Colorado Environmental Law Journal

        I. INTRODUCTION Climate change is one of the biggest problems facing the world today. It is no longer just environmental groups who are warning of the threat. In 2014, the Pentagon released a report in which they determined that climate change was the greatest threat to national security, citing rising sea levels, more violent storms, and increased widespread droughts.[2] Major companies have also joined the call for action, with eighty-one companies signing the American Business Act on Climate Pledge, which calls Continue reading →

  Introduction Long a hotbed of discontent over federal public land management, Utah rekindled the “sagebrush rebellion” in 2012 when it enacted the Transfer of Public Lands Act (“TPLA”),[2] demanding that the federal government turn millions of acres of public land[3] over to the state. Utah’s efforts became a model for legislation that sprang up across the West, and transfer theories were adopted as part of the Republican National Committee Platform. A growing minority is also seizing on Utah’s theories to justify wresting public lands Continue reading →

Subsistence hunting and fishing practices are essential to maintain the physical, economic, and cultural continuity of Alaska Native Villages (“ANVs”). The combination of rapid climate change, laws that restrict hunting and fishing, and systems for participating in decision-making about hunting and fishing all limit the ways in which ANV residents can legally adapt their subsistence practices to fluctuations in species populations and location. This Article outlines impacts to subsistence experienced by ANV residents, legal and institutional constraints to adaptation, and recommendations for change. A key Continue reading →

Introduction In May 2018, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere averaged 411.24 parts per million, representing the highest concentration ever recorded.[2] Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, largely produced by human activities, have led to increasing global temperatures that will likely continue to rise for decades.[3] As a result of climate change, glaciers are shrinking, ice on rivers and lakes is melting earlier in the season, trees are flowering sooner, heat waves are longer and more intense, and sea levels are rising.[4] Drought, hurricanes, wildfires, and flooding Continue reading →

Sustainable Aviation Fuels (“SAFs”) entered commercial markets a decade ago to replace fossil fuels. Unlike in road transport, where biofuels have been gradually deployed, the uptake of SAF in aviation has been very slow. The objective of this article is to explore how policymakers around the world have responded to the call to make aviation more sustainable through the use of SAF. The Article pursues this objective through a detailed analysis of five types of policy instruments, which are considered the most innovative worldwide in Continue reading →

I am going to talk tonight about economic analysis of environmental policy. My talk has four main parts, plus a conclusion that not everyone will like. First, I’m going to explain how, over several decades, cost-benefit analysis came to dominate federal environmental policy. Next, I will explain why I believe cost-benefit analysis is a problematic way to evaluate environmental policy. After that, I’ll turn to a discussion of how the Obama administration approached these issues. And fourth, I will describe how, in the Trump administration, Continue reading →