Environmental Law Commons^™

Beyond Science And Hysteria: Reality And Perceptions Of Environmental Justice Concerns Surrounding Marcellus And Utica Shale Gas Development, Ann M. Eisenberg

Faculty Publications

The debate surrounding the use of hydraulic fracturing (also known as “fracking” or “HF”) to extract natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale deposits is often characterized as a tension between economic development and environmental risks. But frequently missing from this dichotomy is the fact that the concerns of many who oppose HF use extend beyond the purely “environmental,” and also include concerns about issues such as “the natural resource curse” and losing autonomy. These concerns ring of “environmental justice” rather than “environmentalism.” Environmental justice espouses the belief that no group should bear disproportionate environmental consequences resulting from industrial …

Restating Environmental Law, Irma S. Russell, Tracey Hester, Robert Percival, Victor Flatt, Joel Mintz

Faculty Law Review Articles

This article explores whether U.S. environmental law needs either a Restatement or other Project that would offer a comprehensive analysis, and it overviews possible reasons why the ALI has not previously undertaken such a Project.

Climate Change And International Peace And Security: Possible Roles For The U.N. Security Council In Addressing Climate Change, Dane Warren

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

This paper considers what actions the United Nations Security Council has taken with regard to climate change thus far, and what actions the Security Council could legally take going forward. To this point, the U.N. Security Council (“UNSC” or “Council”) has played a very minimal role in addressing climate change. The UNSC has held two debates on the relationship between climate change and security, first in 2007 and then in 2011, the latter producing a formal Presidential Statement on the topic.

The U.N. Charter and the literature suggest that the UNSC could theoretically take two possible actions related to climate …

Heat In Us Prisons And Jails: Corrections And The Challenge Of Climate Change, Daniel W.E. Holt

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

This paper addresses two important but largely neglected questions: How will increased temperatures and heat waves caused by climate change affect prisons, jails, and their staff and inmate populations? And what can correctional departments do to prepare for greater heat and minimize the dangers it poses?

An Analysis Of Senator Mcconnell's Letter Urging States Not To Comply With Epa's Clean Power Plan, Daniel Selmi

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

On numerous occasions Senator Mitchell McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, has attacked the upcoming Clean Power Plan regulations that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is scheduled to issue in June of this year. Most notably, on March 19, 2015, he sent a letter to the National Governors Association urging the governors of all fifty states not to prepare state plans in response to those regulations. In that letter he laid out what he termed his “serious legal and policy concerns” regarding the EPA proposal. The letter received wide publicity.

Daniel Selmi has written an essay analyzing legal statements made by …

States Should Think Twice Before Refusing Any Response To Epa's Clean Power Rules, Daniel Selmi

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

The date is approaching for EPA to finalize its rules for controlling carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants, and states are contemplating their responses to those rules. A number of commentators have recommended that states “just say no” to EPA and refuse to prepare state plans complying with the rules. Some states are considering bills and a few have enacted laws that would make it difficult for their state environmental agencies to prepare responses that EPA could accept. In turn, EPA has announced it will release a “federal implementation plan” (FIP) for states that fail to submit legally adequate …

Sustainability Reporting And New Governance: South Africa Marks The Path To Improved Corporate Disclosure, Ruth Jebe

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The past decade has seen a dramatic increase in corporate disclosure of environmental and social information in the form of sustainability reporting. This growth trajectory, coupled with dissatisfaction with current reporting schemes, has fueled debate over the future of sustainability reporting. The discussion consists primarily of criticism of existing reporting systems and is often polarized between proponents of continued voluntary reporting and proponents of increased mandatory reporting. Missing from the debate is a critical recognition: the shortcomings of existing reporting mechanisms reflect the public policy drawbacks of the processes that created them.

This Article addresses the question of how to …

Is The Bay Delta Conservation Plan Adequately Funded?, Vincent Vu

UC Law Environmental Journal

No abstract provided.

Isolated Wetland Commons And The Constitution, Blake Hudson, Michael Hardig

Journal Articles

Isolated wetlands provide great ecological and economic value to the United States. While some states provide protection for isolated wetlands, a great many do not. These wetlands are also left outside the ambit of federal wetland regulatory protections under the Clean Water Act, with its murky jurisdictional reach. Notwithstanding jurisdictional questions under current federal statutes, the U.S. Supreme Court has gone so far as to call into question the constitutionality of federal isolated wetland regulation. This Article makes a normative argument that, in the absence of state or local programs providing holistic isolated wetland protection, federal action is needed. The …

Women Talking About Water: Feminist Subjectivities And Intersectional Understandings, Leila M. Harris, Jyoti Phartiyal, Dayna Nadine Scott, Megan Peloso

Articles & Book Chapters

In this study based on discussions held by women's groups across Canada on water challenges and interests, we recognized that in the current context in Canada, women are truly connected with peoples, humans or any other form of life. They recognize that water is socially embedded, integrating issues of social, ecological and intergenerational justice in relation to complex changes in riparian landscapes. Clearly their talk is from a gender perspective, but we also found movement beyond gender that nuanced cross-sectoral understanding, critical links between gender, class and ethnicity are frequently mentioned.

