Matt Sienkiewicz, recent graduate of Columbia Law School. Flooding is the most common and costly form of nature’s wrath, and its costs are likely to rise as the climate changes and sea levels rise. The federal government has attempted to address flooding through an insurance program aimed at effectively providing relief to […]
Environment & Land Use
Bri Cornish Sabin Center Summer Intern & Rising 2L at Columbia Law School On Monday, June 8th, leaders from small island nations around the South Pacific issued the “People’s Declaration for Climate Justice.” The declaration unites the island nations, which are particularly vulnerable to the calamitous impacts of climate change, against large […]
by Michael Burger It’s almost summer, which means that oil companies, scientists, reporters, extreme sport enthusiasts, affluent retirees with an affinity for cruise lines and others are preparing for their Arctic adventures. As has often been the case, attorneys and policymakers are also shifting attentions to the Far North, where […]
Corporations today face increasing risks from climate change. These risks threaten not only the operations and infrastructure of the corporations, but ultimately their long-term financial soundness as well. For example, as has been noted with respect to the oil and gas industries, refineries often do not have high profit margins […]
Jennifer M. Klein, Esq. Associate Director & Fellow Flooding from Hurricane Katrina constitutes a taking of property without just compensation by the United States government, according to a recent decision from the United States Court of Federal Claims in Saint Bernard Parish Government, et al., v. The United States. Judge […]
By Michael Burger Executive Director This past weekend the Italian coast guard reported saving some 3,700 people at sea on a smuggler’s boat. This was but one boatload of the more 30,000 people who have fled Libya this year and attempted to migrate across the Mediterranean to Italy. An estimated […]
On numerous occasions Senator Mitchell McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, has attacked the upcoming Clean Power Plan regulations that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is scheduled to issue in June of this year. Most notably, on March 19, 2015, he sent a letter to the National Governors Association urging the […]
Jennifer M. Klein, Esq. Associate Director & Fellow A federal judge in Colorado has vacated a permit to expand a coal mine in New Mexico, finding that the agency approving the permit failed to consider the mercury pollution that would be released into the air when the coal is burned […]