Online Articles

Silencing Children in the Face of Climate Catastrophe

February 10, 2020 by Molly Green Air Climate change Fossil Fuels Natural Resources

Do children have a right to a government that protects their interest in a sustainable climate? Will Courts give them a chance to voice the urgency of their climate-based claims?

Forest Fires: A Concern that Warrants More Attention

October 26, 2019 by ustin Holtshouser Air Climate change Endangered Species Forests International Natural Resources Wildlife

With the consequences of forest fires being felt on both local and global levels, more needs to be done to mitigate these events – domestic government action is essential.

Did You Get the Memo? Latest Guidance from Trump’s EPA Sparks Controversy

February 21, 2019 by Kathryn Priester Air Energy Federal Rollbacks Fossil Fuels Litigation Regulations

Environmental groups and the State of California are up in arms over an EPA memo scrapping a decades-old Clean Air Act policy. Will the DC Circuit weigh in on the EPA’s use of “guidance” to drastically shift US regulatory policy?

Kids Take a Stand Against Climate Change, but Do They Have Standing?

January 25, 2019 by Rourke Donahue Air Climate change Litigation

Twenty-one children are suing the federal government over its failure to address climate change. But does the public have a fundamental right to the environment and is climate change an appropriate issue for courts to address?

Cars in traffic on a highway near a body of water

Revisiting Criminal Culpability Under the Clean Air Act in the Wake of ‘Dieselgate’

October 9, 2018 by Spencer Shweky Air Fossil Fuels Litigation Regulations

It has now been just over 3 years since the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) first informed the public that Volkswagen, at the time the world's largest automaker, had installed ‘cheat devices’ designed to evade U.S. regulators in hundreds of thousands of their cars. Ultimately, the automaker paid a $2.8 billion criminal fine, and 9 executives and employees were charged with violating the Clean Air Act (“CAA”) and Title 18 of the United States code (the main criminal code of the federal government). Interestingly, though, no one was actually held criminally liable for the pollution itself.