Environmental Law Commons^™

Comment On Us Trade And Investment Agreements Submitted To Ustr, Columbia Center On Sustainable Investment

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Comments to USTR Re: U.S.-Kenya Trade Agreement (April 28, 2020): CCSI, in response to the United States Trade Representative’s request for public comment to inform its approach to a U.S.-Kenya Trade Agreement, submitted Comments elaborating on our main points that (1) investor-state dispute settlement should not be included in any U.S.-Kenya agreement and (2) principles that should guide an investment chapter or investment provisions in any such agreement should (a) strategically support cross-border investment that produces positive development outcomes for the U.S. and Kenya, (b) facilitate and support good governance of investment projects, and (c) enhance cooperation to solve challenges …

The Lasting Impacts Of Mass Consumerism And The Disposable Culture: A Proposition For The Development Of Plastic Shopping Bag Bans In Texas Law, David Brewster

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Article addresses the developing state of plastic bag bans in Texas municipal and state jurisprudence. The Article recites the history of plastic bag bans and their impacts on the environment, the issues pertinent to municipal powers as regulatory devices, and analyzes the most recent case regarding bag bans in Texas, which is the Texas Supreme Court’s opinion in City of Laredo v. Laredo Merchants Association. The Article makes suggestions about how to move forward in developing municipal plastic bag bans for the benefit of the environment, and addresses the immediate impacts of bag ban litigation and legislation in …

Suffering Matters: Nepa, Animals, And The Duty To Disclose, David N. Cassuto, Tala Dibenedetto

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires the federal government to disclose potential environmental harms arising from agency actions. Animal suffering is an environmental harm, yet no court has ruled that its infliction triggers a reporting obligation under NEPA. This Article argues that animal suffering should be a cognizable environmental harm under NEPA, that considerations of animal suffering should factor into whether an agency must prepare an EIS--and should be discussed in the content of the EIS.

Part II of this Article introduces and explains the procedural requirements of NEPA. Part III discusses animal suffering--how it is defined, how laws …

Law In The Time Of Covid-19, Katharina Pistor

Faculty Books

The COVID-19 crisis has ended and upended lives around the globe. In addition to killing over 160,000 people, more than 35,000 in the United States alone, its secondary effects have been as devastating. These secondary effects pose fundamental challenges to the rules that govern our social, political, and economic lives. These rules are the domain of lawyers. Law in the Time of COVID-19 is the product of a joint effort by members of the faculty of Columbia Law School and several law professors from other schools.

This volume offers guidance for thinking about some the most pressing legal issues the …

Authority For Municipal Resilient Road Infrastructure Funding Strategies In Rhode Island, Jimmy Smith, Read Porter

Sea Grant Law Fellow Publications

No abstract provided.

Legal Limits On Recreational Fishing Near Offshore Wind Facilities, Kaitlynn Webster, Read Porter

Sea Grant Law Fellow Publications

No abstract provided.

Visual Appropriation Art, Transformativeness, And Fungibility, Jasmine C. Abdel-Khalik

Faculty Works

As an intentionally flexible doctrine, fair use in copyright has a long history of ambiguity and criticism. While courts have developed various standards and considerations to give fair use some shape, key decisions have generally done so in the context of textual material. Likewise, the examples in Judge Leval’s seminal work on fair use involve textual material. His argument to assess the first fair use factor based on transformativeness has won the day. But in contrast to the textual examples, interpreting the meaning and transformation of visual works is rife with danger.

Recent appropriation art cases exemplify this danger and …

Dirty Business: Accountability For Harmful Pesticide Use In Brazil, Anna Goldstein

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The note argues that the alarming rise in pesticide use in Brazil, particularly under President Jair Bolsonaro, has severe human health and environmental consequences. It emphasizes the need for a binding international legal framework to hold multinational corporations accountable for human rights abuses and environmental harm in their supply chains. Current voluntary frameworks and domestic laws, such as Brazil's Law 7802, are insufficient due to weak enforcement and lack of binding standards. The proposed UN Draft Treaty on Business and Human Rights is presented as a critical solution to address these gaps and ensure corporate accountability.

Catastrophic Risk: Waking Up To The Reality Of A Pandemic?, W. Kip Viscusi, Jamison Pike, Jason F. Shogren, David Aadland, David Finnoff, Alexandre Skiba, Peter Daszak

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Will a major shock awaken the US citizens to the threat of catastrophic pandemic risk? Using a natural experiment administered both before and after the 2014 West African Ebola Outbreak, our evidence suggests “no.” Our results show that prior to the Ebola scare, the US citizens were relatively complacent and placed a low relative priority on public spending to prepare for a pandemic disease outbreak relative to an environmental disaster risk (e.g., Fukushima) or a terrorist attack (e.g., 9/11). After the Ebola scare, the average citizen did not over-react to the risk. This flat reaction was unexpected given the well-known …

Trash Talk: An Exploration Of The Problem Of Marine Debris And Some Virginia-Specific Solutions, Elizabeth Pindilli

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

In an effort to address the problem of marine debris, the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program (Virginia CZMP) undertook a planning process that resulted in the Virginia Marine Debris Reduction Plan (VMDRP) in 2014. In light of the policy issues raised in the VMDRP, this paper will explore the issue of marine debris and some possible solutions that can be pursued in Virginia.

This abstract has been adapted from the author's introduction.

