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Full-Text Articles in Law
Scientists & Librarians Turn To “End Of Presidential Term” Web Archive To Safeguard Climate Change Data, Alyssa S. Rosen
Scientists & Librarians Turn To “End Of Presidential Term” Web Archive To Safeguard Climate Change Data, Alyssa S. Rosen
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
In anticipation of president-elect Donald Trump’s taking office, scientists have been working round the clock to safeguard federal government climate change data. Many academics and librarians share the concern that federal .gov climate data and information, for example from the EPA and NOAA websites, will be lost or become unavailable with the transition to the new administration. Fact is, a large percentage of information on federal government servers, including digital federal records, reports, and research, is not protected by any law or agency mandate, and can vanish within days of the arrival of a new president.
The Lautenberg Act: Chemical Safety Overhaul Of The Toxic Substances Control Act, Alyssa S. Rosen
The Lautenberg Act: Chemical Safety Overhaul Of The Toxic Substances Control Act, Alyssa S. Rosen
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
On June 22, 2016, President Obama signed the Frank Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (Lautenberg Act), a landmark bipartisan compromise legislation designed to overhaul the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The Lautenberg Act makes it easier for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate toxic substances while providing the chemical industry with regulatory clarity and certainty. Law Librarians, practicing lawyers, and academics have taken note of this groundbreaking law that most likely will set the template for the next generation of environmental reform by tackling issues such as preemption of state law, protection of vulnerable populations, …
Plain Meaning, Precedent, And Metaphysics: Lessons In Statutory Interpretation From Analyzing The Elements Of The Clean Water Act Offense, Jeffrey G. Miller
Plain Meaning, Precedent, And Metaphysics: Lessons In Statutory Interpretation From Analyzing The Elements Of The Clean Water Act Offense, Jeffrey G. Miller
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This Article, the fifth in a series of five, completes the author’s detailed analysis of how federal courts have interpreted each element of the Clean Water Act (CWA) offense. Compiling statistics across the four prior articles, it draws conclusions about statutory interpretation in general, finding that the depth of legal analysis increases with the level of court; that environmentally positive results decrease with the level of court; that courts use only a small number of canons and other interpretive devices; that their uses of interpretive devices change over time; and that interpretive devices are not all outcome-neutral. The author also …
Plain Meaning, Precedent, And Metaphysics: Interpreting The “Point Source” Element Of The Clean Water Act Offense, Jeffrey G. Miller
Plain Meaning, Precedent, And Metaphysics: Interpreting The “Point Source” Element Of The Clean Water Act Offense, Jeffrey G. Miller
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This Article, the fourth in a series of five, examines the continuing struggles to define “point source” and “nonpoint source” under the Clean Water Act. State regulation of nonpoint sources is neither pervasive nor robust, and most continuing water pollution problems can be traced primarily to nonpoint sources. EPA should define nonpoint sources by regulation and begin to expand the definition of point source by incorporating established case law and Agency practice to bring more nonpoint sources into the point source definition.
Plain Meaning, Precedent, And Metaphysics: Interpreting The “Navigable Waters” Element Of The Federal Water Pollution Offense, Jeffrey G. Miller
Plain Meaning, Precedent, And Metaphysics: Interpreting The “Navigable Waters” Element Of The Federal Water Pollution Offense, Jeffrey G. Miller
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This Article, the third in a series of five, examines the meaning of “navigable waters” under the Clean Water Act. It traces the traditional judicial interpretation of navigable waters and how Congress and EPA attempted to extend its meaning, then examines how the term has been applied in the context of tributaries and wetlands, isolated waters, groundwater, and EPA’s unitary theory of navigable waters. The author then analyzes EPA and the Corps’ 2014 proposed amendments to the definition of “waters of the United States,” and concludes that those amendments may resolve much of the interpretive crisis.
A Primer: Air And Water Environmental Quality Standards In The United States, Jason J. Czarnezki
A Primer: Air And Water Environmental Quality Standards In The United States, Jason J. Czarnezki
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This article, designed as a resource for environmental law professors both domestically and abroad, addresses how environmental quality standards are created, implemented, and enforced in the United States. The answers to these questions are useful to those teaching U.S. environmental law and international scholars, especially in the European Union, who are faced with the challenge of creating new environmental quality standards under both national and EU directives. It must be noted that this project is complicated by the federal system within the country, and, thus, attention must be devoted to the federal-state relationship. In fact, the major relevant statutes, the …
Lessons From A Lawyer’S Life, Leslie Carothers
Lessons From A Lawyer’S Life, Leslie Carothers
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
The author, scholar-in-residence at Pace Law School, received the 2013 ABA Award for Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law and Policy. A pioneer in the early years of environmental protection, she expands in this space on her remarks in accepting the honor, drawing insights for today’s environmental professionals.
