Environmental Law Commons^™

Science-Related Rhetoric And Action By United States Presidents From 1977-2017, Amanda E. Shea

Interdisciplinary Studies

Presidential rhetoric and executive action have played an important role in shaping how scientific issues are presented to the American public. This project examined how United States presidents from Jimmy Carter through Barack Obama (1977–2017) employed science-related rhetoric and policy regarding climate science and reproductive health. Findings suggest that reproductive health remained a partisan issue throughout the study period, while climate science shifted from a largely bipartisan concern to a more partisan one over time. The results also indicate that presidential rhetoric and executive action were not always aligned, with several administrations using science-related rhetoric more extensively than corresponding policy.

Seqra Developments: Amendments To Ease Housing Construction, Revised Regulations, New Cases, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

In the hopes of easing the housing shortage, on May 26 the New York Legislature passed and Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill that will exempt many multifamily housing projects from the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA).

A month before, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) issued regulations on protecting disadvantaged communities, and took steps to require more discussion of climate impacts under SEQRA.

Five Urban Futures For A Hot Planet: U.S. Legal Scenarios, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

If current climate change trends continue, flooding, extreme heat, wildfires, and water scarcity will make the homes of millions of people in the United States increasingly uninhabitable. This change could happen by the end of the century, perhaps sooner. Most people will want to stay in their current homes, but there is no coherent policy to fortify the most vulnerable places. Nor is the current legal system equipped to handle what may become one of the largest migrations in U.S. history, as people flee intolerable climate conditions. This Article envisions five scenarios for cities in the future: sprout, grow, stay, …

Weeding Out The Rotten Apples: A Third-Party Certification Regime And Strengthened Ftc Authority, Aaron M. Dubin-Ramos

Cardozo Law Review

he rise in greenwashing, a business practice that misleads consumers and investors about one’s environmental performance, has sparked debate regarding the best avenue for mitigating such a phenomenon. Common proposals include private lawsuits, the Federal Trade Commission’s Green Guides, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s antifraud regime under Rule 10b-5 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, state frameworks, or the International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling Alliance. However, each response presents flaws, such as a potential rise in greenhushing, nonbinding guidance, narrow applicability to greenwashing claims, alignment with the anti-Environmental, Social, and Governance political movement, and buy-in issues. This …

Environmental Repair In The Energy Transition, Martin Lockman

Faculty Publications

For nearly a century, American laws have required mines, oil and gas companies, and other potentially hazardous industries to restore land affected by their activities to a safe condition when they are done with it. These laws represent a grand bargain—they allow operators to make profitable but damaging use of land today in exchange for the promise of expensive remediation tomorrow. However, this bargain has proven hard to enforce. Dozens of “zombie” mines scar mountains in Kentucky. Unrecorded “orphaned” wells poison groundwater in Texas. Over the past century, these laws have become the center of a legal arms race. Fossil …

The Martha Wright-Reed Act: How The Fcc Took One Step Forward For Communication Equality For Deaf Individuals In Correctional Facilities And How It Could Be Expanded, Ashley Seebold

Seattle University Law Review

For decades, phone companies preyed on incarcerated individuals and their loved ones due to the lack of regulation of jail phone calls.2 In 2021, the average cost of a fifteen-minute jail phone call was about $3.3 In 2022, the average cost rose to $5.74, while some individuals faced an extreme charge of $24.82 for the same amount of time.4 In the early 2000s, consumer advocate and concerned grandmother Martha Wright-Reed called upon the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to fix the imbalance so she could speak to her incarcerated grandson.5 Eventually, in 2023, the FCC answered her call to action and …

Social Exclusion Cues And Collective Action Motivation In Environmental Campaigns: The Buffering Role Of Social Support, Hwan-Ho Noh, Warren B. Chik

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This study examines the influence of social exclusion cues on public engagement with environmental campaigns on social media, focusing on how such cues affect advertising attitudes and collective action motivation. Across two experimental studies, we investigated whether low engagement metrics, such as a small number of likes, function as symbolic exclusion cues that reduce perceived public support. The results indicate that social exclusion cues negatively affect advertising attitudes and collective action motivation, ultimately decreasing the intention to engage with the campaign. However, the presence of social support cues, which signal sustained public interest and social endorsement, effectively mitigated these negative …

