Law Columbia

MARCH 27, 2025

City of New York , plumbing and building trade groups challenged New York Citys Local Law 154 of 2021 , a piece of legislation that prohibits fossil fuel combustion in most new buildings. This blog post discusses Local Law 154, unpacks Judge Abrams decision, and ends with a refresher on California Restaurant Association v.

Law

Law Columbia

MARCH 10, 2025

The UNGA requested the ICJ render an opinion on the following questions: (a) What are the obligations of States under international law to ensure the protection of the climate system and other parts of the environment from anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHG) for States and for present and future generations?

Climate Change

Law Columbia

JANUARY 21, 2025

Today, the Sabin Center published a report that looks back on climate litigation developments since the beginning of 2024. It begins with a brief overview of the growth in climate litigation in 2024. Read the 2024 report here.

2024

PA Environment Daily

DECEMBER 5, 2024

He will describe how the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, new programs have been established to inventory and properly close orphaned wells. The law allocates $4.7 billion for plugging, remediation, and restoration activities on federal, Tribal, state, and private lands.

Natural Gas

Law Columbia

MAY 23, 2025

As such, although EU and EEA law are distinct, their substance is identical with respect to the core rules of the internal market. In this sense, the EFTA Court also provides for an authoritative judicial clarification of EU law. The EEA Agreement aims to extend the core of the EU internal market to EEA/EFTA States (art.

Fossil Fuels

Legal Planet

OCTOBER 21, 2024

And it’s not just California: Battery-powered car sales are up globally , with projections showing 17 million will be sold worldwide in 2024. UCLA Law students in the California Environmental Legislation Clinic were fortunate to get to do some research work to assist in the development of the bill.) Download as PDF

Waste

Law Columbia

DECEMBER 19, 2024

Today, the Sabin Center published a report that looks back on climate litigation developments since the beginning of 2024. It begins with a brief overview of the growth in climate litigation in 2024. Read the 2024 report here.

2024

Law Columbia

JANUARY 24, 2025

Planning law has proven to be a useful tool for climate activists seeking to block or challenge new fossil fuel developments. Ireland has been a particular victim of this latter problem, with developers citing concerns over current planning laws as a reason for delays in constructing onshore wind farms, among other facilities.

Renewable Energy

Law Columbia

MARCH 12, 2025

Part 1 focused on discussions on applicable law, and the no-harm rule. Vanuatu and the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) asserted that these legal consequences are governed by the general law of State responsibility. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Seas (ITLOS) published its advisory opinion in May 2024.

Climate Change

PA Environment Daily

DECEMBER 17, 2024

The Ohio River Restoration Program Act is endorsed by the National Wildlife Federation, Ohio River Basin Alliance , Ohio River Way, American Rivers, Kentucky Waterways Alliance, Appalachian Voices, Appalachian Citizens' Law Center, West Virginia Rivers Coalition Inc.,

Conservation

Enviromental Defense

DECEMBER 23, 2024

It would seem that the Grinch has once again made off with a ramshackle sleigh full of wind turbines and solar panels and they aren’t likely to return from their shop, not unless the heart of the ole ‘Grinchy-Claus’ (aka the Alberta Government) has an unexpected growth spurt. Stay tuned.

Renewable Energy

Law Columbia

DECEMBER 23, 2024

Last Friday, December 20, 2024, the Sabin Center submitted an amicus brief to the New York State Court of Appeals the states highest court in support of the City of New York in Glen Oaks Village Owners, Inc., City of New York began in 2022, when a group of cooperative apartment owners filed suit seeking to invalidate Local Law 97.

Law

PA Environment Daily

JUNE 12, 2025

3,108+ Abandoned Conventional Wells DEP reported 3,108 conventional wells were cited for abandonment in the eight years between January 2017 and December 2024-- only 17% appeared to be abandoned prior to January 2017. 2,070 conventional wells-- 66% of those abandoned wells were not required to have a well plugging bond by law.

