Deep decarbonization will have to explore the use of negative emissions technologies (NETs), which include the direct air capture (DAC) of ambient carbon dioxide. NETs capture or consume more carbon dioxide than they emit, and DAC is a subset of NETs that use any industrialized chemical or physical methods to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and then store or reuse those gases, typically in a way that does not allow them to escape.

People care enormously about what happens to those with whom they are close. Nonetheless, standard cost-benefit analyses usually measure only direct impacts on individuals, as well as sometimes the abstract preferences people have about matters with which they have no connection. This ignores the indirect impacts of regulations on the loved ones of those directly impacted.

The Indiana Supreme Court recently delivered a landmark public trust decision, Gunderson v. State, ruling that the state acquired and still owns Indiana’s bed of Lake Michigan below the ordinary high water mark, including exposed shores, and that it holds that bed in an inalienable trust for public uses. This is a unique decision for the Great Lakes region. This Article examines the legal background for the case, the conflicts and contradictory rulings that emerged as it travelled upward through the court system, and the ultimate resolution by Indiana’s high court.

The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) touches more lives in more ways than any other federal agency. Currently led by Secretary Ryan Zinke, the agency manages one-fifth of the land in the United States, including our national parks, wildlife refuges, and the delivery of water and power in the West. We have entrusted Secretary Zinke and DOI with the care of wildlife, fish, waterways, and land for the benefit of us all. As trustee, Secretary Zinke is accountable to us—the beneficiaries of the trust—to show that he has managed them for the common good. So, how is he doing?

This Article examines the various ways countries throughout the world have started to incorporate considerations of climate change adaptation into their framework environmental laws, implementing regulations, and other binding instruments. Drawing upon searches in databases of environmental laws, it examines national legislative and regulatory language, focusing on various types of provisions that address climate change adaptation. These laws serve as a valuable source of mechanisms that can be used to implement adaptation, providing a toolbox of approaches.

Hydropower—both conventional and pumped storage hydropower—is crucial to sustaining our transition to a decarbonized grid. Additional hydropower development that meets modern environmental requirements is essential to reduce the United States’ dependence on carbon.

President Donald Trump promised to undo much of the regulatory handiwork of his White House predecessors. On the heels of his inauguration, President Trump tasked Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke to review national monument declarations of previous presidents issued under the Antiquities Act of 1906, and to recommend monument modifications or revocations. The plain meaning of the Antiquities Act, however, does not delegate legislative power to the president to revoke or to materially disturb prior presidential national monument declarations.

Does the United States need the Clean Air Act’s Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program to guard against degradation of air quality? In their recent Comment in these pages, John C. Evans and Donald van der Vaart say no, but the right answer is more nuanced. While the program is flawed in some respects, PSD helps to protect national parklands, guard against pollution “hot spots,” and decrease air pollution emission levels in the United States, thus helping to remedy regional pollution problems.

The Trump Administration’s approach to fisheries management appears to constitute a significant policymaking shift. Recent NOAA decisions, such as extending the Gulf of Mexico red snapper season or overturning an Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission decision to cut New Jersey’s recreational quota for summer flounder, seem to go against the agency’s traditional approach of placing scientific information at the center of fisheries decisionmaking. On January 25, 2018, ELI held a webinar to discuss these and other recent developments, and to assess the direction U.S.

This year’s 8th World Water Forum in Brazil—the largest gathering on this subject, held every three years—will for the first time bring judges and prosecutors together with policymakers from around the world to discuss the precarious state of freshwater resources and the importance of rule of law in achieving water resource objectives.