Hydropower is often considered a climate-friendly solution to energy needs. Brazil has elected to construct a major hydroelectric project in the Amazon region: Complexo Madeira. A case study of Complexo Madeira illuminates the Brazilian licensing process for this project and reveals the challenges and benefits of such a process, including the resulting policy changes and political rifts. Brazil’s licensing process is relatively demanding, and the environmental impact studies for Brazilian projects are lengthy.

The EU resolved, beginning in 2012, to begin application of its emissions trading system to flights landing in or departing EU territory—including international flights. The decision was met with strong resistance from the international community. The European Court of Justice, however, found in favor of the EU with a ruling that EU regulatory authority extends to flights arriving in or departing its territory.

The law clinic has become an increasingly important part of legal education, giving students the opportunity to learn practical skills as well as to internalize core legal values. Pedagogical concerns preclude clinics from letting fear of criticism drive decisions about how they represent clients. The legal profession’s idealistic aspirations pose challenges, and political attacks have answered clinicians’ efforts to live up to these aspirations.

The concept of sustainable development encourages practitioners to view national, regional, and localized growth in terms of environmental, economic, and sociocultural impact. Traditional planning strategies primarily address the environmental and economic elements of metropolitan planning; in many circumstances, the sociocultural element is limited to efforts to achieve greater social interaction via walkable downtowns, parks, and other institutions conducive to community interface.

This Comment addresses a problem with today’s efforts to protect the environment, especially with regard to climate change, and offers a solution by suggesting we change how we think about the notion of freedom. This is the problem: how we do justify, based upon principles most people can accept, the government’s limiting our freedom in order to protect the environment?

Vapor intrusion—migration of volatile chemicals from contaminated groundwater or soil into an overlying building—is now part of nearly every site investigation and many real estate transactions. As the science of vapor intrusion continues to evolve and states continue to update their guidance, professionals involved in vapor intrusion sites need to stay on top of it all. What is the process for a vapor intrusion investigation? What is the science behind such an investigation? How will these new regulations influence such investigations?

Several key issues have emerged as pivotal in ongoing efforts to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Progress on these complex issues is central to the success of TSCA reform. To foster further discussion of these critical topics, ELI convened a series of issue-specific webinars during the summer and fall of 2011 that provided a forum for focused dialogue among key players. On November 30, 2011, ELI brought together a panel to examine reform of EPA authorities to control the sale, distribution, releases, and use of chemicals.

Divergent legal obligations among major greenhouse gas emitters are a roadblock to establishing an effective climate change mitigation treaty. The United States, and now Canada, Japan, and Russia, have rejected time-bound, legally binding emissions reduction obligations unless major developing country emitters such as China and India undertake comparable binding obligations to reduce their emissions.

The Supreme Court’s decision in American Electric Power v. Connecticut appeared to affirm what many legal scholars have argued: that tort law is not a suitable or effective means to address climate change. While it did close a valuable door for plaintiffs seeking to advance the “carbon tort,” it did not represent the end of tort law’s role in providing relief for those whom climate change impacts now and into the future.

Scientists are virtually certain that climate change will lead to sea-level rise, more extreme storms, heat waves, wildfires, changing weather patterns, and the spread of disease. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is necessary, but not sufficient. Global, national, and subnational adaptation measures to reduce climate harm are essential. Because the consequences of increased disasters, long-term impacts on habitability, and public health threats will not fall equally around the globe or within the United States, equity considerations should play a vital role in emerging U.S.