Environmental Law Commons^™

Minnesota's Children: The True Cost Of Minnesota's Lead Problem, Kaitlin Yira

Mitchell Hamline Law Journal of Public Policy and Practice

No abstract provided.

Impact Fees, Bonding Reform, And Oil And Gas Development, Pete Morton Ph.D., Joe Kerkvliet Ph. D., Evan Hjerpe Ph.D.

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Covid-19 Infects The Fishing Industry: The Rise Of Illegal Fishing And The Waiver Of Fishery Observer Requirements, Maya Raphael

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Displacement And Preemption Of Climate Nuisance Claims, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

New York City and other municipalities have filed state-law-based nuisance suits against fossil fuel companies seeking compensatory damages for the consequences of climate change. Previous nuisance claims, filed under federal common law, were held to be displaced by federal environmental statutes. Defendants have argued that state-law-based claims should likewise be preempted. Yet while the enactment of federal regulatory statutes displaces federal common law actions for interstate pollution, such enactments do not necessarily preempt state common law actions, even where pollution crosses state boundaries, as it is more difficult to preempt state common law than it is to displace federal common …

Storm Warning: New Zealand's Treatment Of "Climate Refugee" Claims As A Violation Of Internatinal Law, Isabella Zink

American University International Law Review

As some countries begin to acknowledge the increasingly strong effects of climate change, others have struggled with its slow onset of effects for decades. Coastal communities, especially island nations at or slightly above sea level, face not only threats of flooding and damaging storms, but also rising sea levels jeopardizing soil and water health. As citizens of these coastal regions face increasing difficulty accessing food, water, and medical care, the United Nations‘ (“U.N.”) scientific bodies predict there will be staggering numbers of displaced persons within the next few decades. Island nations rising two meters above sea-level face total submersion by …

“Are We Just Going To Sit Back And Wait For ‘Regulatory Roller Coasters’ To Derail? Balancing Public Policy Vs. Fet Violations In Investment-Arbitration”, Gilberto Guerrero-Rocca

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

U.S. State-Based Wilderness Law: An Evaluation, Miranda Holeton, David Takacs

UC Law Environmental Journal

No abstract provided.

Tides Of Plastic: Using International Environmental Law To Reduce Marine Plastic Pollution, Mckayla Mcmahon

UC Law Environmental Journal

The oceans are drowning in plastic pollution. Although it is widely accepted that this pollution exists, international law falls short in protecting one of our most valued ecosystems. Countries differ in commitment and accountability, yet the ocean is a shared and valued resource. This paper seeks to differentiate the approaches made by Germany, Australia, and the Philippines to combat marine plastic and microplastic pollution. In the absence of robust international environmental law, individual country’s efforts can expand the customary principles and lead the international community to adopt effective, all-encompassing international policy. By mirroring successes and modifying individual country’s ineffective approaches, …

Centering Environmental Justice In California: Attempts And Opportunities In Ceqa, Lena Freij

UC Law Environmental Journal

Environmental justice communities and advocates have used the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) as a necessary tool to incorporate their concerns into agency decision-making. However, environmental justice is neither mentioned in the statutory language of CEQA, nor was it intended as a fundamental purpose of CEQA as an environmental review statute. Thus, in order to understand where CEQA reform would be most successful in serving communities that are disproportionately impacted by environmental burdens, CEQA’s history must be evaluated with comprehensive principles of environmental justice. As such, this paper explores why and how environmental justice principles can and should be implemented …

Adapting To A 4°C World, Clifford Villa

Faculty Scholarship

The Paris Agreement’s goal to hold warming to 1.5°-2°C above pre-industrial levels now appears unrealistic. Profs. Robin Kundis Craig and J.B. Ruhl have recently argued that because a 4°C world may be likely, we must recognize the disruptive consequences of such a world and respond by reimagining governance structures to meet the challenges of adapting to it. In this latest in a biannual series of essays, they and other members of the Environmental Law Collaborative explore what 4°C might mean for a variety of current legal doctrines, planning policies, governance structures, and institutions.

Don't Blame The Flint River, Clifford Villa

Faculty Scholarship

Since appearing in modern form fifty years ago, the Clean Water Act has proven a powerful force for environmental justice, helping to clean up urban waterways across the country. Through establishment of water quality standards and enforcement of regulatory requirements, the Clean Water Act has compelled public authorities and private companies to upgrade infrastructure and curtail
discharge of sewage and other industrial effluent. At the same time, urban communities have continued to struggle with water pollution beyond the reaches of the Clean Water Act. This Article briefly examines three such communities: the Anacostia area of Washington, D.C.; the neighborhoods along …

The Key Deer Is Headed For Extinction: How Repealing A Trump-Era Federal Rule Defining "Habitat" Could Allow Assisted Migration To Save Species Threatened By Climate Change, Kennedi Fichtel

