Environmental Law Commons^™

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 …

Fencing The Wind: Property Rights In Renewable Energy, Martin Lockman

Faculty Publications

In the face of global warming, the rapid development of carbon-neutral energy resources is utterly imperative. However, even environmentally friendly energy production like wind power has real externalities. Those who live in the shadow of wind turbines and suffer the immediate effects of wind development can be disenfranchised by municipal and state-level siting processes. Meanwhile, absent or ad hoc governance of windstreams prevents the efficient economic use of renewable energy resources when upwind development can doom a nascent windfarm. As windstream development intensifies, each of these conflicts will only become more frequent and more severe.

This article proposes a novel …

On Foxes And Hedgehogs, Roger P. Alford

Journal Articles

This Article is about John Nagle’s many means to one great end. It will outline the many themes of his scholarship: (i) environmental law, (ii) statutory interpretation, (iii) constitutional law, (iv) nuisance and pollution, (v) election law and campaign finance, (vi) Christianity and the environment, and (vii) national parks. It will offer conclusions on how he used his scholarly interests as a means to pursue his overarching worldview.

Preventing Emissions From Slipping Through The Cracks: How Collaboration On New Technologies To Detect Violations And Minimize Emissions Can Efficiently Enforce Existing Clean Air Act Regulations, Kathryn Caballero

Journal Articles

The link between air pollution and poor public health is well known and has been farther documented during the COVID-19 pandemic, 1 but EPA has outdated methods and rules to detect air emissions. Enforcing existing environmental regulations presents challenges because the detection and monitoring technologies identified in the regulations, or the regulation language itself, may not sufficiently identify environmental pollution, let alone complex environmental fraud. How can EPA best use new technologies and concepts to detect violations, with the intent of minimizing emissions, to improve human health and environmental outcomes during the lengthy process of drafting and publishing new regulations? …

Humility, Climate Change, And The Pursuit Of Scientific Truth, John Copeland Nagle

Journal Articles

This Essay begins with the understanding that environmental law could not exist without science. The tolerable amount of pollution, the proximity of a species to extinction, and the threats presented by climate change are just some of the questions that environmental law depends on science to answer. Often environmental law insists that science alone is relevant to a particular regulatory action, such as an air pollution standard or an endangered species listing. It is not surprising, therefore, that many disputes about environmental law are really disputes about science.

Science, however, does not always yield the information that environmental law needs …

International Environmental Law At Its Semicentennial: The Stockholm Legacy, Melissa (M.J.) Durkee

Scholarship@WashULaw

The 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment produced the Stockholm Declaration, an environmental manifesto that forcefully declared a human right to environmental health and birthed the field of modern international environmental law. The historic event powerfully “dramatized . . . the unity and fragility of the biosphere,” sparking a remarkable period of international legal innovation and cooperation on environmental protection in the decades to come.

The Stockholm Declaration can be rightly celebrated for putting environmental issues on the international legal agenda and driving the development of environmental law at the domestic level around the world. At the same …

Overview On The Lebanese Environmental Governance System: Main Hazards In The Oil And Gaz Sector, Rami Harkous

BAU Journal - Science and Technology

Due to harsh environment and vulnerability of marine ecosystems, many challenges are faced regarding offshore oil and gas activities. Many steps are currently undertaken to overcome such challenges.

As Lebanon is inside the new oil and gas sector in its offshore region, plans should be made to address environmental challenges that may occur in this sector. The Lebanese environmental governance system meets international standards in various aspects but some gaps are addressed to manage such risks that may be encountered with oil and gas activities in the Lebanese offshore. This article ends by a fast run through environmental regulatory authority, …

Review Of Eu’S Carbon Neutral Policy System And Its Enlightenment, Liping Dong, Jingjing Zeng, Jiansheng Qu, Huijuan Pei, Qin Liao, Yanfei Liu, Lina Liu, Bingxue Qin