Plain Meaning, Precedent, And Metaphysics: Interpreting The “Pollutant” Element Of The Federal Water Pollution Offense, Jeffrey G. Miller
Plain Meaning, Precedent, And Metaphysics: Interpreting The “Pollutant” Element Of The Federal Water Pollution Offense, Jeffrey G. Miller
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This Article, the second in a series of five, examines the meaning of “pollutant” under the Clean Water Act. Congress and EPA have defined “pollutant” to mean a list of specific substances and broad categories of materials and wastes discharged into water, e.g., “biological materials” and “chemical wastes.” The definition is broad enough to encompass virtually all substances associated with human activity that are discharged to water, regardless of whether the substances cause pollution or are produced through human endeavor. Therefore, “pollutant” is rarely a limiting element. Instead, the issues with the definition of “pollutant” primarily address whether it includes …
Plain Meaning, Precedent, And Metaphysics: Interpreting The “Addition” Element Of The Clean Water Act Offense, Jeffrey G. Miller
Plain Meaning, Precedent, And Metaphysics: Interpreting The “Addition” Element Of The Clean Water Act Offense, Jeffrey G. Miller
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
The Clean Water Act (CWA) prohibits addition of any pollutant to navigable waters from any point source by any person without a permit. Surprisingly, the first element of this prohibition, “addition,” remains undefined. It has been interpreted broadly by regulators and judges to expand the prohibition to such an extent that it threatens to capture innocent people. EPA in particular has confused “addition” with “navigable waters” to such an extent that it threatens to eviscerate half of the CWA’s regulatory strategies and programs: water quality standards and the § 404 program protecting wetlands. This Article examines the interpretation of “addition” …
A "Blunt Withdrawal"? Bars On Citizen Suits For Toxic Site Cleanup, Margot J. Pollans
A "Blunt Withdrawal"? Bars On Citizen Suits For Toxic Site Cleanup, Margot J. Pollans
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
Throughout the history of federal statutory environmental law, citizen suits have played a key role in enforcement. Through statutory interpretation, however, courts have narrowed the circumstances under which citizens can sue. This Article explores one such restraint: Courts have severely limited citizen suits under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”) by reading very broadly a jurisdiction-stripping provision of RCRA's companion statute, the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (“CERCLA”). This Article argues that courts have read that provision too broadly, not only violating traditional principles for resolving inter-statutory conflict but also undermining the purposes of both statutes by …
Theme And Variations In Statutory Preclusions Against Successive Environmental Enforcement Actions By Epa And Citizens, Part Two: Statutory Preclusions On Epa Enforcement, Jeffrey G. Miller
Theme And Variations In Statutory Preclusions Against Successive Environmental Enforcement Actions By Epa And Citizens, Part Two: Statutory Preclusions On Epa Enforcement, Jeffrey G. Miller
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This is the second half of a two-part Article focusing on preclusions against successive enforcement of the environmental statutes. Part One of the Article, printed in Volume 28 of this Journal, examined preclusions against citizen suits and argued that because of the theme-and-variations nature of the preclusion language, that language should be read in accordance with its plain meaning. Part Two, published in this issue, studies the restrictions on enforcement actions by the EPA and reaches the same conclusion.
Theme And Variations In Statutory Preclusions Against Successive Environmental Enforcement Actions By Epa And Citizens, Part One: Statutory Bars In Citizen Suit Provisions, Jeffrey G. Miller
Theme And Variations In Statutory Preclusions Against Successive Environmental Enforcement Actions By Epa And Citizens, Part One: Statutory Bars In Citizen Suit Provisions, Jeffrey G. Miller
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This two-part Article examines the preclusion device, its legislative history, and the decisions interpreting it. Part One examines the device in citizen suit provisions. Part Two, to be published subsequently, will examine the device in EPA enforcement provisions. The two parts develop a unified interpretation of the device in both sets of enforcement provisions to resolve the tension between achieving compliance and protecting prosecutorial discretion. The Article concludes that Congress meant exactly what it wrote and enacted: the device solely precludes the successive enforcement it actually addresses. Several of the most common canons of statutory interpretation lead inexorably to this …
Strengthening Of The Resource Conservation And Recovery Act In 1984: The Original Loopholes, The Amendments, And The Political Factors Behind Their Passage, Richard L. Ottinger
Strengthening Of The Resource Conservation And Recovery Act In 1984: The Original Loopholes, The Amendments, And The Political Factors Behind Their Passage, Richard L. Ottinger
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This commentary discusses the nature of the legal loopholes that existed in the original RCRA statute, and highlights several of the provisions of the 1984 RCRA amendments that serve to either rectify or ameliorate the prior deficiencies. It also examines the political factors that affected the passage of the 1984 amendments, enabling them to pass during a period of anti-regulatory emphasis.