SJEL has partnered with the Washington Lawyers for Sustainability (WLS) and Washington Journal for Environmental Law & Policy to host a sustainability symposium on April 20, 2012, at Seattle University. The event will focus on making sustainability legal, economically viable, and socially just. Presenters and speakers will include professors, practitioners, and elected officials.
Climate Change and CERCLA Remedies: Adaptation Strategies for Contaminated Sediment Sites
Roughly 300 sites on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund National Priorities List contain sediment contaminated with toxic or hazardous materials. Remediation at many merely contains the hazardous waste, allowing it to remain onsite indefinitely. Katrina Fischer Kuh, Associate Professor at the Maurice A. Dean School of Law at Hofstra University, addresses the effects of climate change-related severe weather on the sediment remediation process in many remediation projects. While sediment remediation plans have traditionally taken into account historical and predicted environmental conditions, the remediation process may not adequately account for the conditions caused by climate change. Professor Kuh’s analysis includes discussion of strategies for managing risks at sites that have already been remediated as well as methods for moving forward at currently unremediated sites.
Let the River Run: Strategies to Remove Obsolete Dams and Defeat Resulting Fifth Amendment Taking Claims
“America’s obsession with controlling nature for the benefit of industrialization has made us a dam nation,” writes Christopher Scoones, a Vermont-based land use practitioner. Indeed, 76,000 large dams entomb 600,000 river miles of water in the United States. More than 2.5 million dams of all sizes straddle American waters. Virtually no major river in the United States is without one. This progress has come at a price. The essence of a river is water movement; a dammed river never function the same as a free-flowing river. Dams block the natural flow and migration of nutrients and fish: for example, trees fallen across undammed rivers provide shade and slackwater and keep the waters cool enough to support native fish populations and submerged gravel beds create a home for invertebrates and provide spawning grounds for migratory fish.
Damming America’s waters has led to a dramatic decline in the health of our watersheds. By 2020, over 60,000 dams listed in the Army Corps’ National Inventory of Dams will be more than fifty years old and nearing the end of their design life. When environmental and public safety concerns are taken into consideration, argues Mr. Scoones, the public interest tips the scales in favor of removing many of these outdated dams. This article explores the already extant legal mechanisms that may be used to facilitate the removal of worn out dams, and discusses the potential for Fifth Amendment takings claims. Fear of liability for Fifth Amendment takings claims, concludes Mr. Scoones, should not have a chilling effect upon dam removal initiatives. Actions undertaken to restore America’s watersheds should flow forth where appropriate.
SJEL Vol. 1 — 2011
A Modest Proposal: A Dialogue to Implement the Human Right to Water
Although water is undeniably essential for human survival, over 1 billion people lack access to clean drinking water. Globally, more than 5 million people die every year from water-related illnesses and the United Nations anticipates that by 2040, demand for water will exceed the world's supply by more than 30 percent. Derrick Howard, Assistant Professor at the Appalachian School of Law, evaluates the current position of human right to water, recently affirmed by the United Nations, in domestic law and policy. Recognizing the large role that corporate players have in both water use and water distribution, Professor Howard concludes that they must be part of a dialogue on regulation if the human right to water is to have effect.
The Endangered Species Act and Its Role in Land Use Planning: Lessons Learned from the Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest has been operating to protect fragile species at the intersection of federal and local laws for more than a decade, and has experimented with different approaches to use land use regulations to offer such protection. The author, Eric Laschever, a partner at K&L Gates with a practice focus on land use, environmental and hazardous waste law, first provides a primer on the intersection of land use planning and the ESA's action forcing sections in the context of the listing of salmonid species in Washington State. The article considers lessons learned from this case study, including the importance of a strong consensus for action and the development of a strong scientific base, the challenge of creating permitting processes that provide both political acceptability and sufficient protection, the ineffectiveness of municipal take liability, and the willingness to engage in complex litigation.
Our Blue Water Navy Goes Green
This article, authored by a United States Navy Reserve Lieutenant and third year law student at Stanford Law School, considers the Navy's new focus on the environment. The author considers the Navy’s pursuit of efficient and sustainable technologies for maritime propulsion, the implementation of initiatives to protect ecosystems and threatened marine species, and the Navy’s efforts to field renewable and alternative fuel technologies. The article concludes that the military is on the right track to fulfilling its promise of environmental stewardship while maintaining national defense.
Wind Energy Law And Ethics: A Meeting Of Kant, Leopold And Cultural Relativism
This article identifies ethical and legal issues that have become important in the emerging field of wind energy, evaluates these from a theoretical ethical foundation, and examines areas where laws and ethics are at the forefront of resolution of wind energy issues. Finally, the importance of an energy policy as an important role of government in an ethical government, is examined.
A Tale of Two Carbon Sinks: Can Forests Carbon Management Serve as a Framework to Implement Ocean Iron Fertilization As a Climate Change Treaty Compliance Mechanism?
This article considers the use of Ocean Iron Fertilization (OIF) as an emerging source of carbon mitigation, and a tool that could help nations comply with post-Kyoto climate change mitigation obligations. The article compares and contrasts OIF with reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) and explores the challenges both carbon-mitigation options face.
Global Warming and the Permanent Dry: How Heat Threatens Human Security in a Warmer World
This article explores the effects of climate change on human populations, especially in the Global South. As the globe considers adaptation to climate change, the world must consider the human toll of longer and more-intense droughts. These effects are likely to create patterns in human immigration and lead to waves of climate refugees. The article explores the effects of climate change on already-arid regions and outlines likely refugee patterns.
Seattle's Green Building Initiative and Housing Retrofits: How Seattle Can Overcome the Obstacles that Face Effective Energy Conservation in the Building Sector
Written by an elected member of the Seattle City Counsel and a local law school graduate, this article explores the regulatory environment surrounding the Emerald City's Green Initiative and the conflict of the initiative and state law. The author's make the case for legislation to clear the way for building owners in Washington to improve the energy efficiency of their buildings.
Point and Counterpoint: Climate Change
In a pair of articles, these two legal experts argue the expediency and urgency of taking steps to halt climate change. Professor Kunich, in his article Open-Eyes Environmentalism, argues that a cost-benefit analysis, given the uncertainty of climate science, must be conducted before society invests substantially in restricting carbon emissions. John Kirkwood, in A Prudent Approach to Climate Change, argues that the science in certain, and that society must take some steps now to stem the expected increase in global temperature.