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Carbon neutrality is a redefinition of human development mode, and a "self-reform" of the production paradigm. It not only affects the economic development of various countries, but also rebuilds the global geopolitical pattern. Since 2060 carbon neutrality target was proposed in September 2020, China has been working hard on exploring how to establish a system of the carbon neutral policy. By considering the system of carbon neutral policy in European Union that is relatively mature, this study comprehensively reviews and analyzes the EU's system of carbon neutral policy from policy framework, key industry measures, R&D deployment support, and fiscal and …

The Shortcomings Of Corporate Accountability In Post-Conflict Colombia: Land, Rivers And Animals, Isabella Ariza Buitrago, Luisa Gomez Betancur

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Although the notion of sustainable peace requires acknowledging the role played by all actors, transitional processes around the world have inadequately addressed or completely ignored the direct and indirect participation of economic actors. In particular, Colombia's transitional justice regime left out corporations entirely. A skillshare between Colombian lawyers and US-based human rights attorneys showed some of the gaps that let corporations continue in impunity for profiting, benefiting from, or directly financing the conflict. Other than harming and deeply fracturing communities, the shortcomings of corporate accountability in post-conflict Colombia also leave land, rivers, and animals without redress. This paper explores some …

Ute Indian Tribe Of The Uintah & Ouray Reservation V. U.S. Dep't Of Interior, Valan Anthos

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation brought 16 claims against federal agencies and the State of Utah for alleged mismanagement of water resources held in trust and for alleged discrimination in water allocation. The United States District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed several of the claims as time-barred and others as lacking a proper statutory basis to create an enforceable trust duty. The remaining claims were transferred to the United States District Court of the District of Utah because the events occurred in Utah and most of the parties reside there.

I Want You To Panic: Leveraging The Rhetoric Of Fear And Rage For The Future Of Food, Iselin Gambert

Journal of Food Law & Policy

"Humanity Is About to Kill 1 Million Species in a Globe-Spanning Murder-Suicide. Only 11 Years Left to Prevent Irreversible Damage from Climate Change." Doomsday headlines like these are terrifying. But are they enough to make us act? The causes of the current climate crisis are many, but the science is clear that the meat and dairy industry shoulders much of the blame. Given the role the animal agriculture industry plays in perpetuating the climate crisis, combined with the harms the industry imposes on the animals and workers within it, politicians and governments—given their degree of power and influence—should ostensibly be …

China's Food Pagodas: Looking Forward By Looking Back?, Yifei Li, Dale Jamieson

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In this Article we provide a close analysis of the Chinese Dietary Guidelines – the Food Pagoda. Our focus on the dietary guidelines is motivated by two main considerations. First, the guidelines represent the most comprehensive, nationwide, state sponsored effort to educate the people of China about food. Like citizens in most countries, Chinese people are presented with numerous, often competing, messages from scientists, food gurus and online influencers. The dietary guidelines are different in that they are backed by an entire suite of governmental resources for nationwide dissemination through hospitals, schools, public billboards, TV and radio ads, among others. …

Apocalypse Ahoy: How The Cruise Industry Boom Is Harming The World’S Oceans And Problems With Enforcing Environmental Regulations, Nicholas J. Sarnelli

Brooklyn Law Review

The global cruise line industry enjoyed an incredible surge in popularity before the coronavirus pandemic. While the industry nearly sank in the wake of the pandemic, cruise lines are poised to continue to enjoy record-breaking profits while continuing to build larger and more opulent ships. This boom exacts a heavy toll on the environment, as cruise ships burn dirty fuel and dump dirty water into the world’s oceans. The current international legal framework for regulating the world’s shipping industry allows companies to effectively select which nation’s environmental laws to submit to, with ships flying under so-called “flags of convenience”. While …

Federal Land Conservation In Rural Areas, Jessica Owley, Jess Phelps

Brooklyn Law Review

Rural land has an important role to play in environmental protection. This Article examines how the federal government works to further the goals of land conservation in rural areas—ranging from farmland to forests and wetlands; from working landscapes to national parks; and from private to public landownership. We note three approaches. The federal government mandates conservation through laws like the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act. The federal government incentivizes conservation through Farm Bill programs and tax incentives. Finally, the federal government facilitates conservation through noncoercive funding, review, and technical assistance programs under the Farm Bill, the National …

