Environmental Law Commons^™

Assessing The Accelerated Threat Of Bioterrorism In The Age Of Ai, Janelle Radcliffe

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

This Note argues that the accelerated use and growth of easily accessible artificial intelligence systems will result in malicious individuals using artificial intelligence to engage in acts of bioterrorism. Part I will discuss how artificial intelligence works generally. Part II will discuss how AI can be used in carrying out attacks of bioterrorism. Part III will discuss suggested governmental regulations, including the creation of a new Data Privacy, Cybersecurity, and Artificial Intelligence Regulating Department that can conduct the evaluation and limitation of publicly available information, use threat modeling to strengthen biosecurity measures, make artificial intelligence use in terrorism a criminal …

Table Of Contents (V. 49, No. 3)

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Foreword To Extended Producer Responsibility, Sarah Conley

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

The William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review’s (ELPR) 2025 Symposium entitled “Extended Producer Responsibility and the Circular Economy” highlighted the intersection of public policy, economic incentives, and environmental concerns as they relate to largescale change and the current legal landscape. A circular economy seeks to keep production materials in circulation for as long as possible by requiring systems that recapture production waste to use the recapture as a resource in the manufacturing of new products. I chose EPR as the Symposium’s topic because I wanted a symposium that truly embodied the multifaceted nature of environmental law and …

Transitioning To Regenerative Agriculture: One "Net-Zero" Pledge At A Time, Alexia Brunet Marks

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

As climate change intensifies, food sector multinational companies (MNCs), like Nestlé; Mars, Inc.; Unilever; PepsiCo; and Danone, face increasing pressure to reach net-zero by 2050, whereby they would reduce and ultimately eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from their supply chains by 2050. Carbon dioxide emissions are a major business liability, decreasing a firm’s value an average of $212,000 for every one thousand metric tons produced. As companies seek to align their pledges with regional, national, and subnational climate goals, they are legally required to comply with a growing number of disclosure rules for foods entering the United States and the European …

Plastics, Carbon, Politics, And Experimentation In Environmental Governance, Donald T. Hornstein

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

In this Article, I discuss new developments on waste reduction involving plastics and continued social experimentation in greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction, especially as framed in two just-concluded, major international negotiations. In doing so, I describe the search for next-generation policies on waste reduction, including, but not limited to, extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs, along with newly announced policies on carbon offset markets as they relate to GHG reduction. In each case, society is on the verge of what movie producers might call “remakes” with EPR and other waste-reducing programs replacing first-generation recycling efforts and newly designed carbon offset markets replacing, …

The Climate Whisperers, Cale Jaffe

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Environmental groups and their allies have seen two of the bedrock statutes of modern environmental law (the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act) eroded through recent decisions from the Supreme Court. At the same time, political polarization around climate policy- the gap between Republicans and Democrats on whether worsening global warming merits a response- is wider than it has ever been.

Despite these dispiriting headwinds, there are some encouraging counterpoints of recent climate progress in politically conservative communities. The heart of this essay is simply sharing these stories so we can learn from them. I label the advocates who succeeded …

Drawing Lines In The Sand: Armed Conflict, Climate Damage And Setbacks To Climate Action, Beatrice L. Hamilton

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Armed conflicts have a significant and detrimental effect on the climate system, with considerable implications for efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change and the civilian population. Yet the environmental provisions under the law of armed conflict (LOAC), drafted some half a century ago, struggle to adequately address these concerns. This article assesses the capacity of LOAC to address conflict-driven climate damage and its cascading impacts by characterizing these harms as environmental damage and as injury to civilians. The analysis highlights opportunities for broadening LOA C's scope and offers recommendations to enhance its capacity to address climate damage and …

The Modern-Day Discovery Doctrine: Reforming Property Law's "Productive Use" Doctrine For The Age Of Climate Change, Shanthi M. Chackalackal

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

When European settlers first colonized the Americas, claiming Native land as their own, they largely believed their actions to be justified. To Europeans, property rights over land emanated from putting one's labor into that land, "improving" it by removing it from a state of nature. Absent such ''productive use," land had not been claimed and was therefore ripe for the taking. Yet while Native Americans had labored significantly and fundamentally shaped the land around them, European settlers deemed the Americas to be in a state of nature. Such attitudes towards Native American labor and property rights reveal a strikingly limited …

21st Annual Diversity Symposium Dinner 2025, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

Information For Environmental Governance: The Value Of State Of The Environmental Reports In A Polarized Era, Michael Vandenbergh, M. Caballero, Ethan I. Thorpe

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The increasingly dysfunctional federal democratic process poses chal- lenges to effective, consistent responses to the most important environmental risks. Information about the state of the environment and the performance of environmental protection measures can play a surprisingly important role by providing the information necessary for the public and decision-makers to resist disinformation efforts and prioritize the responses to these threats. Until 1997 the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) produced annual State of the Environment (SOE) reports as required by Section 201 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. In response to paperwork reduc- tion legislation adopted in …

