Environmental Law Commons^™

Defining “Unduly”: Resolving Inherent Textual Ambiguity In The Imo’S Ballast Water Management Convention, John R. Bobka

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Waters Of Antarctica: Do They Belong To Some States, No States, Or All States?, Linda A. Malone

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Major issues and complexities arise when one is looking at the international puzzle that is Antarctica. Despite being uninhabited year round and lacking substantial long-term international law rules for sovereignty, states still try to claim their sovereignty over various parts of Antarctica. The consortium of states under the Antarctica Treaty System (“ATS”) then further aggravates these complexities, especially when other states outside of the ATS have been arguing for different regimes and approaches to dealing with Antarctica and resource exploitation. Due to these major issues and a desperate need for a resolution in times of global climate change, this Article …

Friends Of Animals V. United States Fish & Wildlife Service, Bradley E. Tinker

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Friends of Animals v. United States Fish & Wildlife Service, the Ninth Circuit held that the plain language of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act allows for the removal of one species of bird to benefit another species. Friends of Animals argued that the Service’s experiment permitting the taking of one species––the barred owl––to advance the conservation of a different species––the northern spotted owl––violated the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The court, however, found that the Act delegates broad implementing discretion to the Secretary of the Interior, and neither the Act nor the underlying international conventions limit the taking of …

Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility V. United States Epa, F. Aaron Rains

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Prior to 2016, the EPA acknowledged that human activities significantly contribute to climate change. However, on March 9, 2017, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced that significant debate regarding the issue remained in the scientific community. In response to these statements, a nonprofit organization filed a FOIA request with the EPA seeking any documents or records Pruitt may have used when formulating his statements or substantiating his position. The EPA refused to comply with the request, citing undue burden and improper interrogation and this action followed. Upon review, the District Court for the District of Columbia found the plaintiff’s FOIA request …

How Environmental Lawyers Cope With Challenges In Nonprofit Legal Centers, Rachel R. Cohen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Amidst our environmental crisis, environmental lawyers at nonprofit legal centers (NPLCs) play an important role in advocating for, revising, and enforcing the environmental laws which shape human behavior as it relates to environmental health. With a goal of protecting the environment and public interest through the law, these lawyers deal with few resources and personal environmental concerns in addition to all the common challenges of lawyering such as long hours and general stress. Due to their unique position in protecting the future of our environment’s health, it is essential that environmental lawyers at NPLCs can sustain their motivations to do …

Infrastructural Exclusion And The Fight For The City: Power, Democracy, And The Case Of America's Water Crisis, K. Sabeel Rahman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Agricultural Investments Under International Investment Law, Jesse Coleman, Sarah Brewin, Thierry Berger

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

International investment law, based primarily on international investment treaties, plays an important role in the governance of investment in agriculture, forestry, and fishing. The obligations established by these treaties, and enforced by means of investor–state arbitration, can present challenges for policy-makers and others seeking to ensure that investments are sustainable, including by affecting the ways in which the costs and benefits of investments are distributed among different actors.

CCSI partnered with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) to produce a briefing note on agricultural investments under international investment law. The …

Abandoned But Not Forgotten: Improperly Plugged And Orphaned Wells May Pose Serious Concerns For Shale Development, Bret Wells, Tracy Hester

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

This Article addresses the intersection of oil and gas law and environmental law on a topic that has profound significance for the nation’s oil industry and for the environment. In this regard, the Permian Basin is experiencing a renaissance that has fundamentally impacted oil production in the United States. Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing now allow the industry to produce in the Permian Basin’s unconventional shale formations in ways that were unimaginable a decade ago. But, the hot shale plays within the Permian Basin exist above conventional fields that are littered with a century’s worth of abandoned wells. Fracturing new …

Beyond Localism: Harnessing State Adaptation Lawmaking To Facilitate Local Climate Resilience, Sarah J. Adams-Schoen

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Notwithstanding the need for adaptation lawmaking to address a critical gap between climate-change related risks and preparedness in the United States, no coherent body of law exists that is aimed at reducing vulnerability to climate change. As a result of this gap in the law, market failures, and various “super wicked” attributes of hazard mitigation planning, local communities remain unprepared for present and future climate-related risks. Many U.S. communities continue to employ land-use planning and zoning practices that, at best, fail to mitigate these hazards, and, at worst, increase local vulnerability. Even localities that have implemented otherwise robust adaptation plans …

Report From The Royalty Policy Committee: The Past, Present, And Future Of The Royalty Policy Committee, Monte Mills

Faculty Books & Book Chapters

This report was Prepared for the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Special Institute on Federal and Indian Oil & Gas Royalty Valuation and Management: Panel: Report from the Royalty Policy Committee October 24, 2018 ~ Houston, Texas

How International Oil Companies Could Assist The Republic Of Cyprus To Achieve The Sustainable Development Goals: A Conversation Starter, Andreas Tornaritis, Perrine Toledano

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

This policy paper is addressed to International Oil Companies (IOCs), public officials and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) involved in the natural gas industry in Cyprus. There is currently no conversation happening in Cyprus on how the oil and gas industry could help Cyprus achieve their Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, this paper hopes to initiate a debate and conversation around this topic. It provides an overview of the ways in which IOCs operating in Cyprus could contribute towards the sustainable development of the natural gas industry and assist the Republic of Cyprus to achieve a number of their 2030 Sustainable Development Goals …

