Environmental Law Commons^™

Friends Or Foes? The Problem Of South Florida’S Invasive Mangroves, Kelly J. Cox, Rafael J. Araújo

Pace Environmental Law Review

A recent global review on the impacts of climate change on mangroves concluded that different regions will experience varying degrees of impacts due to the variability of expected changes in climate (shifts in precipitation, frequency and intensity of storms, droughts, sea level rise, change of ocean currents, increases in CO2 concentrations, etc.) and the variety of types and mangrove assemblages growing in these regions, including different species composition of mangrove forests. In North America and the Caribbean, these changes are dependent upon a predicted higher frequency (and intensity) of tropical storms, sea level rise, changes in patterns of precipitation, and …

Labor Leading On Climate: A Policy Platform To Address Rising Inequality And Rising Sea Levels In New York State, J. Mijin Cha

Pace Environmental Law Review

With the renewed need for state action, this paper presents a case study of a labor-led initiative in New York State that seeks to address both economic inequality and the climate crisis. It discusses how organized labor, which has historically represented fossil fuel workers and has not been seen as a traditional climate ally, put forth a comprehensive climate jobs plan that could meaningfully reduce carbon emissions while also creating good, family-sustaining jobs to reduce income inequality. As the need for a broader coalition to advocate for sensible climate policy increases, this case study provides a road map for states …

Public Resource Ownership And Community Engagement In A Modern Energy Landscape, Samantha Hepburn

Pace Environmental Law Review

The onshore resource conflicts that have erupted in the Eastern states of Australia highlight the deep need for axiomatic structural change in public resource ownership frameworks. Much of the conflict that has arisen stems from the failure of the state, as owner, to give proper regard to the social and environmental concerns relevant to the expansion of onshore resource development. The underlying rationale for vesting resources in the state is to ensure they are managed for the benefit of the community as a whole. The implied sumption is that public benefit obligations are met through state administration because this is …

Public Conservation Policies On Private Land: A Case Study Of The Brazilian Forest Code And Implications For The Agro-Industry Sector, Rayane Aguiar, Jody M. Endres, Caroline Taylor, Samuel Evans

Pace Environmental Law Review

The objectives of this paper are to discuss (1) a brief history of the Brazilian Forest Code (FC); (2) key aspects of the 2012 FC revisions; (3) the status of implementation, including institutional and field-level challenges, as well as economic incentives to ease compliance; and (4) the importance of the FC for the Brazilian agro-industrial sector.

A Window Of Opportunity For Gmo Regulation: Achieving Food Integrity Through Cap-And-Trade Models From Climate Policy For Gmo Regulation, Gabriela Steier

Pace Environmental Law Review

GMOs are the links of our centralized food system, largely dependent on international trade. GMOs are inherently unsustainable because they reduce biodiversity, harm the environment, and empower positive feedback loops between monocultures, industrial agriculture, and biodiversity depletion, thereby jeopardizing food safety, security, and sovereignty. Conglomerates of multi-national companies, in short BigAg, shape multi-lateral food trade and flood international markets with their small array and enormous volumes of crops, while controlling large aspects of agriculture and food production world-wide. Zooming in on the trans-Atlantic dispute about GE crops, this paper uses comparative law to explore how a cap-and-trade model borrowed from …

Let’S Be Reasonable: Why Neither Nollan/Dolan Nor Penn Central Should Govern Generally-Applied Legislative Exactions After Koontz, Glen Hansen

Pace Environmental Law Review

This article explains why the Nollan/Dolan test should not apply to legislatively imposed exactions, provided that such exactions satisfy two key criteria: (1) the exaction is generally-applied; and (2) the exaction is applied based on a set legislative formula without any meaningful administrative discretion in that application. Legislative exactions that fail to meet those two criteria should be governed by the Nollan/Dolan standard of review in the same manner as the ad hoc adjudicative exaction in Koontz. Furthermore, legislative exactions that satisfy those two criteria also should not be governed by the factored analysis in Penn Central Transportation Co. v. …

Text Of Solicitor Opinions And A Presidential Letter Regarding National Monuments And The Antiquities Act Of 1906, Mark Squillace

Research Data

These five full-text documents are cited in Mark Squillace, The Monumental Legacy of the Antiquities Act of 1906, 37 Ga. L. Rev. 473 (2003), available at http://scholar.law.colorado.edu/articles/508; and/or Mark Squillace, Eric Biber, Nicholas S. Bryner & Sean B. Hecht, Presidents Lack the Authority to Abolish or Diminish National Monuments, 103 Va. L. Rev. Online 55 (2017), http://www.virginialawreview.org/sites/virginialawreview.org/files/Hecht%20PDF.pdf:

• U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of the Solicitor, Opinion of Apr. 20, 1915 (cited in Opinion of January 30, 1935, M-27657).

