Environmental Law Commons^™

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.

The Right To A Clean Environment In Nigeria: A Fundamental Right?, Ayodele Babalola

UC Law Environmental Journal

In most common law systems, environmental liability has developed from actions under tort to fundamental rights actions. In between this development, legislatures in common law countries have enacted and amended statutes that stipulate environmental liability and enforcement.1 It is logical to imagine that an unhealthy environment will have negative impacts on lives and property, which are protected fundamental rights in most countries. It is also desirable for a system to have multiple avenues available for the enforcement of sound environmental practices and processes. This Article examines whether environmental rights can be enforced via fundamental rights action under Chapter IV of …

Use Of Force In Crisis: A Comparative Look At The Domestic And International Laws Governing The Use Of U.S. Military Force To Respond To Mass Climate Refugee Migration, Holly Locke

UC Law Environmental Journal

Since the late 20th century, nations increasingly task their militaries with managing and responding to the influx of migration and refugees into sovereign nations. As a result, the U.S. military identified climate change to be a major security concern as the Department of Defense dedicates more resources to responding to this new class of refugee, among other climate related concerns. This paper explores the current scope of mass climate refugee migration and the role the U.S. military plays in responding to that migration. Specifically, this paper will explore the various legal frameworks, or lack thereof, of both domestic and international …

Shining A Light On High Seas Transhipment: The Need To Strengthen Observer Reporting Of Transhipments In The Western And Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, Chris Wold, Alfred “Bubba” Cook

UC Law Environmental Journal

No abstract provided.

Wildlife Is Not Crying Wolf: How Fish & Wildlife Service Can Utilize The Endangered Species Act To Mitigate Hybridization Threats To Listed Species, Kimberly Willis

UC Law Environmental Journal

As humans modify Earth’s landscapes and climate change fundamentally alters ecosystems, separately evolving wildlife populations may once again meet and interbreed with one another. This hybridization process may ultimately drive the less prolific of the two populations into extinction. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (“FWS”) has failed to fully utilize the tools within the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) to adequately address the unique problems of species hybridization. Although FWS has resisted attempts to delist species undergoing hybridization, their recovery plans and critical habitat designations fall short of maximizing the potential for species recovery. This paper first explores the current regulatory …

Easements, Exchanges, And Equity: Models For California’S Climate And Housing Crises, Chase Stone

UC Law Environmental Journal

No abstract provided.

George Perkins Marsh: Anticipating The Anthropocene, Robin Kundis Craig

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

This chapter, part of the forthcoming volume PIONEERS OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW, explores the vision of humanity's influence on social-ecological systems that George Perkins Marsh provided to the world in his 1964 work, MAN AND NATURE, OR PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AS MODIFIED BY HUMAN ACTION, republished in 1874 as THE EARTH AS MODIFIED THROUGH HUMAN ACTION. In addition to tracing how Marsh and these publications influenced nature resources and environmental law in the United States well into the 20th century, this chapter also argues that Marsh anticipated, in many respects, the environmental legal and policy issues of the Anthropocene by tracing clearly …

Ferc's Tether Tantrum: Why Suppressing State Support For Renewable Energy Violates The Federal Power Act And Threatens U.S. Climate Leadership, Philip N. Killeen

American University Law Review

The United States’ role as a proactive leader on combatting climate change reached its high-water mark during the presidency of Barack Obama. At the United Nation’s 2015 Paris Climate Conference, the United States acknowledged the scientifically observed link between anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and global warming and negotiated a deal with other nations to adapt to and prevent its consequences. Among the commitments that emerged from this deal was the United States’ ambitious but achievable target to reduce economy-wide GHG emissions 26 to 28% below 2005 levels by 2025. The most consequential effort to meet this goal was the …

The Possibility Of Prosecuting Corporations For Climate Crimes Before The International Criminal Court: All Roads Lead To The Rome Statute?, Donna Minha

Michigan Journal of International Law

Due to rapid developments in climate science, scientists are now able to quantifiably link significant greenhouse gas emissions caused by major oil and gas corporations to specific climate impacts. These scientific advances have been accompanied by the publication of documents and studies suggesting that the oil and gas industry allegedly had knowledge of climate change as early as sixty years ago, and yet it actively worked to promote climate change denial and to delay governmental regulation on this matter. Though climate-related litigation is proceeding against the industry in different jurisdictions, proceedings brought against oil and gas corporations mainly focus on …

Translational Ecology And Environmental Law, Robert W. Adler

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Translational ecology is a comparatively new approach to the pursuit of ecology and other environmental sciences, the implications of which for environmental law have not previously been explored significantly. Emulating the concepts of translational medicine, proponents of transactional ecology seek to increase the relevance of their research to important environmental problems by improving how effectively they communicate research results to end users of that science, collaborating with those end users to identify research that is “actionable” rather than purely “curiosity-driven” or theoretical, recognizing that values as well as science have a legitimate role in environmental decisions, and engaging in ongoing …

Water Law And Climate Change In The United States: A Review Of The Scholarship, Robin Kundis Craig

