Environmental Law Commons^™

Updating The Building Code To Include Indoor Farming Operations, Clint Simpson

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Urban agricultural production has grown to be a critical tool in the battles for food security and sustainability. A common regulatory barrier to urban agricultural operations big and small has been ambiguity in land-use laws. Local governments are increasingly friendly toward community gardens, small greenhouse farming operations, farmers markets, and the like. Many have sought to lift regulatory restrictions and provide clarity in the law. However, while these efforts benefit a multitude of local food production efforts, they do little to address the regulatory ambiguities faced by commercial-scale, indoor farming operations, especially vertical farms. Particularly concerning to indoor vertical farms …

Raping Indian Country, Sarah Deer, Elizabeth Kronk Warner

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

In this article, we have examined the policies of the Trump Administration as they relate to extractive development on and near Indian country, and policies related to the protection of Native people from rape and sexual assault. As demonstrated above, the Administration’s policies are likely to increase both the environmental and physical vulnerabilities of Native people. Native people will not only likely face exasperated physical insecurity, but their environments will likely be increasingly stripped on natural resources. As a result, the raping of Indian county continues. But, this article is not without hope. At least two ways forward, improvements upon …

Contents, Journal Editors

Journal of Food Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Editorial Board, Journal Editors

Journal of Food Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Aligning Investment Treaties With Sustainable Development Goals, Lise Johnson, Lisa E. Sachs, Nathan Lobel

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Policy makers and other stakeholders are currently asking fundamental questions about whether and to what extent international investment agreements (IIAs) are consistent with and are helping to advance sustainable development objectives at home and abroad.

A 2019 paper from CCSI examines the alignment of IIAs with the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, arguing that while FDI will play an important role in advancing development outcomes, existing treaties must be reformed and future IIAs reimagined in order to achieve deep alignment with the sustainable development goals.

The paper proposes that IIAs should be designed and evaluated with respect to their ability to …

The Simultaneous Pursuit Of Cost Recovery And Contribution Under Cercla: Making Sense Of Cercla's Private Party Remedies In The Aftermath Of Atlantic Research, Eric A. Degroff

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

Manufacturing Consent To Climate Inaction: A Case Study Of The Globe And Mail ’S Pipeline Coverage, Jason Maclean

Dalhousie Law Journal

Canada has long been a climate change policy laggard. Canada is among the world’s poorest-performing countries in terms of climate action—not only is Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions-reduction target under the Paris Agreement insufficiently ambitious, Canada is not even remotely on track to meet it. Canada’s enduring inaction on climate change is legitimized and sustained by its mainstream corporate news media, which contribute to the oil and gas industry’s capture of Canadian climate and energy policy. In this article, I examine how Canada’s leading national newspaper, The Globe and Mail, editorially framed the completion of the controversial expansion of the Trans …

Corporate Risk And Climate Impacts To Critical Energy Infrastructure In Canada, Rudiger Tscherning

Dalhousie Law Journal

Recent climate events such as Hurrican Harvey in Texas foreshadow the dangers that could result from critical energy infrastructure failure in Canada due to physical impacts caused by climate change. This article examines the types of climate impacts that could affect critical energy infrastructure in Canada. The article argues that these impacts translate into three types of corporate risk to the owners and operators of the critical asset: economic risks to the infrastructure asset; management and operational risks to the corporation; and risks arising from corporate disclosure obligations. Applying the theoretical approach of "risk management," the article concludes that, on …

Journal Of Food Law & Policy - Fall 2019, Journal Editors

Journal of Food Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

School Of Law Faculty And Professional Staff, Journal Editors

Journal of Food Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Science And Risk Analysis In Cptpp/Sps-Plus: Role Model Or Unbearable Burden?, Kuei-Jung Ni

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Trade in food and agricultural products accounts for a major part of global trade, and the trade continues to alert domestic consumers to the risks associated with modern food processing and production methods. The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), now rebranded as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), represents a new model of mega-regional trade pacts posed to set higher standards for promoting and streamlining trade liberalization. Because of concerns with national food safety regulations that could constitute forms of non-tariff barriers, the CPTPP, in contrast to the World Trade Organization (WTO), stipulates further rules on parties’ sanitary …

The Marketing Of Self-Care And Alternative Therapies In The U.S. In 2019: How Industry Stakeholders Appeal To Consumers’ Perceptions Of Novel Food Products And Additives, Melanie Marie Glover

