The Eighth Circuit reversed a district court ruling in a challenge to Iowa's "ag gag" law that criminalizes undercover investigations at agricultural production facilities. Initially, the law prohibited the facilities from being accessed under false pretenses as well as prohibited false statements o...
Congress in the 2020s has authorized three new environmentally focused grant programs relating to western waters and appropriated $450 million in multi-year funding. The Bureau of Reclamation is responsible for creating and implementing these programs, giving it a new tool and resources for addressing stubborn environmental problems—some caused by the Bureau’s many dams.
Green startups play a crucial role in the transition to a sustainable economy, yet there is a gap in the literature about the legal and policy challenges these startups face. This Article seeks to fill that gap through interviews, surveys, and focus groups with senior law firm partners experienced in advising green startups, senior pro bono counsel and staff, chief executive officers of early-stage green startups, and senior staff at nonprofit legal aid groups.
The U.S. Supreme Court's October Term 2022 had major implications for environmental law, including its most significant Clean Water Act decision ever. Upcoming cases in October Term 2023 have the potential to be just as impactful. On September 25, 2023, the Environmental Law Institute hosted a panel of experts who provided an overview of key rulings and major take-aways from the Court’s prior term, and discussed cases that have been granted review or are likely to be considered by the justices in the upcoming term.
A district court dismissed a civil rights challenge to St. James Parish's adoption of a land use plan in 2014. Nonprofit and religious groups argued their members were residents of the Parish descended from formerly enslaved people whose civil liberties, property rights, and religious rights were vi...
This Comment argues that the False Claims Act (FCA) can now be used to enforce the Inflation Reduction Act's waste emissions charge and its royalties on vented and flared gas. It first explains why, unlike with other environmental violations, dodging either of these fees can trigger FCA liability. It then examines how two possible groups of plaintiffs—industry employees and outside observers—might discover unreported methane emissions and use the FCA against companies that dodge each of the IRA’s methane fees.
This Comment argues that what is needed to make sustainability work for business is a National Business Sustainability Council that would develop and promulgate sustainability criteria, be able to evaluate whether specific small businesses are meeting those criteria, and be able to “certify” that a small business is, in fact, meeting these criteria, and is therefore “sustainable.” It asserts the Council’s criteria and evaluation methodology should be both rigorous and transparent, such that when the Council awards a sustainability certification to a business, the federal and state governmen
Plastic pollution is a global environmental problem with a disproportionate impact on marginalized communities and other vulnerable groups. On June 27, 2023, the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), ELI’s Women in Environmental Law & Leadership initiative, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and WilmerHale co-hosted a panel of experts who explored the environmental justice implications of continued production and disposal of plastics, and addressed key domestic and international policy efforts.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed denial of fishing rights to the Lummi Nation in a long-running dispute over rights in certain waters in northern Washington. The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, the Tulalip Tribes, and the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe argued that the recognized fishing rights of the Lummi ...