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Climate change’s effects on water resources have been some of the first realities of ecological change in the Anthropocene, forcing climate change adaptation efforts even as the international community seeks to mitigate climate change. Water law has thus become one vehicle of climate change adaptation. Research into the intersections between climate change and water law in the United States must contend with the facts that: (1) climate change affects different parts of this large country differently; and (2) United States water law is itself a complicated subject, with each state having its own laws for surface water and groundwater and …

Executive Summary On Ensuring Economic Viability And Sustainability Of Coffee Production, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Kaitlin Y. Cordes, James Rising, Perrine Toledano, Nicolas Maennling

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Coffee, the world’s favorite beverage, provides livelihoods for at least 60 million people across dozens of countries. Yet this beloved drink is experiencing a sustainability crisis. A sustained decline in world coffee prices has squeezed coffee producers, and thrown a tremendous number of producers below the global extreme poverty line of US$1.90 per day. This briefing note presents our research into sustainability within the coffee sector, including the results of our analytical and empirical modeling, and provides several recommendations.

Commandeering, Preemption, And Vehicle Emissions Regulation Post-Murphy V. Ncaa, Amelia Raether

Northwestern University Law Review

The Clean Air Act is often heralded as a paragon of cooperative federalism. The Act’s approach to vehicle emissions regulation in particular prescribes a unique partnership between the federal government and the state of California: while all states are bound by federally mandated vehicle emissions requirements, California may set more stringent standards in recognition of its historic role on the leading edge of environmental protection. However, in August 2018, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed not only to roll back the national emissions regulations, but also to revoke California’s ability to set more stringent standards, which include limits on greenhouse gas …

Sabin Center Diversity, Equity, Inclusion And Anti-Racism Plan, Sabin Center For Climate Change Law

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

The climate crisis is a crisis of unprecedented scope and scale. It arises from everywhere, and impacts everyone. But some – some countries, some companies, some communities, some individuals – are more responsible than others; and some are more impacted, and more vulnerable, than others. Climate change has made clear that diversity increases the power of potential solutions and the resilience to adverse impacts – for ecosystems, social systems, economic systems and their various hybrids and combinations. At the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law we believe that by creating and fostering a culture of diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism, …

Climate Change, Coming Soon To A Court Near You – Report Four: International Climate Change Legal Frameworks, Maria Cecilia T. Sicango

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

In 2020, the Paris Agreement is the pinnacle of international law on climate change. It orchestrates global climate action over the coming decades. Countries agreed to limit global warming to well below 2ºC above preindustrial times, closer to 1.5ºC. Humankind will only achieve this temperature goal if we domesticate our international climate commitments. Judges have proven to be instrumental in holding their governments accountable for their climate pledges. Report Four of this four-part series explores the nature of the Paris Agreement, its history, and the framework of international instruments and international legal principles that support global and domestic climate action.

Climate Recommendations For A New Democratic President And A New Congress: A Compilation, Clara Grieder, Jordan Gerow

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Congress has not enacted a major new environmental law since 1990, when President George H.W. Bush signed the Clean Air Act Amendments and the Oil Pollution Act. He also supported, and the Senate ratified, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992. The administration of President Bill Clinton supported the Kyoto Protocol, which was designed to achieve the objectives of the Framework Convention, but could not secure Senate ratification. President George W. Bush rejected the Kyoto Protocol and many other actions on climate change. President Barack Obama supported action on climate change; when he was unable to secure …

Legal Levers For Cleaner Air In Kolkata: An Assessment Of Local Legal Authority, Ama Francis

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Air pollution in India results in significant adverse health and environmental outcomes. Only 16% of the population lives in an area that meets India’s national air quality standards, and less than 1% lives in an area that meets international guidelines for air quality. In 2015, air pollution resulted in 1.1 million deaths nation-wide. If the World Health Organization’s air quality standard was met, Indian life expectancy would increase by 5.2 years. The state of West Bengal, wherein Kolkata is located, faces some of the highest exposures to air pollution in the country, making local interventions there critical.

In recent years, …

Climate Change, Coming Soon To A Court Near You – Report Two: Climate Litigation In Asia And The Pacific And Beyond, Briony Eales, Ama Francis, Michael Burger, Romany M. Webb, Jessica A. Wentz, Dena Adler, Gregorio Rafael P. Bueta, Francesse Joy J. Cordon-Navarro

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Climate change in Asia and the Pacific is deadly and impacts communities now. Regional climate litigation seeks relief in increasingly urgent ways and judges need a tool kit to respond. Report Two of this four-part series is a comprehensive review of the growing number and variety of climate lawsuits in Asia and the Pacific. It underscores the unique flavor and voice of regional jurisprudence and compares it with global approaches. No one can solve climate change alone and neither can any particular judiciary. Judges can, however, learn from each other, taking judicial excellence and applying it to the case before …

The Contact Group On Somali Piracy: An Unlikely Model For Protecting The Environment?, Susan Biniaz

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

International environmental law covers a wide range of subjects, is extremely detailed, and evolves very rapidly. No wonder it is challenging for practitioners to keep up with developments. An expert in marine pollution regimes may be unaware of the latest initiatives on forest conservation. Given how hyper-specialized the climate world has become, an expert on mitigation may be only mildly aware of recent advances in adaptation. And neither may be in a position to keep up with innovations in international law more broadly.