St. Thomas Law Review

Climate change induced sea level rise is imminent. In fact, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has predicted that “[b]y 2045, the sea level in the Florida Keys will rise 15 inches . . . .” Such a projection usually invites questions about the implications for coastal residential homeowners. However, this projection means so much more for the voiceless inhabitants of the Florida Keys. Anthropogenic climate change that leads to sea level rise of this magnitude will be responsible for permanently destroying species’ habitats, and therefore impacting their ability to survive. For endangered and threatened species, this means extinction. As …

Nys Bar Association Annual Meeting Lecture Outline: The New Environmental Rights In Ny’S Constitutional Bill Of Rights, Nicholas A. Robinson

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

It is too easy this winter to miss the signature Human Rights event in New York, the overwhelming vote last November 4^th to recognizing the Human Right to the Environment. Competition for our attention is fierce: the Pandemic, political rivalries playing out in Washington, D.C., and angst about extreme weather events and other climate change impacts. So, I welcome this opportunity to illuminate the hope and promise of Article 1, Section 19 in New York’s Bill of Rights: “Each Person shall have a right to clean air and water, and a healthful environment.” Most New York lawyers have yet …

Equitable, Affordable And Climate-Cognizant Housing Construction, Shelby D. Green

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The almost universal sentiment by a growing body of physical and social scientists is that climate change--with its floods, drought, heat, and cold-- portend losses of life, communities, property, and the rhythms of living. Some are more vulnerable to these impacts than others: individuals and the poor, who through official government policy and self-interest in the housing markets, have been relegated to live in poorly-constructed and poorly-placed structures--in the wake of ocean surges; in the path of strong winds; near hazardous and noxious facilities; stranded in urban heat islands. Failing to heed climate change omens will lead to a world …

Adaptive Rezoning For Social Equity, Affordability And Resilience, Shelby D. Green

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In this Article, I will show how the legacies of the institutional barriers to housing still persist to deprive many of the predicates for economic thriving and personal flourishing and how existing zoning philosophy cannot be justified by the need to protect health and safety. Righting the inequities of the past and of the present will require dismantling some of the institutions, apparently legitimate and well-meaning, but operating devilishly to create and perpetuate hardship and exclusion. This will require laying bare the institutions to reveal their ignoble essence. We need a radical overhaul of the historic zoning regime from one …

Rate Base The Charge Space: The Law Of Utility Ev Infrastructure Investment, Adam D. Orford

Faculty Scholarship

To fight climate change and support the transition to a zero- emissions transportation sector, the United States is setting out to build a huge fleet of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. But EV charging infrastructure—often called EV supply equipment (EVSE)—is expensive, and how to pay for it is not straightforward. This Article explores the emerging law and policy of using the bill payments of millions of electric utility customers to solve the problem. State utility regulators, in obscure technical proceedings, have begun directing billions of ratepayer dollars toward EVSE. Is this an unfair and risky social spending experiment, as its …

Clean Air Act Section 115: Is The Ipcc A “Duly Constituted International Agency”?, Adam D. Orford

Faculty Scholarship

Does the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) receipt of the Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) trigger the agency’s duties under Section 115 of the Clean Air Act? The law requires EPA to take action to prevent or eliminate air pollution endangering the public health or welfare of foreign nationals under certain circumstances. If triggered, the argument goes, the law could justify, or compel, EPA’s imposition of nationwide greenhouse gas regulation to combat climate change. One way to do so is to trigger EPA’s duties “upon receipt of reports, surveys or studies from any duly constituted international …

An American Dream Gone Green: A Discussion Of Existing Environmental Marketing Regulations And The Need For Stricter Legislation, Christian Robledo

Touro Law Review

Many consumers seek to purchase environmentally friendly products and companies have responded with “green” marketing, which includes claims of environmental benefits and sustainability with respect to what is being sold. Unfortunately, these claims often overstate their impact on the environment or are presented in a way to mislead consumers. This practice is referred to as greenwashing. Not only does it harm consumers, but it potentially harms the reputation of truly eco-friendly companies that are viewed with skepticism or outright distrust due to the deceitfulness of companies that do engage in greenwashing.

This Note discusses the lack of legislation that currently …

Evaluating Project Need For Natural Gas Pipelines In An Age Of Climate Change, Alexandra B. Klass

Law & Economics Working Papers

As the Biden administration attempts to make climate change the focus of many aspects of its domestic and international agenda, an independent federal regulatory agency—the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)—finds itself at the center of debates over the nation’s energy policies and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Under Sections 4 and 5 of the Natural Gas Act of 1938, FERC has the authority and obligation to ensure that rates, charges, and rules relating to interstate natural gas sales and transportation are just, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory. Under Section 7 of the Natural Gas Act, FERC also has the authority to grant certificates …

Whither The Lofty Goals Of The Environmental Laws?: Can Statutory Directives Restore Purposivism When We Are All Textualists Now?, Stephen M. Johnson

Articles

Congress set ambitious goals to protect public health and the environment when it enacted the federal environmental laws through bipartisan efforts in the 1970s. For many years, the federal courts interpreted the environmental laws to carry out those enacted purposes. Over time, however, courts greatly reduced their focus on the environmental and public health purposes of the environmental laws when interpreting those statutes due to the rise in textualism, the declining influence of the Chevron doctrine, and the increasing willingness of courts to defer to agency underenforcement of statutory responsibilities across all regulatory statutes.

