A California court held that San Diego County's climate action plan violates the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and must be set aside. The plan should have been the subject of a supplemental environmental impact report (EIR) under CEQA instead of an addendum to the county's existing Pro...
The Ninth Circuit, in an amended opinion, denied an environmental group's petition challenging EPA's decision to grant two air permits authorizing exploratory drilling operations in the Arctic Ocean by a drillship and its associated fleet of support vessels. The permits require the drillship to comp...
A district court dismissed with leave to amend environmental groups' lawsuit against EPA alleging that it violated the ESA by failing to undertake required consultations regarding the effects of 382 registered pesticides on endangered and threatened species. The groups seek a broad remedy—an injun...
The CWA and CERCLA were passed to clean up the environment and protect public health. Both statutes required Congress to set a standard for cleanliness. Under
CERCLA, Congress determined that Superfund sites had to meet applicable or relevant and appropriate requirements (ARARs), and under the CWA, Congress said water bodies must meet water quality standards and, if those fail, must meet TMDLs. TMDLs are not usually able to serve as ARARs, but there are a variety of solutions federal and state authorities could use to enable TMDLs to serve as ARARs.
Environmental law is under intense pressure to develop an adaptive framework. According to resilience science, interconnected ecological and social systems are dynamic, complex, and subject to abrupt and unpredictable change. In contrast, environmental law’s foundations assume that nature is relatively stable, changing primarily in linear patterns within a range of predictable conditions. Moreover, the U.S. legal system aims to create certainty and security in the distribution of resources, favors top-down “panacea” or “optimal instrument” solutions to problems, and uses linear processes.
As the Communist Party of China (CPC) is the leading political party of China and in effect determines the policies of the Chinese government, this Comment reviews the change in top CPC leadership during late 2012, and what that change means for environmental protection and environmental law.