Publications – Page 3 – Emmett Clinic

Carbon Capture and Sequestration

Wendy B. Jacobs, Carbon Capture and Sequestration. Chapter 17, Global Climate Change and U.S. Law, 2nd ed. (Michael Gerrard & Jody Freeman, eds., The American Bar Association, April 2014).

Articles Clean Air Act

Benefits of Regulating Hazardous Air Pollutants from Coal and Oil-Fired Utilities in the United States

Elsie M. Sunderland, et al., Benefits of Regulating Hazardous Air Pollutants from Coal and Oil-Fired Utilities in the United States, Enviro. Sci. Technol. (January 15, 2016) (Shaun Goho and Wendy Jacobs were contributing authors on this report). Click here for related news release.

Articles Clean Air Act

The Legal Implications of Report-Back in Household Exposure Studies

Shaun A. Goho, The Legal Implications of Report-Back in Household Exposure Studies, Environmental Health Perspectives (May 6, 2016).

Articles Climate Change

What is Means and How to Integrate It Into State Regulation of Electricity Markets

Aladdine Joroff, Energy Justice: What is Means and How to Integrate It Into State Regulation of Electricity Markets, ELI, Environmental Law Reporter (November, 2017)…

Articles CCS

Legal Pathways to Widespread Carbon Capture and Sequestration

Wendy B. Jacobs, Legal Pathways to Widespread Carbon Capture and Sequestration, The Environmental Law Reporter, Volume 47, No. 12, Environmental Law Institute (December 2017) (with Michael T. Craig)…

Articles Clean Air Act

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Proposed Transparency Rule Threatens Health

Wendy B. Jacobs, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Proposed Transparency Rule Threatens Health, Annals of Internal Medicine, Volume 170, No. 3 (February 5, 2019) (with R. N. Salas, M.D., M.P.H., M.S.; F. Laden, Sc.D.; and A. K. Jha, M.D., M.P.H.)…

Articles Agriculture

Carbon Capture and Sequestration

Wendy B. Jacobs and Michael T. Craig, Carbon Capture and Sequestration (Mar 2019). Chapter 28, Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States (Michael B. Gerrard and John C. Dernbach eds., ELI 2019).

Articles Climate Change

The Case of Juliana v. U.S. – Children and the Health Burdens of Climate Change

Wendy B. Jacobs, The Case of Juliana v. U.S. – Children and the Health Burdens of Climate Change, The New England Journal of Medicine, 380:2085-2087 (May 30, 2019) (with R. N. Salas, M.D., M.P.H., and F. Perera, Dr.P.H., Ph.D.)…

Guides Fracking

A Landowner’s Guide to Hydraulic Fracturing: Addressing Environmental and Health Issues in Oil and Gas Leases (Revised Edition, July 2014)

This expanded and revised edition of the guide builds upon the previous edition. In particular, it is aimed at landowners across the country and contains information relevant for property owners who are considering whether to sign a lease to allow either oil or gas extraction by hydraulic fracturing, including proposed lease language.

Guides Citizen Science

A Manual for Citizen Scientists Starting or Participating in Data Collection and Environmental Monitoring Projects (First Edition, September 2017)

This manual aims to empower individuals in their roles as citizen scientists and to promote the practice of community-based citizen science as a vehicle for environmental justice. It outlines practical suggestions for how to design and carry out a citizen science project. It also contains an overview of relevant laws and regulations, as well as technical suggestions regarding data collection, analysis, and compliance with relevant scientific and quality standards.

Amicus Briefs Clean Water Act

Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (U.S. 09-247)

In September 2009, the Clinic filed an amicus brief in support of a petition for certiorari in a case challenging the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to issue permits to coal mining companies to engage in activities that would result in the burial of more than 13 miles of Appalachian streams.

Amicus Briefs Agriculture

Center for Food Safety v. Vilsack (9th Cir. 12-15052)

In April 2012, the Clinic filed an amicus brief on behalf of organic farmers, producers of organic foods, and organic advocacy organizations in a case challenging the Department of Agriculture’s decision to allow the unrestricted use of Roundup-Ready alfalfa (RRA). The Clinic argued that the agency’s decision will cause significant economic harm to the organic industry and that a more limited deregulation decision, which imposed geographic restrictions and buffer zones, would reduce this harm.

