Environmental Law Commons^™

Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. V. Pritzker, Caitlin Buzzas

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. Pritzker, the Ninth Circuit dealt with the conflict of science in making legal and policy decisions. NMFS was held to a stringent mitigation standard to protect marine mammals against the Navy’s use of LFA sonar for military operations. In this decision the court held that agencies are required to apply the least practicable adverse impact on marine mammals in these types of operations and agencies must listen to their own experts when making these decisions.

Measuring Brief (Save Our Climate), John Jurucich, Mary Margaret Roark

Pace Environmental Law Review Online Companion

Best Brief – Save Our Climate

Measuring Brief (Sylvanergy), Josh Fortenbery, Cameron Jimmo, Kathryn Roberts

Pace Environmental Law Review Online Companion

Best Brief – Sylvanergy

Measuring Brief (Granger), Christopher M. Becker, Robert A. Marcum, Bennett T. Richardson

Pace Environmental Law Review Online Companion

David Sive Award for Best Brief Overall.

2016 Bench Memorandum

Pace Environmental Law Review Online Companion

No abstract provided.

2016 National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition Problem

Pace Environmental Law Review Online Companion

No abstract provided.

City Of Longmont Colorado V. Colorado Oil & Gas Association, Arie R. Mielkus

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Colorado, the oil and gas industry's use of hydraulic fracturing, and municipalities’ attempts to restrict where the practice can be done, are at odds. Those in favor of hydraulic fracturing laud the economic benefits and natural gas’s ability to burn cleaner than coal, while those in opposition warn of potential adverse environmental impacts including the strain on water resources in the arid west. The City of Longmont was sued following its enactment of an amendment outlawing hydraulic fracturing within city limits. The City’s amendment was found to be preempted by state law, and thus could not remain in force. …

Marine Law Symposium: Legal And Policy Approaches To Reduce Marine Debris In New England 11/04/2016, Roger Wiliams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

Protect Our Communities Foundation V. Jewell, Benjamin W. Almy

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Protect Our Communities Foundation v. Jewell, the Ninth Circuit upheld a right-of-way grant issued by the BLM for the development of the Tule Wind energy facility in the McCain Valley in southern California. In its decision to uphold the district court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of the Defendants, the Ninth Circuit reaffirmed National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) standards of compliance for a satisfactory Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”). The specific challenges raised by the Plaintiffs and addressed by the court were to the Statement of Purpose and Need, the Project Alternatives, the Mitigation Measures, and the “Hard Look” …

Presentation: Spatial Design Of An Objective Driven Theoretical Water Resources Monitoring Network, M Musariri, G Jager, B Haasbroek

Policy

Review, evaluation and optimization of the National Water Resources Monitoring Networks Project

Aim to:

•undertake an evaluation of each the 10 monitoring networks in their present condition

•redesign and realign (where necessary) the network with the strategic and management requirements of the DWS and SA

•optimized the networks as far as possible

•ensure sustainable, relevant and up-to-date data of an acceptable quality.

Outcome: National Water Resource Monitoring Implementation Strategy

Presentation 1, M Musariri, G Jager, J D. Rossouw

Policy

No abstract provided.

Un Environment Guide For Energy Efficiency And Renewable Energy Laws, Richard L. Ottinger

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Guide is written as a sequel to the 2007 UN Environment Programme Handbook for Legal Draftsmen on Environmentally Sound Management of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Resources.

This Guide, as the Handbook, is written in response to needs expressed, particularly by energy efficiency and renewable energy project initiators, government officials, energy managers, project developers and particularly developing country energy legal draftsmen, asking for assistance in drafting legislative provisions for promotion and implementation of sound energy efficiency and renewable energy programs.

The Guide describes the key legal issues associated with efficiency and renewable energy resource development, and presents legislative options …

Front Matter

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

No abstract provided.

Mining A Mirage: Reassessing The Shared-Value Paradigm In Light Of The Technological Advances In The Mining Sector, Aaron Cosbey, Howard Mann, Nicolas Maennling, Perrine Toledano, Jeff Geipel, Martin Dietrich Brauch

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

While there has been a strong tendency in resource rich countries to push for more stringent local content regulations, the mining sector is looking to move towards increased automation.

In this study titled "Mining a Mirage: Reassessing the Shared-Value Paradigm in Light of the Technological Advances in the Mining Sector," CCSI, IISD and Engineers Without Borders researched the technological innovations that are being developed, assessing when these technologies could be rolled out, and quantifying the potential impacts automation may have on local employment and procurement and on the shared value paradigm. The objective was to better understand how governments could …

Insuring Landslides: America’S Uninsured Natural Catastrophes, Christopher C. French

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Pursuing A Reconciliatory Administrative Law: Aboriginal Consultation And The National Energy Board, Matthew J. Hodgson

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Environmental assessment within the process of regulatory review is recognized as the preferred means for carrying out the duty to consult and accommodate Aboriginal rights in administrative decisions over proposed resource development. Recent evidence suggests that integrating the duty to consult into National Energy Board (NEB) proceedings and subsuming the law of Aboriginal consultation under principles of administrative justice have not advanced the goal of reconciliation. This article considers whether the statutory mandate of the National Energy Board requires it to have sufficient regard to Aboriginal rights in a manner consistent with the adjudication of constitutional issues in administrative law. …

Towards Safer Seafood: What Indonesian Law Should “Say” About Mercury-Contaminated Fish, Margaretha Quina

Indonesia Law Review

Fish is a popular culinary dish in Indonesian culture and a major economic resource on which many people depend their livelihood. However, with severe pollution in Indonesian water, including uncontrolled mercury pollution which persists in the food chain and eventually gets into humans’ body as the top predator, fish safety is particularly worrying – especially taking into account the frequency of average Indonesians’ consumption of fish. In various jurisdictions, the management tool used by lawmakers and regulators with regard to this issue is information disclosure, or known as “fish advisory warning,” to cover the failure of command and control. This …

Study On The Law Scheme Of International & Chinese Oil Pollution Compensation Fund, Dongye Zhao

Maritime Safety & Environment Management Dissertations (Dalian)

No abstract provided.