Reconciling Regulatory Impact Analyses And Agencies, Sydney C. Schoonover, W. Kip Viscusi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Federal administrative agencies frequently undertake regulatory impact analyses to provide the basis for promulgating new regulations and justify the reasonableness of regulations upon judicial re- view. Using analytical methods, agencies quantify and compare the relative costs and benefits of regulatory alternatives, seeking policies that maximize net societal benefits, subject to statutory constraints. Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo threatens to upend this methodological check on the rationality of agency action in two distinct ways: first by limiting the permissibility of regulatory impact analysis as a basis for regulation, and second by replacing technical and scientific-informed components of the analysis with judicial …

Science-Based Policy Recommendations For Managing Emerging Pollutants: Protecting Water Quality For The Health Of People And The Environment, Sarantuyaa Zandaryaa, Ali Fares, Gabriel Eckstein, Regina M. Buono, Mary Trudeau, James E. Nickum, Xingui Xia, Atikur Rahman, Marijn Korndewal, Cassiana C. Montagner, Piero R. Gardinali, Robert Michael Di Filippo, Anoop Veettil

Faculty Scholarship

Emerging water pollutants are a growing global concern due to their ubiquitous presence in water resources worldwide and their potential adverse effects on human health and ecosystems. Limited scientific understanding of sources of emerging pollutants’ emissions to water bodies and their pathways, behaviour, and fate in aquatic environments, as well as human health and ecological effects, is a significant hindrance in managing emerging water pollutants. With exceptions concerning PFAS/PFOS and microplastic beads, there are few regulations for emerging pollutants in national water and environmental policies, which results in a critical gap in safeguarding human health and aquatic ecosystems through effective …

Introduction – Emerging Pollutants In Water: Threats, Challenges, And Research Needs, Sarantuyaa Zandaryaa, Ali Fares, Gabriel Eckstein

Faculty Scholarship

Water is indispensable for life, health, and environmental sustainability, as underscored by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Traditional water quality assessments have historically focused on pathogens, nutrients, and heavy metals. However, recent decades have witnessed growing concerns over Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs), a diverse class of pollutants with potential risks to human health and ecosystems. CECs encompass pharmaceuticals, personal care products, endocrine-disrupting compounds, and microplastics, entering water bodies via wastewater, industrial discharge, and agricultural runoff. Their persistence and adverse effects pose significant challenges to water treatment technologies. This manuscript explores the scientific understanding, environmental fate, and societal implications …

Who Owns The Heat? Property Rights In Geothermal Energy, Gabriel Eckstein

Faculty Scholarship

Landowners can have ownership claims to oil, gas, water, and other tangible natural resources located in their subsoil. But can they also claim rights to the thermal energy found below their land? With 50,000 times more heat energy within the top 10,000 meters (around 33,000 feet) of the Earth’s surface than contained in all of the world’s oil and natural gas resources combined, geothermal energy is a tremendously promising, clean, and renewable energy resource. Yet, ambiguities in property rights related to the development and ownership of geothermal energy resources raise questions about who is entitled to benefit from that potential. …

Wildfire Smoke And U.S. Law, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

Many of the most wicked feedback effects of climate change relate to wildfire smoke. In some places the greenhouse gases poured into the atmosphere by wildfires exceed the reductions achieved by all efforts to fight climate change. At the same time, climate change is a major reason why wildfires are becoming more frequent and intense. Climate change and wildfires feed each other. However, environmental law and climate policy have paid relatively little attention to wildfires. The smoke from these fires — a major cause of illness and death, even thousands of miles from the blazes — is mostly unregulated. Efforts …

Time For States To Flex Their Legal Muscles, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

In these dark several years ahead, with all three branches of the federal government moving backwards on environmental protection, the states can do much to stem the retreat.

Disharmoni Peraturan Penawaran Prioritas Wilayah Izin Usaha Pertambangan Khusus (Wiupk) Pasca Diprioritaskan Terhadap Badan Usaha Organisasi Kemasyarakatan “Keagamaan”, Ananda Putri Salsabila

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Abstract

Priority offering of Special Mining Business License Areas (WIUPK) to business entities owned by religious community organizations without going through an auction process has caused legal polemics in Indonesia, especially after the enactment of Government Regulation (PP) Number 25 of 2024 concerning Amendments to Government Regulation Number 96 of 2024 2021 concerning Implementation of Mineral and Coal Mining Business Activities. This research aims to examine whether the policy is in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, especially in the context of implementing mineral and coal mining business activities. Apart from that, this research will also analyze the legal consequences …

Toward Integral Security: How Environmental Protection Was Incorporated Into The United Nations System And Why It Matters Today And Tomorrow, Patricia M. Mische

The Journal of Social Encounters

How did the United Nations - an international organization built on 19^th century worldviews and state-centric structures, integrate 21^st century challenges of environmental protection into its mission and programs? The UN Charter includes no mandate for environmental protection. Ecological integrity was not included in the scope of peace and security held by member states when they ratified the UN Charter. Yet, despite this and other historical, philosophical and structural limitations, the UN became the leading body for the development of global environmental policy.

The Regulatory Triad: Reimagining Environmental Law In The Post-Chevron Era, Shai Stern, Itay Biton

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

Get Your Act Together: The Alternative Fines Act In Federal Prosecutions Of Corporate Environmental Crimes, Josiah B. Harmar

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.