Environmental Law Commons^™

Dishwashers And Dicta: The Fifth Circuit's Not-So-Quiet Attack On Doe Authority In Louisiana V. United States Department Of Energy, Robert G. Torpey

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

Environnement Et Droit Agraire Au Liban, Ibrahim Najjar

Proche-Orient, Études juridiques

No abstract provided.

Sample Article, Rhea Viewer

Journal of Environmental & Energy Law

This is my abstract.

"Tac-Ing" On Coherence: Achieving Sustainable Baltic Sea Fisheries Management By Hooking Precautionary Science And Greater Transparency In Eu Total Catch Negotiations, Patrick Seroogy

Ocean and Coastal Law Journal

This article argues that what makes the difference in success between these two regimes is how strictly the scientific advice underlying catch limits the advice is adhered to, and the influences allowed unto decisionmakers in the catch limit negotiation process. Whereas the United States uses the scientific advice about the MSY as a strict upper limit in determining annual catch limits, the EU does not. This allows stakeholders in the EU’s CFP governance, in particular fishing industry actors, to influence regulators to raise TACs above adequately precautionary levels in the name of “balancing” sustainable fishing with short-term economic interests. The …

Alaska's Hidden Gems: Advocating For The Protection Of Deep-Sea Corals, Both In The Courtroom And Beyond, Lauren Beizer

Ocean and Coastal Law Journal

Coral reefs are ecologically, financially, and aesthetically one of the world’s greatest resources. Off the coast of Alaska, many unique species of deep-sea cold-water corals exist and provide various public health benefits, contribute vital ecosystem functions to their surrounding environment, and serve as economic tourist attractions. Alaska’s corals reefs are exceedingly valuable to the earth due to their overall ecological value. However, these unique coral species significantly lack state and federal protections–which have recently been under consideration in several lawsuits at the federal level. American Oceans Campaign v. Daley and Oceana, Inc. v. National Marine Fisheries Service et al., are …

From Vulnerability To Justice: Reframing Indigenous Disaster Recovery Through A Human Rights-Based Lens, Portia Ozioma Chigbu

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

Indigenous populations regard their cultural identity as central to their way of life, and their traditional lifestyles often place them in remote areas, isolating them from mainstream society. This isolation creates a unique set of human rights challenges, such as limited access to healthcare, restricted political representation, housing insecurity, and poor living conditions, making them especially vulnerable compared to other groups. In the context of climate change and the rising frequency of natural disasters worldwide, these vulnerabilities become more protracted and intensified. Since Indigenous populations already face structural disadvantages before disasters strike, such events deepen their vulnerabilities, increase their risk …

Trial By Fire: Disaster Justice And Lessons Learned, Clifford Villa

Faculty Scholarship

Disaster Justice reflects the intersection of environmental justice and disaster law. The study of disaster justice is becoming increasingly essential as disasters become more frequent and devastating in the face of accelerating climate change. Disaster law is marked by statutes such as the federal Stafford Act and by theory such as the “disaster cycle” of readiness, response, and recovery. Environmental justice recognizes that the distribution of harms such as bad air or water quality may be distributed inequitably among groups such as low-income populations or racial minorities. In similar fashion, the adverse impacts of disasters may also be distributed inequitably …

Private Health Governance And The Environment, Lauren R. Roth, Ethan Thorpe

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently announced it will no longer quantify harm to human health when evaluating pollution regulations, although it will continue to quantify compliance costs to private firms. At the same time, the healthcare sector has emerged as one of the nation's largest sources of environmental pollution, harming the health of communities it seeks to protect. Private actors in other industries have taken steps to reduce their environmental footprint without regulation, yet in healthcare private governance remains weak. This Article argues that stagnant public governance creates a unique opportunity to unify private environmental and health standards. Drawing …

Agri‑Photovoltaics In Poland’S Energy Transition – Untapped Potential?, Marcin Gronowski

Studia i Materiały Wydział Zarządzania Uniwersytet Warszawski

Objective: The aim of this study is to identify and assess the legal barriers hindering the implementation of agrovoltaics as a technology that enables the dual use of agricultural land for electricity generation whilst maintaining agricultural production, and thereby to identify the legislative changes required to unlock its transformative potential. The objective set takes into account the feasibility of implementing energy policy in the area of photovoltaic development, whilst balancing the need to protect agricultural land and the principle of sustainable development.

