By Cecilia Turchetti, Staff Contributor
In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, Houston has continued to develop at an incredible rate. Historically, the city and its residents have strongly opposed zoning, but development in floodplains has sparked a debate about how expansion should look for the booming city. How can Houston continue to grow while ensuring the safety of its residents?
By Spencer Shweky, staff contributor.
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.
By Professor John C. Ruple, Michael Henderson, and Caitlin Ceci*
In this exclusive online article, Professor John C. Ruple, a Research Professor of Law and Wallace Stegner Center Fellow at the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law, explains why plant and invertebrate fossils on land excluded from Bears Ears and Grand-Staircase Escalante national monuments now receive less protection under the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act and National Landscape Conservation System Act. Without national monument protections, will these valuable segments of the fossil record be forever lost to the public and to scientific study?
By Rebecca Strauss, Staff Contributor.
The Supreme Court opened the 2018 term with a case on the Endangered Species Act, focusing on the dusky gopher frog. With only eight sitting justices, what are the Court's options?
By Jie Yang, staff contributor.
Over the summer, a big firm lawyer and a coke company’s senior executive were both convicted of bribing a former state legislator in order to prevent the EPA from listing the 35th Avenue Superfund Site located in north Birmingham, Alabama on the National Priorities List. How did this corruption happen, and what were the underlying causes?
By Caroline McHugh, Staff Contributor
The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 protected horses and burros in the American West. Now the population has recovered (and then some). How do federal agencies approach increasingly conflicting mandates for public land management?
By Lauren Phillips, Online Managing Editor
The 2018 Global Climate Action Summit brought thousands of people to San Francisco last week to announce commitments to fighting climate change. Outside the summit, however, protestors demanded that leaders set more ambitious goals. What happened inside and outside the summit, and did it represent a meaningful step to fighting climate change?
By Samantha Peppers, Executive Editor
In administrative law, third parties may intervene in agency actions so long as they qualify as an "interested person." The D.C. District Court in a recent decision has articulated criteria for determining administrative standing, and in doing so, identified a clear standard for determining whether a party qualifies as an "interested person." The rule from this case is broadly applicable and may be helpful in enabling third party participation in many areas of environmental litigation.
By John Niedzwiecki, Senior Editor
Florida’s Gulf Coast is known for its white beaches, lush plant and aquatic life, and unique wildlife. But this verdant paradise is threatened by the rise of red tides: harmful algae blooms that harm Florida’s economy, the health of coastal residents, and a very fragile ecosystem. What can the legal system do to protect Florida’s coast?
By Chloe Houdre, Staff Contributor
The South China Sea is an environmental gem. It is also the site of an intense geopolitical conflict. How did this conflict emerge, and what is it doing to this unique ecosystem?