Shrinking Sovereignty: By Land, Sea, And…Air?, Cynthia R. Harris

Pace Environmental Law Review

Atlantis was a mythical State destroyed by the gods as an object lesson to humanity. The complete destruction of a State, as a political entity, does have precedent in historical reality. The complete and permanent loss of a State’s physical territory, however, is a problem humanity has never faced—until now. Today, climate change-driven sea level rise is bringing the future sovereign status of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in question. A growing body of legal scholarship argues for maintaining these States’ maritime jurisdictions but has not yet extended the question skyward to SIDS’ jurisdiction over airspace.

This Article addresses that …

Municipality Of Bayamón V. Exxon Mobil Corp. (2025): Bringing Racketeering Charges For Climate Justice, Ilinca C. Johnson

Pace Environmental Law Review

Environmental justice communities should have their climate change damages heard in the courtroom. One means to increase environmental justice claims is through claims under the federal Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Using Municipality of Bayamón v. Exxon Mobil Corp. (2025) as a model, this Article suggests a novel RICO case strategy to pursue climate damages for marginalized communities. Fundamentally, environmental justice RICO claims involve careful case design based on the climate-related damages a marginalized community has faced because of the long-term deception by fossil fuel actors upon those communities. Pursuing such claims forwards the intersectional issues faced by …

Non-Reformist Reforms In Environmentalism: Legal Theory And Praxis, Nicholas F. Stump

Pace Environmental Law Review

This Article explores how non-reformist reforms—as opposed to traditional environmental law—are required for ecologically transformative futures. Traditional environmental law is a critically flawed regime due to its embeddedness in our current ecological political economy, which functionally requires perpetual accumulation and growth. However, this accumulation- and growth-based paradigm is incompatible with the material realities of our planetary boundaries. This paradigm has thus engendered our current era of profound ecological crisis (i.e., as associated with notions of the Anthropocene).

Non-reformist reforms are an alternative framework that can help drive transformations of our ecological political economy vis-à-vis building and operationalizing people power from …

Editors And Staff Members

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Letter From The Editors

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Using Data To Discern Whether Nepa Causes Delay, And What Can Be Done About It, John C. Ruple, David E. Adelman, Jamie Pleune

Public Land & Resources Law Review

This article proceeds in three principal parts. Part I provides an overview of NEPA that is focused on the requirements contained in the Act itself, the Supreme Court’s recent opinion in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado, and developments involving agency NEPA regulations. Part II summarizes what we know about factors causing or contributing to delays in permitting in general and NEPA compliance in particular. The central question examined in Part II is the extent to which changes to NEPA respond to barriers to development and are therefore likely to be effective. Part III offers recommendations and is …

Testing Prior Appropriation As Drought And Climate Change Push States Toward Water Code Reform: Lessons From And For Oregon, Adell L. Amos

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Part I outlines approaches to addressing the challenges that have arisen in water management under state water codes that have been considered—some adopted, and some still under consideration—in Oregon. This section examines some historical material on Oregon water law and describes the current moment as a way for setting the stage for the work that is currently underway. The dynamics described for Oregon are replicated in many western states. So, while the details are Oregon-related, the storyline is a familiar one in the West.2 Part II describes the efforts of a working group of water law attorneys that the Oregon …

Salt In The Public Wound: The Public Trust Doctrine And The Great Salt Lake, Shoshana Grossman

Public Land & Resources Law Review

This paper analyzes how the Utah PTD applies to the non- navigable tributaries that affect the GSL, and whether Utah must consider the PTD in water rights management. Section I explains the GSL case, outlining the issues, the Physicians’ claims, and Judge Scott’s order. Section II outlines the PTD in Utah. Section III first compares the GSL to other decisions applying the PTD to non-navigable water resources and water rights. Section III then assesses whether Utah’s PTD applies to non-navigable tributaries that affect navigable resources like the GSL, and what that may mean for water allocation in Utah. The paper …

"In Keeping With The Constitution’S Original Design": History And Tradition In Federal Indian Law, Meghanlata Gupta

