Admiralty Commons^™

Monitoring Sanctions Compliance At Sea, Richard L. Kilpatrick Jr.

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

No abstract provided.

Navigating The Structural Coherence Of Sea Life, Aldo Chircop, Philip Steinberg, Greta Ferloni, Claudio Aporta, Gavin Bridge, Kate Coddington, Stuart Elden, Stephanie C. Kane, Timo Koivurova, Jessica Shadian, Anna Stammler-Gossmann

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Ice breaking by ships can cause irreparable harm to the ecologies and cultures of northern regions. This chapter revolves around a central question: what are the barriers preventing the development of a legal mechanism to limit this act of environmental violence? The chapter suggests that the central barrier is not so much legal as it is ontological: foundational conceptions of space that underpin Western legal institutions are unable to value the form of water, reducing it instead to an ed space that is used for movement or resource extraction. This chapter demonstrates how a consideration of the environmental violence of …

Maritime Transportation: Let's Slow Down A Bit, Maxime Sèbe, Pierre Scemama, Anne Choquet, Jean-Luc Jung, Aldo Chircop, Phénia Marras-Aït Razouk, Sylvain Michel, Valérie Stiger-Pouvreau, Laura Recuero-Virto

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Maritime transportation is a major contributor to the world economy, but has significant social and environmental impacts. Each impact calls for different technical or operational solutions. Amongst these solutions, we found that speed reduction measures appear to mitigate several issues: (1) collision with wildlife; (2) collision with non-living objects; (3) underwater noise; (4) invasive species; and (5) gas emission. We do not pretend that speed reduction is the best solution for each individual issue mentioned in this paper, but we argue that it could be a key solution to significantly reduce these threats all together. Further interdisciplinary research is required …

How Icebreaking Governance Interacts With Inuit Rights And Livelihoods In Nunavut: A Policy Review, Breanna Bishop, Jade Owen, Lisette Wilson, Tagalik Eccles, Aldo Chircop, Lucia Fanning

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Sea ice is a contested space when it comes to navigation in ice-covered regions. For Inuit in Nunavut, Canada, sea ice is an integral platform of coastal connectivity, allowing access to areas of subsistence and cultural value. For vessels transiting Arctic waters, sea ice poses potential risks to vessel, crew, and passenger safety consequently, icebreaking is considered an essential service. Yet, many communities in Nunavut have described icebreaking as having, or potentially having significant negative impacts on community and ecological wellbeing. Several policies regulate and provide guidance to icebreakers operating in ice-covered waters. With anticipated increases to icebreaking demand in …

Undersea Cables: The Ultimate Geopolitical Chokepoint, Bert Chapman

FORCES Initiative: Strategy, Security, and Social Systems

This work provides historical and contemporary overviews of this critical geopolitical problem, describes the policy actors addressing this in the U.S. and selected other countries, and provides maps and information on many undersea cable work routes. These cables are chokepoints with one dictionary defining chokepoints as “a strategic narrow route providing passage through or to another region."

Apocalypse Ahoy: How The Cruise Industry Boom Is Harming The World’S Oceans And Problems With Enforcing Environmental Regulations, Nicholas J. Sarnelli

Brooklyn Law Review

The global cruise line industry enjoyed an incredible surge in popularity before the coronavirus pandemic. While the industry nearly sank in the wake of the pandemic, cruise lines are poised to continue to enjoy record-breaking profits while continuing to build larger and more opulent ships. This boom exacts a heavy toll on the environment, as cruise ships burn dirty fuel and dump dirty water into the world’s oceans. The current international legal framework for regulating the world’s shipping industry allows companies to effectively select which nation’s environmental laws to submit to, with ships flying under so-called “flags of convenience”. While …

Gulf Of Guinea And Maritime (In)Security: Musings On Some Implications Of Applicable Legal Instruments, Edwin E. Egede

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

The Gulf of Guinea (GoG) is an enormous and diverse region consisting of approximately 6,000 km of coastline extending from Senegal to Angola. It is a maritime area of strategic importance because it is resource-rich with hydrocarbons, fish and other resources. Also, it is important as a vital maritime transit hub. Unlike certain other shipping lanes that have been identified as chokepoints, the GoG, because of its width, is not susceptible to blockades and major shipping accidents. Previously the maritime (in)security in the GoG had not received the same high-profile attention from the international community as the situation in the …

Law School News: Rwu Law Acquires Top Marine Law Journal 08-19-2021, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Climate Change, Competition & Conflict Along The River Nile: The Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam & Shifting Customary International Water Law, Salma Shitia

Fordham Environmental Law Review

Decade-long negotiations between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia surround the decision to build the hydroelectric power plant along the River Nile. For much of Ethiopia, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam represents a beacon of prosperity. For countless Egyptians, the structure embodies a potential catastrophe. Grounded in threats of displacement for Egyptian agricultural communities, some have compared the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam crisis to disasters culminating in mass migration.

