Agriculture Law Commons^™

Legitimacy, Legality, Legacy, And The Life Of Democracy, Joshua Ulan Galperin

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The Trump Administration challenged notions of good governance. It challenged our expectation of majoritarian legitimacy to the extent only a minority of voters elected President Donald Trump in 2016. It challenged our demands for reasoned decision-making insofar as the President sought to dismantle the administrative state and govern by fiat. It challenged our expectation of checks and balances in the way it approached appointments and removals to accumulate power at the expense of congressional design. These challenges sound in different legal theories, but they all reflect shattered expectations of good governance. And yet, the most lasting legacy of the Trump …

Responsible Coffee Sourcing: Towards A Living Income For Producers, Kaitlin Y. Cordes, Margaret Sagan, Solina Kennedy

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Coffee, one of the world’s most popular beverages, provides livelihoods for at least 60 million people across dozens of countries. Promoting the long-term health, wellbeing, and environmental sustainability of the much beloved coffee sector should be a clear priority.

CCSI has continued its work on coffee sustainability with a 2021 report: “Responsible Coffee Sourcing: Towards a Living Income for Producers.” The report focuses on a critical but under-examined topic: the impact of coffee company sourcing practices on coffee producer and farmworker well-being. The report, commissioned by a long-term investment manager, analyzes the sourcing practices of ten large coffee roasters and …

Free, Prior, And Informed Consent: A Struggling International Principle, Emily M. Mcculloch

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Localizing Energy Independence: How Purpa And Community Power Legislation Can Drive Development Of Resilient And Reliable Local Clean Energy Projects, Lowell J. Chandler

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Science Under Assault - Reflections On "The War On The Epa: America's Endangered Environmental Protections", Sara A. Colangelo

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Bridges To A New Era: A Report On The Past, Present, And Potential Future Of Tribal Co-Managment On Federal Public Lands, Monte Mills, Martin Nie

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Public Trust Doctrine Fifty Years After Sax And Some Thoughts On Its Future, Michael C. Blumm, Zachary A. Schwartz

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Protecting The Right To Food In The Era Of Covid-19 And Beyond, Ying Chen

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Climate Change, Competition & Conflict Along The River Nile: The Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam & Shifting Customary International Water Law, Salma Shitia

Fordham Environmental Law Review

Decade-long negotiations between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia surround the decision to build the hydroelectric power plant along the River Nile. For much of Ethiopia, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam represents a beacon of prosperity. For countless Egyptians, the structure embodies a potential catastrophe. Grounded in threats of displacement for Egyptian agricultural communities, some have compared the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam crisis to disasters culminating in mass migration.

This battle for natural resource access has intensified as climate change exacerbates the region’s dire conditions. Specifically, exhaustible resource allocation amid climate change indicates that …

A Paper Tiger? Prosecutorial Regulators In China’S Civil Environmental Public Interest Litigations, Chunyan Ding, Huina Xiao

Fordham Environmental Law Review

In July 2015, China’s national legislature brought in prosecutor-led civil environmental public interest litigation (“EPIL”) for thirteen selected provincial areas of the country. After a two-year legal experiment, this prosecutor-led civil EPIL system was then established nationwide in July 2017. Yet, can it be said that prosecutorial regulators in China are in fact a paper tiger? Drawing upon content analysis of the 655 prosecutor-led civil EPILs and in-depth interviews with twelve frontline prosecutors and judges, this article examines the dynamics of regulatory practice and the motivation of the Chinese prosecutorial organs to engage in environmental regulation through litigation. Based upon …

The Yoga Analogy: Scaling-Up The U.S.’S Renewable Energy Sector Mindfully With New Technologies, Evolving Standards, Public Buy-In, Data Sharing, And Innovation Clusters, Kimberly E. Diamond

Fordham Environmental Law Review

This paper focuses on innovative renewable energy devices, exploring how scientifically-based industry standards that continuously evolve with engineering design technology, the public’s buy-in and feeling of connectedness with groundbreaking devices, and innovation clusters that accelerate device development through data sharing and public-private partnerships can all help advance the U.S.’s domestic renewable energy industry.

