Category: Printed
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The Arkema Chemical Facility Incident: How the Regulation of Reactive Chemicals and the Incorporation of Climate Change Risks in Emergency Response Planning Could Mitigate and Prevent Future Accidental Chemical Releases
Introduction From 2006 to 2016, 60 people died, 17,000 were injured, 500,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes, and more than $2 billion in property damage occurred as a result of 15,000 incidents related to chemical plant operation safety in the United States.[2] This Note examines several of the factors that contribute to high…
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In Furtherance of National Interest or a Pirate’s Blockade?: The Effect of the Trade War on the U.S. Steel, Aluminum, and Solar Industries
Abstract Much like a pirate blockade, trade wars and tariffs slow commerce and can hurt certain industries. The current United States trade war with China has created economic stressors in the steel, aluminum, and solar industries. This Note will examine the history of tariffs in the United States and the powers of the president to…
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Monuments in Name Only: The Delay Between Designation and Protection of National Monuments
Introduction Public lands are some of America’s most valuable resources. To many, they embody the idealized, picturesque version of the wild and connect us to the land. For others, public lands are a means for industry, with cheap access to grazing or mineral deposits. Because these public lands belong to everyone, the government,…
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The Conflicting Mandate: Agency Paralysis Through the Congressional Review Act’s Resubmit Provision
Introduction In March 2017, Congress invoked a twenty-one-year-old law—previously used only once—to invalidate a broad swath of late Obama-era regulations. The Congressional Review Act (“CRA” or “Act”), is a once obscure law that now features prominently in the national spotlight.[2] It seems apparent that until recently, few realized exactly how powerful the CRA could be.…
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An Odd Way to Read a Preemption Statute: The Atomic Energy Act, Virginia Uranium, and the Diné Natural Resource Protection Act
Introduction On November 5, 2018, the United States Supreme Court heard arguments for Virginia Uranium, Inc. v. Warren,[2] in which a would-be uranium-mining company challenged Virginia’s thirty-year-old uranium mining ban[3] as preempted under the Atomic Energy Act (“AEA”).[4] The AEA, which governs federal regulation of nuclear materials and technology, expressly exempts uranium mining from…
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Reimagining What is Necessary: Using Active Management in Wilderness Areas to Mitigate High-Loss Wildfires
Introduction Denver Water is a water utility that serves a million and a half customers in and around the Denver Metro Area.[2] Much of its supply comes from surface water, which originates as rain and melting snow from the Rocky Mountains and travels through streams and rivers. This gives the utility significant…
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Democratizing Treaty Fishing Rights: Denying Fossil-Fuel Exports in the Pacific Northwest
Indian treaty fishing rights scored an important judicial victory recently when an equally divided U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the Ninth Circuit’s decision in the so-called “culverts case,” which decided that the Stevens Treaties of the 1850s give the tribes a right to protect salmon migration obstructed by barrier road culverts. The implications of that decision…
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Priority Disputes Between Holders of Old Order Mineral Rights and Holders of Prospecting Rights or Mining Rights Under the MPRDA in South Africa: Aquila Has Not Landed
“Cui bono?” Cicero As part of the radical transformation of the mineral regime of South Africa, the African National Congress (“ANC”) government introduced the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002 (“MPRDA”) on May 1, 2004. The MPRDA not only vested mineral resources in the custody of the state but also provided for…
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Reducing Emissions Through Renewable Energy: EU and U.S. Energy Policy Frameworks in the Age of Natural Gas
Calls to combat climate change are reaching deafening levels across the international community. Study after study shows the links between anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and the devastating effects on our planet’s changing climate. Catastrophic species loss, fundamental changes in ecosystems across the globe, and food and water scarcity forcing millions into poverty are…
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Observer Participation in International Climate Change Decision Making: A Complementary Role for Human Rights?
Abstract Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (“UNFCCC”) have acknowledged the need to further enhance the effective engagement of observer organizations as the UNFCCC process moves towards implementation of the Paris Agreement. This Article explores whether and how international human rights law could complement climate law to enhance observer participation…