Law Commons^™

Climate Change Under Nepa: Avoiding Cursory Consideration Of Greenhouse Gases, Amy L. Stein

Amy L. Stein

Neither the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) nor its implementing regulations require consideration of climate change in NEPA documentation. Yet an ever-growing body of NEPA case law related to climate change is making it increasingly difficult for a federal agency to avoid discussing the impacts of those emissions under NEPA in its Environmental Impact Statements (“EISs”). Although consideration of climate change in NEPA documents sounds right in theory, within the current legal framework, the NEPA documents provide only lip service to the goals of NEPA without any meaningful consideration of climate change. An empirical evaluation of two years of selected …

Environmental Protection Agency V. Eme Homer City Generation L.P., Lindsey M. West

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The U.S. Supreme Court determined the Environmental Protection Agency properly interpreted the “Good Neighbor Provision” of the Clean Air Act in adopting the Transport Rule. The Court found, contrary to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decision to vacate the rule entirely, the EPA did not act arbitrarily and capriciously by integrating a cost-effective allocation of emission reductions or by disallowing states a second opportunity to file a State Implementation Plan before promulgating a Federal Implementation Plan.

Presidential Power To Address Climate Change In An Era Of Legislative Gridlock, Robert V. Percival

Robert Percival

No abstract provided.

Environmental Law, Eleventh Circuit Survey, Travis M. Trimble

Scholarly Works

In 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit rejected a challenge to the Navy's Undersea Warfare Training Range (Range) off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, based on potential impacts the Range could have to the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale and other endangered species. The court held that the Navy and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) had met their obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA as amended and the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA as amended thus far in the project.' The court also decided two cases under the Clean …

Slides: Details Of The Regulatory Framework: Air Quality Regulation Of Oil And Gas Development, Olivia D. Lucas

Water and Air Quality Issues in Oil and Gas Development: The Evolving Framework of Regulation and Management (Martz Summer Conference, June 5-6)

Presenter: Olivia D. Lucas, Esq., Counsel, Faegre Baker Daniels

22 slides

Controlling Power Plants: The Co-Pollutant Implications Of Epa's Clean Air Act § 111(D) Options For Greenhouse Gases, Alice Kaswan

Alice Kaswan

Existing power plants are the nation’s largest single source of carbon emissions. In the absence of comprehensive federal climate change, EPA is forging ahead with power plant controls through § 111(d) of the Clean Air Act. This article focuses on one critical consideration: the ancillary impacts of carbon controls on associated co-pollutants, like sulfur oxides, particulates, nitrogen oxides, and mercury. The article focuses on an array of regulatory options, including both “inside-the-fence” reductions at power plants and “outside-the-fence” measures that reduce power sector emissions, like renewable energy and consumer energy efficiency. The article then evaluates the co-pollutant consequences of several …

Regulation Of Greenhouse Gases And Other Air Pollutants In The First Obama Administration And Major Air Issues For The Second Term, Patricia Mccubbin

Patricia Ross McCubbin

President Barack Obama has made addressing climate change the centerpiece of his environmental policy. Most recently, on June 25, 2013, the President gave a groundbreaking speech detailing the steps his administration will take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions throughout the United States. Of great controversy, the President directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to limit emissions of greenhouse gases from both new and existing power plants, which represent 40% of total U.S. carbon emissions. The President’s call to action – in his June 2013 speech and throughout his first term – stands in stark contrast to Congress’s inability to …

Frostpaw Addresses Global Warming, William Snape

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

INTRODUCTION: Climate change impacts the law on many levels and in many ways. This Article asks a threshold question: what legal structures will most effectively reduce growing levels of anthropogenic greenhouse pollution? The answer is that an existing U.S. statute-the Clean Air Act-not only possesses clear commands to ratchet down greenhouse pollutants domestically, but also provides explicit authority to negotiate concomitant air pollution reduction with countries around the planet in a fair, transparent, and reciprocal fashion. Further, application of the Clean Air Act is consistent with other legal and policy tools to address global warming. This statute-based solution, while facially …

Avoiding The Catch-22: Reforming The Renewable Fuel Standard To Protect Freshwater Resources And Promote Energy Independence, Leah Stiegler

Law Student Publications

Part I presents background on the ethanol industry and the implementation and development of the RFS. It also gives a brief overview of the non-water-related reasons that have led various sectors of the economy to oppose ethanol. Part II provides an overview of ethanol production (from cornfield to refinery) and the impact each stage of the process has on freshwater resources in the United States. Given the harm that the current RFS has caused by failing to consider the impact of the ethanol production process on our nation's freshwater resources, a policy change needs to happen. Yet there are some …

A Step By Step Look At Uarg V. Epa: A New Layer Of Greenhouse Gas Regulation, Kevin O. Leske

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Presidential Power To Address Climate Change In An Era Of Legislative Gridlock, Robert V. Percival

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.