Environmental Law Commons^™

Establishing An “Injury-In-Fact” Through Valuations Of Ecosystem Services: Putting It In Terms Federal Courts Understand, Allie Jo Mitchell

Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

No abstract provided.

Who Takes A Dam: Regulatory Confusion And Surging Opportunities For Small Dam Removal In Rural Maine, Grady R. Burns

Maine Law Review

This Comment examines the regulatory regimes surrounding the removal of state-regulated small dams in Maine by comparing the relatively underdeveloped regime in Maine with the much more coherent and robust regime in neighboring New Hampshire. When compared to more deliberate regimes, Maine’s system lacks key features, including a streamlined permitting program and a single clearinghouse for information, resources, and regulatory enforcement. Given the significant opportunities afforded by a coherent regulatory small dam removal regime, this Comment recommends that Maine follow the example of other states by creating a river restoration and dam removal program, re-establishing its statewide dam inventory, creating …

Conservation, Regionality, And The Farm Bill, Jess R. Phelps

Maine Law Review

Over the past several Farm Bills, there has been a somewhat subtle shift in program design to better incorporate regional perspectives/localized areas of conservation concern into national conservation program delivery. The purpose of this Article is to specifically explore the various roles that regional considerations play in existing Farm Bill conservation programs and also consider whether further developments in this direction could result in more flexible program delivery, more effective partnerships, and ultimately, better conservation outcomes. To this end, section II will provide an overview of the history of the Farm Bill, from its origins to the emergence of a …

New York’S Clean Energy Standard: Can Renewable Energy Development Revitalize Upstate New York’S Dying Economy?, Kelsey L. Hanson

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Earth Democracy: Sustainability, Justice And Peace, Vandana Shiva

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Environmentalism Isn’T New: Lessons From Indigenous Law, Joseph Kowalski

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

The much-overlooked laws and lifeways of Indigenous people show that concepts of environmental sustainability have long been a part of the human tradition. By studying the Indigenous jurisprudence of societies that maintained these traditions into the modern era, much can be learned. Rather than making laws in regards to the land, the land itself was the source of the law, for the environmental laws were built around a relationship with the land.

Through most of human history, the western world had a similar relationship. However, the Holy Roman Empire’s interpretation of Biblical scripture, which at that time was law, forever …

Condemn(The)Nation: Holding The United States Accountable Through Inverse Condemnation Claims For Its Role In Bringing About- And Then Failing To Mitigate And Adapt To Certain Effects Of- Climate Change, Joseph Rosenberg

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Reconceptualizing Entrenched Notions Of Common Law Property Regimes: Maori Self-Determination And Environmental Protection Through Legal Personality For Natural Objects, Bridget Williams

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Evolving Energy Federalism: Zero Emissions Credits And Opportunities In State Energy Policy, Matt Flaherty

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

Courts traditionally view regulation of the energy sector as a dual federalism framework in which a “bright line” separates sovereignty of the states from the power reserved to federal regulators. In particular, the Federal Power Act (FPA) grants the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) authority over wholesale electricity markets. Courts generally interpret this authority over wholesale markets as exclusive, which ensures the federal government and states occupy different fields of the electric industry. States retain authority in fields that bookend FERC’s power over wholesale markets— electric power generation on one side and retail sales of electricity on the other…

Part …

The New Food Safety, Margot J. Pollans, Emily M. Broad Leib

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

A safe food supply is essential for a healthy society. Our food system is replete with different types of risk, yet food safety is often narrowly understood as encompassing only foodborne illness and other risks related directly to food ingestion. This Article argues for a more comprehensive definition of food safety, one that includes not just acute, ingestion-related risks, but also whole-diet cumulative ingestion risks, and cradle-to-grave risks of food production and disposal. This broader definition, which we call “Food System Safety,” draws under the header of food safety a variety of historically siloed, and under-regulated, food system issues including …

You Don’T Need Lungs To Suffer: Fish Suffering In The Age Of Climate Change With A Call For Regulatory Reform, David N. Cassuto, Amy O'Brien

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Fish are sentient — they feel pain and suffer. Yet, while we see increasing interest in protecting birds and mammals in industries such as farming and research (albeit few laws), no such attention has been paid to the suffering of fish in the fishing industry. Consideration of fish welfare including reducing needless suffering should be a component of fisheries management. This article focuses on fisheries management practices, the effects of anthropogenic climate change on fisheries management practices, and the moral implications of fish sentience on the development and amendment of global fishing practices. Part I examines domestic and international fisheries, …

