Environment

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September 21, 2010

Genetically Modified Fish

Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Agriculture, Environment, Food, Natural Resources
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If this issue is of interest to you check out this article, Fish or frankenfish? FDA weighs altered salmon. Also on my reading list is the book Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food.

UPDATE: Greenwire reports, “Consumer and environmental groups want genetically engineered salmon clearly labeled in the supermarket, but the Food and Drug Administration demurred yesterday, saying that such labeling is outside its rules. FDA is considering whether to approve the sale of salmon that are engineered to grow to full size in half the time as their normal counterparts. If approved, the fish would be the first genetically engineered animal to enter the food supply. FDA said its rules do not allow labeling of a food merely because it is genetically engineered, and there needs to be outside reasons such as modified taste, nutrition or safety to warrant the action.”

September 20, 2010

A Useful Chart about Environmental Administrative Agencies

Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Environment, Law, Natural Resources, Teaching
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From the new, 4th edition of the Plater, Abrams,Graham, Heinzerling, Wirth & Hall casebook (Aspen).

September 19, 2010

The Costs & Benefits of Going Green

Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Consumption, Environment, Life
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The NY Times has an article titled “Cleaner for the Environment, Not for the Dishes” about how green products, esepcially cleaning products, might be viewed by some consumers as not doing as well a job. I think the article adequately points out the benefits of less toxic products like better public health and less freshwater pollution. I think the article could go even further in exploring this statement: “Yet the new products can run up against longtime habits and even cultural concepts of cleanliness.”

September 16, 2010

Ballot Initiative to Stop California’s Greenhouse Gas Law

Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Climate Change, Environment, Law, Politics
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A ballot initiative in California proposes to stop the state’s Global Warming Solutions Act (which proposes to reduce greenhouse gas levels to 1990 levels by 2020) from taking affect until unemployment falls significantly (to a point which has only been acheived 3 times in 4o years), likely killing the legislation. As this article makes clear, this ballot proposition is a dangerous mix of referendum politics, special interests, enormous contributions by oil companies, and exemplefies how environmentalism can take a back seat in very tough economic times.

UPDATE: Dan Farber at Legal Planet has an update on the national attention to Prop 23.

September 14, 2010

Legal Challenges to EPA Greenhouse Gas Regulations

Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Climate Change, Environment, Law
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A nice article in Greenwire (subscription needed) begins to lay out the legal challenges to four EPA rules that seek to regulate carbon dioxide in the absence of Congressional action. Writes Greenwire:

The four EPA rules being challenged are December’s “endangerment finding,” which determined that greenhouse gases are a threat to human health and welfare; March’s “triggering rule,” a reconsideration of a George W. Bush-era memo that determined when greenhouse gases would be subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act; April’s “auto rule,” which set greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and light-duty trucks; and May’s “tailoring rule,” which limited the newly triggered rules for stationary sources to the largest emitters.

September 13, 2010

Roadkill: A Tool to Help Determine the Environmental Impacts of Highways

Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Environment, Natural Resources, Wildlife
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Whenever I hike Kent’s Ledge, I chuckle at the idea of the passage under the highway as a potential wildlife corridor (though no one proclaims it to be one). But it makes me consider how necessary continuous land segments are to preserving wildlife habitat and biological diversity. America’s highways not only promote our driving culture and contribute to climate change, but also fragment habitat. This Times article discuss how roadkill is being used by some to measure the actual deaths of animals on the road and better understand the environmental impacts of roads.

September 12, 2010

Re-Reversing the Flow of the Chicago River

Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Environment, Law, Natural Resources
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The Chicago River used to flow into Lake Michigan. But since raw sewage from the City of Chicago flowed into the river and then Lake Michigan, the city’s drinking water was often contaminated. Thus, in 1892 a major civil engineering project began–reversing the flow of the Chicago River into the Mississippi River by constructing a 28-mile canal to the Des Plaines River which flows into the Mississippi. Needless to say this did not make the residents of St. Louis happy, who became the recipient of the raw sewage. Law students and public nuisance buffs know of the Supreme Court case Missouri v. Illinois (200 U.S. 496 (1906)).

While many have suggested that the the flow of the Chicago River be returned to Lake Michigan, now a century later, lame duck Mayor Daley has offered his “heavyweight” support for the idea. See here.

September 10, 2010

New Vermont Law School Environmental Law Center Newsletter

Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Announcements, Environment, Vermont Law School
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See here.

September 9, 2010

Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts and the Great Lakes

Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Environment, Natural Resources
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Betsy Baker has posted an analysis of the Executive Order recently issued by President Obama on Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts and the Great Lakes. As the blogsite host notes: Betsy’s scholarship includes examinations of proposals for Canadian-US cooperation in maritime issues and the law-science interface in environmental treaties and legislation. In her guest post, she considers the newly announced U.S. ocean policy in light both of international law and the oil spill off the Gulf of Mexico.

September 9, 2010

Today’s News: Scalia in Milwaukee; Vermont Recount; Obama & Daley; Oil Spill; Montpelier

Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Environment, Law Schools, Politics, Teaching
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(1) Justice Scalia in Milwaukee where he spoke at the opening of the new Marquette University Law School building. In his speech, Scalia stressed the impact of teaching over scholarship for law school professors. He said, “The reality is that the part of your academic career that will have the most lasting impact and that will be remembered after you are long gone is those hours you spent producing a living intellectual legacy in the classroom.” The annual discussion of the value of legal scholarship seems to have begun, as other blogs have been debating the article, Preaching What They Don’t Practice: Why Law Faculties’ Preoccupation with Impractical Scholarship. Why does everything have to be so black and white? We should all strive to be great teachers, and write different forms of scholarship that are of value to various audiences.

(2) VT Democratic Governor Recount Underway. Don’t plan on going to the county courthouses to turn in your passport applications or do other business; they’re busy recounting ballots.

(3) Politics: Obama Speaks Out Against Pastor’s Plan to Burn Koran and Chicago’s Mayor Daley not running for re-election.

(4) BP takes some of the blame for the Gulf Oil Spill…maybe. See here.

(5) Montpelier, Vermont, first state capitol to adopt “sustainable” master plan.

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