Environmental Law Commons^™

In Defense Of 2.0°C: The Value Of Aspirational Environmental Goals, Albert C. Lin

Texas A&M Law Review

Aspirational goals, such as the Paris Agreement’s goals of avoiding a global temperature increase of 1.5°C or 2.0°C, can be found throughout environmental law. Such goals, though sometimes unrealistic, perform important functions. They may serve as asymptotic directives that guide implementing entities; yardsticks to measure and evaluate progress; expressions of social values; and expanders of policy space. As asymptotic directives, aspirational goals may push actors to achieve more than they otherwise might accomplish. Incorporated into treaties or statutes, they can serve as guideposts for implementing concrete substantive and procedural requirements. With the passage of time, aspirational goals function as yardsticks …

Clearing The Darkened Air: Regulating Dark Patterns As Air Pollution, Michael Rosenbloom

Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

No abstract provided.

Breaking Ground: Understanding Indigenous Mining Disputes Through Negotiation Theory, Shaadie Ali

Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

No abstract provided.

Climate Change And Environmental Crises In Coastal Cities: Charleston Vs New York City, Nolan Rodriguez

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper addresses the increasing vulnerability that coastal communities face regarding climate crises and rising sea levels. Specifically, this paper investigates the environmental crises facing Charleston, South Carolina, and New York City. The geographical location of these cities places a more severe threat upon their environment, as opposed to urban collectives removed from the immediate effect of rising sea levels. A cross-examination of politics and economics is discussed in order to determine the causal relationship of each city’s engagement with its surrounding environment. This paper examines how each city is affected by climate change, what measures are in place to …

Reno-Sparks Indian Colony V. Haaland, William N. Rose

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Reno-Sparks Indian Colony v. Haaland added clarity to the scope of a federal agency’s duty to consult with Tribes under the National Historic Preservation Act. The case was the culmination of unsuccessful litigation efforts by Tribes to stop a large mining project, and it demonstrated the high hurdle Tribes face when challenging whether a federal agency has engaged in reasonable and good faith consultation.

Solar Energy Industries Association V. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Brandy Keesee

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Solar Energy Industries Association v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“Solar Energy”), the court grappled with a complex web of regulatory and environmental considerations. The overall dispute was the promulgation and implementation of Order 872, a directive issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”), and its alignment with the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (“PURPA”) and the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”). The dispute in Solar Energy is about FERC’s interpretation and application of PURPA in managing qualifying facilities (“QFs”). The crux of the contention was whether FERC’s 2020 rule revisions set forth in Order 872 …

Community Leadership For Healthy Lakes In New York, Nicholas A. Robinson

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This is the text of a speech given at the 2024 New York State Federation of Lake Associations annual conference on May 3, 2024 in Lake George, New York.

Effectiveness Of Marine Species At Risk Conservation Within The Unep Regional Seas Programme: Taking Stock And Charting Future Courses, Olga Koubrak

PhD Dissertations

The impending biodiversity crises demands urgent, effective action. The transboundary nature of many marine species at risk makes international law a necessary tool in this endeavour. The United Nations Environment Programme and its Regional Seas Programme consists of 18 individual progammes spanning the globe and bringing together 143 countries in regional collaborations. This research project evaluates potential effectiveness of four programmes within the Regional Seas Programme relative to each other on twelve elements looking at legal and institutional structure, as well as regional implementation. The four case studies cover the North-East Atlantic, Mediterranean, East Africa, and Caribbean regions. These programmes …

Settler Colonialism And Ecosystem Change: How Ideology Has Shaped Minnesota’S Environments, Sarah E. Hobby

History Honors Projects

The formation of a uniquely American land ethic—defined by European political history and Christian biblical doctrine and forged through systems of dispossession—is central to the creation of environments within the United States today. Using Minnesota as a microcosm to understand how settler colonial interactions played out all across the United States, this paper analyzes connections between violent dispossession of Indigenous people and the degradation of environments. By understanding how Ojibwe and Dakota people think about and have shaped Minnesotan lands throughout their history and comparing Indigenous land-ethics to the Euro-American-settler land ethic, this paper evaluates the role that ideology and …

Ensuring Climate Litigants’ Standing: Insights From National And International Climate Litigation, Florence T.B. Simon

Connecticut Law Review

In March 2023, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its Sixth Assessment Report and confirmed unequivocally that human activities are the cause of climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions over the next few years are capable of causing irreversible and catastrophic damage to our planet. Catalyst litigation plays an important role in tackling climate change by prodding governments to assume a role in implementing adaptation and mitigation measures. Despite the extreme consequences that climate change will have on humanity, jurisdictional issues—such as standing—impose considerable hurdles for climate litigants. And these hurdles ultimately keep plaintiffs from obtaining a ruling, or …

Governance And Islam In East Africa: Muslims And The State In Kenya And Tanzania, Farouk Topan, Kai Kresse, Erin E. Stiles, Hassan Mwakimako

Exploring Muslim Contexts

Explores the relationship between Muslim communities and the State in East Africa in political, institutional and legal contexts

