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Shipping's Fair Share

In July 2023, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) resolved to reduce international shipping’s greenhouse gas emissions to net zero “by or around, i.e., close to” 2050. There is a long-running debate about whether the sector should decarbonize and how it could do so in a way that is equitable for states and the shipping industry. This Article is the first to normatively define shipping’s fair share of the overall climate mitigation burden using principles of international environmental law.

U.S. and Global Methane Regulation

Methane is estimated to be responsible for one-third of the global rise in temperatures from greenhouse gases; it is shorter-lived but much more potent than carbon dioxide. The United States and the European Union (E.U.) launched the Global Methane Pledge at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26). At COP28’s Global Methane Pledge Ministerial last December, new strategies were announced, including the E.U.’s first-ever adoption of methane regulations and a final rule by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reduce methane from the oil and gas industry.

89 FR 34241

EPA announced the availability of proposed interim registration review decisions and amended decisions for the following pesticides: Acephate, Captan, Ferbam, Thiram, and Ziram.

89 FR 32424

EPA entered into proposed consent decrees in Community In-Power and Development Ass'n Inc. v. EPA, No. 1:23-cv-02715 (D.D.C.) and ACC v. EPA, No. 1:23-cv-03726 (D.D.C.), that would establish deadlines for EPA to take action on subject risk evaluations under TSCA.

89 FR 28769

EPA announced the availability of and seeks comment on the Agency’s draft human health and ecological risk assessments for the registration review of formaldehyde and paraformaldehyde.

89 FR 26879

EPA announced the availability of and seeks comment on an update to the interim guidance on the destruction and disposal of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and materials containing PFAS; the updated guidance builds on information pertaining to technologies that may be feasible and appropriate for the destruction or disposal of PFAS and PFAS-containing materials, and identifies key data gaps and uncertainties that must be resolved before EPA can issue more definitive recommendations about PFAS destruction and disposal technologies.

89 FR 25901

United States v. Flint Hills Resources Ingleside, LLC, No. 2:24-cv-00079 (S.D. Tex. Apr. 8, 2024). Under a proposed consent decree, a settling CWA and OPA defendant that allegedly discharged about 14,000 gallons of crude oil that spilled into Corpus Christi Bay from a ruptured pipe on a dock at the defendant's crude oil storage terminal in Ingleside, Texas, must pay a total of $989,212.80.

89 FR 22972

EPA seeks comments and information to assist in the potential development of regulations for the manufacture, processing, and distribution in commerce of lead for wheel-balancing weights under TSCA.

89 FR 22949

FWS finalized a rule to complete regulatory proceedings addressing submerged public lands within Tongass National Forest.

Climate Justice Litigation in the United States—A Primer

Over the last three decades, numerous studies have concluded that African American, Hispanic, Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and working-class White communities are disproportionately exposed to environmental harms and risks. More recent studies have concluded that although the adverse effects of climate change are being felt throughout the United States, they are not evenly distributed. This Article explores how several states have initiated climate justice litigation to address this issue.