Law Commons^™

Challenging Equality: Property Loss, Government Fault, And The Global Warming Catastrophe, Laura S. Underkuffler

Northwestern University Law Review

One of the bedrock principles of American property law is that all property owners and all property are protected equally. We do not believe—when it comes to compensation for loss—that poor owners are compensated rigidly and rich owners are not, or that property in private homes is protected rigidly and property in commercial or industrial structures is not. When it comes to compensation due to public or private fault, we believe in absolute equality. Equal treatment of property is at the heart of the liberal state and is the promise of American property law.

This Essay challenges that bedrock idea. …

Buka Siape Sambehin Injin: Komentar Atas Putusan Tentang Izin Lingkungan Pltu Celukan Bawang, Andri Gunawan Wibisana, Fajri Fadhillah

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

This paper examines administrative court’s view in the Izin Lingkungan PLTU Celukan Bawang case. The paper puts emphasis on the use of actual losses to assess the plaintiffs’ legal standing and the deadline for filing a lawsuit. This paper considers that the court was incorrect in interpreting the legal standing by focusing on the absence of plaintiffs’ actual losses. The court also took a conservative position in determining the deadline for filing the lawsuit. This paper criticizes the court’s failure to take into account the issue of climate change addressed by the plaintiffs, so that the court missed a golden …

Delegating Climate Authorities, Mark P. Nevitt

Faculty Articles

The science is clear: the United States and the world must take dramatic action to address climate change or face irreversible, catastrophic planetary harm. Within the U.S.—the world’s largest historic emitter of greenhouse gas emissions—this will require passing new legislation or turning to existing statutes and authorities to address the climate crisis. Doing so implicates existing and prospective delegations of legislative authority to a large swath of administrative agencies. Yet congressional climate decision-making delegations to any executive branch agency must not dismiss the newly resurgent nondelegation doctrine. Described by some scholars as the “most dangerous idea in American law,” the …

Significant Impacts Under Nepa: The Social Cost Of Greenhouse Gases As A Tool To Mitigate Climate Change, Sydney Hofferth

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

The increased severity of the impacts of climate change demand a re-evaluation of the legal tools that could combat it. The National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) was passed to force government agencies to account for the environmental impacts of their actions. However, as it exists today, NEPA fails to require agencies to consider how their actions will mitigate or exacerbate climate change. This Note argues that agencies should be required to consider the social cost of the greenhouse gases associated with potential major actions at various stages of NEPA analysis. This change would result in increased transparency and public engagement …