Methodology: The analysis was conducted using dogmatic and legal‑theoretical methods for the interpretation of legal norms, as well …

From Chainsaws To Courtrooms: Corporate Climate Litigation And Deforestation In Brazil, Maria Antonia Tigre, Mariana Barbosa Cirne

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Corporate climate litigation has emerged as one of the most dynamic and high profile tools for addressing the private sector’s role in the climate crisis. While much of the scholarship and public debate has centered on cases in the United States and Europe, litigation targeting corporations in the Global South — particularly Brazil — has grown rapidly, both in volume and significance. Brazil now ranks among the world’s top jurisdictions for corporate climate damage claims. These suits have pioneered methods for quantifying climate damages, often from illegal deforestation, and have tested the reach of the civil liability regime in novel …

State Policy And Regulatory Approaches To Sustainable Aviation Fuel Across The United States, Somtochukwu Attamah, Mary Johnson, Lara Fowler, Michael D. Helbing

Faculty Scholarship

Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) represents a critical lever for achieving near-term decarbonization of the aviation industry. SAF can be manufactured for “drop-in” use in existing aircraft and fueling systems, allowing manufacturers to achieve lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) savings relative to standard jet fuel. However, U.S. policy is still disjointed: federal incentives are accompanied by diffuse state efforts, which means uneven market-based feedback and investment risk. After outlining the federal policy context, this Article conducts a comparative analysis of SAF-related policy frameworks across the fifty states. This includes a variety of government solutions offered in the form of enacted and proposed …

An Analysis Of Gender-Inclusive Dimensions In Climate Change Policy Frameworks In Zambia, Mwelwa Kunda

Southern African Journal of Policy and Development

Effective climate policy must recognise how men and women differently contribute to, and benefit from, resilience efforts, as this strengthens gender equity and the sustainability of adaptation measures. This study examines the extent to which Zambia’s climate change policy framework integrates gender considerations and translates them into actionable commitments. Using the Vulnerability-to-Resilience framework, it conducts qualitative content analysis of 14 national policies, plans, and strategies spanning climate change, gender, energy, agriculture, forestry, water, and disaster management. A structured coding framework assesses gender inclusion, implementation and enforcement mechanisms, recognition of gendered climate impacts, and identified challenges and opportunities. Code frequencies and …

Insurgent Until Proven Innocent: Land, Power, And The Right To Defend Rights, Kelsey Jost-Creegan

Michigan Journal of International Law

As the climate crisis intensifies, advocates worldwide have stood up to defend their communities, territories, and environment. In response, they have faced violent retaliation. This repression persists despite evolving international, regional, and national-level legal frameworks around the “right to defend rights” and the “right to protection.” This article begins by providing a comprehensive overview of this evolving legal landscape. Against this backdrop, the article examines the tactics and architectures of violence used to repress land and environmental defenders through the lens of counterinsurgency theory.

The article proposes a typology of counterinsurgent violence including: surveillance; stigmatization; criminalization; arbitrary detention; infiltration; cooptation; …

Can The Epa Withdraw The Endangerment Finding?, Jonathan Adler

Faculty Publications

The Trump administration has made repeal of the Environmental Protection Agency’s “endangerment finding” on greenhouse gases the centerpiece of its environmental deregulation agenda. “We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the US, and more,” proclaimed EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin when announcing the agency’s plan to reconsider the finding in March 2025. Since then, the agency has followed through, pushing endangerment finding repeal ahead of other, more traditional, deregulatory efforts. While politically popular with parts of President …

An Abundant Lack Of Introspection, Jonathan Adler

Faculty Publications

In this review Jonathan Adler critiques Abundance authors Klein and Thompson's analysis of how regulation is holding back progress in decarbonization, America's housing supply crisis, and innovation. While agreeing with the authors' assessment that regulation policy is hampering efforts in these areas, Adler objects to the book's proposals for improving regulatory bottlenecks, arguing the authors of Abundance refuse to acknowledge the role of market institutions in creating abundant supply or to admit the fault in their assumption that the failures of centralized government decision making can be repaired while maintaining centralized government decision making.