This battle for natural resource access has intensified as climate change exacerbates the region’s dire conditions. Specifically, exhaustible resource allocation amid climate change indicates that …

A Paper Tiger? Prosecutorial Regulators In China’S Civil Environmental Public Interest Litigations, Chunyan Ding, Huina Xiao

Fordham Environmental Law Review

In July 2015, China’s national legislature brought in prosecutor-led civil environmental public interest litigation (“EPIL”) for thirteen selected provincial areas of the country. After a two-year legal experiment, this prosecutor-led civil EPIL system was then established nationwide in July 2017. Yet, can it be said that prosecutorial regulators in China are in fact a paper tiger? Drawing upon content analysis of the 655 prosecutor-led civil EPILs and in-depth interviews with twelve frontline prosecutors and judges, this article examines the dynamics of regulatory practice and the motivation of the Chinese prosecutorial organs to engage in environmental regulation through litigation. Based upon …

The Yoga Analogy: Scaling-Up The U.S.’S Renewable Energy Sector Mindfully With New Technologies, Evolving Standards, Public Buy-In, Data Sharing, And Innovation Clusters, Kimberly E. Diamond

Fordham Environmental Law Review

This paper focuses on innovative renewable energy devices, exploring how scientifically-based industry standards that continuously evolve with engineering design technology, the public’s buy-in and feeling of connectedness with groundbreaking devices, and innovation clusters that accelerate device development through data sharing and public-private partnerships can all help advance the U.S.’s domestic renewable energy industry.

Part I analyzes challenges inherent to scaling- up novel renewable energy technologies while simultaneously developing the industry standards regulating them. Part II uses the Block Island Wind Farm, an offshore wind demonstration project, and Pavegen’s globally-deployed arrays of piezoelectric smart flooring tiles as examples illustrating the importance …

Environmental Racism: Using Environmental Planning To Lift People Out Of Poverty, And Re-Shape The Effects Of Climate Change & Pollution In Communities Of Color,, William C.C. Kemp-Neal

Fordham Environmental Law Review

In the mid-1900s the United States began to see a rise in concern for environmental awareness issues. In the early days the movement focused on things like clean air, water and pollution but by the 1970s-1990s many prominent environmental awareness groups began to form focused on the idea that in order to avert climate change the principal goal needed to be to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. In 1987 a report was released called Toxic Waste and Race, which outlined an intimate link between the placement of environmental hazardous waste sites in communities of color, and greater instances of polluted …

Beyond Equity: Shared Natural Resources And Human Rights, Criminal Law, And The Use Of Force, Eian Katz

Fordham Environmental Law Review

Transboundary resource disputes are often analyzed by reference to two nebulous and conflicting principles that have emerged in international environmental law: “equitable and reasonable utilization” and “no significant harm.” Frequently overlooked in this context is the potential value of other canons of international law—especially human rights law, criminal law, and the rules governing the use of force—in adding definition to the muddled contours of these foundational precepts. This Article therefore undertakes an assessment of sovereign rights and obligations regarding shared natural resources which arise from these other bodies of law. In doing so, it offers new lenses through which to …

Squaring The Cercla: Superfund And The Superfund Task Force, Manny Marcos

Fordham Environmental Law Review

The Superfund Task Force recently released its final report on the implementation of its recommendations for improving the Superfund program. The Task Force was given five goals for improving the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (“CERCLA’s”), implementation. These goals are to expedite cleanup and remediation, re-invigorate responsible party cleanup and reuse, encourage foreign investment, promote redevelopment and community revitalization, and engage with partners and stakeholders. While the Task Force’s recommendations have improved CERCLA’s implementation, many of CERCLA’s structural flaws remain intact. Specifically, CERCLA still has a severe shortage of funding, an unfair liability scheme, perverse incentives, …

Drilling For Admiralty: The Ocsla As A Bar To Maritime Law In Ocs Drilling Accidents, Christopher W. Sanborn

William & Mary Business Law Review

Maritime law is ultimately driven by commerce. The seas were—and continue to be—one of the easiest ways to transfer goods over large distances. Yet maritime commerce has a relative newcomer that is not shipping or transportation focused—offshore drilling. Should admiralty and maritime law, intended to protect seamen and keep ships engaged in maritime commerce apply to personal injury claims on drilling rigs on the Outer Continental Shelf? This Note argues that they should not apply for two reasons. In Lozman v. Riviera Beach, the Supreme Court announced that a “vessel” should appear to the reasonable observer as intended to carry …

The Error Of The Paquete Habana: U.S. Naval Forces In The Safe Harbor Of Commander-In-Chief Discretion And The Law Of War, T. Nelson Collier

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming.