Kain V. Department Of Environmental Protection, Sarah M. Danno

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Global climate change and its chronic frustrations generated passage of the Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act. The Massachusetts Legislature imposed time-bound implementation mandates on the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection with Massachusetts residents acting as compliance watchdogs. In Kain, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts interpreted the Act in favor of environmental integrity and strict agency compliance standards.

Blood In Honduras, Silence In The United States, Lauren Carasik

Media Presence

No abstract provided.

Case Study On The Galapagos Islands: Balance For Biodiversity & Migration, Cesar E. Neira

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

In this comment, the author will examine the Special Organic Law of the Galapagos. To better understand the impacts of the law, the comment will examine some of the more notable provisions of the 1998 version, and a few of the amended changes in 2015. Throughout this comment, themes such as migration and preserving biodiversity will be discussed. As we will see, this notion of balancing human needs and ecosystem in the islands is not always straight-forward.

Trouble In Paradise: Maintaining The Eu Ideal For Environmental Policy In Eestern Europe, Amanda L. Harb

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

Ten Central and Eastern European nations have joined the EU in the last decade. The conditions for joining the EU are scrupulous and expansive, covering everything from: election rules, food product labels, and battery disposal. CEE states who are newly inducted into the EU are currently striving to successfully implement the complete extent of collected EU law. Eastern Europe has long lagged behind the west in environmental policy. Extreme industrialization and widespread deregulation over the last century produced many areas with environmental degradation. The idea is that by adopting European environmental policy, Eastern European states can cash in on European …

Too Many Humans, Dwindling Resources, And Not Enough Space, Jorge T. Martinez

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

This paper will address the often-overlooked subject of human overpopulation and examine the role it plays in the environmental health of our planet. Part I will define overpopulation and how it is determined, as well as briefly examine animal overpopulations and their effects on the environment. Part II will turn to human population trends, the carrying capacity of humans on earth, and the environmental consequences of human overpopulation. The environmental issues currently faced in China, India, Africa, and other densely populated areas will be explored. Part III will analyze some of the legal solutions that have been implemented to curb …

Equal Protection For Animals, Pat Andriola

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

This paper presents a simple argument: through a Dworkinian moral reading of the Constitution, nonhuman animals fall under the Supreme Court’s equal protection doctrinal framework for suspect classification. Therefore, nonhuman animals are protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. The moral principle underlying equal protection is the ensuring of government’s empathetic and equitable treatment toward not just subgroups of humans (which have been judicially delineated by social constructs of race, gender, sexuality, and other defining characteristics), but toward all sentient beings who may become victim to the “tyranny of the majority.

Hurricane Sandy And Her Lasting Environmental Impacts, Amanda Hunt

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

More than three years have passed since Hurricane Sandy; estimated to be nearly 900 to 1,000 miles wide, made landfall along the U.S. Mid-Atlantic and Northeast Coasts on October 29, 2012. This Comment addresses the exacerbated environmental and public health effects of Hurricane Sandy, which resulted from flaws in disaster relief funding.

United States Army Corps Of Engineers V. Hawkes Co., Jonah Brown

Public Land & Resources Law Review

When landowners seek to determine if a permit is required from the Army Corps of Engineers to discharge dredged or fill material into waters within their property boundaries, they may first obtain a jurisdictional determination specifying whether “waters of the United States” are present. In an 8-0 judgment, Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes was a victory for landowners, concluding that an approved jurisdictional determination is a final agency action reviewable under the Administrative Procedure Act.

Oregon Natural Desert Association V. Jewell, Jody D. Lowenstein

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Oregon Natural Desert Association v. Jewell, the Ninth Circuit invalidated the BLM’s environmental review, finding that the agency based its approval of a wind-energy development on inaccurate scientific analysis. In negating the BLM’s action, the court held that flawed data and indefensible reasoning were discordant with NEPA’s central tenets. Furthermore, the court did not hold the BLM responsible for addressing a distinct environmental issue that was not brought to its attention during the public comment period.

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, …

Comments On When God Isn't Green, Sarah Schindler

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Thank you for the opportunity to participate in the symposium and provide comments about Jay Wexler’s great new book, When God Isn’t Green. Given that Jay is both a humorist and a serious legal scholar with a penchant for taking trips, it should come as no surprise that this book reads like a mix between a travel guide, a humorous ethnography, and an adventure memoir. In addition to raising important questions about conflicts between two important, competing issues, Jay provides vivid imagery of his trips overseas. I especially appreciated the image of Jay sitting at a bar drinking with a …

Scientific Review Report, J D. Rossouw, M Musariri

Policy

This report provides the Scientific Review results and recommendations regarding the existing surface and groundwater monitoring sites for all nine Water Management Areas following the Regional WMA Network Design Workshops held in Nelspruit, Cape Town, Durban,King Williams Town, Bela-Bela and Bloemfontein from March to June 2016. During these workshops theoretical monitoring network considerations for each WMA were presented to various stakeholders, and the considerations were used to review the existing networks and obtain changes and improvements to the networks as recommendations. The main objectives of the workshops were to review the existing monitoring networks against the prioritized National Monitoring Objectives …