This abstract has been constructed from …

From Maps To Meadows: Ecologically Literate Zoning And The Regeneration Of Wildlife Habitats, Jonathan Rosenbloom

Cleveland State Law Review

For more than a century, zoning has shaped the American landscape, often at the expense of wildlife and ecosystems. Rooted in legal doctrines that treated animals as property and nature as a raw material, zoning codes have fragmented habitats, erased migration corridors, and accelerated biodiversity loss. At the same time, federal protections are narrowing, leaving critical gaps in environmental governance. This Article argues that local governments possess both the authority and the obligation to respond. By embedding ecological principles into zoning—through conservation districts, wildlife corridor protections, wetland buffers, pollinator protections, dark skies, wildlife fencing, habitat restoration, and others—municipalities can transform …

After Ratification: How Will Indonesia Navigate The Bbnj Agreement?, Febryani Sabatira, Ria Wierma Putri, Orima Melati Davey

Indonesian Journal of International Law

Indonesia’s ratification of the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement) signals its entry into a new phase of ocean governance. Translating this commitment into practice requires understanding the Agreement’s scope, assessing its institutional design, and evaluating its implications for Indonesia’s marine legal framework. This paper applies a normative legal analysis and draws on international treaties, domestic laws, and policy instruments to examine the BBNJ’s four substantive pillars—marine genetic resources, area-based management tools, environmental impact assessments, and capacity building and technology transfer—and their relevance to global and national biodiversity …

“He’S Got The Whole World In His Hands”: Seed Sovereignty And Agricultural Decision Making In Southeastern Kenya, Caroline Stahley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Increasing corporate control of the global seed supply and restrictions to local exchange threaten the autonomy of smallholder farmers and Indigenous communities. This project contributes to agricultural sovereignty movements by examining the decisions farmers make to address climate uncertainty, market volatility, and development agendas. Specifically, how is seed saving practiced and understood in relation to sovereignty? It reimagines what global food systems might look like if investment were directed to producers rather than intermediaries, arguing that cultivators lack support, not knowledge or capacity. Across these domains, seeds act as a motif to describe the concerns, innovations, and visions of farmers.

Shaping Egypt’S Transition To Sustainable Electric Transport: Current Policies And Future Directions, Noha A. Ragab

Theses and Dissertations

Egypt has enacted policies to promote the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in order to reduce their overall carbon footprint. However, the pace of transition remains limited, so the research aims to answer the following question: “How do current policies shape Egypt’s transition towards sustainable electric transport, and what additional measures can support this transition?" The study employs a qualitative analysis methodology, based on diffusion of innovation theory and conceptual framework, to analyze current policies in Egypt and identify challenges and gaps in their implementation. It also analyzes responses from 23 interviews with experts in the field, manufacturers, dealers, EV …

Land Forward: Planning For Legal Reforms To Facilitate Land Back And Community-Driven Relocation In Response To Climate Change, E. Barrett Ristroph

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

Indigenous and other place-based communities face the loss of their homes due to climate change. The practices that have led to the current climate crisis have also contributed to the historical dispossession and marginalization of these communities. United States laws and programs already provide for land transfers to federally recognized tribes, home buyouts for households in hazard-prone areas, and community development. But these laws and programs are piecemeal, reactive, and often inaccessible to the communities most in need. They do not provide a streamlined method for tribes to regain lands needed for rematriation and adaptation. Nor do they allow place-based …