Using the most comprehensive data set on U.S. household recycling behavior, this Comment quantifies the relative impact on recycling of characteristics associated with recycling in different populations, under different governmental rules, and having different facilitating resources and amenities.
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.
More severe storm surges and rising sea levels along the coast of the United States pose a threat to coastal communities, infrastructure, and ecosystems.
The Eleventh Circuit denied several individuals' petition to review FAA approval of an airport expansion project in Florida. The individuals argued FAA violated NEPA by segmenting its review of a single development project into multiple, smaller projects to make environmental effects appear less sig...
The Ninth Circuit, 2-1, denied environmental groups' petition to review the Bonneville Power Administration's (BPA's) decision setting power rates for the 2022-2023 fiscal period. The groups argued BPA violated the Northwest Power Act (NWPA) by setting rates that failed to comply with its duty to pr...
The Fifth Circuit reversed a district court ruling upholding the Army Corps of Engineers' decision to issue a CWA §404 permit to fill wetlands for a commercial and residential development project in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. Parish residents and environmental groups argued the Corps' decision ...
The Second Circuit affirmed summary judgment for NMFS in a challenge to its 2020 allocation rule setting summer flounder quotas for eleven states. The state of New York argued that by failing to allocate a higher quota to New York, the rule failed to account for the long-term movement of summer flou...
A district court granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for environmental groups in a CWA/SMCRA citizen suit concerning the discharge of pollutants from surface coal mines in West Virginia. The groups argued a coal mining company violated the CWA by discharging mining pollutants at Rush...
The Sixth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a lawsuit concerning a dam collapse in Michigan. Property owners who live downstream of the dam argued the U.S. government negligently entrusted operation of the dam to an unfit operator. A district court held the government was entitled to sovereign immunity ...
A district court denied an environmental group's motion for summary judgment in a challenge to FWS' 2019 decision to reclassify the American burying beetle under the ESA from endangered to threatened. The group argued the Service violated the ESA by downlisting the beetle based on inadequate data an...