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Front Matter, Colorado Environmental Law Journal

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Editor's Note, Emily Derrenbacker

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Colorado Environmental Law Journal

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Towards Multispecies Environmental Justice, Laura Street Cole

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Environmental Cost Of Intelligence: Regulating The Climate Impact Of Artificial Intelligence, Emilee Calvin

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Still Silent: How The U.S. Regulatory Framework Fails To Address The Dangers Of Pesticides, Obie Johnson

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Ski Resorts And Rural Energy Resiliency: How Colorado’S Ski Industry Could Help Reduce Energy Vulnerability In Rural Mountain Communities, Jonathan Skule

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Climate Adaptation And Bankruptcy: Preparing Utilities For What Is To Come, Hayley Roy

Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal

Climate change is an existential crisis that has and will continue to impact every aspect of our daily lives. An overlooked component of life in the United States, except in times of crisis, is our energy grid, which will continuously feel the consequences of climate change. Electricity is a basic necessity for most people in the U.S., but it is underprepared for the realities of climate change. Climate adaptation is a necessary step forward that energy utilities must take to ensure the resilience and reliability of electricity. Failure to adequately adapt will lead to dangerous situations as seen in the …

Heat Camps: Juvenile Curfews, Extreme Heat & The Eighth Amendment, Norrinda Brown

Faculty Scholarship

For decades, in the summertime, America has confined certain of its youth in what are essentially open-air heat camps. In city after city, camp-form is established through the enactment of warm-weather juvenile curfews which keep the youth at home or in state-sponsored centers during summer nights and, increasingly, during days as well. Local governments justify these curfews with general notions of “public safety,” including to protect the youth they confine. But the laws are not benevolent. Reducing youth mobility by curfew results in exclusion, oversurveillance, and potentially lethal heat punishment of the youth, possibly in violation of the Eighth Amendment. …

An Anthology Of Interference In Law School Clinics, Peter A. Joy, Robert R. Kuehn

Scholarship@WashULaw

An Anthology of Interference in Law School Clinics explores interference in law school clinics in the United States, addressing its long history and the legal ethics, academic freedom, and First Amendment responses to that interference. Law clinics have faced interference in their representation of clients from elected officials, business groups, alumni and, at times, even their own school administrators. This interference has targeted clinics for providing individuals and nongovernmental organizations with legal representation on important matters, including racial and gender discrimination, environmental issues, prisoner rights litigation, death penalty cases, and immigration and human rights matters. In each instance, the interference …

Unveiling The Environmental Impact Of Large Language Models On Indigenous Communities: A Call For Action And Liability, Nina-Simone Edwards

Library Scholarship

Large Language Models (LLMs) have rapidly gained popularity for their language generation and comprehension capabilities, promising increased efficiency in various sectors. However, while celebrated for their transformative potential, LLMs exacerbate current climate issues. This Article highlights the detrimental environmental footprint of LLMs, with a focus on their role in escalating climate change and their disproportionate effects on Indigenous communities. These communities, closely tied to their land, bear the brunt of environmental degradation, further aggravated by LLM-induced emissions.

This Article first dissects the interplay between environmental justice and technological innovation, advocating for a reevaluation of the trust relationship between tribal nations …

A Critical Juncture: The Convergence Of Natural Resource Management And Tribal Sovereignty, Anna Aleta Butterfield

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

This portfolio reflects the work I’ve done in my four years as a dual degree student, pursuing a Master of Science in Environmental Studies and a juris doctorate degree, and focuses on policies and laws surrounding natural resource management. It touches on how those policies relate to and expand or constrict the exercise of sovereignty by indigenous populations.

This piece first considers the effects of plastic on salmon populations and those indigenous groups that rely on salmon for subsistence and cultural purposes. The remaining three pieces focus on various aspects of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes - Montana Water …

Examining State Climate Superfund Legislation, Madison Calhoun, Rachel Rothschild, Jonathan Binder, Elenda Mihaly, Justin Mankin, Ben Lippard, Mary Wood

Articles

There has been an influx of “climate superfund” bills introduced and adopted in state legislatures across the country. Modeled after the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), these laws are designed to recover costs from large emitters of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to pay for climate adaptation infrastructure. Following CERCLA’s strict liability framework, major polluters in New York and Vermont would be required to pay into state-managed funds in proportion to their shares of total GHG emissions; California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Oregon have proposed similar bills. On March 19, 2025, the Environmental Law Institute hosted a …

The Historic Superfund Listing Of The Lukachukai Mountains Mining District, Nadine Padilla

Faculty Scholarship

President Biden’s 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law included, among its many provisions, a historic investment of $3.5 billion to be allocated toward cleanups under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as Superfund. This investment will help in addressing the problem of legacy pollution that impacts communities across the country. Approximately $1 billion will go towards clearing the backlog of 49 previously unfunded Superfund sites and will accelerate cleanup at over 85 current Superfund sites. Remaining funds will go towards launching cleanup efforts at 25 new Superfund sites. In a development that aligns with these broader cleanup …

Displaying Wastewater Surveillance Data: An Ethics Framework, Govind Persad, Anne Barnhill, Douglas Mackay

Publications

No abstract provided.

