Despite competing views about climate change policy, the time is ripe to drive carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) forward. National and state investment in and support of CCS are completely consistent with the Donald Trump Administration’s goals to invest in infrastructure projects, continue U.S. reliance on fossil fuels, and create jobs. This Article, excerpted from Michael B. Gerrard & John C.
Climate justice can be defined generally as addressing the disproportionate burden of climate change impacts on poor and marginalized communities. It seeks to promote more equitable allocation of these burdens at the local, national, and global levels through proactive regulatory initiatives and reactive judicial remedies that draw on international human rights and domestic environmental justice theories. Yet, efforts to define climate justice as a field of inquiry remain elusive and underinclusive.
As climate change shifts precipitation patterns, warms seasonal temperatures, and causes severe droughts, the value of and demand for water rises. Consequently, competition for water resources is likely to increase among the states and lead to more Supreme Court original jurisdiction cases over water disputes than ever before. While the Court holds original jurisdiction under Article III of the Constitution, its exclusive jurisdiction over interstate disputes is a legislative construction, and should be altered to allow for an alternative process. Congress should amend 28 U.S.C.
This Article poses a question about deference that remains surprisingly unresolved: when Congress delegates to both state and federal agencies under a “cooperative federalism” scheme, who gets deference when interpreting that law, the state or federal agency? This question has special significance for energy and environmental law because of how common cooperative federalism is to those fields.
This Article, excerpted from Michael B. Gerrard & John C. Dernbach, eds., Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States (forthcoming in 2018 from ELI), asks why household behavior matters for deep decarbonization, and how laws, policies, and programs that target behavior change can be employed to facilitate decarbonization.
The Forest Charter is one of the world’s first pieces of environmental and natural resources legislation and the earliest example of democratic environmental governance.
This Comment proposes a framework for evaluating energy justice, recognizing that there is not, nor need be, a uniform definition of what energy justice means or what it seeks to achieve. The authority and process for implementing this framework will differ across jurisdictions, but the Comment examines some of the questions that state legislatures and ratemaking agencies will face when integrating energy justice considerations into their regulation of electricity markets.
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt describes his philosophy as “back to basics." Although Pruitt’s words suggest a renewed focus on the fundamentals of environmental protection, his actions tell a different story. Instead of doubling down on traditional programs safeguarding air, water, and land, Pruitt’s tenure has been defined by an obsessive focus on undoing the legacy of Barack Obama’s EPA.
Tribes and Native villages are demonstrating reinvigorated environmental activism as they face new pressures on the natural resources many depend on for their economic and cultural livelihood. From the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline, to Alaska Native villages relocating their communities in the face of rising sea levels, to impacts to the Navajo Nation from the closure of a major coal plant, there is a growing role for environmental attorneys in Indian country.
This Article, excerpted from Michael B. Gerrard & John C. Dernbach, eds., Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States (forthcoming in 2018 from ELI), examines the agricultural strategies, practices, and technologies available to increase soil carbon sequestration and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.