Part I analyzes challenges inherent to scaling- up novel renewable energy technologies while simultaneously developing the industry standards regulating them. Part II uses the Block Island Wind Farm, an offshore wind demonstration project, and Pavegen’s globally-deployed arrays of piezoelectric smart flooring tiles as examples illustrating the importance …

Environmental Racism: Using Environmental Planning To Lift People Out Of Poverty, And Re-Shape The Effects Of Climate Change & Pollution In Communities Of Color,, William C.C. Kemp-Neal

Fordham Environmental Law Review

In the mid-1900s the United States began to see a rise in concern for environmental awareness issues. In the early days the movement focused on things like clean air, water and pollution but by the 1970s-1990s many prominent environmental awareness groups began to form focused on the idea that in order to avert climate change the principal goal needed to be to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. In 1987 a report was released called Toxic Waste and Race, which outlined an intimate link between the placement of environmental hazardous waste sites in communities of color, and greater instances of polluted …

Beyond Equity: Shared Natural Resources And Human Rights, Criminal Law, And The Use Of Force, Eian Katz

Fordham Environmental Law Review

Transboundary resource disputes are often analyzed by reference to two nebulous and conflicting principles that have emerged in international environmental law: “equitable and reasonable utilization” and “no significant harm.” Frequently overlooked in this context is the potential value of other canons of international law—especially human rights law, criminal law, and the rules governing the use of force—in adding definition to the muddled contours of these foundational precepts. This Article therefore undertakes an assessment of sovereign rights and obligations regarding shared natural resources which arise from these other bodies of law. In doing so, it offers new lenses through which to …

Squaring The Cercla: Superfund And The Superfund Task Force, Manny Marcos

Fordham Environmental Law Review

The Superfund Task Force recently released its final report on the implementation of its recommendations for improving the Superfund program. The Task Force was given five goals for improving the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (“CERCLA’s”), implementation. These goals are to expedite cleanup and remediation, re-invigorate responsible party cleanup and reuse, encourage foreign investment, promote redevelopment and community revitalization, and engage with partners and stakeholders. While the Task Force’s recommendations have improved CERCLA’s implementation, many of CERCLA’s structural flaws remain intact. Specifically, CERCLA still has a severe shortage of funding, an unfair liability scheme, perverse incentives, …

Fee Simple Failures: Rural Landscapes And Race, Jessica A. Shoemaker

Michigan Law Review

Property law’s roots are rural. America pursued an early agrarian vision that understood real property rights as instrumental to achieving a country of free, engaged citizens who cared for their communities and stewarded their physical place in it. But we have drifted far from this ideal. Today, American agriculture is industrialized, and rural communities are in decline. The fee simple ownership form has failed every agrarian objective but one: the maintenance of white landownership. For it was also embedded in the original American experiment that land ownership would be racialized for the benefit of its white citizens, through acts of …

Striking A Balance: Rapid Reporting Laws Combined With Farmed Animal Welfare Laws As An Alternative To Ag-Gag Statutes, Jennifer Satterfield

Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

No abstract provided.

Climate Change Has Beef With Federal Cattle Grazing, John David Janicek

Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy

Increased emissions of greenhouse gases are causing the Earth􏰂s climate to change producing extreme temperatures and dangerous conditions for mankind. Livestock is positioned at a unique juncture of the current and future fight against atmospheric temperature rise. These animals produce the very nutrients a growing world population needs to survive, and the meat they yield plays an important role in all world cultures. Unfortunately, the production of livestock is considered one of the most significant emitters of greenhouse gases, of which cattle is the largest contributor. Therefore, a balance must be struck between livestock production and preservation of the Earth. …

Flood Management In Texas: Planning For The Future, John Diggs, Samantha Mikolajczyk, Lora Naismith, Margaret Reed, Rory Smith

EENRS Program Reports & Publications

This Report examines existing flood-related regulations in Texas and the United States, the Texas State Flood Plan, current flood mitigation strategies in the state, and the potential to implement green stormwater infrastructure. The report offers policy recommendations to clarify and help alleviate the current ambiguities and uncertainties between the Texas State Water Plan and State Flood Plan for future flood mitigation practices, and to simplify the implementation of green infrastructure.

Farm To Boardroom: How Improving Farm Conditions Leads To Sustained And Ethical Profit, Emily Mueller

Student Theses 2015-Present

As a society evolving and innovating at a pace faster than ever before seen in human history, we find ourselves at a crossroads of dealing with planetary boundaries and improving social standards. We are met with a crisis just thirty years away; the crisis of needing to be able to effectively and sustainably feed ten billion people across the globe. The 20th century brought on a booming age for industrializing the food system in order to increase yield and thus profit. The new process was a significant breakthrough at its time, but now we must face the question of when …

Dancing Around The Issue Of Fifra Preemption: Does It Really Still Matter That The Supreme Court Has Not Made A Decision?, Sandra L. Feeley

Journal of Natural Resources & Environmental Law

No abstract provided.