Waste & Pollution

“America, America has a problem.” That problem is lead: a highly toxic metal that contaminates our drinking water. Health disparities emerge, disproportionately impacting Black communities. This Article delves into America’s history of lead in drinking water, recent regulatory efforts, and proposed rulemaking that will lead to a lasting solution.

In Mulberry, Tennessee, residents have begun noticing the growth of a suspicious black fungus. The most likely culprit? Whiskey. This article explores the various challenges and opportunities associated with the community’s use of state law to address the growth of this fungus and find recourse for themselves.

Typically, when a new product comes on the scene, it takes several generations to evaluate its use and environmental impact. However, synthetic plastics really only began to take over around 50 years ago, and we’re already seeing a movement to ban, or at least drastically reduce, the material.

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

James D. Flynn* This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate (ELRS). I. Introduction In recent years, states in New England and the mid-Atlantic region have made significant progress in reducing climate change-inducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the electricity generation sector.[1] This has largely been the result of ...

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 ...

Hume Ross This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate (ELRS).   I.       Introduction Before World War II, Japanese Admiral Yamamoto wrote: “Because I have seen the motor industry in Detroit and the oilfields of Texas, I know Japan has no chance if she goes to war with ...

Christopher Hyner Christopher Hyner is a 3L at Georgetown University Law Center, where he is a Managing Editor for the Georgetown Environmental Law Review. This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate. Click here to see the original post and leave a comment. Climate change. Ocean dead zones. Fisheries depletion. Species extinction. Deforestation. World hunger. ...

Terence J. Centner* [ Click Here to Comment ][ download PDF ] Introduction In today’s world, millions of people lack access to sufficient quantities of food to meet recommended dietary needs.[1] As the world’s population grows, global demand only increases for food and fiber.[2] These shortages are occurring despite significant ...

by R. Trent Taylor* [ Click Here to Comment ] [ download PDF ] Obsolescence, the process of becoming obsolete, is a staple of our lives in the twenty-first century. As new and better technologies develop at a faster and faster pace, our existing technologies—smartphones, televisions, computers—become obsolete almost as ...

Matthew Thurlow* [ Click Here to Comment ][ download PDF ] <<< See Update, January 2, 2013, below >>> Sulfuric acid mist, also known as H2SO4 or SO3,[1] is one of the least publicized air pollutants associated with emissions from coal-fired power plants. Long overshadowed by nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, ...

Rachel Degenhardt* [ Click Here to Comment ][ download PDF ] Hydraulic fracturing is a process whereby chemical additives, sand, and water are pumped into underground source rocks at high pressures in order to release natural gas and oil for fuel production.[1] There are a number of potential environmental impacts ...

                                                                   Yuwa Wei*                                 ...

[ Click Here to Comment ][ download PDF ]   Click here for videos of all sessions or on each session for its video. All review authors attended the 2012 Water Law Symposium hosted at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law on January 21, 2012. The panel reviews ...

Stephanie Switzer* [ Click Here to Comment ][ download PDF ] In 2003, the then European Community[1] adopted Directive 2003/87/EC, establishing a scheme for trading allowances of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.[2] Directive 2003/87/EC mandated the establishment of an emissions trading scheme (ETS) within the European Community “to promote reductions of ...

Angela Haren Kelley* [ Click Here to Comment ][ download PDF ] While droughts and water supply challenges have plagued California for decades, climate change will increase the strain on California’s water management system.[1] Seawater desalination—the process of removing salt and other minerals from seawater—is often hailed as the solution ...

Yana Welinder[*] [ Click Here to Comment ][ download PDF ] Introduction Regulating pollution from stormwater that flows over structures and paved surfaces, collecting waste and sediments and ultimately spilling into rivers and oceans, can be a true “administrative nightmare.”[1] However, on March 10, 2011, the Ninth Circuit clarified that, ...

Sarah Peterman* [ Click Here to Comment ][ download PDF ] Introduction Confusion over what damages are recoverable as natural resource damages (NRD) under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) and other federal statutes abounds, giving credence to the oft-repeated phrase that “CERCLA is not ...

Anna Lund, Michelle Ben-David, and Ubaldo Fernandez* [ Click Here to Comment ][ download PDF ]  The following articles are student responses and observations of a selected few panels at Berkeley Law’s 2010 Symposium “Empowered Partnerships: Participatory Action Research for Environmental Justice” hosted by the Thelton E. Henderson Center for ...

Jaclyn Lopez* [ Clck Here to Comment ][ download PDF ] Introduction Sea snot, tar balls, and designated oiled carcass holding locations are just a few of the many appalling and lingering consequences of the failure of BP’s Macondo well in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The ...