Pace Environmental Law Review

Details are still sketchy, but last week's Durban COP-17 meeting appears to have resulted in a "road map" for negotiations that would lead to a binding "legal framework" for emissions reductions -- to be negotiated by the December 2015 conference of the parties, and...

David Cassuto In 2010, a Brazilian colleague and I were invited to lecture on environmental permitting at the Federal University of Pará in Belem, Brazil. The state of Pará is to be home to the proposed Belo Monte Dam. Nonetheless, we deliberately chose not to discuss...

Importance of Civil Society in-person involvement in Durban Climate Negotiations: I was a finalist in a UNDP speech writing contest for the UN Secretary General in 1990. This led to becoming a youth delegate who helped craft UNFCCC, Agenda 21, and Rio Declaration...

At the risk of offending colleagues I deeply respect and admire, I do have one thought for the day: A four-wheel drive Lincoln Navigator is probably the ultimate American rugged-individualist, anti-environmentalist status symbol.   Driving one for the typical 15,000...

Richard Ottinger, Dean Emeritus and founder of the Pace Energy and Climate Center, is in Durban, South Africa for the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework  Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 7th Session of the Conference...

According to a complaint filed today by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, the Bureau of Land Management set out to perform a comprehensive assessment of environmental impacts of its activities  . . . but purposefully omitted any consideration of...

What do you call a team that wins the league pennant and then throws the World Series? Today's New York Times article about the behind the scenes lobbying that lead to the abandonment of revised health-based ozone standards is revealing if unsurprising.  What is...

Energy and Environment News this week reported on a letter from the GOP congressional leadership urging EPA to scrap its proposed Waters of the United States guidance document, noticed for public comment last May.  No surprises there.  The proposed guidance takes the...

I'm back from the Rio + 20 preparatory conference held in Limoges, France that was organized by Prof. Michel Prieur. You may find our call for action of interest.  It was collectively drafted and will be shared with the UN and its member states. If you would like to...

Three years ago, the rupture of a coal ash pond in Kingston, Tennessee sent 5.4 million cubic yards of a toxic slurry into neighborhoods and the Emory River.  That spill focused attention on EPA's persistent failure to come up with regulations governing disposal of...