On Nov. 2, 2021, one of the most significant events in the history of New York environmental law occurred. The state’s voters, by 70% to 30% vote, added an environmental rights provision to the New York Constitution’s Bill of Rights. The new language reads in full: Section 19. Environmental rights. Each person shall have a … Continued
In September of 2021, the New York State Bar Association launched a Task Force on Racism, Social Equity and the Law, to “examine how structural racism permeates and influences all aspects of daily life leading to injustice and inequality among New Yorkers.”1 Co-chairing the task force were Taa Grays, vice president and associate general counsel of … Continued
In Chicago in 1997, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Sherwin-Williams Company negotiated a $5.8 million settlement after three-and-a-half years of litigation for numerous violations of environmental laws at Sherwin-Williams’ paint and resin plant.1 The settlement agreement designated over a million dollars for supplemental environmental projects, designed to offset the detrimental ecological impact of … Continued
Facts The Clean Air Act (CAA) was signed into law in 1963, and then expanded in 1970, giving the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the power to regulate any “new and existing” sources of air pollution originating from stationary sources.1 Under this authority, the EPA required all sources covered under the stationary sources category to reduce their … Continued
Facts At the start of the pandemic, former Mayor de Blasio issued an executive order to expand seating options for restaurants, bars, and other establishments in outdoor areas, otherwise suspending zoning laws.1 After this issuance, the Department of Transportation (DOT) issued a negative declaration concluding the program would have no significant effect on the environment.2 Petitioners sought … Continued
Facts In 2015, respondent Victor Manuel Castro-Huerta (Castro-Huerta) lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with his wife and their children, including Castro-Huerta’s then-5-year-old stepdaughter, who is a Cherokee Indian.1 Castro-Huerta’s sister-in-law was in the house and noticed that the stepdaughter was sick.2 After a 911 call, the girl was rushed to a Tulsa hospital in critical condition.3 She weighed only … Continued
Facts Appellants, led by the California Fish and Game Commission (the “commission”) and joined by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and other interveners, appealed a lower court ruling that the commission was outside the scope of its authority to designate the Crotch, Franklin, Suckley cuckoo and Western bumble bees as candidate species for listing … Continued
Facts On appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, the plaintiff, the Ute Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation (the “Ute Tribe”), sought enforcement of a tribal court injunction to stop Gregory McKee’s allegedly illegal diversion of water from canals constructed by the Uintah Indian Irrigation Project (UIIP). Defendant … Continued
Facts Nicholas Albano, lead plaintiff for 32 landowners, sued the federal Surface Transportation Board for issuing a Notice of Interim Trail Use or Abandonment to a non-profit under the Trail Act (the “Act”). Albano argued that the defendant’s conversion of a section of railway into a public recreational trail under the Act was outside the … Continued
Facts Under the Clean Air Act, which establishes a state-federal cooperative plan to improve air quality across the nation, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for issuing the standards for atmospheric pollutants, including ozone.1 Each state then creates a plan that satisfies the standards put forth by the EPA, and submits their plans to the … Continued