Environmental Law

Perpetuating Inequality and Illness Through Environmental Injustice

Nick Redmond, MJLST Staffer

In Sidney D. Watson’s Lessons from Ferguson and Beyond, published in issue 1 of MJLST’s 18th volume, the author focuses on issues of inherent racial bias in access to health care for African Americans, and how the Affordable Care Act may be able to help. The author “explores the structural, institutional, and interpersonal biases that operate in the health care system and that exacerbate Black/white health disparities.” The article’s focus on health care in particular is a critical component of inequality in the U.S., but it also only briefly touches on another important piece of the disparity puzzle: environmental justice. Conversations about environmental justice have taken place in multiple contexts, and in many ways serve to emphasize the multiple facets of racial disparity in the U.S., including police violence, access to health care, access to education, and other issues which are all influenced by the accessibility and the dangers of our built environment.

Such systemic inequalities can include access to public transportation and competitive employment, but they can also be problems of proximity to coal plants or petroleum refineries or even a lack of proximity to public natural spaces for healthy recreation. Lack of access to safe, clean, and enjoyable public parks, for instance, can serve to exacerbate the prevalence of diabetes and obesity, and even take a toll on the mental health of residents trapped in concrete jungles (which the article refers to as “social determinants” of poor health). Though there is some indication that environmental factors can harm neighborhoods regardless of income, industrial zones and polluted environments tend to lie just around the corner from low-income neighborhoods and disproportionately affect those who live there, primarily communities of color.

Often the result of urban development plans, housing prices, and even exclusionary zoning, issues of environmental justice are an insidious form of inequality that are often on the periphery of our national political conversations, if addressed at all. Indeed, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Civil rights (established in 1993) has not once made a formal finding of discrimination, despite President Bill Clinton’s executive order which made it the duty of federal agencies to consider environmental justice in their actions. When the primary federal agency tasked with ensuring access to environmental justice appears to be asleep at the wheel, what recourse do communities have? The answer, it seems, is depressingly little.

A high profile example in our current discourse, environmental justice appears to have failed Flint, Michigan, and it seems likely that the issue won’t be resolved any time soon. Other examples like Columbus, Mississippi and Anniston, Alabama, are becoming more and more prevalent at a disturbingly high rate. Impoverished people with little political or legal recourse struggle against the might of the booming natural gas industry and new advances in hydraulic fracturing, and as water runs out these communities will be the first to feel the squeeze of rising food prices and access to the most essential resource on the planet.

At risk of sounding apocalyptic, there is some hope. National groups like the NRDC or the ACLU have long litigated these issues with success, and more local or regional groups like the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy or the Southern Environmental Law Center have made enormous impacts for communities of color and the public at large. But as Sidney Watson states at the end of her article: “[w]e need to talk about race, health, and health care. We need to take action to reduce and eliminate racial inequities in health care.” These same sentiments apply to our built environment and the communities that we have pushed to the periphery to take the brunt of the harmful effects of our dirty technologies and waste. Few people would choose to live near a coal plant; those who are forced to do so are often trapped in an endless cycle of illness, poverty, and segregation.


Extending the Earth’s Life to Make It Off-World: Will Intellectual Property Law Allow Climate Change to Go Unchecked?

Daniel Green, MJLST Staffer

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently discovered seven Earth-like planets. Three of these planets are even located the specific distance from the star, Trappist-1, in order to be considered in the proposed “Goldilocks zone” necessary to sustain life, thereby bringing about the conversation of whether a great migration for humanity is in order such as seen in movies of the last ten years such as Passengers, The Martian, Interstellar, even Wall-E. Even Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking have made statements that the human race needs to leave earth before the next extinction level event occurs. The possibility that these planets may be inhabitable presents some hope for a future to inhabit other planets.

Sadly, these planets are forty light years away (or 235 trillion miles). Although relatively near to Earth in astronomical terms, this fact means that there exists no possibility of reaching such a planet in a reasonable time with present technology despite the fact that NASA is increasing funding and creating institutes for such off worldly possibilities. As such, humankind needs to look inward to extend the life of our own planet in order to survive long enough to even consider such an exodus.

Admittedly, humanity faces many obstacles in its quest to survive long enough to reach other planets. One of the largest and direst is that of climate change. Specifically, the rise in the temperature of the Earth needs to be kept in check to keep it within bounds of the two-degree Celsius goal before 2100 C.E. Fortunately, technologies are well on the way of development to combat this threat. One of the most promising of these new technologies is that of solar climate engineering.