Amicus Briefs Clean Air Act

White Stallion Energy Ctr., LLC v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (D.C. Cir. No. 12-1100)

In this case, the D.C. Circuit is reviewing challenges to the Environmental Protection Agency’s landmark regulations governing emissions of hazardous air pollutants from coal-fired power plants. The Clinic, on behalf of a group of law professors including Professors Freeman and Lazarus, argued that EPA’s regulatory approach was justified by the history and text of the Clean Air Act.

Amicus Briefs Clean Water Act

Decker v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center (U.S. No. 11-338 and 11-347)

The question before the U.S. Supreme Court in Decker was whether channeled stormwater runoff from industrial logging operations is subject to the permitting requirements of the Clean Water Act. In October 2012, the Clinic filed an amicus brief on behalf of a professor of forest road engineering that described the ways in which the construction, operation, and maintenance of logging roads and associated drainage structures are integral parts of an industrial activity—namely, mechanized forestry.

Amicus Briefs Clean Air Act

City of Brockton v. Energy Facilities Siting Board (Mass. SJC No. 11406)

Questions before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in this case included whether the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board failed to appropriately consider whether a proposal to construct a new power plant complied with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs’ Environmental Justice Policy. The Clinic, on behalf of an environmental advocacy organization, argued that, when a project has potential to impact environmental justice neighborhoods, the Environmental Justice Policy requires both enhanced opportunities for public participation and equal protection against environmental burdens, including an enhanced analysis of impacts on environmental justice communities.

Amicus Briefs Clean Water Act

Brockton Power Company, LLC v. Energy Facilities Siting Board (Mass. SJC No. 11405)

In February 2014, the Clinic filed an amicus brief in support of a decision by the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board disapproving the use of the City of Brockton’s municipal water supply as the primary source of cooling water for a proposed electric-generating facility. The Clinic argued, on behalf of non-profit conservation and resource stewardship groups, that the impacts of such proposed large water uses must be evaluated with respect to both individual water bodies and the watersheds in which those waters are located.

Amicus Briefs Climate Change

Utility Air Regulatory Group, et al. v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. 12-1146 and consolidated cases)

In January 2014, the Clinic filed an amicus brief in a U.S. Supreme Court case involving challenges to EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources under the Prevention of Significant Deterioration program of the Clean Air Act. In the brief, filed on behalf of Calpine Corporation, the Clinic described Calpine’s experience as a company that had gone through the PSD permitting process for greenhouse gases on six occasions. In contrast to the assertions of some of the petitioners in the case, Calpine’s experience demonstrated that GHG PSD permitting has not resulted in excessive delays or costs.

Amicus Briefs Clean Water Act

U.S. Department of the Interior v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (1st Cir. No. 13-2439)

In April 2014, the Clinic filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on behalf of nonprofit organizations regarding historic preservation issues relating to a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) decision to amend the license for a hydroelectric project that impacts the Pawtucket Dam in the Lowell National Historical Park. The Clinic argued that the project approved by FERC would adversely affect the Pawtucket Dam in a manner that contravenes the Lowell National Historical Park Act’s prohibition of adverse effects on the Park’s resources.

Amicus Briefs Clean Air Act

State of Michigan, et al. v. Environmental Protection Agency, et al. (U.S. 14-46 and consolidated cases)

In March 2015, the Emmett Clinic filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the Union of Concerned Scientists to defend the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulations limiting emissions of mercury and other hazardous air pollutants from power plants. In its brief, the Clinic argued that Congress, in directing EPA to issue regulations if “appropriate and necessary,” intended that the agency make a scientific decision based on the public health impacts of the industry’s emissions.

Amicus Briefs Climate Change

State of West Virginia, et al. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, et al. (D.C. Cir. Nos. 15-1363 and consolidated cases)

On April 1, 2016, the Emmett Clinic filed an amicus brief in the D.C. Circuit on behalf of the Union of Concerned Scientists to defend the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan as a vital component of United States’ efforts to address climate change as well as “a strong demonstration to other world leaders” of the United States’ commitment to the December 2015 Paris Agreement.