Environment & Land Use

207 posts

Proposed Change to State Hazard Mitigation Plans May Require States to Address Future Climate Variability Issues

By Alyssa Kutner, Summer Legal Intern President Barack Obama made an announcement on Wednesday, July 16th introducing a plan to improve the nation’s ability to adapt to climate change through investing in and planning a more climate-resilient infrastructure. Included in the announcement were new programs designed to increase the adaptive […]

Resilient Rhode Island Act of 2014 sets 85% carbon emissions reduction goal by 2050, strongest in the United States

By Diane Jung, Undergraduate Intern On June 19, 2014 both houses of the Rhode Island legislature passed the Resilient Rhode Island Act of 2014, which addresses climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience, and establishes greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets of 10% below 1990 levels by 2020, 45% by 2035, and 85% […]

Alaska District Court Considers “Reverse Environmental Impact” in Issuance of Section 404 Permit

By Ellii Cho, Summer Legal Intern The National Environmental Policy Act of 1970 (NEPA) requires federal agencies to prepare environmental impact statements (EISs) for all “major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment.”[1] This includes the issuance of federal permits. Even after an EIS is completed and […]

Responding to Concerns About Affordability, Congress Pulls the Plug on 2012 Flood Insurance Reforms

Ethan I. Strell, CCCL Associate Director and Fellow On March 21, 2014, President Obama signed into law the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014 (2014 Act), whose stated purpose is to “delay the implementation of certain provisions of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Texas Hurricane Damage (photo credit: FEMA) […]

NEW CCCL PAPER- REVERSE ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT ANALYSIS FOR THE ADAPTATION OF PROJECTS, PLANS AND PROGRAMS TO THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE EU

Teresa Parejo Navajas Associate Professor of Law. Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain) Visiting Scholar at the Center for Climate Change Law (Columbia University) Columbia’s Center for Climate Change Law has published a new white paper analyzing the Reverse Environmental Assessment tool for the adaptation of projects, plans and programs […]

Survey of Five Southeast State Utility Commissions Finds Wide Variation in Hardening and Resiliency Requirements

A new paper by Katherine Carey looks at the different actions that state utility commissions in the Southeast have taken to ensure that their electric utilities are prepared for tomorrow’s storms. The Gulf Coast region in the Southeastern United States is at especially high risk of more severe hurricanes and […]