Environmental Law Commons^™

Panel Discussion: Extreme Weather Events In The Changing Climate Of California, Alexander Gershunov

Lesley K. McAllister Symposium on Climate and Energy Law

No abstract provided.

Panel Discussion: Hydropower’S Promise: The Opportunities And Challenges Of Hydropower For Mitigating Climate-Driven Scarcity, Lauren Perkins

Lesley K. McAllister Symposium on Climate and Energy Law

No abstract provided.

Panel Discussion: Virtual Power Plants And The Climate Challenge, Kevin B. Jones

Lesley K. McAllister Symposium on Climate and Energy Law

No abstract provided.

Keynote: Climate Adaptation, Darcie Houck, Andrew Mcallister

Lesley K. McAllister Symposium on Climate and Energy Law

No abstract provided.

Bolstering Juliana: Enforceability Of Environmental Claims Through International Treaty Obligations In U.S. Courts, Lindsey Laielli

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming.

The Case Against The Case For Zoning, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

Power points used in a presentation on a work in progress, responding to Christopher Serkin's "Case For Zoning" article at 96 Notre Dame L. Rev. 749.

Mapping Human Rights-Based Climate Litigation In Canada, Lisa Benjamin, Sara L. Seck

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

In line with global trends, there has been an increase in human rights-based climate litigation brought in Canadian courts in recent years. Some litigants invoke human rights as found in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to push federal and provincial governments to take seriously the implementation of their climate obligations. Other litigants invoke procedural environmental human rights to engage in free speech and peaceful protest in the face of government action supporting fossil fuel consumption or expansion. At the same time, the Supreme Court of Canada has recognized that Canadian courts could develop civil remedies for corporate violations …

Corporate Net-Zero Pledges: The Bad And The Ugly, Jack Arnold, Perrine Toledano

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

The Paris Agreement on Climate Change, adopted in 2015 and ratified or acceded to by 192 states and the European Union (EU), marked a historic turning point on global climate action. Achieving the agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to not more than 1.5 °C relative to the industrial era (1880-1900) will require a transformation of global energy systems, with the active participation and contribution of all actors in the economy. Many companies have pledged to reach net-zero direct and indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. This report analyzes such pledges by 35 companies across seven industries – oil …

Decarbonization Pathways For Paraguay’S Energy Sector, Columbia Center On Sustainable Investment, Quadracci Sustainable Engineering Lab, Centro De Recursos Naturales, Energía Y Desarrollo (Crece)

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

In light of the upcoming renegotiation of Annex C of the Treaty of Itaipú, the Ministry of Finance of Paraguay asked Professor Jeffrey Sachs and his team to revisit the 2013 report, with support from the Development Bank of Latin America (Banco de Desarrollo de América Latina [CAF]) and in partnership with the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).

CCSI, the Quadracci Sustainable Engineering Lab at Columbia University, and the Centro de Recursos Naturales, Energía y Desarrollo (CRECE) authored the report Decarbonization Pathways for Paraguay’s Energy Sector, published by CCSI in November 2021.

The report – available in English …

Binational Reflections On Pathways To Groundwater Security In The Mexico-United States Borderlands, Rosario Sanchez, Jose Agustin Brena-Naranjo, Alfonso Rivera, Randall T. Hanson, Antonio Hernandez-Espriu, Rick J. Hogeboom, Anita Milman, Jude A. Benavides, Adrian Pedrozo-Acuna, Julio Cesar Soriano-Monzalvo, Sharon B. Megdal, Gabriel Eckstein, Laura Rodriguez

Faculty Scholarship

Shared groundwater resources between Mexico and the United States are facing unprecedented stressors. We reflect on how to improve water security for groundwater systems in the border region. Our reflection begins with the state of groundwater knowledge, and the challenges groundwater resources face from a physical, societal and institutional perspective. We conclude that the extent of ongoing cooperation frameworks, joint and remaining research efforts, from which alternative strategies can emerge, still need to be developed. The way forward offers a variety of cooperation models as the future offers rather complex, shared and multidisciplinary water challenges to the Mexico–US borderlands.

Unep And Marine & Environmental Law Institute, "Plastics Toolbox: Business, Human Rights, And The Environment" (Last Updated November 2021) (Dalhousie University, Schulich School Of Law), Marine And Environmental Law Institute

Human Rights-based Approaches to Plastic Pollution

The Plastics Toolbox: Business, Human Rights, and the Environment, compiles good practices and cross-cutting guidance on a human rights-based approach to plastic pollution prevention and management with a focus on capacity building of governments and businesses in the East Asian Seas region. This compilation of resources, guidance, tools and trainings was prepared by a team of researchers at Dalhousie University's Marine and Environmental Law Institute under the direction of project lead Dr Sara L Seck, with funding from the United Nations Environment Programme. The materials in the toolbox were gathered from May to August 2021 and updated in November 2021. …