Waste

Circle of Blue

MAY 20, 2025

They dont cover government or enterprise data centers. In April 2024, Amazon announced plans to develop around $11 billion worth of data center facilities about 20 miles from Lake Michigan in New Carlisle, Indiana. In 2024, the Joyce Foundation examined groundwater governance in the U.S. Courtesy of Data Center Map.

Cooling

Law Columbia

DECEMBER 20, 2024

Over the last five years, at least 25 states have expressly preempted local governments from enacting requirements , or even incentives, to construct new buildings that do not rely on natural gas as a fuel source. On December 6, 2024, two local governments finally fought back in court. of Washingtons November 2024 voters.

Natural Gas

Enviromental Defense

NOVEMBER 14, 2024

The 2024 Retailer Report Card, now in its sixth edition, is the most comprehensive assessment of corporate policies on toxic chemicals and plastics in North America. To protect human and environmental health, we need the Canadian federal government to take the lead with stronger rules and regulatory action.” While a few U.S.-based

2024

HumanNature

MAY 2, 2025

Guest Post by Julia Choolwe Munsaka , 2024-2025 Sustainability Leadership Fellow and Ph.D. 2 While many of the current climate and disaster strategies and plans are clear on the need for disaster risk governance and institutional frameworks, there is still emphasis on top-down approaches. In Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction (pp.

Climate Change

Law Columbia

MARCH 25, 2025

The subsequent 2023-2024 El Nio event proved even deadlier, with 5 fatalities out of 127 reported cases of heat-related illnesses. While no provision prohibits litigation related to the Act, it does create obstacles to using litigation as a means of government accountability. Malaysia regularly experiences high temperatures.

Climate Change

Law Columbia

MAY 30, 2025

Last Thursday, May 22, the New York State Court of Appeals the States highest court issued a decision upholding New York Citys Local Law 97 of 2019. Local Law 97 is one of the countrys most ambitious municipal climate policies, requiring the Citys largest buildings to comply with increasingly stringent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions limits.

Law

PA Environment Daily

FEBRUARY 28, 2025

The Department of Environmental Protection published notice in the March 1 PA Bulletin announcing that Impecca is prohibited from selling its products in Pennsylvania as a result of its violation of the state electronics waste recycling law. ( Read more here. Read more here. Enter Lens On Litter Contest; Keep Coatesville Beautiful!

Recycling

Law Columbia

OCTOBER 16, 2024

Recognizing this, federal and state bodies have adopted a number of laws and regulations aimed at ensuring geologic carbon storage proceeds in a safe and responsible way. A number of new state laws focused on geologic carbon storage have been enacted in 2024. Several states are stepping up to the plate.

Carbon Dioxide

Law Columbia

APRIL 10, 2025

This follows a decade of record-breaking temperatures, with the World Meteorological Organization concluding that the past ten years 2025-2024 are the ten warmest years on record. A new Sabin Center report explores the laws governing seaweed cultivation and sinking for CDR in Alaska. o C above pre-industrial levels.

Carbon Dioxide

Enviromental Defense

NOVEMBER 28, 2024

While the Alberta Energy Regulator has the ability, and responsibility, to hold companies that break the law to account, it has repeatedly demonstrated an unwillingness to enforce its own laws when it comes to industry rulebreakers — leaving Albertans to bear the costs and clean up the mess. billion Q2 profits from 2024.

Regulations

Law Columbia

JULY 2, 2025

This suggests that courts should afford substantial deference to agencies in the context of standalone NEPA claims that do not implicate the agency’s obligations under the substantive statutory framework governing the action. Most of these NEPA decisions entail mixed questions of law and fact.

Fossil Fuels

PA Environment Daily

JUNE 13, 2025

Shapiro [PaEN] Lead Counsel On Court Cases Striking Down Provisions In Act 13 To Preempt Local Regulation Of Oil & Gas Operations Raises Concerns About Proposed Legislation Establishing A RESET Board To Site Large Energy Projects [PaEN] Gov.

