Environmental Law Commons^™

Making The Most Of Cooperative Federalism: What The Clean Power Plan Has Already Achieved, Gabriel Pacyniak

Faculty Scholarship

The fate of the EPA's Clean Power Plan-the signature Obama Administration action to reduce greenhouse gas ("GHG") emissions from existing power plants under the Clean Air Act-is uncertain at best given pending litigation and the opposition of President Donald Trump. Despite this uncertainty, the development of the Clean Power Plan provides an important case study of how rulemaking under a cooperative federalism statutory structure can prompt broad, beneficial policy engagement by states and stakeholders, even in a contentious regulatory action. In the development of the Clean Power Plan, active state and stakeholder engagement and an iterative process of "trying on" …

The Production Function Of The Regulatory State, J.B. Ruhl, Jonathan R. Nash, James Salzman

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

How much will our budget be cut be this year? This question has loomed ominously over regulatory agencies for over three decades. After the 2016 presidential election, it now stands front and center in federal policy, with the Trump administration pledging over $50 billion in cuts. Yet very little is known about the fundamental relationship between regulatory agencies budgets and the social welfare outcomes they are charged to produce. Indeed, the question is scarcely studied in scholarship from law, economics, or political science. This article lays the groundwork for a new field of theoretical and empirical research, using what we …

Transforming (Perceived) Rigidity In Environmental Law Through Adaptive Governance, J.B. A. Ruhl, Hannah Gosnell, Brian C. Chaffin, Craig A. Arnold, Et Al.

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is often portrayed as a major source of instability and crisis in river basins of the U. S. West, where the needs of listed fish species frequently clash with agriculture dependent on federal irrigation projects subject to ESA Section 7 prohibitions on federal agency actions likely to jeopardize listed species or adversely modify critical habitat. Scholarship on Section 7 characterizes the process as unwaveringly rigid, the legal hammer forcing federal agencies to consider endangered species needs when proposing operations and management plans for federally funded irrigation. In this paper, we identify barriers to an integrated …

Report To The Governor And The Chairmen Of The House Committee On Agriculture, Chesapeake And Natural Resources And The Senate Committee On Agriculture, Conservation And Natural Resources, Pursuant To House Bill 1774, Commonwealth Center For Recurrent Flooding Resiliency

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

This report was required by House Bill 1774 (2017), in which the General Assembly requested that the Commonwealth Center for Recurrent Flooding Resiliency convene a workgroup to study the administration of the Commonwealth’s current stormwater management program, as well as the potential treatment and use of water in roadside ditches in rural, Tidewater Virginia localities.

Under the Virginia Stormwater Management Act, the Department of Environmental Quality administers stormwater management requirements for any localities that opt out of becoming a Virginia Stormwater Management Program authority, but only for land disturbances of one acre or more that are covered by the Virginia …

Opening The Gates Of Cow Palace: Regulating Runoff Manure As A Hazardous Waste Under Rcra, Reed J. Mccalib

Michigan Law Review

In 2015, a federal court held for the first time that the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) may regulate runoff manure as a “solid waste” under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”). The holding of Community Ass’n for Restoration of the Environment, Inc. v. Cow Palace, LLC opened the gates to regulation of farms under the nation’s primary toxic waste statute. This Comment argues that, once classified as a “solid waste,” runoff manure fits RCRA’s definition of “hazardous waste” as well. This reclassification would expand EPA’s authority to monitor and respond to the nation’s tragically common groundwater-contamination emergencies.

Getting Steamy With Property Law: Are Geothermal Resources A Mineral Right In West Virginia?, Joshua A. Lanham

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

"Nay" To Forced Pooling: The Stagnation Of West Virginia's Natural Gas Industry, Zachary H. Warder

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Early Career Experts Essential For Planetary Sustainability, Michelle Mei Ling Lim, Abigail J Lynch, Álvaro Fernandez-Llamazares, Et Al.

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Early-career experts can play a fundamental role in achieving planetary sustainability by bridging generational divides and developing novel solutions to complex problems. We argue that intergenerational partnerships and interdisciplinary collaboration among early-career experts will enable emerging sustainability leaders to contribute fully to a sustainable future. We review 16 international, interdisciplinary, and sustainability-focused early-career capacity building programs. We conclude that such programs are vital to developing sustainability leaders of the future and that decision-making for sustainability is likely to be best served by strong institutional cultures that promote intergenerational learning and involvement.