A Response To Calls For Sec Mandated Esg Disclosure, Amanda M. Rose

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This Article responds to recent proposals calling for the SEC to adopt a mandatory ESG-disclosure framework. It illustrates how the breadth and vagueness of these proposals obscures the important--and controversial-- policy questions that would need to be addressed before the SEC could move forward on the proposals in a principled way. The questions raised include some of the most contested in the field of corporate and securities law, such as the value of interjurisdictional competition for corporate charters, the right way to conceptualize the purpose of the corporation, the proper allocation of managerial power as between the board and shareholders, …

Fiduciary Duties And Corporate Climate Responsibility., Cynthia A. Williams

Articles by Maurer Faculty

I remain intrigued with the benefits as well as the costs of agency relationships and in particular the possible power of fiduciary duties to be harnessed to advance the firm's social responsibilities. That is, can internal mechanisms of the firm, the private law (from a European perspective) fiduciary duties of agents, be used to advance external public law goals? Instead of outward standards of responsibility being brought into the firm through external mechanisms (i.e., voluntary standards development and third-party assurance), could the internal standards of agents' responsibilities to the firm, their fiduciary duties, be used to extend responsible action beyond …

Regulating New Fossil-Fuel Appliances Under Section 111(B) Of The Clean Air Act, Jack Lienke, Rachel Rothschild, Henry Engelstein, Nardos Girma

Other Publications

The majority of residential and commercial buildings use appliances powered with fossil fuels for space and/or water heating. Collectively, these appliances—most of which run on natural gas—emit substantial quantities of a variety of harmful air pollutants, including particulate matter, nitrogen oxides (“NOx”), and carbon dioxide. Fossil-fuel appliances in the U.S. emitted over 425,000 tons of NOx in 2017—almost three times the amount attributable to gas-fired power plants in that year. And fossil-fuel combustion in residential and commercial buildings accounted for almost 10% of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2019—only slightly less than gas power plants. Yet while the U.S. …

Does The Criminal Enforcement Of Federal Environmental Law Deter Environmental Crime? The Case Of The U.S. Resource Conservation And Recovery Act, Dr. Joshua Ozymy, Dr. Melissa L. Jarrell

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice are tasked with the investigation and prosecution of hazardous waste crimes occurring under the U.S. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). For criminal sanctions to be effective, the probability of detection and severity of punishment must be significant enough to raise the cost to benefit ratio to deter environmental crimes. While research examines sanctioning under RCRA, little work examines the plausibility of the deterrent effect of criminal sanctions. Through content analysis of all environmental crime prosecutions resulting from EPA criminal investigations, 1983-2019, we explore the probability of detection and …

Hypocrisy On The High Seas: An Examination Of The Conflicting Policy Goals And Actions Of The International Community Regarding Illegal, Unreported, And Unregulated Fishing, Peter J. Tamburello

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

Fish and the fishing industry are one of the main sources of food protein and commerce in many areas of the world, whether it be from traditional and artisanal fishing practiced in Somalia and other undeveloped countries or large scale international commercial fishing from rich and industrialized nations. The world’s oceans are currently being plagued by overfishing both from legally authorized activities and Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing. The purpose of this paper is to examine the problems plaguing the world’s fisheries with an eye towards the environmental damage and economic harm that stem from it. It is also to …

The Survival Of Animal Care Organizations Impacted By The Covid-19 Pandemic In 2020, Juan Fernando Torrico

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

This note assessed how animal care organizations and the animals in their care were impacted, negatively and positively, by the coronavirus pandemic. Several animal care organizations in the United States–including animal shelters, rescues, sanctuaries, and zoos–were contacted directly, and invited to share their experiences from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. They provided valuable in-depth insight into how government shutdowns and social distancing impacted their facility; if any of the animals in their care tested positive for COVID-19; how the animals in their care were affected indirectly by COVID-19; if they sought and received any government assistance to keep them operational; …

Watery Grave: One Of The Death Care Industry’S Greenest Options Is Still Illegal In Thirty-One States And That Needs To Change, Jacob Steele

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

Alkaline hydrolysis is an eco-friendly cremation alternative that uses water, a gentle chemical solution, and heat to break down bodies instead of fire. It has a carbon footprint that is 75% less than that of standard cremation and eliminates the possibility of soil and groundwater pollution created by traditional burials. The problem is that it is illegal and unavailable to citizens in at least 31 states. This comment examines the history, process, and legality of alkaline hydrolysis while proposing the rapid federal or mass state legalization of the method as a solution to many of the problems the death care …

The Legal Representation Of Activists, Cardozo Environmental Law Society, Cardozo Student Animal Legal Defense Fund

2021–2022 Flyers

No abstract provided.

Held V. State, Alec D. Skuntz

Public Land & Resources Law Review

On March 13, 2020, a group of 16 Montana children and teenagers filed a complaint in the First Judicial District, Lewis and Clark County against the State of Montana and several state agencies. These young Plaintiffs sought injunctive and declaratory relief against Defendants for their complicity in continuing to extract and release harmful amounts of greenhouse gases which contribute to climate change. Plaintiffs premised their argument on the Montana Constitution’s robust environmental rights and protections. The Defendants filed a motion to dismiss which the District Court granted in-part and denied in-part. Held provides a roadmap for future litigation by elucidating …