November, 2019

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EPA Runs from CWA Veto Powers, Spawning New Life for the Pebble Mine Project

Vermont Law

One of the world’s most productive ecosystems, the Bristol Bay watershed, has shaped the southwestern Alaskan landscape. A broad range of species find sanctuary in the watershed, including all five species of Pacific Salmon. These salmon raise, rear, and then run in the watershed, with the sockeye salmon run yielding roughly 46% of the world’s sockeye catch.

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Possible Change to Jones Act Interpretations Regarding Coastwise Activities

The Energy Law Blog

The saga of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) ten-year effort to amend its interpretation of key components of the Jones Act continues. After failed attempts to expand the scope of the Jones Act’s prohibition on activities by non-coastwise endorsed vessels in 2009 and 2017, CBP recently published a notice of proposed modification and revocation of certain ruling letters interpreting the Jones Act ( see [link] ).

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Steel and concrete are climate change's hard problem. Can we solve it?

New Scientist

Heavy industry produces more carbon dioxide than the entire US.

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Air District Targets Southern California Logistics Industry

Clean Energy Law

A local air district is developing a rule that would require both existing and proposed warehouses to reduce trucking emissions or pay a mitigation fee. By Joshua T. Bledsoe. The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD or District) is developing a so-called Indirect Source Rule (ISR) that would require Southern California warehouses to reduce emissions associated with trucking activity and on-site equipment.

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Implementing D.E.J.I. Strategies in Energy, Environment, and Transportation

Speaker: Antoine M. Thompson, Executive Director of the Greater Washington Region Clean Cities Coalition

Diversity, Equity, Justice, and Inclusion (DEJI) policies, programs, and initiatives are critically important as we move forward with public and private sector climate and sustainability goals and plans. Underserved and socially, economically, and racially disadvantaged communities bear the burden of pollution, higher energy costs, limited resources, and limited investments in the clean energy and transportation sectors.

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Monsanto’s Roundup Litigation in 2020: Restitution for Migrant Farmworkers?

Vermont Law

Bayer, the German drug corporation and Monsanto’s parent company, is currently consumed by litigation concerning their Roundup weed killer product. Those who have had extensive exposure to Roundup followed by a diagnosis of cancer have looked to the courts for retribution. Currently, about 18,000 U.S. lawsuits are pending against Monsanto claiming that “. exposure to the company’s glyphosate-based herbicides caused them to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma and that Monsanto hid the risks associated w

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At the Limits of the Law: The Challenge of Invasives in 2020

Vermont Law

What’s destructive, disruptive, and invading all over? Invasive species! An invasive species is commonly defined as a non-native organism “. whose introduction causes or is likely to cause environmental harm, or harm to human, animal, or plant health.” According to a. February 2019 senate hearing. , there are more than 5,000 invasive species in the United States, which cause more than $120 billion in annual economic damage.

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Top 10 2020

Vermont Law

The Top 10 Environmental Watch List addresses important environmental issues that Vermont Law School faculty and. Vermont Journal of Environmental Law. editors predict will arise in the upcoming year. For each environmental issue, faculty members and editors worked collaboratively to discuss the relevant legal framework and explain what readers should expect in 2020.

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2020 Director’s Message

Vermont Law

As we head into 2020, the upcoming presidential election in the United States looms large. The Top 10 Environmental Watch List is not about politics on its face, but as any 1L taking Constitutional Law can tell you, law and politics are fruit of the same tree. One need only look to the focus on. judicial appointments. in the 2016 election and years since, or the feverish tracking of.

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Money, Mandates, And Water Management: Foreshadowing A Florida Disaster

Vermont Law

. Repeated failures to properly regulate, manage and maintain water resources and infrastructure creates enormous risks and consequences, across the U.S. and beyond. Applying those lessons, this study of facts, data, and law foreshadows a water management disaster in Florida. At the South Florida Water Management District, a critical regional agency, budget and staffing are now below 1996 levels.

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All Is For The Best In The Best Of All Possible Worlds: The Unnecessary Environmental Costs Of Federal Cannabis Prohibition

Vermont Law

Many strong criticisms have been leveled against federal cannabis prohibition, including its lack of scientific basis, its origins in racial animus, the racial disparities in its enforcement, and the negative impact it continues to have across society. Recent scholarship has added a new argument to the list: cannabis prohibition is terrible for the environment.

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Shaping a Resilient Future: Climate Impact on Vulnerable Populations

Speaker: Laurie Schoeman Director, Climate & Sustainability, Capital

As households and communities across the nation face challenges such as hurricanes, wildfires, drought, extreme heat and cold, and thawing permafrost and flooding, we are increasingly searching for ways to mitigate and prevent climate impacts. During this event, national climate and housing expert Laurie Schoeman will discuss topics including: The two paths for climate action: decarbonization and adaptation.

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Taming America’s Rogue Roads: Unsolved R.S. 2477 Claims in Utah and Beyond

Vermont Law

The United States boasts some of the world’s most stunning vistas, picturesque landscapes, and diverse sceneries. From the Green Mountains in Vermont to the mesas of Utah, the federal government carefully manages and protects many of the most pristine examples of America’s beauty. However, these lands are under attack. In the West, local governments are forging roads across federal public lands.

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Heat pumps

New Scientist

A green alternative to the gas boilers used to heat many homes

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We need to ban the sale of all fireworks to the public right now

New Scientist

Fireworks injure thousands and pollute the air.

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Volume 21 Issue 1

Vermont Law

. Volume 21 Issue 1. .

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Sustainability at Retail

Sustainability impacts every nation, company, and person around the world. So much so that, in 2015, the United Nations (UN) issued a call for action by all countries to work toward sustainable development. In response to this and as part of a global Sustainability at Retail initiative, Shop! worked collaboratively with its global affiliates to address these critical issues in this white paper.

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Climate Change in the Courts

Vermont Law

It has been a busy year for climate litigation and 2020 promises even more fireworks. The continuing saga of. Juliana v. United States. , the landmark securities fraud trial in New York against Exxon, and the proliferation of state nuisance cases against oil companies will put courts in the position to answer important questions on how they will handle climate issues.

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Indian Country in 2020: Footsteps Worth Following

Vermont Law

In 1953, famed Indian law scholar Felix Cohen . wrote. : “It is a pity that so many Americans today think of the Indian as a romantic or comic figure in American history without contemporary significance. In fact, the Indian plays much the same role in our society that the Jews played in Germany. Like the miner’s canary, the Indian marks the shift from fresh air to poison gas in our political atmosphere; and our treatment of Indians, even more than our treatment of other minorities, reflects the

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