Tightening The Legal ‘Net’: The Constitution’S Supremacy Clause Straddle Of The Power Divide, Steven Ferrey

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

This article analyzes Constitutional Supremacy Clause tensions in preempting state law that addresses climate change and the rapid warming of the Planet. Net metering laws, enacted in 80% of U.S. states, are a primary legal mechanism to control and mitigate climate warming. This article analyzes three recent federal court decisions creating a preemptive Supremacy Clause stand-off between federal and state law and presents a detailed state-by-state analysis of which those 80% of states’ laws could be preempted by legal challenge.

If state net metering laws affected only ordinary technologies, this issue would not be front and center with global warming. …

Community Empowerment In Decarbonization: Nepa’S Role, Wyatt G. Sassman

Washington Law Review

This Article addresses a potential tension between two ambitions for the transition to clean energy: reducing regulatory red-tape to quickly build out renewable energy, and leveraging that build-out to empower low-income communities and communities of color. Each ambition carries a different view of communities’ role in decarbonization. To those focused on rapid build-out of renewable energy infrastructure, communities are a potential threat who could slow or derail renewable energy projects through opposition during the regulatory process. To those focused on leveraging the transition to clean energy to advance racial and economic justice, communities are necessary partners in the key decisions …

Eia Directive Procedural Guarantees As Substantive Individual Rights In Il V. Land Nordrhein-Westfalen, Alexis Haddock

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Environmental impact assessments serve as a necessary tool for attaining the goals of the Aarhus Convention and the EIA Directive (2011/92). The Aarhus Convention and EIA Directive aim to guarantee the public’s right to participate in environmental decision-making, to be provided information necessary to effectively participate, and to have access to a procedure to challenge a decision. The ECJ’s recent case IL v. Land Nordrhein-Westfalen articulates the current interpretation of the European Union Member States’ obligations under the EIA Directive to provide individuals standing to challenge impact assessment decisions. This opinion reaffirmed that in cases where the procedural defect did …

Who Gets The Drought: The Standard Of Causation Necessary In Cases Of Equitable Apportionment, E. Tate Crymes

Mercer Law Review

More than just an amenity, “[a river] is a treasure” noted Justice Holmes in a dispute over the waters of the Delaware River. Water is a unique resource in that it is fluid and can move between borders of sovereign states. When water flows across state boundaries, there are often conflicts between the rights of the powerful upstream state and the vulnerable downstream state. Although water rights laws vary across the United States, most eastern states adopt the principle that the right to water is equal for both states. ...

In the Court’s most recent equitable apportionment decision, Florida II, …

Investment Governance In Africa To Support Climate Resilience And Decarbonization, Martin Dietrich Brauch, Brenda Akankunda

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

African nations have only marginally contributed to global warming relative to developed and emerging economies in the Americas, Asia, and Europe. However, the African continent will bear a disproportionate burden of the negative impacts of climate change. Climate-related challenges like flooding, drought, and intense heat waves will increasingly confront the continent at a worsening rate. African nations should not be expected to take the lead in addressing a climate emergency they did not create. The priority for Africa is to receive support and investment to build resilience and adapt to climate impacts.

Handbook For Sdg-Aligned Food Companies: Four Pillar Framework Standards, Nora Mardirossian, GaëLle Espinosa, Rico RincóN, Diana Marcela, Erin O’Dwyer, Abrania Marrero, Regan Plekenpol, Claudia P. Baethgen, Urvi Agarwal, Lisa E. Sachs, Jeffrey D. Sachs

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

The world food system is in crisis. Outright hunger, unhealthy diets and malnutrition occur parallel to food losses and waste. Farming families in poor countries suffer from extreme poverty. And food production is environmentally unsustainable and increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather events caused by climate change. A historic change of direction is needed to bring about a new era of food system sustainability. Our work aims to help companies, investors and other stakeholders move towards a more sustainable food system that is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Transforming the world food system to achieve sustainability in all its dimensions …