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Clinic Publications News

Clinic Files Comment Letter in Massachusetts Department of Public Utility Investigation

In June 2021, the Clinic filed a comment letter on behalf of a group of Massachusetts municipalities and regional planning associations in the Department of Public Utility’s investigation regarding the role of local gas distribution companies in helping the Commonwealth achieve its 2050 net zero climate goal, which includes reducing…
Clinic Publications News

Clinic files amicus brief in Sierra Club v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

February 9, 2021 – Today, the Clinic filed an amicus brief on behalf of eleven clinical law professors, listed below, in support of the appellants in Sierra Club v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, No. 20-02195, in the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. The appellants challenge the…
Clinic Publications News

Clinic Submits Comments on Proposed Interim Registration Review Decision for Chlorpyrifos and Revised Draft Human Health Risk Assessment

February 5, 2021 – Today, the Clinic submitted a comment letter urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reverse its proposed registration decision for chlorpyrifos and revise the underlying Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA).  The comments were submitted on behalf of the following scientific and medical experts:  Scott Belcher, David…
Clinic Publications News

Clinic Files Amicus Brief in Case on the Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient Vehicles Rule

January 21, 2021 – Today, the Emmett Clinic filed an amicus brief in support of state, local government, and public interest organization petitioners in Competitive Enterprise Institute v. National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.  The petitioners are challenging the Safer Affordable…
Clinic Publications Featured News

Clinic Files Amicus Brief in Case on Scope of Clean Water Act Protections

December 17, 2020 – Today, the Emmett Clinic filed an amicus brief on behalf of the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) in support of the plaintiffs in Conservation Law Foundation v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The plaintiffs are challenging the so-called Navigable Water Protection…
Clinic Publications Featured News

Clinic files amicus brief challenging revisions to NEPA regulations

November 30, 2020 – Today, the Clinic filed an amicus brief on behalf of Sen. Thomas R. Carper, Rep. Peter A. DeFazio, and Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva in support of the plaintiffs in Wild Virginia v. Council on Environmental Quality in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of…
Clinic Publications News

Clinic Releases Guide on Legal Issues in Dam Removal

August 2020 – The Emmett Environmental Law & Policy Clinic has released a new guide, “Legal Issues in Dam Removal: A Guide for Massachusetts Dam Owners”, which provides information on some common legal questions for dam owners in Massachusetts and their attorneys. Many dams in Massachusetts were built decades or even centuries…
Clinic Publications News

Clinic submits comments on EPA’s proposed Clean Air Act rulemaking process

August 3, 2020 – Today, the Clinic submitted comments on behalf of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the National Parks Conservation Association on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Proposed Rule “Increasing Consistency and Transparency in Considering Benefits and Costs in the Clean Air Act Rulemaking Process.”  The comments urge EPA to…
Clinic Publications News

Clinic files amicus brief in Endangered Species Act case in the U.S. Supreme Court

August 3, 2020 – Today, the Clinic filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court urging the Court to affirm a 9th Circuit decision in a case involving the application of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to Biological Opinions prepared under Section 7 of the Endangered Species…
Clinic Publications News

Clinic Submits Comments on EPA’s Review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for Particulate Matter

June 26, 2020 – Today, the Clinic submitted comments on behalf of researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Boston University School of Public Health on EPA’s proposal to leave in place the current NAAQS for particulate matter.  The proposal disregards the substantial evidence that…
Clinic Publications News

Clinic Files Comments on EPA’s Updated “Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science” Proposal

May 18, 2020 – The Clinic filed comments today on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s supplemental notice for its “Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science” proposal on behalf of Harvard President Lawrence Bacow and more than three dozen other leaders in science and medicine from Harvard University.  The supplemental notice…
Clinic Publications News

Clinic releases guidance paper with model green building ordinance for Massachusetts municipalities

The Clinic recently publicly released a guidance paper with a model green building ordinance entitled Strategies for Massachusetts Municipalities to Implement Net Zero Building Mandates.  This paper examines legal complexities that Massachusetts towns and cities must navigate when mandating reductions of greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector. The…
Clinic Publications News

Courts Strike Down EPA Advisory Committee Directive

In two recent decisions in cases in which the Emmett Environmental Law & Policy Clinic filed amicus briefs, federal courts ruled against a 2017 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) directive.  The cases involve a directive issued by former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt that barred scientists who receive EPA research grants from…
Clinic Publications News

Clinic files amicus brief in the litigation over the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) Rule

April 23, 2020 – Today, the Clinic filed an amicus brief in American Lung Association v. EPA (D.C. Cir. No. 19-1140), the litigation over the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) Rule, EPA’s replacement for the Clean Power Plan.  The ACE Rule dramatically weakens the greenhouse gas emissions limits for existing coal-fired…
News

Clinic’s efforts against environmental roll backs featured in Harvard Law Today

April 21, 2020 – The Clinic’s various efforts to push back against federal environmental roll backs was featured in Harvard Law Today.  Clinic Director Wendy Jacobs and Clinic Deputy Director Shaun Goho discussed several examples of the Clinic’s work, including amicus briefs, comment letters, the Citizen Science manual, and the…
Clinic Publications News

Clinic Submits Comments On Proposed Amendments To National Environmental Policy Act Regulations

March 10, 2020 – Today, the Clinic submitted comments on behalf of itself and 15 other environmental law clinics on the Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) proposed update to its Regulations Implementing the Procedural Provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).  The comments request that CEQ withdraw the proposal…
Clinic Publications News

Clinic submits comments on the first municipal bylaw in Massachusetts to limit the use of natural gas in new and modified buildings

February 27, 2020 – Today, the Clinic submitted comments on the first municipal bylaw in Massachusetts to limit the use of natural gas in new and modified buildings.  Writing on behalf of Mothers Out Front Massachusetts, the Clinic’s explained that Brookline’s “Prohibition on New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure in Major…
Clinic Publications News

Clinic submits comments regarding health equity, environmental justice, and civil rights aspects of proposed revisions to the Lead and Copper Rule

February 11, 2020 – Today, the Clinic, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), and Dr. Karen Baehler of American University submitted comments focused on the health equity, environmental justice, and civil rights aspects of the EPA’s proposed revisions to its Lead and Copper Rule (LCR). The Clinic’s/EDF’s analysis of the proposed revisions,…
Clinic Publications News

Emmett Clinic Files Amicus Brief Supporting Chlorpyrifos Ban

The Emmett Clinic submitted an amicus brief today in a 9th Circuit case challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s failure to ban agricultural uses of the organophosphate pesticide chlorpyrifos.  In 2016, EPA had proposed to remove all food tolerances for chlorpyrifos under the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act—an action…
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Testimony Before the House Science Committee on EPA’s Proposed Transparency Rule

November 13, 2019 – Today, Dr. Mary Rice, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School and Chair of the Environmental Health Policy Committee of the American Thoracic Society, testified before the House Science Committee on EPA’s Transparency Rule.  Dr. Rice was a…