Public Land & Resources Law Review

This Article examines the Supreme Court’s use of history and tradition in federal Indian law. In recent years, the Court has increasingly relied on Founding-era practices and historical traditions to determine constitutional meaning in areas such as firearm regulation, substantive due process, and religious liberty. At the same time, while the Founding-era record contains substantial evidence that Native nations were understood and treated as independent, sovereign political communities, this evidence has not yet been fully incorporated into the Supreme Court’s Indian law jurisprudence. Examining decisions from Oliphant to Castro-Huerta, this Article describes the Court’s approaches to historical analysis in Indian …

Nyu Cardozo Robotaxi Symposium, Heyman Center On Corporate Governance, The Guarini Center On Environmental, Energy & Land Use Law

2026 Event Invitations

In the past year, interest in robotaxis in New York has surged. Last summer, Waymo started testing its vehicles on Manhattan streets. In January, Governor Hochul proposed automated vehicle pilot programs upstate. But in February, she withdrew her proposal under pressure. And in March, Waymo’s testing permit expired. The future of robotaxis in New York is an open question. This Symposium will explore the legal and policy issues that robotaxis raise. Our goal is to enrich the public conversation by bringing together experts from around the country to share their knowledge and experience. There will be two panels: one on …

Enemies To Lovers: An Unsuspecting Friendship In The Journey To Save The Endangerment Finding, Sophie Ballah

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

Violent White Exclusionary Destruction Of Black Property Is A Public Nuisance: The Tulsa Race Massacre And Beyond, Eric Miller

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Heat Of The Moment: Rethinking The Endangered Species Act Amidst The Sixth Mass Extinction, Sarah Morton

Texas A&M Law Review

The biggest natural disaster facing humans today likely won’t be on the front page of the news. That doesn’t mean its impacts aren’t already being felt. Despite other disasters, like wildfires and hurricanes, dominating headlines, extreme heat is the leading cause of weather-related mortality in the United States. Even worse, extreme heat makes other natural disasters more severe and is decimating the Earth’s biological diversity at a rate that could soon become irreversible. The cost of widespread biodiversity loss is incalculable. Depleting ecosystems eradicates crucial services that nature provides for humanity, including clean air and water, food security, and cooling. …

Poor Esg: Regressive Effects Of Climate Stewardship, Zohar Goshen, Assaf Hamdani, Alex Raskolnikov

BYU Law Review

The rise of inequality and global warming are the two ultimate challenges of our time. After decades of congressional failure to address climate change, the private sector has stepped in and adopted a set of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies as a market-based solution to a public policy failure. ESG advocates hope that corporate executives would save our planet. Where Congress failed, ESG will succeed.

This Article argues that if ESG-driven climate stewardship ever achieves the scale necessary to have a real impact on global warming, it will hurt the poor. Legislative interventions to combat climate change are nearly …

Leveraging Citizen Science To Advance Environmental Justice In Climate-Vulnerable Communities Post-Loper Bright, Lauren Valli

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

The Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v.

Raimondo removed the judicial obligation to defer to the Environmental

Protection Agency’s statutory interpretations, overturning forty years of

Chevron v. NRDC jurisprudence. Now, generalist judges must

independently evaluate complex scientific data when determining

statutory meaning, creating the risk that well-resourced industry parties

will use their litigation advantages to secure pollution-permissive statutory

interpretations. Without deference to EPA’s technical understanding and

public welfare considerations, environmental litigation outcomes

increasingly depend on which party can most persuasively present

environmental data in court. This interpretation shift widens the

environmental enforcement gap and disproportionately harms historically …

U.S. V. Washington: Considering The Continuing Injunction Of The Boldt Decision, Nicholas Brown

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Judge George Hugo Boldt’s 1974 opinion in United States v. Washington was a landmark decision in the recognition of treaty fishing rights for tribes in western Washington. Not only did it recognize the entitlement to 50% of harvestable yields of fish within the tribes’ usual and accustomed fishing sites, but it also provided a permanent injunction to protect future fishing rights for generations to come. Now, over fifty years since the original “Boldt decision” was made, judges in the Ninth Circuit are debating whether the continued injunction to litigate intertribal disputes over treaty fishing rights is proper. This article considers …

