In March 2010, I proposed to the Director of Legal Research and Writing and the Associate Dean for Academics that I offer a section of Research and Writing II, with a slight twist: I would cover the same writing and oral advocacy skills as other sections, but with an environmental law focus.
The long legal fight over wolf reintroduction in the Northern Rocky Mountains came to a close in 2011, when Congress intervened in the ongoing court case by delisting the wolves through an appropriations bill rider. Though removal of Endangered Species Act protections by this method has exposed the Northern Rocky Mountain wolves to hunting, a deeper problem has been exposed in the doctrine of separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branches. The current approach essentially removes any barrier for Congress to meddle in ongoing court cases.
As the movement toward keeping backyard chickens continues to grow, many cities are facing the decision of whether to allow residents to keep chickens and, if so, how to effectively regulate the practice. A survey of municipal ordinances in the top 100 most populous cities in the United States that concern keeping and raising chickens offers lessons that may be applied to designing a model ordinance. This survey reveals that chickens are, perhaps surprisingly, legal in the vast majority of large cities.
In 2010, the Philippine Supreme Court led the Philippines to become the first nation with rules of procedure specific to environmental cases. While the Philippines has made great strides in adopting environmental laws and providing access to courts, more work is needed to ensure consistent decisions and to build capacity in both lower courts and government agencies. As shown in the case of Metropolitan Manila Development Authority v.
NEPA is a legal tool that can be used to slow or prevent the development and use of energy in the United States. It is also a tool that can be used to help a federal agency make wise decisions and help prevent actions that damage the environment. Several NEPA requirements are related to the funding of carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, and NEPA environmental impact statements for CCS projects may allow NEPA to aid the decisionmaking process. This Article focuses specifically on NEPA compliance by the U.S. Department of Energy and its National Energy Technology Laboratory.
For years, attempts by states and localities to regulate vehicular emissions have been thwarted by the Supreme Court’s environmental preemption doctrine. These preemption cases emphasize textual, plain-meaning interpretations of the Clean Air Act and the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, which facially preempt any state emission standard inconsistent with federal law.
Philadelphia has agreed to implement a long-term plan to employ ecosystem services provided by green stormwater control infrastructure to reduce combined sewer overflows and achieve compliance with the CWA. The $2.5 billion Green City, Clean Waters Program, to be implemented over 25 years as a part of the city’s larger “Greenworks” sustainability initiative, will save the city approximately $8 billion over traditional grey infrastructure.
This Article suggests concrete solutions to promote the development of robust water markets. It begins with a review of water transfers in the western United States and historical water use patterns that help illuminate the problem. It then considers opportunities for moving agricultural water to urban use by studying successful water transfer systems. To those who know water allocation law, it will come as no surprise that many of these systems have evolved in the context of special purpose water districts and mutual ditch companies.
On May 16, 2012, ELI convened a panel of experts to provide an overview and analysis of the tension between regulatory and common-law standards for injury in the context of toxic tort litigation. The speakers discussed and debated emerging trends in toxic tort litigation, including claims for property damage or medical monitoring regarding exposure to environmental contamination that never exceeds applicable regulatory standards.
On March 21, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court decided the Clean Water Act (CWA) case Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency. The Sacketts were private property owners in Idaho who had dredged and filled a portion of their property for future construction. As the property was near a navigable lake, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) asserted the Sacketts were in violation of §311 of the CWA, and issued a compliance order (Order) obligating the Sacketts to remove the fill or be subject to penalties of up to $75,000 per day for each day of noncompliance.