Are Beach Boundaries Enforceable? Real-Time Locational Uncertainty And The Right To Exclude, Josh Eagle

Faculty Publications

Over the past few decades, landowners have tried to use the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments to fully privatize the upper, dry-sand part of the beach. If these efforts were to succeed, there would be a host of negative consequences, and not just for surfers. In most of the states in which beaches are economically important, including California, Florida, New Jersey and Texas, privatized dry sand would mean little to no public access at times when the public, wet-sand part of the beach is submerged, that is, in the hours immediately before and after high tides. Decreased beach use would …

Life Cycle Costing And Food Systems: Concepts, Trends, And Challenges Of Impact Valuation, Jason J. Czarnezki

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Our global food systems create pervasive environmental, social, and health impacts. Impact valuation is an emerging concept that aims to quantify all environmental, social, and health costs of food systems in an attempt to make the true cost of food more transparent. It also is designed to facilitate the transformation of global food systems. The concept of impact valuation is emerging at the same time as, and partly as a response to, calls for the development of legal mechanisms to address environmental, social, and health concerns. Information has long been understood both as a necessary precursor for regulation and as …

Applying The Pennsylvania Environmental Rights Amendment Meaningfully To Climate Disruption, Robert B. Mckinstry Jr., John C. Dernbach

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

The Pennsylvania Constitution contains a unique Environmental Rights Amendment (ERA), which recognizes an individual right to “clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment.” The ERA also includes a public trust element that makes “Pennsylvania’s public natural resources . . . the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come.” It makes the Commonwealth the “trustee of these resources,” requiring it to “conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.” Recent decisions by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (the Court) in Robinson Township v. …

Game Of Tones: A Twail-Analysis Of The Evolution And Impacts Of The United Nations Framework Convention On Climate Change Technology Transfer Regime In Africa, Adebayo Majekolagbe

LLM Theses

The 1992 Rio Outcome articulates what is arguably, to date, the most ambitious North–South environmentally sound technology (EST) transfer aspirations. Yet, 26 years post-Rio, Africa remains at the lowest rung of the global EST deployment totem. Departing from talking-points like the connection of EST transfer and intellectual property rights, this research focuses on the normative underpinnings of the history, processes and dynamics of UNFCCC’s EST transfer regime. Using a ‘reconsidered’ Third World Approach to International Law approach and its accompanying historical research methodology, the thesis seeks to track landmarks in UNFCCC’s EST transfer regime evolution and the impacts of a …

Net Neutrality Powers Energy And Forestalls Climate Change, Catherine J.K. Sandoval

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

Drawing on my experience as a Commissioner of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) from January 2011 to January 2017, this Article explores the interdependence of the electricity sector and the open and neutral internet. Section II of this Article discusses the evolution of critical infrastructure laws and policies. Section III examines California’s energy loading order adopted in 2003 to increase energy reliability and protect the environment. Section IV analyzes the evolution of federal and state Smart Grid policies to infuse communications and information technologies including the internet into the energy ecosystem. Section V discusses FERC’s authorization of demand response−the …

The Trump Administration And Lessons Not Learned From Prior National Monument Modifications, John C. Ruple

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

In the debate surrounding President Trump’s monument reductions, a critical and as-yet unanswered question is whether prior presidential monument reductions create a precedent for contemporary actions through the doctrine of congressional acquiescence. This article undertakes a historical survey of prior presidential reductions to determine whether—and if so to what extent—there is a pattern of presidential action sufficient to support the congressional acquiescence argument.

The Geopolitical Implications Of The United States Of America's Withdrawal From The Paris Agreement, Christopher Mahoney

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The Trump Administration's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement has significant geopolitical implications, as it creates a leadership vacuum that China is poised to fill, potentially reshaping the global transition to renewable energy. While the U.S. federal government steps back from international climate efforts, non-federal actors like states and cities continue to advance climate initiatives. The withdrawal underscores the importance of domestic innovation in clean energy to counterbalance China's growing influence.

Private Governance Responses To Climate Change: The Case Of Global Civil Aviation, Michael P. Vandenbergh, Daniel J. Metzger

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This Article explores how private governance can reduce the climate effects of global civil aviation. The civil aviation sector is a major contributor to climate change, accounting for emissions comparable to a top ten emitting country. National and international governmental bodies have taken important steps to address civil aviation, but the measures adopted to date are widely acknowledged to be inadequate. Civil aviation poses particularly difficult challenges for government climate mitigation efforts. Many civil aviation firms operate globally, emissions often occur outside of national boundaries, nations differ on their respective responsibilities, and demand is growing rapidly. Although promising new technologies …

Household And Block Level Influences On Residential Fertilizer Use, Michael P. Vandenbergh, Amanda Carrico, Urooj Raja, James C. Fraser

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Urban and suburban lawns make up a large share of land use in the US. Maintaining lawns to fulfill aesthetic norms has environmental consequences. In this analysis, we examine household decisions to apply nitrogen-containing lawn fertilizer. Using survey data of 298 households in Nashville, Tennessee, we first examine the prevalence of fertilizer use and the rate of annual nitrogen applied. We find that the resulting distribution is skewed, with the top 20% of the sample applying 56% of the total share of nitrogen. In contrast to this subset of “intensive” fertilizers, 93% of households applied at or below levels recommended …