GW Environmental and Energy Law – Page 3

August 12, 2023October 4, 2023

The Potential for Greenwashing from “Green” Trademarks and Marketing

By Vanessa Turk

The world is moving into an era of heightened environmental consciousness. This is driving businesses to enhance their commitment to sustainable practices. Registering a green trademark is one of many ways for a business to implement more sustainable practices, but it comes with the potential for greenwashing, which can have adverse legal consequences. Greenwashing is the practice of making a product or practice appear more environmentally friendly than it really is by using unsubstantiated and misleading claims about the sustainability of products, services, or practices.

July 28, 2023October 2, 2023

An Introduction to U.S. State Environmental Rights Amendments

By Johanna Adashek

Environmental rights declare the right of people to a certain level of environmental protection, just as civil rights cement the people’s rights to due process or freedom of speech. Environmental rights can be in the form of a law, constitutional amendment, or most recently, within a UN Declaration. This post will focus mainly on environmental rights amendments (ERAs), or those enumerated within a constitution. Further, while dozens of countries have ERAs within their constitutions, this post will focus on ERAs within U.S. state constitutions. This post will review the states with ERAs and different approaches to ERA protections, discuss the utility of ERAs, and describe recent developments involving ERAs.

May 30, 2023May 30, 2023

Understanding the Proposed New Clean Air Act § 111 Rule on Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating Units

By Johanna Adashek

On May 23, 2023, EPA proposed a new rule that would regulate fossil fuel-fired electric generating units (EGUs). The regulations reflect different regulatory requirements that EPA has crafted using its authority under the Clean Air Act (CAA) § 111, often referred to as New Source Performance Standards or NSPS. This blog post will provide a brief explanation of the NSPS as well as factual background on the kinds of fossil fuel-fired EGUs that are treated differently for purposes of this proposed rule. The post will then discuss the five components of the new rule in the following order: (1) the revised NSPS for greenhouse gas emissions from new fossil fuel-fired stationary combustion turbine EGUs; (2) the repeal of the Affordable Clean Energy Rule; (3) the emission guidelines for existing fossil fuel-fired steam generating units; (4) the emission guidelines for existing large and frequently used stationary combustion turbine EGUs; and (5) the solicitation of comments on regulating existing smaller and less frequently used fossil fuel-fired combustion turbines.

April 19, 2023May 2, 2023

Riverine Rights Around the World – Three Case Studies

By Monishaa Suresh

As countries around the world begin to grant legal personhood to environmental resources, three stand out in conferring legal personhood to rivers – New Zealand with the Whanganui, Colombia with the Atrato, and India with the Ganges. New Zealand chose to grant personhood to the Whanganui via legislative action, whereas, the Atrato secured legal personhood in Colombia in a High Court decision. In India, a state court granted the Ganges personhood, which was ultimately reversed at the Supreme Court level. The precedents set in New Zealand and Colombia, however, offer India possible pathways to re-grant the Ganges personhood at the national level.

April 3, 2023September 25, 2023

A Primer on Biden’s 30 by 30 Plan

By Johanna Adashek

What is Biden’s 30 by 30 plan?

The plan originated from Executive Order 14008 “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad,” published on January 27, 2021. Sections 216 of the Executive Order tasked various government agencies with the goal of conserving 30% of U.S. land and waters by 2030, hence the short reference: “30 by 30.” The Executive Order itself did not create detailed directives for achieving this goal, instead, it initiated processes for stakeholder participation, measuring progress, and creating future strategies. While the progress of steps taken to date is hard to measure, this is the first conservation goal that the federal government has ever set. Approximately 12% of land, 11% of freshwater, and 26% of ocean waters in the U.S. has some level of protection to date. This blog post (1) examines why protecting and conserving lands and waters is so vital; (2) identifies steps taken to achieve the 30 by 30 goal thus far; and (3) considers potential future measures that can be taken to reach the 30 by 30 goal.