Environmental Law Commons^™

Equipping The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation For The Low-Carbon Transition: How Are Other National Oil Companies Adapting?, Perrine Toledano, Martin Dietrich Brauch, Tehtena Mebratu-Tsegaye, Francisco Javier Pardinas Favela

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC) persistent governance challenges have both hampered Nigeria’s oil sector development and deprived the country of public resources. The oil, climate, and COVID-19 crises and the ramp-up of the low-carbon transition exacerbate this reality, with the national oil company (NOC) delivering sub-optimal returns to its stakeholders.

Other NOCs have taken meaningful steps to become players in the low-carbon energy transition domestically or in­ternationally – for example, Sau­di Arabia’s Saudi Aramco, Norway’s Equinor, Brazil’s Petrobras, Malaysia’s Petronas, and Algeria’s Sonatrach. These NOCs can serve as sources of inspiration for NNPC. These five NOCs have also undergone …

Mining And The Sdgs: A 2020 Status Update, Responsible Mining Foundation, Columbia Center On Sustainable Investment

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

In September 2015, the UN member states agreed on a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which represent the global agenda for equitable, socially inclusive, and environmentally sustainable economic development until 2030. Mining companies have the potential to become leading partners in achieving the SDGs. Through their direct operations, mining companies can generate profits, employment, and economic growth in low-income countries. And through partnerships with government and civil society, mining companies can ensure that benefits of mining extend beyond the life of the mine itself, so that the mining industry has a positive impact on the natural environment, climate …

Getting The Most Out Of Extractive Industries Transparency: How A More Explicit Treatment Of Political Considerations Could Strengthen The Impact Of Transparency Efforts, Columbia Center On Sustainable Investment

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Work on transparency in the extractive industries (EI) has achieved important successes over the last two decades. For example, significant commitments to disclosure have been secured, the volume of publicly available information about critical activities has increased considerably, and norms around certain information being in the public domain have been established. There is also a growing library of use cases for this information. Nonetheless, important work remains to be done to translate these efforts into impact.

Political context is crucial to determining the fate of transparency efforts. Therefore, grappling with political context more effectively will also be key to unlocking …

Natural Resources And Natural Law Part Ii: The Public Trust Doctrine, Robert W. Adler

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Natural Resources and Natural Law Part I: Prior Appropriation analyzed claims by some western ranchers, grounded in natural law, that they have property rights in grazing resources on federal public lands through prior appropriation. Those individuals advocated their position in part through civil disobedience and armed standoffs with federal officials. They also asserted that their duty to obey theistic natural law overrode any duty to obey the Nation’s positive law. Similar claims that individual religious beliefs override positive law have been made recently regarding a range of other controversial issues, such as same-sex marriage, public insurance for birth control, and …

Transportation In A Changing Climate: Innovating To Create Resilient, Low-Carbon Systems, Vicki Arroyo, Annie Bennett

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The climate is changing rapidly, bringing new temperature highs and weather extremes and affecting every individual, community, and sector of society—including transportation. Although, at times, climate change may feel like an insurmountable challenge, humanity is resilient and innovative. Transportation ultimately is about people: connecting people to places, to goods and services, and to each other. Because of its central role in the functioning of society, the transportation system—including its infrastructure, networks, and workforce—is an essential part of addressing and responding to climate change.

This article discusses challenges and opportunities for building resilient and low-carbon transportation solutions in the United States.

Improving Climate Change Mitigation Analysis: A Framework For Examining Feasibility, Michael P. Vandenbergh, Kristian S. Nielsen, Et. Al.

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Limiting global warming to 2`C or less compared with pre-industrial temperatures will require unprecedented rates of decarbonization globally. The scale and scope of transformational change required across sectors and actors in society raises critical questions of feasibility. Much of the literature on mitigation pathways addresses technological and economic aspects of feasibility, but overlooks the behavioral, cultural, and social factors that affect theoretical and practical mitigation pathways. We present a tripartite framework that ‘‘unpacks’’ the concept of mitigation pathways by distinguishing three factors that together determine actual mitigation: technical potential, initiative feasibility, and behavioral plasticity. The framework aims to integrate and …

V.11, 2020 Masthead

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

No abstract provided.

Heated Conflict: Investor-Owned Utility Liability For California Wildfires Under The Doctrine Of Inverse Condemnation, Samir A. Hafez, Jr.