Federal Jurisdiction For Above-Ground Oil Storage Tanks: A Practical Analysis For Navigating Federal Regulations, Kathryn Hussong

St. Mary's Law Journal

Clear, consistent, and concise jurisdictional boundaries will aid pipeline operators to determine which regulations apply to their operations and associated facilities. This will help alleviate legal and financial risk to pipeline operators, who may be liable for noncompliance regardless of whether the pipeline operator or the associated refinery commits the violation. Overlapping state and federal regulations of pipelines and refineries has created confusion amongst operators regarding what regulations apply to their facilities. Three federal agencies—the Pipeline and Hazardous Safety Administration (PHMSA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) respectively—and a myriad of state agencies simultaneously …

V.10, 2019 Mastead

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

No abstract provided.

The Emergence Of Commercial Scale Offshore Wind: Progress Made And Challenges Ahead, Joseph B. Nelson, David P. Yaffe

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

This Article examines the offshore wind development process from leasing and permitting to electric power supply and interconnection. Willing developers may divide the process into three discrete, but not necessarily sequential, endeavors. First, the developer must secure a viable purchaser or market for the output. “Offshore wind energy” is a more complex commercial product than one might envision—it includes the actual electric energy produced, the electric generating capacity that is available to serve load, and both the environmental and clean energy attributes of wind energy. The environmental and clean energy attributes may have an economic and regulatory value separate from, …

Fracking The Public Trust, Kevin J. Lynch

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

This Article explores the application of the public trust doctrine to fracking, specifically as it relates to regulations designed to prevent harms of continued greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as a result of the extraction and burning of fossil fuels.

Enforcement Or Fiction? Considering Grants Of Authority Under The California Global Warming Solutions Act Of 2006 And An Alternative To Compel Enforcement, Jessica Kirshner

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

California has long established itself as a leader in climate change policy, with a deeply entrenched and ever-developing regulatory framework. The state is home to some of the earliest research on, and regulations targeted at, mitigating the severe implications of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, like carbon dioxide (CO2), on Earth’s atmosphere. It is therefore unsurprising that California’s regulatory approaches for climate change mitigation and GHG emissions reductions influence local and national climate change law and policies. This influence also notably percolates international climate policy. However, before California may definitively proclaim itself as a global model for successful climate change efforts, …

Cybersecurity Paradigm Shift: The Risks Of Net Neutrality Repeal To Energy Reliability, Public Safety, And Climate Change Solutions, Catherine J.K Sandoval

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

This Article contends that the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) January 2018 repeal of net neutrality rules created a “zero-day” cybersecurity vulnerability for the energy sector and other criti¬¬¬cal infrastructure. “A zero-day cybersecurity vulnerability is a previously unknown flaw in a computer program that exposes the program to external manipulation.” The flaw may also reside in compromised hardware that creates a “back door” into the internet-connected device. This Article argues that cybersecurity has been primarily viewed from a “hacker paradigm” that obscures systemic threats an Internet Service Provider (ISP) can create to energy reliability and cybersecurity through paid priority and other …

State Climate Actors Under The Federal Power Act: A 2017 Fpa Update, Guidance, And Solution, Ian Kearney

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

Climate change poses the greatest single threat to nearly every being on this planet. It is the result of many factors, but anthropogenic emissions of carbon and other greenhouse gasses (GHGs) are among the largest contributors to climate change. Though many sources emit anthropogenic GHGs, the energy sector is the largest global emitter of any economic sector. As such, the energy sector has come under particular scrutiny as it relates to climate change policy.

Today in the United States, state climate action is as prevalent as ever. However, the federal government’s environmental progress under the Obama Administration has come to …

This Land Is Your Land? Survey Delegation Laws As A Compensable Taking, Doug Chapman

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

While every state in the Union has a statute delegating in some form surveying authority to private entities, the practice has been especially visible and controversial due to pipeline construction in the Commonwealth of Virginia. A major point of contention in pipeline development has centered upon the ability of private companies to use delegated eminent domain powers to survey land for possible future development. While recent decisions by both a federal Virginia District Court and the state’s Supreme Court have upheld the state’s surveying delegation law from landowner challenges, the issue is far from resolved. Virginia therefore provides an ideal …

Book Review Of "River Of Lost Souls", Clifford J. Villa

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.