Oakland Bulk & Oversized Terminal, LLC v. Oakland, City of
The Ninth Circuit upheld a district court ruling that Oakland, California breached its contract with a company to develop a commercial rail-to-ship terminal on a former U.S. Army base near the San Francisco Bay. The company argued that Oakland breached the contract by barring coal operations at the ...
Waid v. Earley
The Sixth Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that denied city and state officials' motions to dismiss residents' bodily integrity claim stemming from the water contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan. City officials argued they were entitled to qualified immunity because they acted on professi...
Regulating CAFOs for the Well-Being of Farm Animals, Consumers, and the Environment
The livestock sector is one of the planet’s primary causes of resource consumption and environmental degradation. Approximately 99% of meat and other animal products in the United States are from factory farms, and the number of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) continues to grow. This Article, adapted from Chapter 8 of What Can Animal Law Learn From Environmental Law?, 2d Edition (ELI Press, forthcoming 2020), examines animal agriculture in the U.S and the associated problems.
EPA’s Criminal Prosecution and Punishment of Environmental Crimes
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the difficult mission of crafting complex environmental rules and regulations while considering the economic costs of those actions. The Agency must also engage in law enforcement functions to enforce these rules and regulations to ensure compliance, punish appropriately, and deter future offenders. Most of these enforcement actions rely on civil remedies to gain compliance, such as negotiating consent decrees or issuing civil penalties. In cases of willful, chronic, or serious offenses, the Agency can seek criminal penalties.