Environmental Law Commons^™

Labor Rights In The Anthropocene: The Effects Of Climate Change On Undocumented Farm Workers, Sophia Anderson

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Forever Chemicals Are Infiltrating America, And The Nation Is Letting Impoverished And Marginalized Communities Take The Brunt Of The Contamination, Elizabeth Troutman

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Amended Expert Disclosure Report: Navahine V. Dept. Of Transportation, State Of Hawai’I, Catherine Smith

Scholarly Articles

From a historical and sociological legal perspective, children in America, including in Hawai'i, require extraordinary legal protection from the harm of climate change and the government actions causing them harm. Hawai'i has a long history and tradition of leading the way on broadening rights and protections under state law, particularly for children. The principles of intergenerational justice and equity at the heart of the public trust doctrine in Hawai'i similarly require that courts accord special attention and protection for children.

On June 20, 2024, the youth-powered Navahine case settled, resulting in the first constitutional climate settlement of its kind in …

Permitting The Future, Jonathan Adler

Faculty Publications

Today’s environmental laws impose a range of permitting and review requirements on federal projects and private developments that require federal approval. While well-intentioned, these requirements have imposed substantial costs and delays on economic development, including the development of “green infrastructure.” Alternative energy projects and the infrastructure upon which they depend are constrained by lengthy permit reviews and assessments. While designed to protect the environment, these regimes may constrain the development and deployment of the environmental technologies of tomorrow, including (but not limited to) those necessary to address climate change. This essay is the introduction to a symposium on “Permitting the …

Marine Protected And Conserved Areas: Beneficial Uses Of Artificial Intelligence, Kyla Lucey

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

The ocean is an invaluable tool to the survival of humankind and “produces half of the world’s oxygen, absorbs and sequesters one third of the carbon dioxide human activities emit, provides protection from extreme weather events, and provides a source of food and livelihoods.” Without it, communities would suffer, animals would die off, industries would disappear, and the world would be much worse off. The recommendations made here reflect the growing concern the world has adopted regarding the climate crisis. This concern is warranted as many animals have already disappeared, plants are dwindling, and the once wild areas of the …

Cedar Point Nursery V. Hassid And Customary Use: Protecting The Public's Right To Recreate On Dry Sand Beaches, Anna A. Schmelze

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Ersatz Of The Plain-Meaning Rule Of Statutory Construction In Sackett V. Epa (Ii), Dana Neacsu

Duquesne Law Review

This essay uses the United States Supreme Court second decision in Sackett v. EPA,¹ or Sackett (II), to stress the obvious: judges are tasked with decoding the nation's laws for everyone's understanding. Or, in the words of John Marshall: "It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is."² Later that century, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. further clarified that judicial duty: "Thereupon we ask, not what this man meant, but what those words would mean in the mouth of a normal speaker of English, using them in circumstances …

Win-Win Environmental Regulations For Crypto Mining: Developing A Regulatory Program That Reduces Environmental Harm And Promotes Innovation And Competition, Bradley R. Finney

Scholarly Works

The crypto space is a rapidly growing industry with a rapidly growing carbon footprint. The industry’s expanding energy use has sparked a vigorous debate over whether and how best to regulate crypto mining’s environmental effects. The Biden Administration and many members of Congress have studied the industry’s environmental impact and concluded that there should be environmental regulations for the industry. Regulation, however, faces an obstacle in the form of concern that regulation may unduly stifle innovation and competition within the industry. This is a major reason why Congress has yet to enact environmental regulations for crypto mining.

This Article proposes …

Greening Monetary Policy: To Expand Or Restrain? The Legal And Normative Implications Of The Federal Reserve Combating Climate Change, Jason D. D'Andrea

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

The U.S. Federal Reserve is increasingly at the center of political and scholarly debates concerning how to address climate change. This new pressure comes as other central banks have recently considered an array of regulatory, supervisory, and monetary policy tools to mitigate climate change. Yet, in contrast to some of its global counterparts, the Federal Reserve has been more tailored in its response.

The desire to proactively combat climate change with central bank tools has generated a spectrum of policy designs and legal wrangling. Focusing on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy mandate, this Article undertakes a comprehensive analysis of the …

Federal Common Law Stare Decisis And The Doctrine Of Equitable Apportionment, Eric P. Leis

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas erred in his concurrence to Gamble v. United States when he derived his “demonstrably erroneous” standard of stare decisis because he overlooked a significant portion of federal law: federal common law. In Gamble, Justice Thomas argued for a weak standard of stare decisis under which the Supreme Court would overrule any “demonstrably erroneous” precedent that is contrary to our written laws, regulations, and Constitution. This standard may be functional when applying positive law, but it simply cannot be maintained when confronted with matters of federal common law. Were Justice Thomas’ “demonstrably erroneous” standard …

Pesticide-Coated Seeds: How The Treated Articles Exemption Circumvents Regulation And Harms The Environment, Scott Hudson

