Digital Commons Network^™

"In Countless Ways And On An Unprecedented Scale": Reflections On The Stockholm Declaration At 50, Rebecca Bratspies

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Come Hell Or No Water: The Story Of Sandbranch And The Unincorporated Community Fight For Public Services, Daeja Pemberton

Student Scholarship

Sandbranch is the only unincorporated community left in Dallas County, and the residents of this majority-Black, impoverished community have had their cries for basic necessities—such as clean, running water—largely ignored. With the County and the City of Dallas not remedying the problem so far, there is a question as to who is responsible for providing water and other public services to the community’s eighty residents. As it currently stands, Texas law simply permits local governments to offer assistance to unincorporated communities but does not mandate that affirmative measures be taken to ensure that these communities are provided for. What is …

Procedural Environmental Justice, Jonathan Skinner-Thompson

Washington Law Review

Achieving environmental justice—that is, the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies—requires providing impacted communities not just the formal right, but the substantive ability, to participate as equal partners at every level of environmental decision-making. While established administrative policy purports to provide all people with so-called meaningful involvement in the regulatory process, the public participation process often excludes marginalized community members from exerting meaningful influence on decision- making. Especially in the environmental arena, regulatory decisions are often …

Decarceration With Decarbonization: Renewable Rikers And The Transition To Clean Power, Rebecca Bratspies

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

This Article offers New York City’s Renewable Rikers project as an example of how this might be done, and how communities might combine decarbonization with decarceration in order to build a more just and sustainable society. By putting racial justice and overburdened communities at the center of building a clean energy grid, Renewable Rikers offers a model for genuine and transformative change that confronts root causes of inequality and builds a better, fairer city. It does so by tying electrification and land use decisions to equity concerns, and by facilitating meaningful community involvement in these infrastructure decisions. In this fashion, …

A Plea For Survival: Can The Return To Eco-Centrism Strengthen The Legal Protection Of Nature In Sri Lanka?, Asanka Edirisinghe, Michelle Mei Ling Lim

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The right to life of all living beings and the duty of humans to co-exist with nature have been recognized in Sri Lankan tradition and religious practice for centuries. Yet, environmental destruction, degradation and pollution due to human activities have become a common phenomenon in contemporary Sri Lanka. Anthropocentric thinking pervades Sri Lankan jurisprudence. Laws and judicial decisions have largely failed to recognize the rights of nature to be protected for its relational and intrinsic values. There is also limited acknowledgement that the very survival of human beings depends on the continuous existence of Mother Earth. Significant shifts from human-centred …

The ‘Burbs And The Bees: Race, Class, And Rpbb Policy In Minnesota, Julia Brokaw, Hudson B. Kingston, Jordan Hughes

Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

No abstract provided.

Down And Dirty: Remedies And Reparations For Intersected Environmental And Reproductive Justice, Mickaela J. Fouad

Brooklyn Law Review

Pollution is a rampant issue in the United States, ranging from smog-filled air to infertile soil to contaminated water. Yet despite the pervasive nature of pollution, its harms are not equally distributed amongst society. Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) communities disproportionately bear the burden of pollution and consequently suffer more harms because of it. Many of the health consequences from pollution are reproductive in nature: proximity to pollution can compromise fertility, cause difficulty in carrying a pregnancy to term and result in birth defects, disabilities, and reproductive cancers. This note focuses on the reproductive consequences of pollution and relies …

Beauty And The Beast: Plastic Pollution In The Personal Care And Cosmetics Industry, Olivia Frantzeskos

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper explores the history of plastic in the beauty and cosmetics industry, and how this toxic material is irreparably harming our ecosystems resulting from nonrecyclable packaging and a lack of microplastic management. Properly managing harmful plastics found in personal care and cosmetics products (PCCPs) is essential for minimizing toxic wastewater in raw sewage, landfills, and the ocean, as discussed in reports such as “Plastics in Cosmetics” by the UNEP. Furthermore, this paper presents an argument for why the personal care and cosmetics industry should be included in the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which gives the EPA authority to …

Legal Avenues For Protecting Access To Starry Skies, Alexandra Feathers

Washington Journal of Social & Environmental Justice

In the millennia before the creation and adoption of electric lighting, night skies drenched in stars were the inalienable inheritance of humanity. Electric lighting threatens this birthright by emitting star-blocking light (also known as light pollution) into night skies. Left unaddressed, light pollution will restrict access to dark, starry skies so that many in future generations will only know the stars secondhand. Yet despite the many benefits of dark skies, little scholarship has considered the problem of light pollution limiting the accessibility of starry skies, or how law can address this problem. This Article balances the hope of a future …