Covid-19 Impacts: How A Global Pandemic Amid The Sunsets Of The Ptc And Itc Made The U.S. Wind And Solar Industries More Resilient, Kimberly E. Diamond

Fordham Environmental Law Review

A cataclysmic event is sometimes the necessary catalyst for companies within certain industries to re- examine, radically shift, and replace their standard practices with technologically-advanced alternatives. In the United States, the occurrence of the Coronavirus pandemic (“COVID-19”) during the sunsets of the Production Tax Credit (“PTC”) and the Investment Tax Credit (“ITC”) created a unique confluence of factors that produced a perfect storm tantamount to such a cataclysmic event for companies in the wind and solar industries, particularly developers. Over the years, the domestic utility-scale wind industry has come to rely heavily upon the PTC, while the domestic utility- scale …

Illegal Discharge: Exploring The History Of The Criminal Enforcement Of The U.S. Clean Water Act, Dr. Joshua Ozymy, Dr. Melisssa L. Jarrell

Fordham Environmental Law Review

The criminal prosecution of defendants that violate federal clean water laws has been ongoing for roughly four decades. Yet, we continue to have a poor understanding of how federal prosecutors use the U.S. Clean Water Act (“CWA”) to charge and prosecute criminals and the outcomes of those prosecutions. We use content analysis to analyze 2,588 federal criminal prosecution case summaries, 1983-2019, to gain a better historical understanding of how the CWA has been used as a prosecutorial tool, to bring out the major themes in the prosecutions, and quantify sentencing outcomes. Findings from the 828 CWA prosecutions undertaken during this …

Red Tide: A Blooming Concern For Florida Manatees, Shannon Price Esq.

Fordham Environmental Law Review

Although red tides are a common and natural occurrence around the coast of Florida, within the last few decades they have intensified and become much more deadly. Several identifiable human-caused factors exacerbate the size, concentration, and duration of the harmful algae bloom and disturb the environment’s natural balance. The Florida Gulf Coast provides all the algae’s necessary requirements for survival, the perfect storm to create a resilient super bloom that annihilates its host ecosystem.

This article explains the plight of Florida manatees who, like other marine animals and plants, are being injured or killed by this algae crisis. It also …

The Use Of Regular Militaries For Natural Disasters After A Major Event Where The Military Was Seen As A Failure - The Somalia Effect In The Age Of Black Lives Matters And Covid-19, Donald D.A. Schaefer

Fordham Environmental Law Review

This is written as a continuation of Dr. Schaefer’s recent article entitled, “The Use of the Regular Militaries for Natural Disaster Assistance: Climate Change and the Increasing Need for Changes to the Laws in the United States, China, Japan, the Philippines, and Other Countries.” 2 Perhaps few other areas have affected so many people than the Covid-19 pandemic. Coupled with this has been the struggle over the use of force by the military and police in the age of “black lives matters” and the movements that have been transpired as a result. With the increased global warming likely to continue …

"Eco" Your Own Way: An Argument For State-Specific Climate Change Legislation, Amanda Voeller

Fordham Environmental Law Review

The consequences of climate change seriously and immediately threaten the American way of life, but proposed federal legislation like the Green New Deal is overly broad, unrealistic, and inefficient. The most effective way for the United States to combat climate change is not with a one-size-fits-all plan like the Green New Deal, but with federal legislation that incentivizes states and cities to enact and enforce individualized, local climate legislation. Different states and cities have different climates, available energy sources, and transportation needs, so the federal government should use financial incentives to encourage states and cities to pass tailor-made bills and …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

International Working Group On Polar Shipping: Report To The Executive Council And Assembly Of The Comité Maritime International, Aldo Chircop

Reports & Public Policy Documents

This report covers the reporting period from 1 November 2020 to 31 May 2021. The IWG Chair acknowledges updates provided by the subgroup chairs. The IWG continues to operate through three subgroups, namely on Antarctic Shipping (chaired by David Baker), COLREGS in Polar Environments (chaired by Stefanie Johnston) and Cruise Passengers’ Rights (chaired by Lars Rosenberg Overby). While progress has been made, unfortunately the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect aspects of the IWG’s work.

Regaining Control Over The Climate Change Narrative: How To Stop Right-Wing Populism From Eroding Rule Of Law In The Climate Struggle In India, Binit Agrawal

Fordham Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Innovative Regulatory And Financial Parameters For Advancing Carbon Capture And Storage Technologies, Zen Makuch, Slavina Georgieva & Behdeen Oraee-Mirzamani

Fordham Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Textiles As A Source Of Microfiber Pollution And Potential Solutions, Lea M. Elston

Fordham Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Lessons From Renewable Energy Diffusion For Carbon Dioxide Removal Development, Anthony E. Chavez

Fordham Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

In Memory Of Professor James E. Bond, Janet Ainsworth

Seattle University Law Review

Janet Ainsworth, Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law: In Memory of Professor James E. Bond.

Introduction, Aldo Chircop, Floris Goerlandt, Claudio Aporta, Ronald Pelot

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This chapter introduces a multidisciplinary collection of chapters addressing various aspects of governance of Arctic shipping written by leading international scholars. It investigates how ocean changes and anthropogenic impacts affect our understanding of risk, policy, management and regulation for safe navigation, environment protection, conflict management between ocean uses, and protection of Indigenous peoples’ interests in Canadian Arctic waters. The book is divided in three parts, together providing a multi-faceted and interdisciplinary view on governance of Arctic shipping. The first part addresses conceptual and empirical aspects of risk governance, management, and assessment in the Canadian Arctic. The second part focuses on …