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

This Article addresses California Investor-Owned Utilities’ liability for wildfire damage due to equipment failure and mismanagement. Part II highlights the doctrine of inverse condemnation and how California Courts apply the doctrine to cases involving investor-owned utilities. Part III provides an overview of the statutory and regulatory provisions that govern how a utility may recover costs through customer rates. Part IV addresses the apparent conflict between these frameworks and how utilities and regulators have sought to reconcile this conflict. Part V concludes with an overview and discussion of SB 901 which seeks to maintain utility financial stability while holding the entities …

Energy Efficiency And Distributed Solar Energy Targeted To Underserved Communities: Perspectives On The Illinois Future Energy Jobs Act, Leroy C. (Lee) Paddock

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

This Article focuses on one of the most comprehensive state laws adopted to date, aimed at significantly advancing energy efficiency and distributed solar generation in underserved communities, the Illinois Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA). It begins by examining what constitutes energy justice and then discusses the disproportionate burdens and benefits related to energy production and use that underserved communities must deal with on a day-to-day basis. The Article then turns to a review of FEJA with a particular emphasis on the critical role community organizations played in designing, negotiating, and implementing the law. These efforts represent important development in both …

Climate-Change Related "Non-Economic Loss And Damage" And The Limits Of Law, Anastasia Telesetsky

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

This article examines the concept of “loss and damage” in a world where climate impacts are being experienced over multiple years increasingly at the community level and, as in the case of Mozambique’s lengthy recovery from Cyclone Idai, at a national level. As climate impacts increase in prevalence, policymakers are focusing greater attention on how to address the destruction and depletion from “natural” events, where the severity and frequency of these events have been exacerbated by human-fueled climate change. There is a growing recognition that these types of ongoing climate-related “problems of loss cannot be analytically or ethically assigned to …

The Ninth Circuit Expands The Mining Law's Extralateral Rights Doctrine To Pegmatite Dikes, Mahdi Ibrahim, Judge Robert C. Coates

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

What happens when a miner strikes gold (metaphorically and sometimes literally speaking) under someone else’s land? As the Latin maxim states, “cuius est solum, eius est usque ad coelum et ad inferos,” which translates to “whoever owns [the] soil, [it] is theirs all the way [up] to Heaven and [down] to Hell.” It would seem the answer to who has a right to minerals below their property would be straight forward based on this Latin maxim. However, this is not truly the case. Over the last century, courts have expanded the idea of “extralateral rights” and allowed an adjacent landowner …

Preemptive Attack: California's Sb 100, The Fpa, And Combatting Climate Change, Charles Kreuzberger

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

The United States contributes fifteen percent of the world’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while making up only four percent of the world’s population. In recent years, the United States has made progress towards reducing the amount of GHGs we put into the atmosphere. However, there is the fear that the current administration is attempting to curtail regulations.

In 1935, the federal government passed the Federal Power Act creating two distinct jurisdictions over the energy market. This was in response to a gap in jurisdictional coverage between the states and federal government known as the Attleboro Gap. Interstate wholesale sales were …

Irena At 10: Post Paris Transitions And Energy Diplomacy Beyond Opec, The Energy Charter Treaty, And The Coronavirus, Nadia B. Ahmad

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

In understanding the post Paris energy transitions, this Article analyzes the intergovernmental organization, IRENA, as a means of working toward sustainable energy. Clean energy is an alternative to carbon emissions from fossil fuel extraction and generation. This Article looks at the formation and rise of IRENA and how the silencing of the climate controversy may continue to improve its efficacy. In other words, IRENA has steered away from the controversy of climate change i.e. climate denial. This Article will proceed in five parts. Part I explores the formation of IRENA and the positive outcomes of renewable energy deployment. Part II …

The Great Debate, Dorothy Bradley

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Polly Holmes: When The Smoke Began To Clear, Hal Harper, Krys Holmes

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

If You're Old Enough To Fight, You're Old Enough To Vote, Bob Brown

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Montana's Need For Change: A Historical Context For "To Make A Better Place.", Evan D. Barrett

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Earth Day 1970, Dorothy Bradley

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Alice Creek — 1970 Montana Confronts The Copper Giant, James D. Moore

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Quotes And Acknowledgments

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Letter From The Editor

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Dedication

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Editors And Staff Members

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Defence Of Necessity And Addressing Climate Change: A Canadian Case, David Gooderham

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Protecting Esa-Listed Bull Trout In The Face Of Climate Change: Can The Endangered Species Act And The Clean Water Act Do Their Part?, Jonathan Drake Ph.D J.D.

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

How The West Is Won: Advancing Water Law For Watershed Health, Laura Ziemer, Timothy Hawkes, Michelle Bryan, Kevin Rechkoff

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Environmental Stewardship Of Public Lands? The Decline Of Westslope Cutthroat Trout Along The Eastern Slopes Of The Rocky Mountains In Alberta, Shawn C. Fluker, David W. Mayhood

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Bringing Back The Great Bear: Challenges And Opportunities Of Grizzly Restoration In The Northern Rockies, Thomas France Esq., Dan Brister Esq., Ms.

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Other Non-Renewable Resource: Cultural Resource Protection In A Changing Energy Future, Wesley J. Furlong

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.