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GreenLaw – Latest Articles
Sacketts 9, EPA 0, GE 0
The Sackett decision is out. Not surprisingly, the Supreme Court voted 9-0 to hold that EPA's order directing the Sacketts to remove fill material from a disputed wetlands area was final, ripe, and immediately reviewable under the Administrative Procedure Act. ...
Comprehensive Planning and the Tappan Zee Bridge
Comprehensive planning is the antidote for ill-considered and isolated land use decisions, particularly those that adversely affect wetlands and watersheds, cause increased flooding, and promote wasteful sprawl. This said, detailed and informed comprehensive plans...
GHG Endangerment Finding Argument in the DC Circuit
This week, a DC Circuit panel held two days of oral argument on the multitude of challenges to EPA's December 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding and the "Tailoring Rule." Very few reports of the argument seem to have made it into the mainstream press, but...
Anschutz v. Town of Dryden: Fight over Fracking – Towns Win First Round
On February 21st, the Supreme Court in New York found that local governments are empowered to regulate hydrofracking under their delegated zoning and land use authority, despite preemptive language in the state’s Oil, Gas and Solution Mining Law ("OGSML"). To fully...
Separating Public Trust from State Title to Navigable Waters
Today's unanimous Supreme Court decision in PPL Montana v. Montana rejected Montana's claim to title to miles of Missouri River riverbed that had been converted to hydropower reservoirs, finding that the navigability test for state title to underwater lands must be...
We Are Climate Deniers and We Are Here For Your Children
Perhaps the most interesting revelation from the leaked Heartland Institute documents is the climate denial think tank's plan to develop a public school curriculum designed to counter the climate science consensus and perpetuate the false controversy about the state...
Tar Sands Oil Threatens Planet’s Future
Posted on behalf of Dean Emeritus Richard Ottinger: To the Editors, The New York Times: Joe Nocero’s two recent Op Ed columns on the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline demonstrate a disturbing disregard of the overwhelming dangers of climate change that threaten sea level...
Sprawling up to Forever Wild Lands
The Adirondack Park Agency has just approved a massive 6,500 acre, 650 housing unit resort and vacation home development in an area bounded by "Forever Wild" Adirondack Park lands. The "Adirondack Club Resort" would include 15 30-50 acre "great camp" lots -- a...
New York Environmental Court Sends MS4 General Permit Back to DEC
Last week, Supreme Court Westchester County (the nisi prius level of the New York court system) threw out the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation's general permit for municipal stormwater systems. A copy of the opinion can be downloaded here. NRDC and...
State of the Union on Climate Change
In his inaugural State of the Union address in 2009, President Obama asked Congress to send him cap-and-trade legislation to save our planet from the ravages of climate change In his 2010 State of the Union, the President took credit for the United States going ...