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

Pesticide-coated seeds dominate the seed market for a wide range of crops, making them the primary means of delivering pesticides to many agricultural plants. Scientific research has revealed increasingly adverse effects from pesticide-coated seeds, including contamination of native plants, surface waters and groundwater, as well as causing the death of non-targeted insects and birds. Evidence also shows that pesticides from the seeds migrates to drinking water supplies and potentially imperils human health. Yet pesticide-coated seeds are not regulated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency due to a little-known exemption called the Treated Articles Exemption. This Article argues that EPA’s …

Sovereign Immunity & Punitive Fines Under The Clean Air Act: Common-Sense Statutory Interpretation & Clean Policy, Emily C. Thompson

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Henderson And The Objective Observer Standard: The Future Of Race-Conscious Standards Post-Students For Fair Admissions, Gabriela Dionisio

Seattle University Law Review

On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Students for Fair Admissions v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, which struck down race-conscious admissions policies. Within just a year after its ruling, Students for Fair Admissions has already had a sweeping impact, reaching beyond higher education. Although the Supreme Court did not indicate whether Students for Fair Admissions applies to sectors beyond higher education, law firms, and other employers have already modified their diversity policies and initiatives, erasing race and company diversity considerations. Given those dramatic changes, there is growing fear that Students for Fair Admissions …

Same Crime, Different Time: Sentencing Disparities In The Deep South & A Path Forward Under The Fourteenth Amendment, Hailey M. Donovan

Seattle University Law Review

The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. The American obsession with crime and punishment can be tracked over the last half-century, as the nation’s incarceration rate has risen astronomically. Since 1970, the number of incarcerated people in the United States has increased more than sevenfold to over 2.3 million, outpacing both crime and population growth considerably. While the rise itself is undoubtedly bleak, a more troubling truth lies just below the surface. Not all states contribute equally to American mass incarceration. Rather, states have vastly different incarceration rates. Unlike at the federal level, …

Deconstructing Concepts About Nature: An Alternative Perspective For Ecofeminism Based On The Rights Of Nature, Leslie Terrones

PEEL Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Negotiating Environmental Justice In Ukraine, Paul R. Williams, Sindija Beta

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

This Article examines the dynamics of negotiating environmental justice in Ukraine amid pressure from certain international actors for an Amnesty-Based Peace in Ukraine. While it is currently unclear how Russia’s war in Ukraine will end, it is likely that there will be significant discussion around forms of justice, including how to address the grave environmental damage Russia has caused in Ukraine. This Article looks at previous precedents of Amnesty-Based Peace in Angola, Haiti, and Uganda and decisions and commentaries by international actors to argue that appeasement has not fostered durable peace and is generally disfavored by judicial and non-judicial bodies. …

Closing The Renter-Sized Gap In The Inflation Reduction Act: How Housing Policy Can Help Climate Legislation Achieve Environmental Justice, Madison M. Schettler

Connecticut Law Review

The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in August 2022 was an important step forward in American climate policy. The Act is essential to the United States’ goal of effective climate change mitigation efforts, and other countries have even begun to use it as a model for climate mitigation. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provides the framework by which the United States will transition away from fossil fuels and move towards an energy grid powered predominantly by renewable sources. For the first time, the Act addresses head-on the climate and environmental injustices that exist in the United States due …

Deadly Journeys: Climate Change, U.S. Border Enforcement, And Human Rights, Julia Neusner

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

Extreme weather events and slow onset disasters, exacerbated by climate change, are increasingly driving global displacement. As displaced people seek cross-border protection in unprecedented numbers, the United States has responded by tightening border controls and restricting asylum access. These policies have exposed migrants and asylum seekers in transit to greater risks of injury and death due to the impacts of climate change and climate-related disasters. Drawing on legal analysis, historical context, and firsthand interviews with people seeking U.S. asylum, this Article examines the implications of U.S. policies that limit freedom of movement and asylum access. The Article raises critical legal …

Climate Rights In Brazil And The United States: A Convergence In Contrasts, James R. May, Marcelo Buzaglo Dantas, Luciana Bauer

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

This Article offers three quick takeaways. First is the utility of rights-based approaches to climate change. As evidence of climate change grows, international and domestic law are rushing to keep pace. ...

Second is the value of borrowing. Courts look and listen to other courts. As the political processes at both domestic and international levels have failed to protect against climate change, whether by action or inaction, a growing number of courts—led by those in Brazil, the United States, and elsewhere—have tried to catalyze more robust and effective government responses. ...

Last is implementation. Without a strategy for operationalizing these …

Ecocide In War And Peace, From The Air Pollution Consequences Of The War In Ukraine To Japan's Disposal Of Fukushima Water Into The Ocean, Giovanni Chiarini

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

This Article will propose and analyze potentially prosecutable cases of alleged global ecocide and propose targeted amendments to Articles 36(3) and (5) of the ICC Rome Statute. These proposed amendments may serve as a blueprint to procedurally ensure environmental expertise at the international judicial level. Ecocide is unfortunately not currently recognized under the Rome Statute. However, certain scholars have suggested defining it as a fifth international crime. This analysis identifies environmental crises, international criminal law expectations and examines the environmental pollution caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Japanese government’s decision to dispose of radioactive treated water from …