Time For A Restatement, Irma S. Russell, Robert Percival, Tracey Hester, Victor Flatt, Joel Mintz

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

After a quarter century of statutory stagnation, the American Law Institute needs to address environmental laws, regulations, and judicial decisions to clarify and solidify the consensus to date and the need for evolution to address emerging threats.

Public Hazard, Personal Peril: The Impact Of Non-Governmental Organizations In The Environmental Justice Movement, Andrea Y. Simpson

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

This article argues that the local emphasis of what I call micromovements that form the larger Environmental Justice Movement could gain more traction from relationships with Non-Governmental Organizations. Such partnerships are emerging on a national level; however, since the localized movements communicate with, but are not partners with, national organizations such as the National Black Environmental Network, it is unclear how such partnerships add value to the activities of local groups. Moreover, some partnerships are forged for the organization of a specific event such as a conference or working group study Part II of this article discusses an overview of …

What’S Worse, Nuclear Waste Or The United States’ Failed Policy For Its Disposal?, Christopher M. Keegan

Law Student Publications

This comment will analyze the SNF ("spent nuclear fuel") problem in the United States and offer recommendations for how to move forward. First, Part I will summarize the path that has led to this impasse. Part II offers recommended solutions on how the United States can develop a workable SNF solution that includes a permanent repository, consolidated intermediate storage, and reprocessing. Finally, this comment will offer its conclusion that the United States should begin the process of establishing a permanent geologic repository for SNF at a location other than Yucca Mountain, create a system of consolidated interim storage to temporarily …

Nrdc Sues Epa For A Failure To Issue Hazardous Substance Regulations: The End Of A Decades-Long Public Risk In Sight, Jack Morgan

Law Student Publications

Currently there are no federal regulations that prevent hazardous substance spills at onshore facilities, such as tank farms, or in communities where a spill of those chemicals could threaten water supplies. On July 21, 2015, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filed a complaint on behalf of the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform (EJHA) and People Concerned About Chemical Safety (PCCS) against EPA and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy in her official capacity as administrator, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The case has been assigned to Judge Shira A. Sheindlin. The …

The Tragedy Of The Vital Commons, M. Alexander Pearl

Faculty Articles

The concept of the Tragedy of the Commons is well known, but it does not adequately capture the gravity of harm caused by the mismanagement of certain common pool resources (CPR). Not all commons are created equal; some are more important than others. If the common pasture where cows graze is overused and rendered barren, the community shifts to a vegan diet. But, if the groundwater aquifer used to grow soybeans and other foods is exhausted and no water remains for extraction, then individuals, families, and entire communities perish. Present commons scholarship is unable to differentiate between varying levels of …

Rwu Law: The Magazine Of Roger Williams University School Of Law (Issue No. 8) (2015), Roger Williams University School Of Law

RWU Law

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Public Interest Law Reporter

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

The Vaccination Debate: From The Playground To The Courtroom, Michelle Corda

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

"Reparations Now!": Municipal Reparations, International Tribunals, And The Chicago Torture Justice Memorials Campaign, Nickolas Kaplan

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Does America Care About Mental Health Care?, Zainab Mehkeri

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Coop Businesses: Ownership For The Disowned, Tyler Gurss

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Congress Addresses Federally-Funded Animal Research Lab, Angela Sukurs

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

The Future Of United States "Wet Foot-Dry Foot" Policy For Cuban Immigration, Elizabeth Hanford

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Public Interest Law Reporter

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Lawyers Represent Clients ... Or Do They?, Alan Mills

Public Interest Law Reporter

In most cases, lawyers file cases on behalf of clients. However, lawyers do not-get to make substantive decisions about the cases we work on; our clients do. Illinois Rule of Professional Conduct 1.2 makes this clear: [A] lawyer shall abide by a client's decisions concerning the objectives of representation and .. . Shall consult with the client as to the means by which they are to be pursued. But what happens in a class action lawsuit? Once a class is certified, lawyers represent both named plaintiffs and every member of the class. What happens when there is a conflict between …

Making Higher Education An Option: Taking A Look At The Chicago Support System For Undocumented High School Students, Martha Laura Garcia

Public Interest Law Reporter

From the injunction on the President's Executive Action to expand the current immigration policies to the current language presidential candidates have used when speaking about immigration reform, immigrants have more than enough reasons to feel uneasy about their future in this country. All is not bad, however, especially for undocumented students. Cities like Chicago, a city of immigrants, are making great strides to create welcoming and supportive communities for immigrants. Compared to other U.S. cities, Chicago is very immigrant-friendly, with people working across the city to provide support for undocumented students and ensure that they have access to higher education. …

Polling Stations Not Up To Ada Standards Prevent Voting, Bethany Dixon

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Finding Common Ground: Exploring Whether Gentrification And Public Housing Can Co-Exist, Adrien Fernandez

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

State Budget Cuts Cause Disproportional Impact On Minorities, Women, And Immigrants, Ji Hwang

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Who's In The Sights: Fighting The Illegal Effects Of Legal Gun Ownership In Chicago, Sarah Nagy

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.