Solar climate engineering, also known as solar radiation management, is, essentially, a way to make the planet more reflective in order to block sunlight and thereby deter the increase in temperature caused by greenhouse gases. Though promising, Reynolds, Contreras, & Sarnoff predict that this new technology may be greatly hindered by intellectual property law in Solar Climate Engineering and Intellectual Property: Toward a Research Commons.

Since solar climate engineering is a relatively new scientific advancement, it can be greatly improved by the sharing of ideas. However, the intellectual property laws run directly contrary to this, begging the question as to why would anyone want to hinder technology so vital to the Earth’s survival. Well the answer lies in numerous reasons including the following three:

  • Patent “thickets” and the development of an “anti-commons”: This problem occurs when too many items in the same technological field are patented. This makes patents and innovations extremely difficult to patent around. As such, it causes scientific advancement to halt since patented technologies cannot be built upon or improved.
  • Relationship to trade secrets: Private entities that have financial interests in funding research may refuse to share advancements in order to protect the edge it gives them in the market.
  • Technological lock in: Broad patents at the beginning of research may force others to rely on technologies within the scope of the patent when working on future research and development. Such actions may ingrain a certain technology into society even though a better alternative may be available but not adopted.

There is no need to despair yet though since several steps can be taken to combat barriers to the advancement of solar climate engineering and promote communal technological advancement such as:

  • State interventions: Government can step in so as to ensure that intellectual property law does not hinder needed advancements for the good of humanity. They can do this in numerous action such as legislative and administrative actions, march-in rights, compulsory licensing, and asserting a control over funding.
  • Patent pools and pledges: Patent pools allow others to use one’s patents in development with the creation of an agreement to split the proceeds. Similarly, patent pledges, similarly, limit the enforcement of a patent holder by a promise in the form of a legally binding commitment. Though patent pools have more limitations legally, both of these incentivize the concept of sharing technology and furthering advancement.
  • Data commons: Government procurement and research funding can promote systematic data sharing in order to develop a broadly accessibly repository as a commons. Such methods ideally promote rapid scientific advancement by broadening the use and accessibility of each advancement through the discouragement of patents.

Providing that intellectual property laws do not stand in the way, humanity may very well have taken its first steps in extending its time to develop further technologies to, someday, live under the alien rays of Trappist-1.


Farm Drainage Revisited: Will Tile-Drain Effluent Be Considered a Point Source and Fall Under Clean Water Act Regulation?

Theodore Harrington, MJLST Managing Editor

For years, nutrients from farming operations have been leaking into the Raccoon and Des Moines Rivers, and ultimately arriving at the mouth of the Mighty Mississippi. These nutrients, most notably nitrate and phosphorus, are the result of both fertilizers and natural crop growth and have deleterious effects on humans and the environment. As these nutrients mix with groundwater just below the surface, a polluted effluent is created. This effluent is then drained through a grid of plastic piping a few feet below the soil.

Nearly two years ago, Des Moines Water Works (DMWW), a public water utility, sued the Drainage Districts in Sac, Buena Vista, and Calhoun Counties to recover monies spent treating the polluted effluent to make it safe for public consumption. Defendants contend that the polluted effluent does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act, and therefore DMWW is the appropriate entity to bear these costs, which approach $7,000 per day!

Where it stands: Summary Judgment briefs were traded in May and June of last year. Since then, oral arguments have been heard by the Iowa Supreme Court since September 14, 2016. (Click HERE to see John Lande arguing for the Board of Water Works and Michael Reck arguing for the counties.) A federal trial in front of Judge Leonard Strand is set for this coming June in the Northern District of Iowa. The trial will come two and a half years after the original filing, and lengthy appeals, possibly to the Supreme Court, are likely to follow. Though it will be years before we have an answer to the question titling this post, the judgment’s consequences will reach beyond individual farms to the heart of the industry.


Drinking the Kool-Aid? Why We Might Want to Talk About Our Road Salt

Nick Redmond, MJLST Staffer

Winter is coming. Or—at least according to the 2017 Farmer’s Almanac“winter is back” after an exceptionally mild 2015–2016 season, and with it comes all of the shoveling, the snow-blowing, and the white walkers de-icing of slippery roads that we missed last year. So what does the most overused Game of Thrones quote and everyone’s least favorite season have to do with Kool-Aid (actually, Flavor-Aid)? Just like the origins of the phrase “drinking the Kool-Aid,” this post has to do with cyanide. More specifically, the ferrocyanide compounds that we use to coat our road salt and that are potentially contaminating our groundwater.