Journal of Food Law & Policy

This article examines the current marketing techniques of food products and additives in the growing self-care industry in print and digital formats. It assesses how well consumers understand such advertising tactics, and what the industry and federal government agencies are doing (or not doing) to help consumers be mindful and savvy about their purchase choices. The discussion further showcases hot-topic food products and additives including CBD, Kratom, and plant-based meat as examples of both regulatory risk and opportunity. Lastly, the article advocates a collaborative effort among federal government agencies (FDA, FTC, USDA, etc.), industry stakeholders, and the public to help …

Going Hemp Wild: Understanding The Challenges And Opportunities For Fda Regulation Of Cbd In Food Products, Hannah Catt

Journal of Food Law & Policy

After the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, champions of hemp began to tout opportunities for farmers and businesses involved with the crop. The industry has rallied around one of hemp’s major byproducts, cannabidiol, or CBD. However, the demand for CBD has left the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) playing catch-up. This article explains what CBD is, how it is derived, current FDA-approved uses, and a current path forward for the FDA in creating guidance for industry and consumers.

Agricultural Exceptionalism And Industrial Animal Food Production: Exploring The Human Rights Nexus, Charlotte E. Blattner, Odile Ammann

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The host of negative effects of animal agriculture on the immediate environment, workers, and local communities are well-documented, yet little is known about the global repercussions of animal agriculture, especially on human rights guarantees. This contribution attempts to begin filling this soaring gap. It examines the nexus between industrial animal agriculture (with a focus on concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)) on the one hand, and specific international human rights violations on the other hand. Our emphasis is on the role of government in producing these violations, rather than on the agribusiness itself. Laws originally designed to govern small family farms—so-called …

Critical Issues In Transportation 2019: Climate Change Resilience, Vicki Arroyo

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The climate is rapidly changing, bringing more frequent and extreme floods, droughts, and heatwaves, along with stronger hurricanes and more intense wildfires. Each year brings new record-breaking weather extremes; in the first six months of 2019, for example, a record number of U.S. counties flooded. July 2019 was the hottest month ever recorded for the world as a whole (1). Climate change is also melting glaciers, reducing the amount of sea ice, and raising sea levels, bringing devastation to coastal areas. From Louisiana to Alaska, many coastal communities are forced to make difficult decisions about whether to relocate …

The Hard Look Doctrine: How Disparate Impact Theory Can Inform Agencies On Proper Implementation Of Nepa Regulations, Monica Mercola

Journal of Law and Policy

Executive Order 12898—Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations—was issued to achieve “environmental protection for all communities” by drawing federal agencies’ attention to the environmental and human health effects brought about by their actions. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) sets forth a detailed process which aims to ensure that each agency will have available, and will consider, a carefully detailed compilation of information concerning significant environmental impacts resulting from federal actions before taking those actions. Realizing the Executive Order’s goal, however, is rendered problematic, in part because of the difficulty in challenging an Environmental …

Virginia Uranium, Inc. V. Warren, Nyles G. Greer

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Supreme Court of the United States recently ruled that the Atomic Energy Act did not preempt a Virginia law prohibiting uranium mining in the Commonwealth. The Court held that although the Act delegated substantial power over the nuclear life cycle to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, it offered no indication that Congress sought to strip states of their traditional power to regulate mining on private lands within their borders.

"The Weak Are Meat, And The Strong Do Eat"; Representations Of The Slaughterhouse In Twentieth And Twenty-First Century Literature, Stephanie Lance

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores how literary representations of the slaughterhouse predict the trajectory of human greed that is fueled by capitalist economic practices that shape environmental policies. I argue that literature brings attention to what is generally hidden from public view: the way humans and animals are erased in the production of food, which includes the inhumane treatment of humans and other animals in the slaughterhouse. The literature in this dissertation provides an avenue through which we can investigate the entangled oppression of humans and other animals in an effort to challenge perceptions that reduce animals, and marginalized humans, to objects. …

Preview—County Of Maui, Hawaii V. Hawaii Wildlife Fund: Clean Water Act Regulation Of Point Source Pollution Conveyed Through Groundwater, Connlan W. Whyte

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Supreme Court of the United States will hear oral arguments in this matter on Wednesday, November 6, 2019, at 10:00 a.m. at the Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. Elbert Lin will likely appear for the Petitioner. David Lane Henkin will likely appear for the Respondents. Solicitor General, Noel J. Francisco, will argue on behalf of the United States.