Deep knowledge has its advantages, but also some drawbacks. When we are faced with the need to …

After Madrid, W[H]Ither The Cop?, Susan Biniaz

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

With Madrid behind us and Glasgow on the horizon, it is a good time for Parties and others to consider the future of the annual COP. (By “COP,” I mean the climate conference writ large, rather than the “Conference of the Parties,” the narrower technical name for the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.) Madrid, while a remarkably successful venue in terms of logistics, left many not only disappointed at the Parties’ failure to reach agreement and signal an increase in ambition but also confused:

• Why was there such a disconnect between the scientific imperative (as well …

Climate Change, Ferc, And Natural Gas Pipelines: The Legal Basis For Considering Greenhouse Gas Emissions Under Section 7 Of The Natural Gas Act, Romany M. Webb

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

As the federal agency charged with overseeing the interstate transportation of natural gas, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has recently faced growing criticism over its approval of new pipelines. Critics have lambasted FERC for failing to adequately consider the climate change impacts of pipeline development, particularly the greenhouse gas emissions associated with “upstream” natural gas production and “downstream” use. The D.C. Circuit recently weighed in, holding that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires consideration of downstream greenhouse gas emissions, at least in some circumstances. The precise scope of that requirement continues to be debated before FERC, in the …

When Politics Trump Science: The Erosion Of Science-Based Regulation, Romany M. Webb, Lauren Kurtz, Susan Rosenthal

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Science is science and facts are facts. My administration will ensure that there will be total [scientific] transparency and accountability without political bias.” That was the promise made in September 2016 by then-candidate Donald Trump when asked how he would protect federal scientists from political interference in their work. Since taking office, however, President Trump has led a concerted effort to undermine federal scientific research, particularly in areas where research findings contradict his own views or undermine the basis of his deregulatory agenda.

That effort is documented in the Silencing Science Tracker, an online database that records anti-science actions taken …

Climate Risk In The Electricity Sector: Legal Obligations To Advance Climate Resilience Planning By Electric Utilities, Romany M. Webb, Michael Panfil, Sarah Ladin

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Electricity generation, transmission and distribution, and load are all impacted by weather patterns. Electric system assets have been designed for historic weather conditions, with the goal of ensuring reliability and quick recovery following extreme events. However, climate change is causing major shifts in historic weather patterns and more frequent and severe extremes, which are creating new risk profiles for the electric system. Proactive climate resilience planning by electric utilities to identify, respond, and rationally allocate these climate risks is thus increasingly salient. This paper argues that it is also legally required.

Recently published industry studies demonstrate that accurate, specific, and …

Compilation Of Recommendations To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions In New York State, Kate Marsh, Neely Mckee, Jordan Gerow

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) was passed by both houses of the New York State legislature and signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo in June 2019. It took effect on January 1, 2020. It requires total statewide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to be 40% below 1990 levels in 2030 and 85% below 1990 levels in 2050, with an aspirational goal of a 100% reduction in 2050. It is one of the strongest climate change laws in the world, and people everywhere are watching its implementation for models of what can be done elsewhere.

The CLCPA establishes …

An Exploration Of Zero Waste Policies And Recommendations For Missoula, Sarah Blyth Lundquist

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

“Zero Waste” is a concept and community goal that has arisen to challenge the current consumerist economic system and offer solutions for a number of environmental issues. In adopting this goal, individuals and communities pledge to reduce and divert at least 90% of their waste in a certain number of years. These goals can be reached by employing policies, programs, and other intervention tactics which establish Zero Waste infrastructure, ensure equitable and widespread access to Zero Waste services, and provide educational outreach and resources to the community. Missoula adopted a Zero Waste goal in 2016 and created a Zero Waste …

Harmonizing ‘Converted Wetland’ Under The Clean Water Act And Food Security Act Would Reaffirm Congress’S Intent To Limit Epa And Army Corps 404 Jurisdiction, Lawrence A. Kogan

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Energy, Electricity And Smart Grids In Latvia And Portugal – Developments And Concerns, Rafael Leal-Arcas, Filipa Santos, Danai Papadea

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

What The Brita Won’T Purify: Why Kentucky Is In Need Of Strict Pharmaceutical Disposal Regulations, Caroline K. Mitchell

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

The Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary: An Exploration Of Changing The Discourse On Conservation, Arielle Ben-Hur

Pitzer Senior Theses

In 2015, the Northern Chumash Tribal Council submitted a National Marine Sanctuary Nomination to establish the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary– a means by which to ensure the protection of one of the most culturally and biologically diverse coastlines in the world. On October 5, 2015, John Armor of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) responded to the nomination, adding it to the inventory of areas NOAA may consider in the future for national marine sanctuary designation.

In my thesis, I explore how the nomination of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary acts as a platform from which Traditional …

New York Can Lead World In Fighting Climate Change, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

New York State now has one of the strongest climate change laws in the world, and if we succeed in implementing it, the state will have demonstrated that it is possible to defeat what may be the greatest threat facing humanity.