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“Sustainable” Fashion's True Colors: A Proposal for “Restyling” the FTC Green Guides

The fashion industry continues to grow exponentially, along with marketers’ use of false and misleading claims about “sustainability” and other environmental attributes of fashion garments. This Article explores recent instances of greenwashing in the industry and other countries’ efforts to address the issue, and proposes specific ways that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) should improve its guidelines for environmental marketing claims and expand enforcement.

Tumultuous Beginnings of EPA Enforcement: An Insider's Account

James O. “Jim” McDonald was the first director of enforcement in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Midwest regional office. His privately published autobiography, Holes in My Shoes: Tales of Growing Up in the Great Depression, provides a candid account of his impoverished childhood and his memorable experiences as a soldier, student, journalist, amateur athlete, and public health official.

Wyoming v. United States Environmental Protection Agency

The Tenth Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part EPA's partial approval and partial disapproval of Wyoming's SIP addressing emissions at coal-fired power plants to reduce regional haze. EPA approved the SIP as to the Naughton plant, but disapproved it for the Wyodak plant, and substituted, thr...

Heal Utah v. United States Environmental Protection Agency

The Tenth Circuit denied environmental groups' petition to review approval of Utah's July 2019 revised SIP addressing regional haze. The groups argued EPA abused its discretion by approving the SIP because Utah's alternative measure did not satisfy CAA national visibility goals, and that the Agency ...

Making Participation in Algorithm-Assisted Decisionmaking in Climate Investments More Accessible and Equitable

In How Algorithm-Assisted Decisionmaking Is Influencing Environmental Law and Climate Adaptation, Ziaja provides a useful framework to analyze whether an algorithm-assisted decisionmaking (AADM) tool and its design process is procedurally equitable. Ziaja’s framework contains several different questions advocacy groups can use to analyze the AADM tools that are increasingly used for environmental resource governance, such as the INFORM and RESOLVE algorithms discussed in the article, which guide the allocation and distribution of water and energy resources.

Learning to See Through the Black Box: Develop X-Ray Vision Through Algorithmic Intuition

Environmental, natural resource, and energy planning will continue to rely on increasingly complex algorithms. Are these processes then also doomed to be inaccessible to key stakeholders? Hopefully not. There are multiple steps to ensuring process and participatory equity. There is ease of access to the process, access to necessary information, and then there is the matter of having the right information to be able to meaningfully impact outcomes of algorithm-assisted decisionmaking processes.

How Algorithm-Assisted Decisionmaking is Influencing Environmental Law and Climate Adaptation

Agencies responsible for water and energy systems increasingly rely on algorithm-assisted decisionmaking to regulate these systems and shepherd them through climate adaptation. Legal scholars, attorneys, and environmental equity advocates should care about this fundamental change in governance for three reasons. First, climate adaptation depends on these tools. Second, algorithmic tools are not policy-neutral; rather they embed value-laden assumptions and biases. And third, the “rules” of this new forum impede equity and democratic participation, without deliberate countermeasures.

Wynnewood Refining Co., LLC v. Environmental Protection Agency

The D.C. Circuit denied a group of fuel refineries' petitions to review EPA's rule extending compliance reporting deadlines under the Renewable Fuel Standard program. The group argued the rule violated the CAA by providing obligated parties less than 13 months' compliance lead time—from EPA's anno...