Wildearth Guardians V. Zinke, Emily M. Mcculloch

Public Land & Resources Law Review

WildEarth Guardians v. Zinke marks an important decision prompting the Bureau of Land Management to seriously consider greenhouse gas emissions when performing environmental assessments for oil and gas leasing. WildEarth Guardians and Physicians for Social Responsibility, two non-profit organizations, asserted BLM improperly failed to recognize greenhouse gas emissions and their impacts on climate change when issuing oil and gas leases in three western states. The United States District Court for the District of Columbia agreed, finding that by failing to take a hard look at environmental impacts from its leasing decisions, BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act’s requirements.

Citizens For Clean Energy V. United States Department Of The Interior, Anthony Reed

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In 2017, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke issued a new order lifting the previous administration’s 2016 Jewell Order that had placed a moratorium on mineral leases until a programmatic EIS was completed. The new order repealed the moratorium, cancelled the programmatic EIS, and instructed the BLM to expedite new mineral lease applications. Several plaintiffs challenged Zinke’s order, and the United States District Court for the District of Montana ruled that it was a major federal action that triggered NEPA analysis and that the agency acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it issued the order without any environmental review.

The Methodologist For Regulation A New Policy Of Ship Recycling In Indonesia Based On Hkc 2009, Hadi Prabowo

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Decline Of Denali’S Wolves: Federal Options In The Face Of Non-Cooperative Wildlife Federalism, Catherine Danley

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

The Implications Of Environmental Law And Latino Property Rights On Modern-Age Border Security: Rejecting A Physical Border And Embracing A Virtual Wall, Kevin Hernandez

Student Scholarship

For many, the construction of a physical border is a rational solution to national security concerns at the southern border. However, there is much evidence indicating that the negative impacts of building a physical border wall far outweigh its benefits. Particularly, the border region’s eco-systems have much to lose in the form of extinctions, biodiversity reduction, and critical habitat destruction. On top of that, a number of Latino communities would be the victims of various eminent domain claims that would strip them of land that, in many cases, has been in their family for multiple gener- ations. The broad, almost …

Federal Environmental Exemptions For Natural Disasters And The Case For Ecosystem Resilience, Morgan Drake

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Preview—Murray V. Bej Minerals, Llc: Finding A Home For Fossils, Layne L. Ryerson

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Montana Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in this matter on Thursday, November 7, 2019 at 9:30 AM in the courtroom of the Montana Supreme Court, Joseph P. Mazurek Building, Helena, Montana. The Honorable Olivia Rieger will hear the case in place of Justice Jim Rice, who recused himself. Eric B. Wolff is expected to argue for the Appellants. Harlan B. Krogh is expected to argue for the Appellees.

Legal Frameworks & Foreign Investment: A Primer On Governments’ Obligations, Kaitlin Y. Cordes, Lise Johnson, Sam Szoke-Burke, Rumbidzaii Mawen

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Legal frameworks, and how they interact, are often invisible in the day to day. Yet they are powerful forces that influence government actions and that help to shape who benefits and who loses from foreign investment. Understanding these legal frameworks, and how they interact, is critical for anyone concerned with how foreign investment can be better harnessed to support, rather than weaken, sustainable development and human rights.

This primer provides a brief overview of host government obligations under international investment law, international human rights law, domestic law, and relevant investor-state contracts. It also highlights some of the ways in which …

Outcome Report On The Climate Crisis, Global Land Use And Human Rights Conference, Mateusz Kasprowicz, Sam Szoke-Burke, Kaitlin Y. Cordes

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

On September 27^th, the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI), the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Landesa, the New York City Bar Association International Environmental Law Committee, and Wake Forest Law School hosted a day-long conference on the intersection between land use, the climate crisis and clean energy transition, and human rights.

Held at the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice, the conference brought together individuals from civil society organizations, governments, and academia, as well as lawyers, climate scientists, land-rights experts, indigenous representatives and other stakeholder groups. The panelists analyzed the critical role that land plays in …

Environmental Injustice: How Treaties Undermine The Right To A Healthy Environment, Lisa E. Sachs, Lise Johnson, Ella Merrill

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Our planet faces unprecedented threats, including irreversible global warming, loss in biodiversity, and water pollution and water scarcity. The impacts of these environmental crises also threaten human rights and exacerbate inequality. Slowing these worsening environmental trends – and addressing the impacts of environmental change on populations – will require cumulative policy responses at the national and international level.

Konkola Copper Mines Plc V Nyasulu And 2000 Others Appeal No. 1/2012, Pamela Towela Sambo

SAIPAR Case Review

No abstract provided.