A widely anticipated Supreme Court ruling will sharply limit federal agencies’ power to interpret the laws that they execute and decide how best to carry them out.
Resource laws and processes have tried to keep politics out of decision making. But this technocratic approach carries its own problems. The challenge is getting the balance right.
The Supreme Court drastically reduced federal protection for wetlands in 2023. Two environmental lawyers explain how private businesses and nongovernment organizations can help fill the gap.
Inconsistent laws and penalties for water theft in the Murray-Darling Basin make compliance and enforcement especially challenging. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Tim Curran, Lincoln University, New Zealand and Jo Monks, University of Otago
New Zealand’s plants and animals are globally unique and underpin primary production and tourism. The government’s fast-tracking proposal threatens to erode the natural capital the economy relies on.
Hard rock minerals like gold, silver, copper and lithium on public lands belong to the American public, but under a 150-year-old law, the US gives them away for free.
An important but controversial legal doctrine, known as Chevron deference, is at issue in two fishing cases. The outcome could affect many sectors across the nation.
Australia has a once-in-a-decade opportunity to fix environmental law. A new Wentworth Group report says the cumulative impacts from multiple projects must be considered.
J.B. Ruhl, Vanderbilt University and James Salzman, University of California, Los Angeles
Do environmental reviews improve projects or delay them and drive up costs? Two legal scholars explain how the law works and how it could influence the ongoing transition to renewable energy.
Southwest states have bought time with an agreement between California, Arizona and Nevada to cut Colorado River water use by about 14%. Now comes the hard part.
In Sackett v. EPA, a suit filed by two homeowners who filled in wetlands on their property, the Supreme Court has drastically narrowed the definition of which wetlands qualify for federal protection.
The Supreme Court has upheld a controversial California law requiring pork sold in-state to be humanely raised, no matter where it’s produced. Pork producers say it could drive up food prices.
After the Supreme Court overturned the Obama administration’s strategy for reducing power plant carbon emissions in 2022, the Biden administration is taking a narrower but still ambitious approach.
Nearly 95% of deforestation in the Amazon occurs within 3.5 miles of a road or near a river. Brazil’s plans to ramp up exports may be on a collision course with the forest.