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The Carbon Footprint of the Whiskey Industry: is Federal Preemption at Odds with Environmental Health?

Dana Dabbousi

February 21st 2024

by Jenisha Sabaratnam* Introduction In Mulberry, a small town in Lincoln County, Tennessee, residents have begun noticing the growth of a suspicious black fungus. The most likely culprit? Whiskey. Several Jack Daniels warehouses near the town are home to countless barrels of whiskey. During the distillation process, ethanol is released ...

The World is My Oyster and Other Tales of Domination: The Critique From Ecosystem Services

March 8th 2022

This Article levels a critique of resource-driven capitalism and the associated, facilitative property rights from the position of ecosystem services. Pitting nature as resource against nature as ecosystem services reveals that the value of nature lies beyond the price of tradeable goods and that economic regicide results not from regulation ...

Environmental Impact Assessment in North Korean Environmental Law: Origins, Evolution, and a Comparative Analysis

November 13th 2021

This Article will explore the little-known legal tools that North Korea has adopted in order to address environmental issues, with a specific focus on the Environmental Protection Law (1986) and the Environmental Impact Assessment Law (2005), because environmental impact assessment can serve as a barometer of the socialist country’s environmental ...

Networked Federalism: Subnational Governments in the Biden Era

March 12th 2021

Subnational governments, working with non-governmental advocates, drove climate action during the Trump administration while rebuffing federal rollbacks. Under the Biden administration, focus may initially shift towards the federal government, but the subnational network is critical to continued progress on climate change. I use the term “networked federalism” to describe how ...

Easing Off the Gas: Efficient and Equitable Policy for Passenger Vehicle Emissions Reduction

October 26th 2020

There are various public policy approaches to addressing passenger vehicle carbon emissions. In this article I review three possible approaches: raising emissions standards; alternative fuel vehicle subsidies; and congestion charging zones. I propose a set of criteria for evaluating these different policies, and apply those criteria to the three policies. ...

A Blooming Problem: How Florida Could Address the Causes and Effects of Red Tide

Computer Courage

November 27th 2018

Florida’s southwest coast, once a haven to wildlife and tourists alike, is experiencing one of the worst red tides in recent memory. Red tides, harmful algae blooms (“HABs”) which often have a red hue which affect both inland and coastal waterways, are common occurrences in Florida

State and Local Control of Federal Lands: New Developments in the Transfer of Federal Lands Movement

ELQ Journal

August 21st 2018

The history of federal public lands is one of national interests, not those of any particular state or county government. It was the federal government, not western states, that acquired these lands through “purchase or conquest.” After an early period of federal land sales and disposals, much of the public ...

State Clean Energy Polices at Risk: Courts Should Not Preempt Zero Emission Credits for Nuclear Plants

ELQ Journal

April 27th 2018

In 2016, the Illinois Legislature and New York Public Service Commission (PSC) enacted nearly identical policies to induce economically struggling nuclear power plants to continue operating. Competing power generation companies filed suits in federal district courts, arguing that the states’ policies are preempted

The New(Clear?) Electricity Federalism: Federal Preemption of States’ “Zero Emissions Credit” Programs

ELQ Journal

April 27th 2018

Joel B. Eisen* Two pending federal appellate cases involving Illinois and New York laws, Old Mill Creek v. Star and Coalition For Competitive Electricity v. Zibelman respectively,[1] involve the conflict between federal authority over the electric grid and state laws supporting nuclear power plants. The issues are nearly identical in ...

The Electric Grid Confronts the Dormant Commerce Clause

ELQ Journal

April 17th 2018

by Sam Kalen & Steven Weissman Many modern energy dialogues gravitate toward a conversation about the present status of the jurisdictional divide between state and federal authority over the regulation of wholesale sales of energy. A March 3, 2017 Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) article began by observing how the ...

Opportunities to Address Climate Change in the Next Farm Bill

ELQ Journal

November 28th 2017

  Sara Dewey,[2] Liz Hanson,[3] & Claire Horan[4] This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate (ELRS). Original article can be found here. Introduction The Farm Bill affects nearly every aspect of agriculture and forestry in the United States. Therefore, its next reauthorization offers an important opportunity to better ...

The SB 32 Scoping Plan Update, Waivers, and ZEVs

ELQ Journal

May 14th 2017

Garrett Lenahan This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate (ELRS).  I. Scoping Plan Background Two prominent pieces of Californian legislation that seek to address climate change are Assembly Bill 32 ("AB 32") and Senate Bill 32 ("SB 32"). AB 32 required California to reduce its greenhouse gas ("GHG") ...

Navigating with an Ocean Liner: The Clean Water Rule, Trump’s Executive Order, and the Future of “Waters of the United States”

Computer Courage

April 18th 2017

Kacy Manahan* Kacy Manahan is the a clinical student at Earthrise Law Center at Lewis & Clark Law School and the 2017-2018 Symposium Editor for Environmental Law. This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate (ELRS).    I. Introduction The scope of the Clean Water Act’s jurisdiction has ...

An Autopsy of the Clean Power Plan

ELQ Journal

April 12th 2017

John Copeland Nagle* [ download PDF ] The Clean Power Plan (CPP) was supposed to be great. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) celebrated its regulation as “a historic and important step,” “fair, flexible and designed to strengthen the fast-growing trend toward cleaner and lower-polluting American energy,” providing “national consistency, accountability ...

Climate Change Regulation Through Litigation: New York’s Investigation of ExxonMobil under the Martin Act

Computer Courage

February 24th 2017

Chris Erickson Chris Erickson is a Junior Editor of the Michigan Journal of Environmental and Administrative Law at the University of Michigan Law School. This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate (ELRS). In November 2015, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman began an investigation into whether ExxonMobil ...

Our Money is Safe, but the Planet Is Not: How the Carbon Bubble Will Cause Havoc for the Environment, but Not the Stock Market

ELQ Journal

December 13th 2016

Breanna Hayes Breanna Hayes is the Managing Editor of the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law. This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate (ELRS).                  I.              Introduction Human use of fossil fuels dates back to prehistoric times.[1]  Before the Industrial Revolution, ...

Pipelines, Protests and General Permits

ELQ Journal

October 30th 2016

Samantha L. Varsalona Samantha Varsalona is a 2L at Georgetown University Law Center and Staff Member of Georgetown Environmental Law Review. This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate (ELRS). Abstract The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) has become a contentious topic in recent months. The controversy centers around ...

An Ecology of Liberation: The Shifting Landscape of Environmental Law in an Era of Changing Environmental Values

ELQ Journal

October 21st 2016

Michael Zielinski Michael Zielinski is a 3L at William & Mary Law School.[1] This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate (ELRS).    I.      Introduction In 1971, the Peruvian theologian and Dominican priest Gustavo Gutiérrez published his seminal work, A Theology of Liberation, in which he advocated an activist ...

Congress Must Act To Fully Fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund

ELQ Journal

May 26th 2016

 Andrew J. Lewis* [ Click Here to Comment ][ download PDF ]   Introduction This past summer my family celebrated my grandfather’s 90th birthday by walking the Civil War battlefield at Chancellorsville Virginia. The battlefield forms a section of the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, 7600 acres of rural ...

Ethical Convergence and the Endangered Species Act

ELQ Journal

April 25th 2016

Caitlin Troyer Busch Caitlin Troyer Busch is a 2L at Stanford Law School. This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate. Introduction The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is both lauded and criticized as one of the most powerful environmental laws ever enacted. Proponents of the law praise it ...

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