Western Watersheds Project V. Schultz, Cv 22-149-M-Dlc-Kld, 2025 Lx 449507, 2025 Wl 2410283 (D. Mont. Mar. 27, 2025), Luke A. Zagar

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Western Watersheds Project v. Schultz delineates what the Forest Service is required to consider for revising Allotment Management Plans as prescribed by NEPA. Environmental plaintiffs sued, arguing that the Forest Service’s reliance on an older baseline assessment was arbitrary and capricious and that the revised AMP failed to consider major impacts on the grizzly bear population. The District of Montana held that the reliance on an older baseline assessment was acceptable but simultaneously found the AMP to be arbitrary and capricious under the “hard look” standard.

San Luis Obispo Coastkeeper V. Cnty. Of San Luis Obispo, 161 F.4th 590 (9th Cir. 2025), Erika C. Rader

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In San Luis Obispo Coastkeeper v. Cnty. of San Luis Obispo, the Ninth Circuit addressed how to consider a mandatory preliminary injunction for an Endangered Species Act claim when multiple listed species may be affected by the requested relief. The Plaintiffs brought ESA and state law claims to compel the County of San Luis Obispo to change its operation of the Lopez Dam on Arroyo Grande Creek, which they claimed adversely affected South-Central California Coast steelhead trout. The tidewater goby and California red-legged frog, both listed species, are also present in Arroyo Grande Creek. The Ninth Circuit determined the …

Unleashing Consultation: Tohono O’Odham Nation V. Department Of Interior And The Case For Reforming The National Historic Preservation Act, Elizabeth Tobey

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Ninth Circuit’s 2025 decision in Tohono O’odham Nation v. Department of Interior highlights an ongoing failure by federal land management agencies to consult meaningfully with tribal nations as mandated by the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act. This article argues that the NHPA’s framework for tribal consultation enables federal land management agencies to sidestep meaningful engagement with tribes, undermining both cultural resource protection and the federal Indian trust responsibility. To address these deficiencies—particularly in the context of renewable energy development on federal public lands, directly at issue in Tohono O’odham Nation—this article proposes amendments to the NHPA informed by …

Wilderness Watch V. U.S. Forest Service, No. Cv 23-133-M-Dwm, 2025 Wl 2985292 (D. Mont. Oct. 23, 2025)., Gardner Dee

Public Land & Resources Law Review

This comment argues that the District of Montana’s decision in Wilderness Watch v. U.S. Forest Service correctly applied the Ninth Circuit’s Kofa framework to strike down a multi-agency native trout restoration project in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, holding that the Forest Service unlawfully prioritized Yellowstone cutthroat trout conservation over the Wilderness Act’s mandate to preserve wilderness character. Dee further contends that while large wilderness watersheds offer valuable climate refugia for native coldwater fish, watershed-scale restoration projects will continue to conflict with the Act’s prohibitions on motorized and mechanized intrusions so long as agencies rely on helicopter transport and rotenone application at …

Off-The-Shelf Danger: The Need For Overhauling Faa Regulations To Combat The Misuse Of Commercial And Recreational Drones, Ka Ching "Cyrus" Au

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

This article discusses how FAA Part 107 has not kept pace with

advances in drone technology and advocates for a tailored solution for

drones. The increasing accessibility of sophisticated drone technology

presents significant national security and public safety challenges.

Regulatory frameworks posed by the Federal Aviation Administration

(FAA) are insufficient to address these growing concerns. The drone

technology originally marketed and developed for photography,

agriculture, and package delivery is now being repurposed for military use

and illegal activities. In the Russo–Ukrainian war, drones are now used to

carry advanced reconnaissance capabilities or are equipped with remotely

detonated explosives. Along a …

“A Land No One Would Want”: Environmental Activism And The Rejection Of ‘Wasteland’ Narratives In Southern Nevada, Steven Butler

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This paper traces events within the history of environmental activism in Southern Nevada. The first chapter discusses the proposed high level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. The second chapter examines the closure of the Reid Gardner Generating Station in Moapa, Nevada. The third chapter details the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s Groundwater Development Project. Each of the three chapters is linked by common themes within the history of Southern Nevada environmental activism, including dedicated coalition-building and the refusal of “wastelanding” of the region.