Environmental Law Commons^™

The Taking Of America?, Stefanie Sovak

Pace Law Review

No abstract provided.

Zoning, Transportation, And Climate Change, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

On February 2, 2006, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) expressed the consensus of the scientific community that global warming is unequivocal and that its main driver is human activity. On April 7, 2007, the IPCC issued a second report detailing the likely consequences of climate change: widening droughts, more severe storm events, increased inland flooding, sea level rise, and consequent inundation of low lying lands. The Center for Climate Systems Research at Columbia University estimates that sea levels around New York City’s boroughs will increase by five inches by 2030, with some estimates predicting up to 12 inches …

Climate Change As A Global Challenge, Nicholas A. Robinson

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Best Brief For Appellee (Epa): Nineteenth Annual Pace National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition, Lauren S. Christopher, Andrew F. Lopez

Pace Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Best Brief For Appellant (Province & Village): Nineteenth Annual Pace National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition, Bryce Baker, Corinne Fratini, Jeremy Syz

Pace Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

David Sive Award For Best Brief Overall: Brief For Appellees (The Companies): Nineteenth Annual Pace National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition, Katherine Gale, Nick Rogers

Pace Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

2007 Judges' Edition Bench Memorandum: Nineteenth Annual Pace National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition, Mackenzie Schoonmaker, James Simpson

Pace Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Green Light For Green Infrastructure, Alexandra Dapolito Dunn

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Warning To States — Accepting This Invitation May Be Hazardous To Your Health (Safety, And Public Welfare): An Analysis Of Post-Kelo, Joshua Ulan Galperin

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Focusing on Delaware, this article will argue that the United States Supreme Court's decision in Kelo v. New London gave state legislatures an open invitation to shape their public use frameworks, but their responses must be measured and well-reasoned because the consequences of reactionary legislation may put a stranglehold on state and local governments trying to exercise eminent domain for unanimously accepted public uses. Part I will trace the most pertinent federal jurisprudence through Kelo. Part II will survey Delaware’s public use jurisprudence. Part III will introduce the Delaware General Assembly’s legislative response to Kelo. Part IV will serve as …

"Forever Wild": New York's Constitutional Mandates To Enhance The Forest Preserve, Nicholas A. Robinson

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Professor Robinson explores some of the evident, and also some of the less apparent legal implications that can be drawn from recognizing the implicit “land ethic” that resides within the “forever wild” conception of the Forest Preserve in New York’s Constitution. It is his thesis that the executive branch of State government, our Governors and most of our other State and local authorities, have observed the mandates of Article XIV most shallowly. They have ignored their stewardship duties to promote “forever wild forest lands.” Civic groups, and courts should not only concern themselves with the task of keeping government from …

Keynote Address: We Must Take America Back, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

I want to talk about what is happening in the United States, and the connection between the environment and democracy, and the corrosive impact of excessive corporate power and the impact to democracy everywhere. But particularly I want to focus on American democracy.

Climate Change, Zoning And Transportation Planning: Urbanization As A Response To Carbon Loading, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article explores the relationship among zoning, transportation planning, and climate change. It discusses the relationship between land use densities and transportation choices, reviews the trend toward transit oriented development in higher density communities and transportation efficient development in lower density areas, presents several case studies where land use and transportation planning are beginning to intersect, and ends with a strategic approach for communities to consider.

Real Estate Law Review: Creating A Local Environmental Law Program, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Local governments are adopting with increasing frequency local laws to facilitate low-impact development, ensure the construction of green buildings, and coordinate land use and transportation planning to lower greenhouse gas emissions. This builds on their progress over the past two decades in adopting an impressive number of local laws to protect natural resources. These include ordinances designed to protect trees, stands of timber, hillsides, viewsheds, ridgelines, stream beds, wetlands, watersheds, aquifers and water bodies, and wildlife habitat. At the same time, provisions designed to protect environmental features from the adverse impacts of development have been added to basic land use …

Disaster Mitigation Through Land Use Strategies, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The persistent question this book raises is who should decide whether and how to mitigate the damages caused by natural disasters. Our understandable preoccupation with response, recovery, and rebuilding makes it hard to focus on this question as a central, even relevant, one. But it persists, nonetheless. The high-profile “blame game” played following Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of the Gulf Coast is emblematic. In pointing fingers first at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), then at the city of New Orleans, and then at the state of Louisiana, public officials exhibited an appalling lack of understanding of the roles that each …

Advancing The Rebirth Of Environmental Common Law, Jason J. Czarnezki

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Federal law often fails to mitigate environmental harm. An alternative litigation response when federal avenues prove ineffective is reliance on state common law doctrines, especially public and private nuisance. A rebirth of the common law is occurring. This Article provides examples of the rebirth of environmental common law and suggests how common law claims and remedies in the environmental context can mitigate environmental harm.