De-icing chemicals are commonly regarded as the most efficient and effective means of keeping our roads safe and free from ice in the winter. De-icing compounds come in many forms, from solids to slurries to sticky beet juice- or cheese brine-based liquids. The most common de-icing chemical is salt, with cities like Minneapolis spending millions of dollars to purchase upwards of 15,000 tons of treated and untreated salt to spray on their roads. In order to keep the solid salt from clumping or “caking” and becoming unusable as it sits around it’s usually treated with chemicals to ensure that it can be spread evenly on roads. Ferrocyanide (a/k/a hexacyanoferrate(II)) and the compounds sodium ferrocyanide and potassium ferrocyanide are yellow chemicals commonly used as anti-caking additives for road salt in Minnesota and other parts of the country, and they can be found in varying concentrations depending on the product, from 0.0003 ppm to 0.33 ppm. To put those numbers in perspective, the CDC warns that cyanide starts to produce harmful effects on humans at 0.05 mg/dL, or 0.5 ppm.

But why are chemicals on our road salt troubling? Road salt keeps ice from forming a bond with the pavement by lowering the freezing point of snow as it falls on the ground. As the salt gets wet it dissolves; it and the chemicals that may be attached to it have to go somewhere, which may be our surface and ground waters or the air if the liquids evaporate. The introduction of these chemicals into groundwater is of particular concern for the 75% of Minnesotans and people like them who rely on groundwater sources for drinking water. The potential for harm arises when ferrocyanide compounds are exposed to light and rapidly decompose, yielding free cyanide (CN and HCN). Further, as waters contaminated with cyanide are chlorinated and introduced to acids they may produce the harmful compound cyanogen chloride, a highly toxic gas that was once considered for use in chemical warfare. Taking into account the enormous amount of salt used and stored each year, even small concentrations may add up over time. And although the EPA has placed cyanide on the Clean Water Act’s list of toxic substances, the fact that road salt is a non-point source means that it’s entirely up to states and municipalities to decide how they want to regulate it.

The good news is that ferrocyanides are among the least toxic cyanide salts, and tend not to release toxic free cyanide. What’s more, the concentrations of ferrocyanide on road salt are generally quite low, are spread out over large areas, and are even further diluted by precipitation, evaporation, and existing ground and surface water. In order to really affect drinking water the ferrocyanide has to (1) not evaporate into the air, (2) make its way through soil and into aquifers, and (3) in large enough concentrations to actually harm humans, something that can be difficult for a large molecule. Despite all of this, however, the fact that Minneapolis alone is dumping more than 15,000 tons of road salt each year, some of it laced with ferrocyanide, should give us pause. That’s the same weight as 15,000 polar bears being released in the city streets every year! Most importantly, these compounds seep into our garden soil, stick to our car tires and our boots, and soak the fur of our pets and wild animals. While cyanide on road salt certainly isn’t a significant public health risk right now, being a part of local conversations to explore and encourage alternatives (and there are a number of alternatives) to prevent future harm might be something to consider.

At the very least think twice about eating snow off the ground (if you weren’t already). Especially the yellow stuff.


Haiti, Hurricanes and Holes in Disaster Law

Amy Johns, MJLST Staffer

The state of national disaster relief is one that depends greatly on the country and that country’s funds. Ryan S. Keller’s article, “Keeping Disaster Human: Empathy, Systematization, and the Law,” argues that proposed legal changes to the natural disaster laws (both national and international) could have negative consequences for the donative funding of disaster relief. In essence, he describes a potential trade–off: do we want to risk losing the money that makes disaster relief possible, for the sake of more effectively designating and defining disasters? These calculations are particularly critical for countries that rely heavily on foreign aid to recover after national disasters.

In light of recent tragedies, I would point to a related difficulty: what happens when the money is provided, but because of a lack of accountability or governing laws, the funds never actually make it to their intended purposes? Drumming up financial support is all well and good, but what if the impact is never made because there are no legal and institutional supports in place?

Keller brings up a common reason to improve disaster relief law: “efforts to better systematize disaster may also better coordinate communication procedures and guidelines.” There is a fundamental difficulty in disaster work when organizations don’t know exactly what they are supposed to be doing. A prime example of the lack of communication and guidelines has been seen in Haiti, in which disaster relief efforts are largely dependent on foreign aid. The fallout from Hurricane Matthew has resurrected critiques of the 2010 earthquake response—most prominent was the claim of the Red Cross to build 130,000 homes, when in fact it only built six. Though the Red Cross has since disputed these claims, this fiasco pointed to an extreme example of NGOs’ lack of accountability to donors. Even when such efforts go as planned and are successful, the concern among many is that such efforts build short—term solutions without helping to restructure institutions that will last beyond the presence of these organizations.