Fossil Fuels

Vermont Law

DECEMBER 24, 2024

Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy in the Green Mountain State Written by Kathryn Keener and Diana Csank Cannabis laws are loosening, and recent legislative measures in some U.S. states and local governments indicate increased receptivity around psilocybin use, too. And in May 2024, Governor Phil Scott signed S.114,

Law

Law Columbia

APRIL 24, 2025

Filed in November 2022, the case was referred to the Supreme Court by the Nacka District Court in April 2024 for a preliminary assessment of justiciability. Even in such cases, the Court stressed that determining climate policy remains the responsibility of the parliament and government ( Aurora para 80).

Climate Change

PA Environment Daily

JANUARY 6, 2025

Here are 116 new stories in the PA Environment Digest about individuals, groups, local governments, farmers, businesses, watershed groups and many more working all across Pennsylvania to restore and protect the environment and show others the beauty that surrounds us.

Conservation

Law Columbia

APRIL 11, 2025

Over the last five years, several states, including New York (2020), California (2022), Illinois (2023), and Michigan (2023) have adopted comprehensive permitting reforms that curtail the power of local governments to block development of large-scale renewable energy projects. Amicus brief filed by the Sabin Center and Goodman Acker P.C.

Renewable Energy

Law Columbia

MARCH 6, 2025

On November 26, 2024, the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic dismissed the countrys first strategic climate case ( Klimatick aloba R v. The Court further ruled that the State is obliged to adopt climate change measures arising from international law and generally accepted scientific standards.

Paris Agreement

Law Columbia

MAY 6, 2025

These pressures are further compounded by social tensions , as Indigenous communities are frequently excluded from decision-making processes, raising concerns about environmental justice and the equitable governance of natural resources. Since 1979, Decree Law No. At the regulatory level, oversight has also intensified.

Politics

Law Columbia

MARCH 18, 2025

2024 was the hottest year on record , and the planets 10 warmest years since 1850 have occurred in the past decade. At a high level, liability rules hold actors responsible when they breach a law or legal duty in a way that harms other people or the public at large. judge-made) law.

Carbon Dioxide

PA Environment Daily

JUNE 11, 2025

Pennsylvania American Water Company has started construction on a new public water line for Dimock residents – the result of a settlement of criminal charges secured by then-Attorney General Shapiro after Coterra Energy [formerly Cabot Oil & Gas] was found to be in violation of the Clean Streams Law for contaminating residents’ well water.

Natural Gas

National Law Center

JUNE 10, 2025

The decision, issued on May 29, 2025, stemmed from a lawsuit filed by a landowner in 2024 who claimed that Swampbuster was both an unconstitutional violation of the Commerce Clause and served as an unconstitutional taking of private land. Iowa, May 29, 2025) was initially filed by a landowner in Iowa on April 16, 2024. 5 U.S.C. §

2013

PA Environment Daily

JULY 10, 2025

This comes after the state received $76 million from the federal government to speed up the process of capping abandoned wells. The average cost to plug a well, per the DEP, was about $110,000 in 2024. The 1,154 abandoned in that time represent just a fraction of the total unplugged wells across the state. billion problem on its hands.

Natural Gas

Union of Concerned Scientists

DECEMBER 16, 2024

In the past year, weve seen significant victories that inspire hope, like the Swiss KlimaSeniorinnen case, which called for an improved government climate action plan; Held v. This tensionbetween exciting breakthroughs and persistent delaysunderscores the complexity of litigation’s role in climate governance.

2025

Union of Concerned Scientists

JANUARY 15, 2025

A small group of states are dragging their feet on soliciting project applications for their NEVI funds, despite having had two rounds of state plans approved (most recently, the Fiscal Year 2024 plans). In the United States, it is normal for charging projects to take 18 months.

Electricity