• Focuses on the relationship between Muslims and the State in Kenya and Tanzania
• Asks which factors, both within and outside the Muslim community, shape and affect this relationship in contemporary times
• Presents 13 case studies exploring governance issues within and across the categories of politics, institutions and law in Kenya and Tanzania
• Identifies cross-cutting issues of governance and Muslim communities which are relevant beyond East Africa

Recent studies of Muslims in Kenya and Tanzania have tended either to examine governance of Muslims …

Healthy Rivers Are Critical For Colorado's Water Resources Resilience: How Colorado Water Law Needs To Evolve To Protect Our Natural Stream Systems, John Cyran, Hattie Johnson, Jacquelyn Corday, Andrew Teegarden

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

Over the past 200 years, the large majority of Colorado's rivers have been altered to make way for development, agriculture, or transportation, or to deliver water to users more efficiently. Rivers have been buried by mining debris or concrete, channelized, levied, wholly diverted, riparian vegetation lost by grazing or land use practices, and thousands of miles of streams have become incised, disconnected from their foodplains. Numerous scientific studies over the past twenty years have documented why degraded rivers are problematic and why healthy functioning river systems connected to their foodplains provide numerous critical services beyond water delivery, including increased protection …

Old Farms, New Crop: Agriculture's Historical Influence In Colorado Water Law And Its Leadership Into A Water Scarce Future, Sara Dunn, Andrea Hall

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Risks And Potential Impacts Of A Colorado River Compact Curtailment On Colorado River In-Basin And Transmountain Water Rights Within Colorado, Eric Kuhn

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

Twenty-plus years of drought and overuse in the Colorado River system have dramatically changed the outlook for water users in the system's Lower and Upper Basins. At the time of this Article's writing, the United States Bureau of Reclamation was simultaneously working on two related, but separate, environmental review processes related to the management of the Colorado River and its major storage reservoirs. The river system was granted a short reprieve in the form of a long overdue and aboveaverage snowpack in the winter of 2022-2023, but all signs point to continued risk presented by an imbalance in the system …

Pesticide Poisonings And Deadly Hazards: Using The Farm Bill To Protect Workers, Melissa Mcelroy

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Give It A Nudge: A Comparative Analysis Of The Values And Application Of Voluntary Environmental Programs In The United States, Pianpian Wang

Dissertations & Theses

In recent years, companies have increased their voluntary commitments to reducing carbon emissions and implementing sustainability goals. While existing research mainly focuses on government-organized voluntary environmental programs (VEPs), exploring corporate voluntary commitments is essential. The business sector’s active role in environmental management is noteworthy. Traditionally, governments have relied on command-and-control regulations and market incentives to compel companies to protect the environment. However, companies are now demonstrating a willingness to go beyond legal requirements. Naturally, we seek answers to whether these commitments are effective, what factors can contribute to their authenticity, and how we compare these voluntary commitments to other VEPs. …

California And Europe Require Scope 3 Climate Disclosures Despite Sec Retreat, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

In March 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued proposed regulations on disclosure of climate-related information by public companies, including their material Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This created a firestorm, drawing more than 24,000 comment letters.On March 6, 2024, the SEC issued its final rule, significantly narrowing the requirements and, notably, eliminating the Scope 3 disclosures. Companies that do not want to make Scope 3 disclosures should not rejoice and environmental advocates and others who do want to see such disclosures should not despair, because new requirements from both California and Europe do mandate this information …

Inequitable Infrastructure: An Empirical Assessment Of Federalism, Climate Change, And Environmental Racism, Lev E. Breydo

Faculty Publications

This Article explains a critical, yet unexplored issue: How are some communities like Jackson—the 80% Black capital of Mississippi—often left without water or electricity, while their mostly white neighbors are not? The Article maps uncharted territory by interrogating the underlying causes of this disparity, untangling how three seemingly unrelated factors interplay with the accelerating effects of climate change to perpetuate systemic inequities.

First, and somewhat uniquely, the U.S. federalist construct allocates infrastructure responsibility to the states, which, under the guise of autonomy, subdelegate to often under-resourced local authorities. Second, this capital mismatch requires governmental units to borrow using complex municipal …

There Is No More New Frontier: Analyzing Wildfire Management Efforts In The United States, Morgan D. Gafford

Journal of Legislation

Congress needs to address the major wildfire problem by enacting more legislation that works alongside state governments and their own fire management goals. It is time for Congress to take wildfire suppression legislation more seriously and move it beyond the introductory phase. It is time for Congress and the other branches of the federal government to work together. It is time for everyone—but especially Congress—to fully comprehend the detrimental effects the most severe fires have on the environment, society, and the economy.

Convening For (Climate) Change: The Constitutional Case For A U.S. Climate Assembly, Will Mccabe

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This Note argues that a national U.S. Citizens’ Assembly for Climate would not violate the non-delegation doctrine which prevents Congress from improperly delegating its constitutional legislative power to another body. A climate assembly could potentially be authorized in several ways; this Note explores that of Congress convening a climate assembly through statute, either as an independent body or as a body under the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency. Part I examines the current state of American climate policy and the political debate surrounding it, putting forward a case for a novel approach, and also examines the concept of climate …