• U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of the Solicitor, Opinion of June 3, 1924, M-12501, M-12529 (cited …

Arctic Law & Policy Year In Review: 2016, Arctic Law & Policy Institute, University Of Washington

Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy

According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with a boost by El Niño, 2016 set new records for global temperatures, capping three consecutive years of record global warming. In Alaska, for example, the average temperature was 31.9 degrees Fahrenheit — 5.9 degrees above the long-term average. The globally averaged sea surface temperature was the highest on record at 1.35° F above average. The globally averaged land surface temperature was also the highest on record at 2.57° F above average. The NOAA report records that in 2016 the Arctic experienced some of its highest air temperatures, least sea-ice (averaging …

Ocean Acidification Policy: Applying The Lessons Of Washington To California And Beyond, Ryan P. Kelly

Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy

This Article aims to distill the lessons of Washington’s experience with ocean acidification (OA) policy and apply them to the political framework that exists in California. More generally, this Article evaluates the political landscape in which OA policy is taking shape along the west coast of the United States and highlights elements of a political and policy strategy that would build current momentum on OA in California and elsewhere into a larger, more sustained policy infrastructure capable of addressing coastal issues of environmental resilience and water quality in the context of global change. It concludes by identifying some ways in …

The Fight For Green Economies: The Role Of Sustainable Development In Nations Facing Turmoil, Lucy K. Infeld

Washington International Law Journal

The international focus on sustainable development, and lessening the damage to our environment, can be seen in numerous international conventions and the laws of many individual countries. While most countries around the world have attempted some action to lessen the impact of global warming, not all of these efforts have been successful. Notably, Syria created numerous legal reforms aimed at sustainable development, but has had difficulty implementing these reforms. Contrarily, Morocco, a country with similar climate and obstacles in implementing sustainable development has had great success. A question remains as to whether the lack of implementation of sustainable development practices …

How Oil And Gas Companies Can Help Meet The Global Goals On Energy And Climate Change, Lisa E. Sachs, Nicolas Maennling, Perrine Toledano

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

The sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement lay out a global consensus on the need to curb human-induced climate change and to achieve sustainable development. These concepts are linked. The urgency of addressing climate change is critical for global efforts to reduce poverty and advance sustainable development, but also climate-change mitigation must be pursued in a manner consistent with ending poverty, promoting economic development, respecting human rights, and ensuring social inclusion. CCSI and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) have published a briefing note summarizing the ways in which international oil and gas companies can help expand …

Wrongful Benefit & Arctic Drilling, Nicolas Cornell, Sarah E. Light

Articles

The law contains a diverse range of doctrines — “slayer rules” that prevent murderers from inheriting, restrictions on trade in “conflict diamonds,” the Fourth Amendment’s exclusion of evidence obtained through unconstitutional search, and many more — that seem to instantiate a general principle that it can be wrong to profit from past harms or misconduct. This Article explores the contours of this general normative principle, which we call the wrongful benefit principle. As we illustrate, the wrongful benefit principle places constraints both on whether anyone should be permitted to exploit ethically tainted goods, and who may be permitted to profit …

The Tension Between Korean Environmental Protection Policies And U.S. Investors' Interests Under The U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, Changsung Kang

Maurer Theses and Dissertations

South Korea’s low carbon and ‘green growth’ policies possess potential regulatory changes that reduce foreign investors’ interests and legitimate expectations concerning the profitability of their businesses. Although international investment law protects a government’s right to protect legitimate public welfare objectives, such as environmental protection, the investor-State dispute settlement provision allows foreign investors to seek compensation for a country’s law and policies contrary to their interests. On the other hand, investor-State dispute settlement provisions inherently have many problems. Despite the problems, protecting both foreign investors’ interests and States’ regulatory sovereignty is very important. For this reason, this dissertation examined why the …

