Demand for data centers is increasing worldwide, raising questions about the electric grid, the transition to renewable energy, and distribution infrastructure. Northern Virginia is home to data centers that process nearly 70% of global digital traffic, leading officials to call for construction, at ratepayers’ expense, of new power plants and new transmission lines across four states, as well as the continued operation of coal-powered plants that had been scheduled to go offline. On December 6, 2024, the Environmental Law Institute and the Network for Digital Economy and the Environment co-hosted a panel of experts who examined the environmental impacts and policy implications of data center growth and the consequences for residents of Virginia and nearby states. Here, we present a transcript of that discussion, which has been edited for style, clarity, and space considerations.

The Comment shows the importance of EJ and cumulative impact governance coming from municipalities by highlighting a specific case study that has worked: San Francisco. The author argues that governance on EJ and cumulative impacts through municipalities is more effective because municipalities have the ability to center community needs through holding public hearings, identifying EJ communities and changing zoning laws in those areas, empowering businesses and communities in environmental participation, creating green jobs, and creating EJ education and awareness programs in schools and community centers. Through an EJ lens, it is important to acknowledge the history and the people being disproportionately affected. When focusing on this topic, it is important that EJ policies are community-centered and -led. The overall goal is to inspire municipalities to create programs and laws that address EJ more holistically in their communities.

This Comment focuses on energy developments offshore. Part I recognizes OCSLA’s purpose of balancing energy needs with protection of marine animals, coastal beaches, and wetlands. Part II discusses examples of presidential use of OCSLA §12(a) authority to protect (withdraw from leasing) portions of the OCS temporarily or permanently, including challenges to President Biden’s recent withdrawal of the East Coast, West Coast, and part of the Gulf of Mexico and Bering Strait from future oil and gas leases. Part III explores limitations on OCSLA §12(a) presidential authority to rescind or modify prior presidents’ withdrawals. Part IV details the need to protect marine mammals from impacts associated with oil and gas exploration, including seismic air gun blasting and sonar that significantly impairs hearing, communication, balance, feeding, and breeding. Part V examines the potential impact of President Trump’s wind moratorium. Part VI provides context for President Trump’s pro-energy/anti-environmental initiatives, and Part VII concludes.

Understanding the nearly impossible task of containing contaminants from Superfund sites, it is imperative to find solutions in anticipation of disasters that scientists project will only increase in magnitude and frequency. This Comment proceeds in six parts. Part I identifies the challenge of increasing natural disasters and their impact at Superfund sites, which are toxic havens. Part II identifies efforts that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other federal agencies have taken to make Superfund sites more climate-resilient. Part III identifies and explains institutional controls (ICs) as a potentially underutilized tool for making Superfund sites more climate-resilient. Part IV identifies specific land use policies that municipalities and site managers can implement as ICs to achieve climate resilience at and around Superfund sites. Part V provides recommendations for implementing ICs throughout different stages of the cleanup process. Part VI concludes.

This Article calls on the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to issue guidance clarifying that concurrent decommissioning is a “connected action” under the National Environmental Policy Act for relocation, managed retreat, and protect-in-place projects aimed at replacing infrastructure in environmentally threatened Alaska Native communities. In 2018, the Denali Commission completed the final environmental impact statement for Alaska’s first community-driven village relocation of the millennium, facilitating construction of essential infrastructure at Mertarvik, Newtok’s relocation site. The Commission chose to exclude a full-scale decommissioning plan for Newtok’s existing infrastructure. Over 73 Alaska Native villages face unprecedented severe threats from flooding, erosion, permafrost degradation, and the combined effects of each. The Commission’s segmented approach to decommissioning exposed critical gaps in interagency cooperation, tribal consultation, and funding priorities, setting a dangerous precedent for similar at-risk communities facing toxic pollution of their water and subsistence resources. As tribal organizations and partner agencies work to protect these communities from environmental threats and historic inequities, CEQ guidance on decommissioning is more pressing now than ever.

Between January 2020 and March 2023, U.S. electronic cigarette sales grew 43%, from 15.6 million devices per month to 22.4 million devices. During this time frame, the portion of sales comprising disposable devices grew from 4 million to 11.9 million per month. The impact upon the environment has been largely overlooked by policymakers. Containing nicotine, batteries and circuitry containing heavy and precious metals, and plastics, e-cigarettes can qualify as hazardous wastes under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and contain hazardous substances for purposes of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. Due to the diffuse nature of this waste, existing regulations have failed to address this issue. This Article details each phase of the issue, painting a realistic image of current regulations around waste management and cleanup, and provides a pathway to responding to this disaster through both state and federal action.

In order to manage California wilderness areas to preserve their natural and untrammeled character, as required by the Wilderness Act, federal land management agencies should adopt interpretations of the Act that allow prescribed burning and Indigenous cultural burning in areas where it existed pre-colonialism. Interpreting the Act this way will likely lead to lawsuits, but land management agencies should be able to defend against these even in a post-Chevron legal landscape because of California’s unique history, the history of the Wilderness Act, and recognition of the importance of prescribed burns in forest management in California before and after the Act was passed.

This Article examines the intersection of environmental crises and financial disclosure obligations through the lens of Great Salt Lake. As the lake shrinks to unprecedented levels, the resulting dust storms, diminished snowpack, and destabilized ecosystems increasingly threaten both the public health and economic viability of Utah’s most populous region, and economic impacts will extend far beyond industries directly dependent on the lake. These environmental threats can translate into material financial risks for publicly traded companies and municipal bond issuers, potentially necessitating disclosure under existing securities law. While industries directly reliant on the lake’s ecosystem may already face disclosure obligations, these will expand to include more sectors and geographic areas if the lake is allowed to continue to shrink. The Article argues that recognizing these growing securities liabilities presents a powerful additional reason for urgent policy interventions to restore the lake and safeguard the region’s long-term economic viability. This case study shows how localized environmental crises generate systemic vulnerabilities across economic sectors, with implications for similar situations worldwide.