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The Ten Most Important U.S. Environmental Laws

Legal Planet

In choosing the top environmental laws, I wanted to focus on those with the largest impacts on the environment, not just those that are most important to environmental lawyers or best known. I included all laws passed in the U.S., not just federal regulatory laws, and some of my selections may not be what you expected.

Law 290
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U.S. Climate Law: A Broad & Rapidly Growing Field

Legal Planet

In preparing to teach a course on climate law, I was really struck by how broad and rich the field has become. Back in the day, it was nearly all international law, but nowadays there’s a huge amount of U.S. domestic law. and international law. and international law. climate policy. Here goes: I. Cross-cutting A.

Law 246
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NEPA as an environmental back-stop

Legal Planet

Why might we have an environmental review statute such as NEPA when we already have a range of other environmental protection statutes such as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and more? One possibility is that NEPA serves as a back-stop for other environmental laws, filling in gaps they do not cover.

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50 Years Ago: Environmental Law in 1973

Legal Planet

In the previous three years, Congress had passed NEPA, the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Water Act. Continuing the legislative wave, 1973 saw the passage of the Endangered Species Act (ESA. One subject stood outside the political turmoil: environmental law.

Law 183
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Environmentalism and the Supreme Court

Legal Planet

The same is true in environmental law. Was it a fundamental paradigm shift, re-centering the law on new values? With all this in mind, here are the cases that I see as making up the canon and anti-canons of environmental law. This was a case under the Endangered Species Act. American Trucking Associations.

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Our Environmental Statutes Are Broken

Law and Environment

The Clean Water Act – It’s routine for EPA to take more than 10 years to act on NPDES permit renewals. The Clean Air Act – The Supreme Court has ruled that it does not provide authority for EPA to address the defining issue of our time. They created a pathway towards cleaning our air, water, and land.

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When Democrats and Republicans united to repair the Earth

Environment, Law, and History

Melosi, Carolyn Merchant, Roderick Nash, Adam Rome, and Paul Sutter, among many others—Coodley and Sarasohn offer here an exhaustive play-by-play account of the legislative battles between 1964 and 1976 that led to the passage of some of the most important environmental laws in the United States.