesia signed a tripartite agreement with Malaysia and Singapore (Agreement on Safety of Navigation in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore 1977). The Tripartite Agreement needs to be used as a reference in making regulations in Indonesia and implemented …

Racial Impact Assessment In Land Use Planning And Zoning, William West

Pace Environmental Law Review

Racial impact assessments are tools that attempt to predict the effects of actions to help policymakers evaluate the consequences of those actions before their implementation. This article explains the history of race and land use in the United States, the development of racial impact assessments, and the emerging trend of racial impact assessments in land use planning and zoning. The article concludes with an analysis of how racial impact assessments in land use might develop in the future.

The Green Future And The Golden Past: Issues And Approaches Regarding The Sustainability Of Historical Structures And Sites, Steven Moctezuma

Pace Environmental Law Review

This Article illustrates the harmonies and conflict between historic preservation and environmental law in the context of urgently meeting climate change challenges. The Article presents an overarching analysis of the relationship between historic preservation and environmentalism, discerning unifying aspects and modern conflicts through statutory laws and case studies. It begins with detailing the parallel goals between the two causes, drawing on key similarities between the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, the main tools for ensuring federal review for each field, and highlighting sustainable refurbishment as a prime example on achieving both ends with the same …

The Need To Reconceptualize Wild Animals Post-Covid 19: Miscoordination Of Wildlife Regulations In China’S Food Legal Order, Yi Seul Kim

Pace Environmental Law Review

Today, China is one of the largest markets for wild animal trading. Yet, wild animals are in a regulatory grey area. There is an increasing need to revisit how wild animals are simultaneously but differently regulated in the food and wildlife protection regimes. Rarely do attempts to understand these two regimes occur, making this article's analysis of miscoordination in these bodies of law crucial in addressing the hindrance of nationwide food safety improvement efforts.

Virtuous Cycles: The Interaction Of Public And Private Environmental Governance, Elodie O. Currier

Pace Environmental Law Review

The climate crisis has provoked a call for action from all sides. Private governance, public regulation, and individual behavior are all vital pieces of our path toward decarbonization and climate adaptation. Despite this, some scholars and policymakers argue that private environmental governance undermines public efforts to regulate climate harms. This paper draws on existing scholarship in law, policy, and psychology to answer these critiques, proposing four taxonomies of beneficial public-private collaboration on environmental governance. It then applies these models, tracking the shift in U.S. environmental legislation from “polluter pays” to “beneficiary pays” strategies to show a shift from rivalry to …

Provisions On Liability For Decommissioning Upstream Offshore Oil And Gas Infrastructure In Investor–State Contracts, Martin Dietrich Brauch, Esteban F. Fresno Rodríguez, José Luis Gallardo Torres

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment

Offshore oil and gas operations are inherently hazardous to the environment, posing environmental risks and impacts throughout all stages of the operations: exploration, development, production, and decommissioning. Offshore decommissioning consists of the process of planning, funding, and implementing measures aimed at safely closing, repurposing, or removing the infrastructure and equipment used in the exploration and production of oil and gas in the marine environment, and at mitigating their impacts. It encompasses a series of activities, including the safe plugging and closure of wells, the removal of equipment and pipelines, the repurposing of platforms, the disposal of non-usable materials and potentially …