Growth-induced land development caused by highway and other projects must be considered as a significant indirect effect under NEPA. For this review, lawyers must look to the regulations adopted by CEQ specifying the causation and foreseeability tests for indirect effects. Several reports discuss procedures for deciding whether a highway could cause growth-induced land development, and recommend a prescreening process to make this decision. Case law also addresses when indirect effects must be considered.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) manages several hundred thousand buildings at over 5,000 sites, using over 30 million acres of land. As stewards of natural resources, DOD is faced with structural and environmental management tasks of monumental proportions. These tasks do not exist in a vacuum and are often integrally related to the surrounding built and natural environments.

With the introduction of wildlife webcams, anyone with an Internet connection can view real-time, live video feed capturing a variety of species, including endangered species, in their natural habitats from a remote location. The U.S. Supreme Court held in Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife that a potential citizen plaintiff must have plans to physically visit the species in its natural habitat in order to satisfy the injury-infact requirement.

The Keystone XL Pipeline has drawn tremendous media attention over the past seven years as the U.S. Department of State has assessed the Project’s environmental impacts through the NEPA review process. Despite the lengthy process, the Keystone XL Pipeline environmental reviews fail to adequately assess the Project’s impacts in the Bakken region, where increased pipeline transport capacity is likely to cause increased levels of hydraulic fracturing for oil production.

The Renewable Energy Law of China was enacted and had been amended relatively quickly. Further modifications to the law would enhance its effectiveness in promoting the development of renewable energy. Deficiencies exist in the current Renewable Energy Law, and its amendments should be improved. First, the legislative approach should be less politically driven but more pragmatic. Second, further amendments of the law should enhance its enforceability. Third, the law should be able to solve current problems and foresee future trends.

For three decades, the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) has enhanced parties’ ability to hold government agencies accountable for their actions and inaction. EAJA allows individuals, small businesses, and nonprofits to recover attorney fees from the federal government after vindicating a variety of federal rights. Recent political rhetoric has attacked EAJA for its allegedly improper usage by environmental groups.

In the first term of the Obama Administration, the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) introduced an interactive web portal designed to give you better information about the president’s centralized system of regulatory review. On entering the portal, there are only two things to keep in mind. First, don’t be afraid to snoop around: sometimes the most useful stuff is found three or four levels down. Second, don’t fall in love. OIRA’s slick website is a fresh breeze for advocates of government transparency. But there’s still a lot missing.

Parties seeking to address their CERCLA liability with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) without protracted litigation may find attractive a nonjudicial negotiated settlement, known as an Administrative Order on Consent (AOC). However, after the U.S. Supreme Court’s seminal United States v. Atlantic Research Corp. and Cooper Industries, Inc. v. Aviall Services, Inc. decisions, subsequent lower court guidance has generated three complex issues that should be considered when entering into an AOC with EPA.

Congress designed the current CAA around two fundamental misunderstandings about air pollution, misunderstandings that make the statute clumsy and that hinder further attempts at emissions reductions. The authors describe a new approach that could solve these problems and allow Congress to dramatically streamline the CAA. They conclude with a word on GHG control.

Alaska Natives work with the federal government in managing resources in the Arctic. Federal consultation with tribes is one of the ways that such cooperative management can be achieved. Existing federal-level policies require consultation with tribes when federal agencies make decisions affecting tribal interests in Alaska. Taking into account the unique circumstances for tribes in Alaska, it is necessary to explore existing consultation policies and procedures, highlighting those that strengthen the underlying framework and how consultation occurs in practice.