Sierra Club, the EPA, and the Fight over Detroit’s Air Gio Lavoile In May of 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a clean data determination for the metro Detroit area[1] and determined that the area had achieved attainment status in accordance with the 2015 8-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ozone. This… Continue reading Lavoile – Winter 2024
Author: mjeal-online
Khoury – Winter 2024
Banning Coal: Feasibility and Constitutionality Elias Khoury Abating the accelerating climate crisis will require drastic measures. Countries like the United States, with its outsized contribution to environmental breakdown, need to do the most. One major driver of American ecological impact is coal. America runs on it. In 2007, coal was responsible for a whopping 49%… Continue reading Khoury – Winter 2024
Honeycutt – Winter 2024
Natural Asset Companies: ESG Bogeyman Suffers Political Demise Joe Honeycutt On October 4, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published for comment a proposed rule change to amend the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Listed Company Manual to allow for the listing of Natural Asset Companies (NAC).[1] The proposed rule change described NACs as… Continue reading Honeycutt – Winter 2024
Hersch-Winter 2024
Inflation Reduction Act Delivers Energy Justice through Tax Incentives for Renewable Energy Infrastructure in Low-Income Communities Ellison Hersch The United States is struggling with failing infrastructure and shifting towards fulfilling climate change goals, while still being reliant on fossil fuels. The shift in policy to mitigate the effects of climate change has included a shift… Continue reading Hersch-Winter 2024
Foster – Winter 2024
Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument & Judicial, Congressional, and Local Opposition to Modern Executive Action under the Antiquities Act Heather Foster On January 12, 2017, President Obama issued an executive order redesignating nearly 47,000 acres of forestland in Oregon and California as part of an expansion to the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.[1] This redesignation halted all timber-harvesting activity… Continue reading Foster – Winter 2024
Ehrenkranz – Winter 2024
Administrative Convenience or Constitutional Limit? The Looming Threat of Moore in Fighting Inequity Joseph Ehrenkranz Imagine two taxpayers: Laura and Cooper. At the start of the year, both have $100K in economic power. Laura’s $100K is invested in the S&P 500, while Cooper’s is in a savings account yielding 2% interest. Their economic status is… Continue reading Ehrenkranz – Winter 2024
Hill – Winter 2024
Major Questions About the FTC’s Proposed Ban on Junk Fees Brian Hill If you have booked a hotel, purchased a concert ticket, or ordered from a restaurant online recently, you have probably noticed that the price on your checkout screen is higher than the price that was advertised to you when you decided to add… Continue reading Hill – Winter 2024
Bretthauer – Winter 2024
Bunker Down: How Bunker Fuel Use Gets Counted (and Discounted) in International Emission Reporting Josh Bretthauer The Paris Climate Agreement was a landmark international agreement, signed onto by 196 countries agreeing to develop “Nationally Determined Contribution” (NDC) plans to keep global warming below 2ºC.[1] Nations’ “economy-wide absolute emission reduction targets,” where countries track, report, and… Continue reading Bretthauer – Winter 2024
Berg – Winter 2024
The Railway Safety Act of 2023: A Legislative Switchyard David Berg The East Palestine, Ohio train derailment on February 3rd, 2023, caught the attention of the national and international media. The tiny village of 5,000 people on the Pennsylvania border—20 miles from Youngstown, 40 miles from Pittsburgh—lies in Ohio’s Appalachian region. The Norfolk-Southern train hauled… Continue reading Berg – Winter 2024
Antonneau – Winter 2024
Municipalization: Is Ann Arbor Breaking Free from DTE? If Not, it Should Be. Libby Antonneau In the late 1990s, the town of Alma, Michigan, tried to break free from Consumers Energy Co. and start its own city electric utility, but the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) told the city they would owe the company millions… Continue reading Antonneau – Winter 2024