The Ecowas Court, Activist Forces, And The Pursuit Of Environmental And Socioeconomic Justice In Nigeria, Okechukwu Emmanuel Effoduh

LLM Theses

The thesis has two objectives. The first (and central) objective is to examine the Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS Court (a sub-regional international court in West Africa), and its role within the West African region, especially how the Court has served as a resource for the Activist Forces that operate in the sub-region, in their pursuit of Environmental and Socioeconomic Justice in Nigeria. The second goal of this thesis, which is ancillary to the first, is to investigate the Courts jurisprudence in three landmark cases: SERAP v. Nigeria & Anor (2010); …

Environmental Injustice And The Problem Of The Law, Uma Outka

Maine Law Review

Over the past fifteen years, legal academia has produced a sizeable body of scholarship on the widely acknowledged problem of environmental injustice. Although there have been positive responses in the policy arena, no similar level of concern is evident in the courts. Most legal claims directly addressing environmental injustice fail, recent developments in civil rights case law are discouraging, and current constructions of environmental laws are proving theoretically inadequate to protect communities already subjected to disproportionate toxic exposure or threatened by new pollution. This Comment explores the state of the law of environmental justice and offers an analysis of why …

Smith V. Town Of Pittston: Municipal Home Rule's Narrow Escape From The Morass Of Implicit Preemption, Shane Wright

Maine Law Review

In Smith v. Town of Pittston, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, upheld a municipal ordinance adopted by the town of Pittston that prohibited the spreading of septage within Pittston. The majority held that Pittston's ordinance did not violate the Maine Hazardous Waste, Septage and Solid Waste Management Act (Solid Waste Management Act), which “govern[s] the disposal of garbage, sludge, septage and other waste.” The majority interpreted the “home rule” statute as granting sufficient authority to Pittston, as a municipal corporation, to enact the ordinance at issue. The dissent, on the other hand, would have held …

Understanding The Linkages Between Urban Transportation Design And Population Exposure To Traffic-Related Air Pollution: Application Of An Integrated Transportation And Air Pollution Modeling Framework To Tampa, Fl, Sashikanth Gurram

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rapid and unplanned urbanization has ushered in a variety of public health challenges, including exposure to traffic pollution and greater dependence on automobiles. Moreover, vulnerable population groups often bear the brunt of negative outcomes and are subject to disproportionate exposure and health effects. This makes it imperative for urban transportation engineers, land use planners, and public health professionals to work synergistically to understand both the relationship between urban design and population exposure to traffic pollution, and its social distribution. Researchers have started to pay close attention to this connection, mainly by conducting observational studies on the relationship between transportation, urban …

V.1 No.10

Conservation Law Center Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Pope Francis, Laudato Si', And U.S. Environmentalism, Jonathan Z. Cannon, Stephen Cushman

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

T-Rex, Jurassic Park And Nuclear Power: Nuclear Power Plants And The Courts After The Fukushima Nuclear Accident, Shigenori Matsui

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Water, Lead, And Environmental Justice: Easing The Flint Water Crisis With A Public Water Contamination Liability Fund, Jonathon Lubrano

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

The Kimberley Process As A Framework For Regulating Conflict Oil And Gas Sourced From The South China Sea, Jamie Huffman

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Beneficial Disruption: Vermont's Renewable Energy Standard And The Need For Innovative Utility Regulation In The 21st Century, Darren Springer

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Changing Tides In Water Management: Policy Options To Encourage Greater Recycling Of Fracking Wastewater, Romany M. Webb

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

The U.S. has recently experienced a domestic energy renaissance, made possible by technological advances, enabling the development of unconventional oil and gas resources. Vital to this development is hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), whereby fluid is injected underground at high pressure to fracture the rock, thereby enabling the flow of oil and gas. Fracking has recently faced growing opposition with many concerned about its environmental impacts, particularly its potential to adversely affect water resources, because fracking uses vast amounts of fresh water that ends up as contaminated wastewater. Most of this wastewater is disposed of through underground injection, resulting in its permanent …

A Fix For A Thirsty World - Making Direct And Indirect Reuse Legally Possible, Heather Payne

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Reliably providing safe drinking water to the public is an essential function of state and local governments. Across the United States, government officials and public water system managers are exploring mechanisms for ensuring water security. One method for increasing public drinking water security that has garnered the attention of water officials and the public is returning treated wastewater to the drinking water supply. However, in the absence of federal regulations on water reuse, states need guidance to develop the statutory framework necessary to make potable reuse legal. This Article details the processes of direct and indirect potable reuse and reviews …