Could legal regulations fix problems of accountability in disaster relief? If so, the need for those considerations is imminent: climate change means that similar disasters are likely to occur with greater frequency, so the need for effective long-term solutions will only become more pressing.


Solar Climate Engineering and Intellectual Property

Jesse L. Reynolds 

Postdoctoral researcher, and Research funding coordinator, sustainability and climate
Department of European and International Public Law, Tilburg Law School

Climate change has been the focus of much legal and policy activity in the last year: the Paris Agreement, the Urgenda ruling in the Netherlands, aggressive climate targets in China’s latest five year plan, the release of the final US Clean Power Plan, and the legal challenge to it. Not surprisingly, these each concern controlling greenhouse gas emissions, the approach that has long dominated efforts to reduce climate change risks.

Yet last week, an alternative approach received a major—but little noticed—boost. For the first time, a federal budget bill included an allocation specifically for so-called “solar climate engineering.” This set of radical proposed technologies would address climate change by reducing the amount of incoming solar radiation. These would globally cool the planet, counteracting global warming. For example, humans might be able to mimic the well-known cooling caused by large volcanos via injecting a reflective aerosol into the upper atmosphere. Research thus far – which has been limited to modeling – indicates that solar climate engineering (SCE) would be effective at reducing climate change, rapidly felt, reversible in its direct climatic effects, and remarkably inexpensive. It would also pose risks that are both environmental – such as difficult-to-predict changes to rainfall patterns – and social – such as the potential for international disagreement regarding its implementation.

The potential role of private actors in SCE is unclear. On the one hand, decisions regarding whether and how to intentionally alter the planet’s climate should be made through legitimate state-based processes. On the other hand, the private sector has long been the site of great innovation, which SCE technology development requires. Such private innovation is both stimulated and governed through governmental intellectual property (IP) policies. Notably, SCE is not a typical emerging technology and might warrant novel IP policies. For example, some observers have argued that SCE should be a patent-free endeavor.

In order to clarify the potential role of IP in SCE (focusing on patents, trade secrets, and research data), Jorge Contreras of the University of Utah, Joshua Sarnoff of DePaul University, and I wrote an article that was recently accepted and scheduled for publication by the Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology. The article explains the need for coordinated and open licensing and data sharing policies in the SCE technology space.

SCE research today is occurring primarily at universities and other traditional research institutions, largely through public funding. However, we predict that private actors are likely to play a growing role in developing products and services to serve large scale SCE research and implementation, most likely through public procurement arrangements. The prospect of such future innovation should be not stifled through restrictive IP policies. At the same time, we identify several potential challenges for SCE technology research, development, and deployment that are related to rights in IP and data for such technologies. Some of these challenges have been seen in regard to other emerging technologies, such as the risk that excessive early patenting would lead to a patent thicket with attendant anti-commons effects. Others are more particular to SCE, such as oft-expressed concerns that holders of valuable patents might unduly attempt to influence public policy regarding SCE implementation. Fortunately, a review of existing patents, policies, and practices reveals a current opportunity that may soon be lost. There are presently only a handful of SCE-specific patents; research is being undertaken transparently and at traditional institutions; and SCE researchers are generally sharing their data.

After reviewing various options and proposals, we make tentative suggestions to manage SCE IP and data. First, an open technical framework for SCE data sharing should be established. Second, SCE researchers and their institutions should develop and join an IP pledge community. They would pledge, among other things, to not assert SCE patents to block legitimate SCE research and development activities, to share their data, to publish in peer reviewed scientific journals, and to not retain valuable technical information as trade secrets. Third, an international panel—ideally with representatives from relevant national and regional patent offices—should monitor and assess SCE patenting activity and make policy recommendations. We believe that such policies could head off potential problems regarding SCE IP rights and data sharing, yet could feasibly be implemented within a relatively short time span.

Our article, “Solar Climate Engineering and Intellectual Property: Toward a Research Commons,” is available online as a preliminary version. We welcome comments, especially in the next couple months as we revise it for publication later this year.


Bottom-Up Approach to Climate Change

Allison Kvien, MJLST Managing Editor

Most often, climate change is discussed on the global, top-down level: what changes may happen all around the world as a result of increasing global temperatures and greater fluctuations in weather events. There are very interesting maps that can show you just how much coastline will be underwater depending on different levels of sea level rise. To see just how much sea level rise it would take to put any city in the world underwater, you can use this mapping tool. There are also plenty of articles discussing hundreds of other effects of global climate change, such as food production, human health, endangered species, and the global economy.