Human Rights Methodology For Clinical Instruction: Legal Theory And Interdisciplinary Practices To Realize Human Rights Outcomes, Diane Desierto

Journal Articles

The interdisciplinary fact-finding and analytical methodologies of global human rights law, when translated to experiential learning practices (e.g., in the form of human rights legal assessments that integrate international law with domestic law and inject rigorous plausibility evaluations of client claims applicable to global as well as domestic fora) can usefully enhance and expand United States law school clinical teaching practices and the transfer of practical lawyering skills. By teaching law students: (1) the wide range of available human rights factfinding and empirical tools; (2) the techniques for broad use and application of primary and secondary evidentiary sources; and (3) …

Institutions And Economic Development, Ezra Rosser

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reflections On The Importance Of Critical Theory To Teaching Environmental Law, Sean M. Kammer

South Dakota Law Review

The freedom of students to learn about critical approaches to understanding their world is under sustained political attack. In this time of increasing environmental peril and political dysfunction, Professor Sean M. Kammer reflects upon the importance of critical theory (including Critical Race Theory) to understanding - and ultimately redressing - the related problems of resource scarcity and environmental degradation. While these problems can surely be described in terms of "economic inefficiencies" or "ecological disturbances," as they most often are, they must also be understood (and taught) as problems of colonial exploitation and violence. For example, one cannot understand Justice John …

Homelands Not Graveyards, M. Alexander Pearl

Faculty Articles

Within the last five years, the U.S. Supreme Court has taken up several transformative cases affecting Native nations and federal Indian law jurisprudence. The Supreme Court’s decision in Arizona v. Navajo Nation is no different. This Article examines that decision and situates it within that legal history as well as the realities of present-day water resource availability. While recent decisions have shown the Court’s willingness to confirm fundamental components of federal Indian law, such as the legal tests for determining the persistence of reservation and the authority of Congress to enact the Indian Child Welfare Act, the Court’s examination of …

Shining Light On Policy: The Case For Solar Panel Mandates On New Construction Projects, Emily Glazier

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note argues that solar panel mandates on new construction projects are a necessary and sensible approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving climate goals, but their implementation must include provisions to protect vulnerable communities and address environmental justice concerns. While such mandates face legal and political challenges, the benefits of decreased emissions and energy independence outweigh the costs, particularly when paired with measures like community solar systems, incentives, and exemptions.

Ip, At, And Aaas: What Intellectual Property Can Teach Antitrust About The War On Amazon Basics, Kristen Osenga

Law Faculty Publications

Amazon is magical. Search the online marketplace for pretty much anything you can imagine—not to mention all the things you never imagined; you will likely find what you were searching for and be able to have it delivered in two days or less. The magic is not just in Amazon’s vast array of innovative consumer products but also in its providing access to goods that are unavailable locally. An extreme example of Amazon’s ability to supply goods that were not locally available may be found in the pandemic lockdowns of 2020, when neighborhood stores were out of toilet paper and …

Living The Good Life In The Anthropocene, Danielle Stokes

Law Faculty Publications

The Stockholm Resilience Centre has concluded that the number of “planetary boundaries” we are crossing has increased from three in 2009, when the Centre’s researchers first introduced the concept, to six in 2023. Crossing these boundaries means humans are changing basic attributes of planetary systems to the point of risking the future of civilization. And the distinction between “safe” and “just” planetary boundaries raises questions regarding how to conceptualize the “good life.” In this latest in a biannual series of essays, members of the Environmental Law Collaborative explore conceptions of the “good” as well as the various elements necessary to …

Ecosocialism, Degrowth, And Global South Thought: Critical Legal Transformations, Nicholas F. Stump

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

This Article explores how Critical Legal Research (CLR) can help drive transformations of our ecological political economy towards true system change. CLR entails a critical legal theory–informed approach to legal and broader socio-legal research. After articulating the CLR framework, this Article explores its potential in the context of leading and intertwined bodies of theory for transformative change: ecosocialism, degrowth, and Global South and Indigenous thought. Next, this Article offers concrete avenues to help pursue such emancipatory change—i.e., specifically focusing on the popular conception of an “ecosocialist transition.” Ecosocialist transition strategies include non-reformist reforms, dual power, a radical just transition, and …

Streamlining Wildlife Regulation, Robert L. Fischman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

