Environmental Law Commons^™

The National Environmental Policy Act Of 1969 And Its Implications For Nafta: Public Citizen V. United States Trade Representative, 822 F. Supp. 21 (D.D.C.), Rev'd 5 F.3d 549 (D.C. Cir. 1993)., Kristin R. Loecke

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Using Emerging Pollution Tracking Methods To Address The Downstream Impacts Of Factory Farm Animal Welfare Abuse, Tarah Heinzen, Abel Russ

Pace Environmental Law Review

CAFOs present numerous interconnected ethical, environmental, and public health threats, and this article will discuss opportunities to address the multiple adverse impacts of factory farming through advances in pollution tracking methodologies. The first section will introduce the factory farm issue, and the relationship between its environmental and welfare consequences. We then review approaches to establishing liability for surface and groundwater contamination under existing pollution control laws and describe the unique challenges of using these approaches in the context of CAFO pollution. We then discuss techniques that have been used to more precisely identify sources of pollution, including measurements of a …

Global Water Resources & Publications, Taryn L. Rucinski

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Before we as a society can begin crafting innovative legal solutions to help combat the global water crisis, researchers and experts in the field first need access to sound sources of scientific information. Despite the seeming simplicity of that goal, locating research about water, sanitation, and agricultural conditions, especially in developing countries, can be immensely challenging as it is complicated by issues of language, currency, scope, and accuracy. The purpose of this note is to provide practitioners with a list of free, high quality resources that should help make their research in this area a bit more accessible.

Consequences For Cleanup: Epa Gets Serious About Weak Watershed Improvement Plans, Rena I. Steinzor, Anne Havemann

Faculty Scholarship

In a landmark series of reports issued on June 26, 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) put the seven jurisdictions that pollute the Chesapeake Bay on notice that their plans for reducing nitrogen, phosphorous, and sediment fall short of where they must be to make cleanup by 2025 a reality. By EPA’s reckoning, Pennsylvania and Delaware were furthest off the mark, but Maryland, New York, Virginia, and West Virginia face EPA action if they fail to substantially improve their plans. Of the seven jurisdictions, only Washington, D.C. escaped serious criticism.

Environmental Law, Public Health, And The Values Conundrum, David M. Uhlmann

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

In September 1996, when I was nearing the end of my sixth year as a Justice Department environmental crimes prosecutor, one of my colleagues sent me an email that there was a “good-sounding RCRA [Resource Conservation and Recovery Act] knowing endangerment case developing in Idaho.” A twenty-year-old man named Scott Dominguez had collapsed inside a storage tank at an Idaho fertilizer manufacturing facility called Evergreen Resources. Mr. Dominguez could not be rescued for nearly an hour, because firefighters who responded to the scene did not know what was in the tank and what safety precautions they needed to take before …

Cashing In On Green: Casino Development And Sustainability, Emily Mikles

University of Baltimore Journal of Land and Development

The development of the Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore, MD has created its fair share of contention and controversy for local residents. The typical residential concerns surrounding casino development- disparate impacts on surrounding businesses, employment concerns, and economic impact-are not raising eyebrows in the Baltimore area; rather, residents are concerned about the environmental impacts of the casino construction and development project. Several lawsuits have been filed attempting to halt casino construction due to the chemical contaminants that are seeping into the soil and into the bay through storm drains. These suits raise an interesting issue that some state legislatures and casino …

Preface To Protecting The Environment Through Land Use Law: Standing Ground, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Protecting the Environment Through Land Use Law: Standing Ground takes a close look at the historical struggle of local governments to balance land development with natural resource conservation. This book updates and expands on his four previous books, which established a comprehensive framework for understanding the many ways that local land use authority can be used to preserve natural resources and environmental functions at the community level. Standing Ground describes in detail how localities are responding to new challenges, including the imperative that they adapt to and help mitigate climate change and create sustainable neighborhoods. This body of work emphasizes …

Hazard And Blight: Methamphetamine Waste's Insidious Persistence And Why The Federal Government Should Be Guided By Kentucky's Approach To Cleanse Natural Resources, Brandon Adcock

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

How Environmental Review Can Generate Car-Induced Pollution: A Case Study, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

The National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) requires federal officials to draft an environmental impact statement (“EIS”) describing the environmental impact of proposed federal actions that significantly affect the environment, as well as analyze the environmental impacts of alternatives to the proposed action. Almost two dozen states have adopted “little NEPA” statutes imposing similar requirements upon state and/or local governments.