Environmentalism And The Wisconsin Constitution, Jason J. Czarnezki

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

With its abundance of natural resources and due to the state's strong environmental policies, Wisconsin has “enjoyed a reputation as a state rich in natural beauty and recreational opportunities.” Yet, despite the state's strong environmental protections, some based upon constitutional principles, this Article addresses whether Wisconsin's environmental constitutional provisions can be improved upon. This Article attempts to evaluate the existing environmental provisions in the Wisconsin Constitution, and considers, looking at a variety of options and sources, whether the state should proceed forward with any changes, minor or major, to environmental law in the Wisconsin Constitution. This Article considers expansion of …

Multilateral Climate Change Mitigation, Elizabeth Burleson

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Regulating Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems, Alexandra Dapolito Dunn

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Sustainable Energy Law In Latin America, Victor M. Tafur

Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation addresses legal issues at the intersection of energy and environmental law in Latin America. It is intended for legal and non–legal researchers, scholars and decision-makers in the Latin American region and worldwide, as a contribution to understanding the complexities and particularities involved at the nexus of energy and environmental law in the Latin American context. To achieve these goals, the study analyses the legal principles behind energy and environmental regulation in the region, compares specific energy and environmental laws in various countries of Latin America, and advances several theses as a result of the analysis.

David Sive Award For Best Brief Overall: Eighteenth Annual Pace National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition, Patrick Muench, Matthew Mcdonald, Dionne Padilla

Pace Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

2006 Judges' Edition Bench Memorandum: Eighteenth Annual Pace National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition, Erin Flanagan

Pace Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Best Brief For Appellee: Eighteenth Annual Pace National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition, Amanda Edge-Gougeon, Michael Bentley

Pace Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Best Brief For Intervenor: Eighteenth Annual Pace National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition, Bryce Baker, Justin Garratt, Mari Lane

Pace Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Shifting Science, Considered Costs, And Static Statutes: The Interpretation Of Expansive Environmental Legislation, Jason J. Czarnezki

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Congress often passes expansive legislation, frequently environmental and public health regulatory statutes, where both the definition of those items being regulated and the mandate have significant breadth. How should these provisions be construed? While it is difficult to establish a model which determines whether to broadly or narrowly construe an expansive statutory provision, factors that impact this choice include the existence of express limitations on the mandate, understandings of congressional intent, the need to avoid regulation that might do more harm than good, the nature of the regulated item, and intervening circumstances such as new understandings in law, policy, or …

Revisiting The Tense Relationship Between The U.S. Supreme Court, Administrative Procedure, And The National Environmental Policy Act, Jason J. Czarnezki

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article addresses the possibility, under the prevailing understanding of NEPA, that an agency might draft a comprehensive report containing information about potential environmental effects and alternate approaches to a proposed plan--and then wholly disregard all of this information in making its final decision. Although an agency may contend that it has “considered” the environmental consequences of alternative courses of action, what if these factors have no actual impact on its final decision? Hypothetically, an agency could simply “steamroll” toward its preferred decision, hurdling NEPA's procedural obstacles without genuinely considering potential environmental harms or the means to avoid them.

This …

Katrina's Lament: Reconstructing Federalism, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The subject of stormwater management raises threshold questions about the federal system. Is the regulation of stormwater runoff and the environmental pollution it causes within the federal government's legal jurisdiction? Is it a matter reserved to the states under the Tenth Amendment? Or is it a joint responsibility and, if so, precisely how is federal and state authority shared? How does the delegation of power by states to local governments to regulate the use of privately owned land affect the federal-state division of power? What limits should there be on local control of land uses that cause “nonpoint source” pollution, …

A Strategy For Developing Stationary Biodiesel Generation, Karl R. Rábago

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This paper discusses the drivers of change in the electricity system and the opportunities presented for biodiesel electric generation in this context. This paper also introduces the primary issues facing increased utilization of biodiesel—both those that challenge increased use of the fuel and those that support this use. Finally, the paper presents key elements of a strategy for realizing the potential of an electric generation infrastructure that incorporates more distributed biodiesel generation in the near term and even more distributed energy resources over the longer term.

Energy Efficiency: The Best Immediate Option For A Secure, Clean, Healthy Future, Richard L. Ottinger

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The imperatives for reducing the world’s dependence on fossil and nuclear fuels have multiplied manifold in recent years with the advent of worldwide terrorism. These new dangers come in addition to the imperatives of addressing the dire consequences of global warming and devastating pollution that accompany the use of these fossil fuels. Reducing dependence on these unsafe and unreliable energy resources should be a top global priority. Implementation of proven energy efficiency technologies offers the world the fastest, safest, most economic and most environmentally benign way to alleviate these threats. This article outlines available efficiency measures, their economic advantages and …

Crimes Against Nature, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

It is a pleasure for me to be here at St. Thomas and to see so many great legal heroes ensconced in this university, including the president and so many others. As I was signing some copies of my book Crimes Against Nature, it occurred to me that the word “environment” does not appear in the book. I thought I would talk about that today. To me, the environment is the most critical battle because it is the most critical issue in our democracy. Democracy, really all government, is about how we distribute the goods of the land. The best …

The Emergence Of Exacted Conservation Easements, Jessica Owley Lippmann

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.