National Parks And The Threats They Face: A World Survey, Jared Meek, Brigham Daniels

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The earth is experiencing profound changes in its ecological health and rate of biodiversity loss across the globe. For example, birds, insects, and mammals of Europe are migrating northwards and uphill in response to observed climate changes1, and these changes are affecting the rate of European plant development2. According to one author, “It is estimated that one-third of all reef-building corals […] a third of sharks and rays, a quarter of all mammals, a fifth of all reptiles, and a sixth of all birds are headed toward oblivion. The losses are occurring all over: in the South Pacific and in …

Public Access To Spatial Data On Private-Land Conservation, Jessica Owley

Journal Articles

Information is critical for environmental governance. The rise of digital mapping has the potential to advance private-land conservation by assisting with conservation planning, monitoring, evaluation, and accountability. However, privacy concerns from private landowners and the capacity of conservation entities can influence efforts to track spatial data. We examine public access to geospatial data on conserved private lands and the reasons data are available or unavailable. We conduct a qualitative comparative case study based on analysis of maps, documents, and interviews. We compare four conservation programs involving different conservation tools: conservation easements (the growing but incomplete National Conservation Easement Database), regulatory …

Condominium Arrangements As A Legal Mechanism For The Conservation Of The South China Sea Large Marine Ecosystem, Michelle Mei Ling Lim, Nengye Liu

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The South China Sea Large Marine Ecosystem is one of the world's richest marine biodiversity areas. The sea area is however the site of increasing tensions between its ten coastal States, six of which have competing claims in the South China Sea. The expanding populations and economies of the coastal States have also resulted in the growing depletion of the Sea's rich marine resources. Coordinated approaches are needed to protect the unique biodiversity and natural resources of the South China Sea at the appropriate ecological scale. The continuation of sovereignty disputes are detrimental to all coastal states as well as …

Illegal Marijuana Cultivation On Public Lands: Our Federalism On A Very Bad Trip, Hope M. Babcock

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Fueled by increasing demand for marijuana, illegal cultivation of the drug on public lands is causing massive environmental harm. The federal government lacks the resources to wage what would be a difficult and costly campaign to eradicate these illegal grow sites and instead focuses its limited resources on enforcing the federal marijuana ban. Marijuana decriminalization might allow legally grown marijuana to squeeze out its illegal counterpart, but the political likelihood of decriminalization is low. The key is reducing demand for the illegal drug by changing public buying preferences. However, doing this depends on an available legal alternative. This Article discusses …

Respecting The “Guardians Of Nature:” Chile’S Violations Of The Diaguita Indigenous People’ Environmental And Human Rights And The Need To Enforce Obligations To Obtain Free, Prior, And Informed Consent, Cynthia Vel

American Indian Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Earthquakes In The Oilpatch: The Regulatory And Legal Issues Arising Out Of Oil And Gas Operation Induced Seismicity, Monika U. Ehrman

Georgia State University Law Review

This article reviews the scientific theories and studies regarding induced seismicity, in addition to examining the current regulatory framework and litigation arising out of these seismic events. Lastly, it provides strategies to aid stakeholders and identifies challenges likely to arise in the future.

Part I of this Article provides a review of the geoscience theories regarding natural and induced seismicity. Part II reviews the current scientific literature regarding a possible relationship between certain oil and gas operations and induced seismicity. Part III reviews the existing regulatory structure addressing seismicity in affected states, including possible applicable environmental legislation. Part IV discusses …

Defenders Of Wildlife V. Zinke, Jacob R. Schwaller

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Wyoming was the final holdout of protections for wolves under the Endangered Species Act, and a recent decision by the United States Circuit for the District of Columbia has finally overturned those protections. After years of court battles, this decision marks the final adjudication removing federal protections, and places the management of the wolves in the Greater Yellowstone Area back in the hands of the states surrounding Yellowstone National Park. Complete deference to state regulatory systems may be a new trend in the adjudication of cases under the ESA, and this case could have significant impacts on future deference given …