Advisory committees serve vital roles in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other federal agencies. At EPA, advisory committees review the scientific basis of the agency’s decision making, revise air quality standards, and advise the agency on its research program, among other functions. In 2017, EPA issued a directive titled ...

In McGirt v. Oklahoma, parties disputed sovereignty over a criminal defendant for a crime committed on contested native lands. In a groundbreaking decision, the Supreme Court held that large parts of Oklahoma fell under tribal criminal jurisdiction previously unrecognized. The ruling was widely celebrated amid growing support for indigenous land ...

My decision to write about the Congressional Review Act (CRA) in the fall of 2020 launched the beginning of an academic journey marked by several unexpected twists and turns. I originally chose to write about the CRA because, like many political theorists at the time, I was curious whether a ...

The movement of air pollutants across state lines, or interstate air pollution, presents an externalities problem in which downwind states suffer from pollution originating from outside of the state and are powerless to address it. The Environmental Protection Agency has made multiple attempts to regulate interstate air pollution, its most ...

In Sierra Club v. EPA, the Third Circuit Court of Appeal held that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) approval of Pennsylvania’s State Implementation Plan (SIP) was arbitrary and capricious because it failed to lower emissions, had a broad exception, and gave operators wide reporting discretion. The court held that these ...

The California coast seems like the ideal location for an offshore wind energy project: the state offers attractive incentives for renewable energy generation, Pacific wind patterns are strong and consistent, and the unusually long coastline provides plenty of space for offshore wind facilities to expand. Despite these favorable factors, the ...

In 2017, the cities of Oakland and San Francisco filed suit in California state court against BP, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobil. The complaint asserted a claim of public nuisance and alleged that the energy company defendants had created or contributed to climate change by producing and promoting fossil fuel ...

When Canadian oil sands developer Suncor Energy brings some of the world’s dirtiest oil to market, much of it comes by way of its Colorado refinery. In Board of County Commissioners of Boulder County v. Suncor Energy, a group of Colorado communities sued Suncor for selling and marketing fossil fuels ...