Former environmental litigator and Columbia Law School graduate Michael Burger ’03 was recently named the first executive director of the Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Burger, who currently serves as an associate professor of law at Roger Williams University School of Law in Rhode Island, will formally […]
By Michael B. Gerrard The Clean Power Plan proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency in June is the centerpiece of the Obama Administration’s efforts to fight climate change. Coal-fired power plants are by far the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, and the EPA proposal would […]
The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law has created a new Climate Change Adaptation Resources page. It is organized by federal and state efforts agencies ranging from the Environmental Protection Agency to the U.S. Department of Transportation. The State Adaptation Resources Page contains links to climate change adaptation efforts conducted by states and the localities and cities […]
by Jordana Fremed, Summer Intern In September 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will decide whether or not to list the greater sage-grouse as threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.[1] The proposed listing has caused conflict between two groups of environmentalists: conservationists and advocates of renewable energy […]
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 […]
Columbia’s Center for Climate Change Law has released a white paper entitled Potential Liability for Climate-Related Measures under the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is currently being negotiated by twelve Pacific-rim countries (Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and […]
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 […]
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 […]