This article focuses on one of the strictest little NEPA statutes: New York's State Environmental Quality Review Act (“SEQRA”). While most little NEPA statutes cover only government projects,SEQRA also covers private sector projects requiring municipal permits. Furthermore, SEQRA requires the government …

Plain Meaning, Precedent, And Metaphysics: Interpreting The “Pollutant” Element Of The Federal Water Pollution Offense, Jeffrey G. Miller

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article, the second in a series of five, examines the meaning of “pollutant” under the Clean Water Act. Congress and EPA have defined “pollutant” to mean a list of specific substances and broad categories of materials and wastes discharged into water, e.g., “biological materials” and “chemical wastes.” The definition is broad enough to encompass virtually all substances associated with human activity that are discharged to water, regardless of whether the substances cause pollution or are produced through human endeavor. Therefore, “pollutant” is rarely a limiting element. Instead, the issues with the definition of “pollutant” primarily address whether it includes …

See Repose Run: Setting The Boundaries Of The Rule Of Repose In Environmental Trespass And Nuisance Cases, Jill E. Evans

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Application of the rule of repose to environmental contamination claims for trespass and nuisance will preclude recovery for plaintiffs who discover the harm or injury outside the repose period. The rule of repose is subject neither to the discovery rule or other equitable tolling devices and runs from the date of the defendant’s culpable conduct. As a consequence, the rule extinguishes claims regardless of accrual of the cause of action. Environmental plaintiffs suffering property damage are particularly vulnerable to the repose bar as harm can occur over many years through the migration of unseen contaminants. Operation of the rule of …

Falling Behind: Processing And Enforcing Permits For Animal Agriculture Operations In Maryland Is Lagging, Rena I. Steinzor, Anne Havemann

Faculty Scholarship

After decades of failed interstate agreements, the Chesapeake Bay is choking on too many nutrients. The estuary’s last, best chance of recovery is the Environmental Protection Agency's Total Maximum Daily Load (“TMDL”) program, also known as a pollution diet. To meet this deadline, all polluters, including large animal farms, will need to sharply reduce the pollutants they release into the Bay. The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) must ensure that each Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (“CAFO”) has developed a facility-specific permit that details when and where manure is applied to fields and how waste is stored and handled. Then …

The Dormant Commerce Clause And California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard, Kathryn Abbott

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), enacted as part of the State’s pioneering Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32), purports to regulate the amount of carbon emissions associated with fuels consumed in the state. Part of this scheme involves assigning numeric scores to vehicle fuels reflecting the amount of carbon emissions associated with their production, transportation, and use. The scores are part of a “cap-and-trade” scheme to lower the state’s total amount of carbon emissions associated with fuel use. Out-of-state industry groups brought a challenge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, alleging that the …

Juxtaposing Nasa’S Aeronet Aod With Carb Pm Data Over The San Joaquin Valley To Facilitate Multi-Angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (Misr) Pm Pollution Research, John Kanemoto

STAR Program Research Presentations

Airborne particulate matter (PM) has been shown to increase the risk for asthma, chronic bronchitis, cardiopulmonary complications, and respiratory cell membrane damage/infection/leakage. PM levels are currently analyzed from two perspectives: stationary land-based monitoring (LBM) sites and total Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) atmospheric column measurements. Both perspectives often leave miles of space between measuring locations and will have a continually increasing cost from introducing/maintaining sites. The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) satellite team hopes to begin investigating/archiving PM levels comprehensively via inputting MISR AOD measurements into a function/model which predicts the amount of ground level PM.

In the future, multivariable spatial correlations …

An Act Of War: Finding A Meaning For What Congress Has Left Undefined, Desiree Gargano

Touro Law Review

There are often environmental concerns with any new construction project. One often unforeseen aspect of this is the liability that occurs after a building is destroyed. Property owners have generally faced strict liability for the release of hazardous waste under section 107 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. This Comment examines why the act of war defense has consistently failed and determines if the law places too high of a burden on property owners who assert this defense.

