When the United States withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement, 100 private corporations reaffirmed their commitment to fighting climate change. While governments are often tasked with facing climate change, many major private institutions are taking steps to significantly reduce carbon emissions, reaping the benefits of favorable public image and reduced operational costs from energy and other savings.

This Article examines potential opportunities for state and tribal natural resource trustees to integrate restoration and compensation for natural resource damages with other ecological restoration programs and coordinating with mitigation banks and in-lieu fee (ILF) programs developed under Clean Water Act §404. The Oil Pollution Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act provide for recovery of funds from responsible parties to restore natural resources damaged by the release of petroleum or hazardous substances.

It is undeniable that globalization has increased the extent to which corporate entities are connected to the daily lives of people from every corner of the world. Yet coupled to the growing reach of corporations is a growing demand that the behavior of private business reflect public aims. Specifically, there is a rapidly growing interest across business, government, and civil society in using disclosure regimes to transform corporate behavior.

In June 2017, President Donald Trump confirmed that the United States will withdraw from the Paris Agreement.

China is working hard on an ambitious policy to become a world leader in addressing climate change, with plans to transform its energy policy primarily using carbon emissions trading. The National Development and Reform Commission announced on December 19, 2017, that it was deploying its National Carbon Emissions Trading Market Construction Plan for the Power Generation Industry.

The U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently proposed comprehensive changes in how the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is implemented. These address the species listing process, critical habitat designations, and the §7 consultation process. If approved, these rules could have a significant impact on species conservation in the United States. On July 31, 2018, ELI hosted a webinar that highlighted reactions to the proposed changes.

The law has been slow to acknowledge the unprecedented nature of sea-level rise. Unless and until the law adapts, past case law on coastal hazards exacerbated by sea-level rise provides the best guidance. This Article critically examines a Florida case that addressed local government liability for coastal erosion damage to a road and dramatically altered Florida law in two key respects. First, the case altered and expanded the concept of “maintenance” of road infrastructure by a local government as the baseline duty that must be met to avoid potential legal liability.

Section 404(b) of the Clean Water Act authorizes a “practicable alternatives” requirement for dredge and fill permits. EPA has adopted guidelines that set out and interpret that requirement, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has substantial discretion in deciding its application to specific sites, and there can be significant variation in practice.

With this Article, ELR News & Analysis concludes our year-long series of excerpts from Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States, forthcoming from ELI Press. We believe the urgency and importance of this topic, coupled with the book’s original, policy-oriented treatment of it, warranted extensive advance coverage. Previous installments examined an array of specific sectors across the entire U.S. economy, with many more included in the published volume.

Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement in July has the potential to significantly affect the field of environmental law for years to come. The Supreme Court’s 2019 docket includes cases that cover a litany of environmental issues, and his replacement will play a key role. For the past three decades, Justice Kennedy was a crucial swing vote on a variety of issues, including the 5-4 decision in Massachusetts v. EPA and 4-1-4 decision in Rapanos v. United States. These examples illustrate the changes that could lie ahead.