Ninth Circuit Muddies The Waters Of Tribal Sovereign Immunity And The Clean Water Act In Deschutes River Alliance V. Portland Ge, Danielle Clifford

Washington Journal of Social & Environmental Justice

Throughout 2011 and 2012, members of the Deschutes River community who fish in the Lower Deschutes River in Oregon noticed a slew of significant changes to their natural environment. The Deschutes River Alliance attributed the changes to the operation of the Pelton Round Butte Hydraulic Project, which is co-owned and operated by Portland General Electric and The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs. In July 2016, DRA filed a Clean Water Act lawsuit against them. To rule on the alleged CWA violations, the DRA must first get past the tribal sovereign immunity hurdle. It is long-recognized that American Indian Nations …

Front Matter

Washington Journal of Social & Environmental Justice

No abstract provided.

Planning As If People Mattered, Arthur C. Nelson

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Resilience Re-Examined: Thoughts On The Covid-19 Pandemic's Lessons For Communities, John Travis Marshall

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

Prompted by this century’s major disasters, many local governments have adopted policies, plans, and laws to help guide their response to future natural hazard events. Some communities have prepared plans informed by their firsthand experience with recent catastrophic storms. Other communities have speculated about potential disaster scenarios; they have imagined the work involved in rebuilding their towns following an event that would threaten residents’ homes, health, and livelihoods. COVID-19 gives communities reason to reshape thinking around natural hazards planning. The ongoing pandemic should cause local governments to revisit and rework their plans for facilitating community recovery following a disaster. By …

Forty Years Of Environmental Justice: Where Is The Justice?, Jon A. Mueller, Taylor Lilley

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

Environmental Justice (or“EJ”) has been recognized as a concept since

at least 1982. After decades of incremental and ineffective efforts by the federal

government, it has become clear that EJ must evolve beyond the concept

stage if it is to be an effective vehicle for social and legal change. At its heart,

EJ is a function of social inequities and environmental harms, and the disproportionate

correlation between those components can no longer be ignored

by state and federal actors. The way forward must be paved with practical

legal solutions and affirmative application of regulatory authority. This

article examines the history …

Incorporating Environmental Justice Into Benefit-Cost Analysis Of Federal Rulemakings, John D. Graham

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

President Biden proposes to revise the federal rulemaking process to advance

the values of justice and equity. This analysis offers a practical path

forward by adding an equity test to the efficiency test applied to new federal

regulations by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. This article explores

the feasibility of the proposal with applications to regulation of hazardous

air pollutants and drinking water contaminants. The proposal seeks

to advance the interests of low-income Americans in federal rulemaking, a

subgroup that has received little historical priority in the regulatory impact

analyses prepared by federal regulatory agencies.

Deconstructing Inequality: Cumulative Impacts, Environmental Justice, And Interstate Redevelopment, Lemir Teron

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

The siting and development of Interstate 81 in Syracuse, New York, similar

to highway projects across the nation, lead to the displacement of Black

Syracusans

and has exposed thousands of remaining residents at heightened

environmental harm. As the interstate is slated to be redeveloped due to age

and safety issues, national attention has focused on the highway as a potential

exemplar for similar projects across the United States. Federal law mandates

that environmental impact analysis be conducted, and due to the prevalence

of marginalized populations, environmental justice impacts are a

critical feature in this assessment. This article evaluates both the …

Armoring The Just Transition Activist, Abigail Fleming, Catherine Dremluk

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

The fossil fuel energy system, reinforced by oppressive policies and practices,

has disproportionately harmed poor people, Indigenous people, and

Brown and Black people and driven the global climate crisis. A just transition,

which displaces fossil fuels and redistributes renewable energy resources,

requires policies that are rooted in equity and shift power back to

the hands of the most vulnerable. Just Transition Activists, leaders, organizers,

and changemakers in the just transition movement, must develop transformative

skillsets necessary to radically reimagine our world and dismantle

the current unequal system of law and policy. This analysis explores the

skills, attributes, beliefs, and attitudes …

Examining The Relationship Between Environmental Justice And The Lack Of Diversity In Environmental Organizations, Haley Walter

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

This article highlights the ongoing lack of diversity in each of the

three major types of environmental organizations—conservation and

preservation organizations, governmental agencies, and environmental

grantmaking foundations—and assesses how this lack of diversity

has historically marginalized people of color. Assessing the history of

how the environmental movement has marginalized people of color is

key because from this marginalization grew the rise of the environmental

justice movement and recognition from the legal system of environmental

issues that disproportionately impacted people of color. Last,

this article presents solutions on how environmental organizations can

increase and retain diversity in their staff and leadership …

Symposium Transcript

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Clean Energy Dilemma: How The Push For Clean Energy Could Threaten Indigenous Communities And An Exploration Of Potential Alternatives, Laura Berglan, Blaine Miller-Mcfeeley, Andrea Folds, Earthjustice

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Incorporating Climate Change In Nepa Reviews: Recommendations For Reform, Michael Burger, Romany M. Webb, Jessica A. Wentz

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

The National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) requires federal agencies to conduct an environmental review prior to moving ahead with any major federal project, plan, or program that could significantly affect the environment. As part of the environmental review, agencies must share information with, and solicit feedback from, the public. The goal is to improve federal decision-making by ensuring that agencies take a hard look at the environmental effects of their actions and fully inform the public about those effects.