A recent burst of revisions in the bedrock regulations governing projects that may adversely affect wildlife represents a generational shift in policy. Streamlining federal decision -making drove much of this reform. Streamlining offers a path to address climate change without abandoning a longstanding commitment to wildlife conservation. The conservation community recognizes the need to build new infrastructure to reduce the rate of climate change through air emissions. The most urgent priority is decarbonizing the electrical ~rid through renewable energy generation and a better transmission network. Adaptation to the "new abnormal" of climate-driven environmental disruption demands federal approvals for a host …

Climate Prosecution As Climate Regulation, Cindy J. Cho

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Last term, the Supreme Court weakened the federal government’s ability to regulate. Three new decisions—and one landmark case from the previous term—will affect everything from drug approvals to overtime pay to national security. One issue stands out as a political flashpoint that will prove particularly difficult to address via regulation in the wake of this term: climate change. Given the unlikelihood of congressional climate action any time soon, those concerned about the risks of a warming planet will no doubt be looking for alternatives to regulation. Private and state civil lawsuits against polluters reflect an important legal tradition that must …

Penneast Pipeline And The Policy Implications Of The Private Use Of Eminent Domain, Emily C. Wood

Georgia Law Review

This Note considers the modern implications of the takings power in light of PennEast Pipeline Co. v. New Jersey, a 2021 U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that states do not have the right to exercise state sovereign immunity against private parties holding congressionally delegated authority. Against current environmental conditions and recent takings power history, this Note then examines the delegation power of Congress and the public policy implications of the present administrative scheme—as compared to the typical exercise of the federal eminent domain power. Finally, this Note argues that the current administrative scheme ultimately removes important decisions impacting local …

Assessing Equity, Environmental Social Justice And Intersectionality In U.S. Federal Policies: A Comparative And Temporal Analysis Of The Department Of Transportation, Department Of Energy, And Environmental Protection Agency, Sneha Basu

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

As the climate crisis intensifies, U.S. federal policies play a critical role in addressing the disproportionate environmental burdens borne by marginalized communities. This thesis assesses how equity, environmental social justice, and intersectionality have been integrated into the policy documents of three key federal agencies: Department of Transportation (DOT), Department of Energy (DOE), and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), over a 20-year period (2004–2024). Using a quantitative content analysis of 46 policy documents, the study evaluates five core dimensions: depth of discussion, clarity of language, inclusiveness of marginalized groups, action-oriented language, and environmental justice considerations. The research reveals significant interagency disparities, with …

Plastics, Carbon, Politics, And Experimentation In Environmental Governance, Donald T. Hornstein

Faculty Publications

This Article analyzes two major international environmental negotiations that concluded in late 2024 and uses them to explore emerging directions in plastics policy, carbon markets, and experimental forms of environmental governance. It examines the redesign of global carbon offset markets following the adoption of Article 6 mechanisms at COP 29, highlighting how new international standards and domestic U.S. initiatives seek to address longstanding concerns about offset quality while insulating climate policy from drastic federal political swings. The Article then evaluates the failed Busan negotiations toward a global plastics treaty, explaining how disagreements over production caps, consensus procedures, and the complexity …

Pengakuan Hak Masyarakat Adat Dalam Hukum Pengelolaan Sumber Daya Alam: Studi Perbandingan Indonesia–Australia, Farid Al Hadana, Sukarman Sukarman, Farhan Margono, Hamzah Hamzah

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Meskipun terdapat pengakuan konstitusional di Indonesia dan Australia, hak-hak masyarakat adat dalam tata kelola sumber daya alam masih lemah perlindungannya, terutama karena kerangka kerja Indonesia yang terfragmentasi dan tersentralisasi gagal mewujudkan keadilan lingkungan. Makalah ini membandingkan rezim hukum Indonesia dan Australia terkait tata kelola lahan dan sumber daya masyarakat adat untuk mengidentifikasi bagaimana pengakuan dapat diubah menjadi hak yang dapat ditegakkan dan untuk merumuskan model reformasi yang berorientasi pada keadilan bagi Indonesia. Dengan menggunakan analisis hukum komparatif kualitatif, makalah ini menggabungkan observasi doktrinal terhadap yurisprudensi konstitusional, peraturan-undangan, dan yurisprudensi dengan pemeriksaan dokumen kebijakan dan konflik ilustratif yang melibatkan wilayah masyarakat …

Power-Conscious Legal Work: Building A Roadmap For Rural Access To Justice Through Trust, Accountability, & Trauma-Informed Practices, Cayley Balser, Antonio M. Coronado

Alaska Law Review

The importance of trauma-informed practices has never been greater. In the United States, most of the population has experienced at least one traumatic event in their life. Experiencing a traumatic event may have long-lasting impacts on physical health, including disruption to all major system functioning. Mental health impacts may include behavior changes, memory challenges, inability to complete routine tasks, difficulty with interpersonal relationships, and other symptoms associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Extant literature examines the association between past trauma experiences and later interactions with the civil justice system, including litigant conceptualizations of legal system engagement as a traumatic event …