The Difficult Problem Of Nonpoint Nutrient Pollution: Could The Endangered Species Act Offer Some Relief?, Zdravka Tzankova

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Nutrient pollution of rivers, streams, lakes, and estuaries is one of the preeminent water quality issues in the United States today, and poses a significant threat to the health of aquatic ecosystems. Agricultural nonpoint discharges, the runoff of nitrogen and phosphorous from animal manure and chemical fertilizers, are the primary sources of such nutrient pollution.

A pervasive and long-standing problem, nonpoint pollution, nutrient and otherwise, has proven to be one of the toughest challenges in contemporary environmental regulation. This situation is significantly attributable to the political and administrative dynamics of fragmented regulatory authority. The power to control such nonpoint discharges …

Did We Miss The Boat? The Clean Water Act And Sustainability, Ryan P. Murphy

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Environmental Law At The Crossroads: Looking Back 25, Looking Forward 25, Richard J. Lazarus

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Twenty-five years used to seem like an exceedingly long time. It certainly did when I was graduating from law school and not yet twentyfive. My perspective on time, however, has (naturally) since evolved, much as environmental law itself and the controversies surrounding it have, too, evolved. The contrast between environmental law twenty-five years ago and environmental law today is remarkable and makes clear that environmental law and lawmaking were changing in fundamental ways a generation ago, but those changes are revealed only now with the aid of hindsight. To be sure, the statutory texts of domestic environmental law are strikingly …

Negotiating Better Superfund Settlements: Prospects And Protocols, Scott A. Cassel

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Climate Change Impacts And Nepa: Overcoming The Remote And Speculative Defense, Alana M. Wase

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Scopes Monkey Trial Revisited: How The Coal Industry And The Surface Mining States Ignore Science To The Detriment Of The Appalachian Environment, Sarah J. Surber

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Sustainable Production Of Swine: Putting Lipstick On A Pig?, Michelle B. Nowlin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Systems Of Carbon Trading, Dr. Bruno Zeller

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Shockwave: Lender Liability Under Cercla After United States V. Fleet Factors Corporation, Nicholas M. Kublicki

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Real Challenge To The Polish Revolution: Cleaning The Polish Environment Through Privatization And Preventive Market-Based Incentives, G. Nelson Smith Iii

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reimbursing Hazardous Waste Cleanup Costs Under Cercla: A Move Toward Re-Establishing A Faithful Application Of State Insurance Law, Gary M. Miller

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Is The United States V. Olin Decision Full Of Sound And Fury Signifying Nothing?: The Future Of Retroactive Liability Of The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, And Liability Act, Kevin J. Slattum

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Judicial Limitation Of The Epa's Oversight Authority In Clean Water Act Permitting Of Mountaintop Mining Valley Fills , Christopher D. Eaton

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Mountaintop removal mining operations in the Appalachian region have expanded significantly in recent decades. The practice decimates the mountain ecosystems by leveling forests, filling headwater streams, and producing significant runoff of heavy metals, sediment, and other pollutants that impair the aquatic environment of entire watersheds. Yet environmental permitting of the practice is relatively limited. A recent trend in litigation aimed at halting mining operations has involved challenging permits that authorize the discharge of mining overburden into headwater streams pursuant to the Clean Water Act (CWA). The Army Corps of Engineers has assumed jurisdiction over such discharges under section 404 of …

Of Coal, Climate And Carp: Reconsidering The Common Law Of Interstate Nuisance, Robert V. Percival

Faculty Scholarship

This paper argues that the common law of interstate nuisance remains an essential tool despite the rise of the modern regulatory state. In the rare cases when existing regulatory authorities fail to address emerging environmental problems, federal common law can serve as a backstop. When federal regulatory authorities are capable of addressing transboundary problems, but fail to do so, common law actions based on the law of source states remain a viable means of redress for states suffering significant harm from such pollution. Reconnecting the law of interstate nuisance to its historical roots, the paper concludes that the common law …

Slides: Hydrofracking: Air Issues And Community Exposure, Debra A. Kaden

Air Quality Impacts from Oil and Gas Development (January 27)

Presenter: Debra Kaden, Ph.D., Toxicologist, ENVIRON International Corporation, discusses air concentrations of chemicals of potential health concern surrounding oil and gas development activities, as well as temporal and spatial patterns of these chemicals in the ambient environment. Such information is necessary to evaluate possible health impacts of the drilling process on air in surrounding communities.

19 slides