Environment & Land Use

212 posts

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Considers Sea Level Rise Data in Waste Storage Environmental Impact Statement

Jennifer M. Klein, Esq. Associate Director & Fellow The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recently finalized a rule regarding the storage of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel at individual power plants beyond the duration of each plant’s operating license. The NRC’s Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) for the rule addressed potential climate […]

Adaptive Management Workshop brings together Academics and Federal Agency Representatives for Discussion on Barriers to Adaptive Management in Federal Programs

On September 19, the George Washington University Law School, Society for Risk Analysis, USDA Risk Forum and Environmental Law Institute co-hosted a workshop on the role of adaptive management in government decision-making.  Representatives from federal agencies, civil society organizations and academic institutions gathered to discuss some of the key barriers […]

Council on Environmental Quality Declares That Climate Change is Already Covered in Environmental Impact Review, and No New Regulations Needed

By Michael B. Gerrard The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), signed into law by President Richard Nixon on January 1, 1970, was the first U.S. environmental statute of the modern era. It requires the preparation of environmental impact statements (EISs) for major federal actions that may have a significant impact […]

In Sandy’s Wake, BIG U Promises Lower Manhattan Upped Coastal Protection

By Isabelle Aubrun, CCCL Intern (Brown University) In 2013, President Obama’s Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force devised the Rebuild by Design Competition.  Applicants were to design a “fundable and implementable” infrastructure project to mitigate the dangers of rising sea levels and increasingly frequent extreme weather events in New York and […]

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% […]