In guidance issued in 2016, the Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”)—the federal body charged with implementing NEPA—identified climate change as a …

Helping New Jersey State Agencies And Departments Align Their Actions With Ghg Reduction Mandates And Environmental Justice Principles, Jennifer Danis, Zoe Makoul

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

This white paper analyzes New Jersey’s implementation gap in both the climate and justice space. Its findings are potentially applicable to the many other states who have set climate and justice goals, without robustly embedding them into their existing legal and administrative landscapes. New Jersey already has GHG reduction targets, a plan, and mapped pathways. While more aggressive tactics and targets may be required to meet evolving scientific knowledge, and cost-effective technology and markets will evolve over time, New Jersey’s climate-alignment tools and pathways are clear. The EMP, the 2020 GWRA 80x50 Report, and EO-274, among other strong state initiatives, …

The Albany Answers Plant Incinerator : Environmental Justice And Slow Violence At The New York State Capital, Matthew D. Saddlemire

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The ANSWERS plant and its impact on the residents of Sheridan Hollow has recently been accepted by many as a case of environmental injustice. Simply looking at the benefits and burdens of environmental processes shows clearly that the primarily black community faced most of the health burdens that came from waste in the capital region, while white residential areas who sent their trash to ANSWERS faced minimal risk. The state benefitted from energy production, which was used to heat and cool the Empire State Plaza, the Alfred E. Smith State Office Building, the state Education Building and New York State …

Community Choice Aggregators, Biomass Energy, And California's Just Transition: A Case Study Of Ab 843 And Responsible Biomass Procurement Principles, Shalini Swaroop Esq., Alexandrea Mcgee

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Transcript, Zulene Mayfield, Carol Kazeem, Kearni Warren, Kyle Powis Whyte, Ana Baptista, Jacqui Patterson, Dorcas Gilmore

Panel III: Moving Forward

No abstract provided.

Transcript, Zulene Mayfield, Will Jones, Tyler White, Chantal Reyes, Maria Lopez-Nuñez, Steph Tai

Panel II: Reshaping EJ Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

Transcript, Zulene Mayfield, Louis Morse, Sheila Foster, Michael Churchill, Gilbert Carrasco, Mike Ewall

Panel I: Learning from Title VI

No abstract provided.

Upper Missouri Waterkeeper V. Epa, Clare Ols

Public Land & Resources Law Review

State water quality standards developed under the Clean Water Act play a key role in curtailing the negative environmental, economic, and human health impacts of water pollution. Under the state water quality regulatory framework, EPA may grant variances to state standards should the state demonstrate the compliance with its standards is infeasible for a certain pollutant discharger or waterbody. Montana DEQ developed a variance for nutrients based on evidence that compliance with those standards would cause economic harm. EPA approved Montana's nutrient pollutant variance, and Upper Missouri Waterkeeper challenged EPA's approval on the grounds that the variance violates the Clean …

Informational Regulation, The Environment, And The Public, Katrina F. Kuh

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Informational Regulation, the Environment, and the Public generates a typology to analyze how public disclosure functions in informational regulation. In the environmental context, informational regulation compels the public disclosure of environmental information without mandating substantive environmental outcomes in the expectation that disclosure itself will prompt beneficial change in the environmental context. Application of the Article's typology reveals that the emperor has no clothes: Communication of environmental information to the public is considered central to policies employing informational regulation, but the information produced pursuant to these measures largely fails to reach or be understood by lay individuals. For example, empirical data …

Informational Regulation, The Environment, And The Public, Katrina Fischer Kuh

Marquette Law Review

Informational Regulation, the Environment, and the Public generates a typology to analyze how public disclosure functions in informational regulation. In the environmental context, informational regulation compels the public disclosure of environmental information without mandating substantive environmental outcomes in the expectation that disclosure itself will prompt beneficial change in the environmental context. Application of the Article’s typology reveals that the emperor has no clothes: Communication of environmental information to the public is considered central to policies employing informational regulation, but the information produced pursuant to these measures largely fails to reach or be understood by lay individuals. For example, empirical data …