In 2020, the Environmental Protection Network, …

Advancing Positive Water Rights, Allyson E. Gold, Srinivas Parinandi, Allen Slater, Tyler Garrett

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Authority, Common Resources, And The Climate, Anthony L. Moffa

Faculty Publications

This work sets out to re-examine and challenge the history of the property clause with an eye towards increased congressional reliance on it in the face of daunting threats to our natural environment. No one could seriously question the primary motivations of the Framers, but that does not foreclose the importance of searching for secondary motivations that deepen our understanding of arguably the Constitution’s most explicitly environmental provision. Eugene Gaetke’s work in the 1980’s and Peter Appel’s work twenty years later laid the groundwork for the argument here by pushing back on the originalist argument for a narrow interpretation of …

A Cost To Bear—Environmental Contamination And Eminent Domain, Evan C. Heaney

Seattle University Law Review

This Note advocates for Washington courts to adopt a system that universally allows evidence of environmental contamination on the private property taken in eminent domain proceedings. Part I of this Note discusses the history and progression of eminent domain and the broader constitutional roots of the Takings Clause. Part II explores Washington’s environmental remediation statute. Part III details the various approaches jurisdictions around the county have formulated to deal with this issue. Part IV argues Washington courts should adopt the inclusionary approach, which allows the introduction of environmental evidence in eminent domain proceedings.

Taxing, Regulating, And Trading Carbon: An Introduction To The Symposium, Timothy Meyer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Green Police In The Golden State: An Analysis Of The Criminal Enforcement Of Environmental Law In The State Of California, Joshua Ozymy, Melissa Jarrell Ozymy

UC Law Environmental Journal

The use of criminal enforcement tools is necessary for deterring and punishing environmental offenses involving significant harm or culpable conduct. Yet we have very limited empirical knowledge of how the criminal enforcement of environmental laws has functioned historically in the Golden State. Through content analysis of prosecution summaries for every federal criminal investigation undertaken by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the State of California that led to criminal prosecution, 1983-2019, we are able to provide a comprehensive account of what laws are violated, how prosecutors charge environmental criminals, and how these criminals are sentenced, illustrating broader themes in …

Four Perspectives On A Sustainable Future In Nosara, Costa Rica, Greg Munno, Álvaro Salas Castro, Tina Nabatchi, Christian M. Freitag

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The town of Nosara on Costa Rica’s Nicoya peninsula is home to a vibrant community of diverse residents and is adjacent to an important turtle nesting site. However, tensions between lifelong residents, more recent transplants, visitors, and developers have increased as more of the world discovers this once-isolated haven. Climate change, income inequality, and alienation from a distant government apparatus have further complicated effective land-use planning and fractured social cohesion. Using a mixed-method approach of in-depth interviews (n = 67), Q methodology (n = 79), and public deliberation (n = 88), we explored residents’ priorities for the future of their …

Information As Power: Democratizing Environmental Data, Annie Brett

Utah Law Review

Environmental data systems have largely escaped scrutiny in the past decades. But these systems are the foundations for evaluating environmental priorities, making management decisions, and deciding which perspectives to value. Information is the foundation of effective regulation. The decisions regulators make about gathering, assimilating, and sharing information are, in many cases, determinative of the outcomes they reach. This is certainly true in the case of the environment.

This paper looks at how current environmental regulation has created data systems that undermine scientific legitimacy and systematically prevent stakeholder participation in environmental decision-making. These data systems concentrate power within federal and state …

The Clean Water Act And The Ocean: An Unfulfilled Promise, Robin Kundis Craig

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Playing The Long Game: Expediting Permitting Without Compromising Protections, Jamie Pleune

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

The Biden Administration’s efforts to expedite a transition to clean energy have prompted calls for permit reform. Clean energy relies heavily upon critical minerals and transitioning to a clean energy economy demands a global increase in mineral production. Some commentators suggest that environmental standards must be loosened in order to achieve efficiency. This premise offers short term gain in exchange for long-term pain. It also poses a false dilemma by failing to distinguish between productive and unproductive causes of delay in the permitting process. The permit process creates opportunities to eliminate, reduce, or mitigate risks. These opportunities may cause short-term …

Massachusetts V. Epa: A Pyrrhic Victory For Climate Change Litigation, Andrew J. Biggs

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.