Protecting Water Quality In Virginia: Recommendations To Combat Sea Level Rise And Increased Storm Events, Madhavi Kulkarni

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

Impairment of Virginia waters is tied to coastal storm hazards and sea level rise because excess floodwaters are contaminated by flood-exposed industrial and residential facilities, and these toxic floodwaters flow into the state’s water bodies. In Virginia, thousands of industrial facilities can potentially be subjected to the effects of stormwater flooding, hurricane storm surge, and sea level rise, in turn affecting water quality. Failing or unmaintained septic systems also pose a major threat to the quality of Virginia waters that increases with recurrent inundation by flood waters. A combination of changes to law and policy and investment in infrastructure are …

Ocean Of Uncertainty: Regulatory Barriers To Multiple Uses In Federal Waters, Kacie Couch, Tristan Griner

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

The potential for coexisting uses in offshore waters is great, but regulatory framework and federalism concerns exist that prevent zoning the oceans to allow for coexisting uses to reach their full potential. This paper seeks to anticipate and expand upon the potential benefits, consequences, and unknown variables in future development of offshore wind mixed use zones in federal waters off the coast of Virginia. Part I provides a brief introduction to offshore wind, offshore aquaculture, and the current regulatory framework that governs each of those ocean uses. Part II takes a deep dive into attempts to simplify regulatory oversight of …

Planning For A Managed Retreat: Moving In A New Direction, Caitlin Parry, Michael Heard Snow, Ryan Franklin

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

Climate change is altering the United States’ coastline in both subtle and extreme ways. The threat is especially pressing in the Commonwealth of Virginia, which is experiencing sea levels rising faster than the global average. As global sea level rise continues to increase, coastal communities across the country must make difficult decisions about their futures. Instead of waging an endless war with the tide, one option for them to consider is the process of managed retreat, which provides a long-term solution by relocating communities away from vulnerable areas. Low to moderate income communities face a variety of additional social and …

Closing Roads Due To Increased Flooding: Potential Liability Issues In Virginia, William Howieson, Michael Tentilucci

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

No abstract provided.

Carbon Market Opportunities In Virginia: Eelgrass, Marshes, Soils, And Forests, Imani Y. Price

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

Carbon sequestration is the storage and capture of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Preserving carbon sequestering sources helps mitigate climate change. Eelgrass, marshes, soils, and forests all sequester carbon. Unfortunately, they are vulnerable to climate change and human development. This paper examines how these sources of carbon sequestration can be incorporated into Virginia’s climate change policies, including the creation of a carbon market. Among other aims, a carbon market would incentivize the preservation and restoration of these species, providing important environmental and economic benefits. The first section of this paper identifies several sources of carbon sequestration, as well as their …

Let The Buyer Beware: A Comparison Of Flood-Related Real Estate Disclosure Laws Of Virginia And Other States, Emily Snyder, Clay Kulesza

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

This white paper examines the state of flood disclosure laws for residential real estate transactions in Virginia and compares them to those of other states that have much more rigorous disclosure laws. Part II explores the history behind Virginia’s current “buyer beware” laws and examines previous attempts at establishing stricter real estate disclosure laws surrounding “special flood hazard areas”. Part III surveys a number of disclosure laws from other states that have successfully required sellers to disclose the risk of flooding in some capacity, and examines the events or circumstances that led to the enactment of those laws. Finally, Part …

An Emerging Containment Of (Legal) Concern: Pfas Legal Issues At The State And Federal Level, Michael S. Heard Snow, Conor M. Jennings

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are a class of man-made industrial chemicals that have been widely used in a variety of ways, primarily in water-resistant coatings and fire-fighting foam. Their widespread use has led to broad contamination threats to human drinking water sources, including surface and groundwater. As a result, they are an emerging contaminant of concern that are swiftly turning into a global health threat on the forefront of regulatory and policy debates. PFAS have been detected in both aquatic life and humans, and research is increasingly clear that there are concrete health risks to excessive exposure. Currently …

Sea Level Rise Planning For Socially Vulnerable Communities: A More Equitable Approach To Federal Buyout Programs, Travis Brandon

Law Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines the social justice implications of federal buyout programs as the United States increasingly confronts sea level rise and the necessity of managed retreat. Focusing primarily on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), as well as related programs administered under the Stafford Act and through HUD’s Community Development Block Grants, the Article argues that existing buyout mechanisms risk perpetuating and exacerbating racial and economic inequalities. Drawing on empirical studies, case examples, and interdisciplinary scholarship, it demonstrates that structural features of the HMGP—lengthy post-disaster timelines, cost-benefit analysis methodologies that privilege high-value properties, matching-fund requirements, …

An Unknown Past, An Unequal Present, And An Uncertain Future: Transnational Environmental Law Through Three Research Challenges, Natasha Affolder

All Faculty Publications

This chapter seeks to bring into focus three broad research challenges facing transnational environmental law – an unknown past, an unequal present, and an uncertain future. Transnational law theory invites scholars to stand at a distance from current orthodoxies and to contemplate environmental law and its practice from new vantage points. The study of transnational environmental law thus prompts new ways of thinking about where to look for environmental law and its foundational influences. New research agendas emerge organically from such shifts of gaze. By identifying future research agendas, we can illuminate both the diversity of sites of past and …

Dignity: The Most Important Common Resource, Brianna Rosier

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.