We talk about climate change from a bottom-up perspective far less often, but it is a perspective that really does deserve our attention. Myanna Dellinger, in a recent article published in 2013 by the Minnesota Journal of Law, Science, and Technology, discusses and analyzes “bottom-up, polycentric developments within national and international environmental and human rights law in general.” This approach to viewing the large issue of climate change could be very beneficial because, as Dellinger points out, “waiting for national- and supranational-level actors to reach a broadly based and substantively effective agreement on climate change mitigation is like waiting for Godot—unlikely to happen, at least at a substantively early enough point in time.” Dellinger’s article argues that bottom-up approaches could be very viable alternatives to waiting for the unlikely global, top-down action to occur. Read her interesting and novel article here.


Renewable Energy Accounts for Majority of New Energy Technology Installed in 2015 but Remains a Minority Producer Overall

John Biglow, MJLST Staffer

According to a United Nations Environment Programme report titled “Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2016,” 2015 was a record setting year for global investment in renewable energy. A record $286 Billion dollars was invested in renewable energy technology in 2015. Furthermore, for the first time in history, renewable energy technologies made up more than half of the total gigawatt capacity of all newly installed energy technologies. Significantly, it was developing countries that led the way, with China, South Africa, Mexico, India, and Chile all showing an increase in investment. China itself accounted for over 1/3 of the total global investment with $102.9 billion invested.

According to a UNEP publication concerning this report, these developments are indicative of a structural change happening in the global energy system in the article Complexity in Global Energy-Environment Governance, Andrew Long discusses and describes the global energy system and the ways it reacts to change. Long argues that viewing the global energy system in the same manner that we study other complex systems will allow for a better understanding of how the system works and how it could be changed.

In his article, Long argues that the current global energy system shows both resilience and adaptation. By adaptation, he is referring to the system’s ability to incorporate new aspects into itself without experiencing an entire overhaul and shift in trajectory. The UNEP’s report which indicates the increasing role of renewable energy in the global energy system is demonstrative of this adaptation. By resilience, Long is referring to the entrenched nature and dominance of fossil fuels in the global energy system. Despite the major, and indeed record setting, strides made in 2015 in regards to renewable energy investment, it still only accounts for around 10% of total global energy production, as stated in UNEP’s recent report.

It is unclear what to make of the UNEP report at this juncture; on the one hand, if our goal is to increase the use of environmentally friendly energy sources, as it undoubtedly should be, then it appears we are on track. However, questions remain as to whether we are moving fast enough down that track. In his article, Long stated that in complex systems, occasionally small scale changes to the system can cause a system-wide shift and alteration, though he stressed that the occurrence of this is rare. Whether or not the increase of renewable energy use is indicative of a trend which will eventually de-trench the entrenched fossil fuel energy production is unclear at this point. Overall, the UNEP report seems to indicate a promising trend towards increased renewable energy usage, but if the global energy system is to undergo any drastic shifts, it seems that more countries will have to follow China’s example and invest heavily in new eco-friendly energy technologies.


Five-Year Extension May “Put the Falls Back in River Falls”

Katie Cumming, MJLST Lead Note & Comment Editor

A March 17, 2016 decision by the Federal Energy Reserve Commission (FERC) may “put the falls back in River Falls.” This is good news for community groups and environmental stewards, as this decision overturns FERC’s December 9, 2015 decision originally denying a five-year extension for the continued operation of the River Falls two hydroelectric dams (the River Falls Project). After the initial denial, the City released a letter stating that it would “pursue the extension through whatever means” available. FERC heard and ultimately granted the City’s extension because it “found that the unique circumstances in this case, such as the unanimous stakeholder support for the extension, the river corridor plan, and the size of the project, all demonstrate that a five-year extension of the license is in the public interest.” As a result of the recent decision the City effectively ended its relicensing efforts and is refocusing its resources on planning for the Kinnickinnic River Corridor. The five-year extension gives the City and stakeholders “breathing room to decide about the fate of the two dams.” City Management Analyst, Ray French, said “The benefit is that the five-year (license) extension pushes back the regulatory filing and process deadline in order to give the community time to engage in a river corridor planning process that will provide a vision for this central area and beyond. . . .” Re-evaluating the use of rivers as a resource is not unique to the Kinnickinnic River. As many dams age and become obsolete, communities are re-evaluating the economic and environmental costs of these dams. Kinnickinnic stakeholders have created a movement to “put the falls back in River Falls.” On April 5, 2016, River Falls will hold an election for City Council and Mayor. With the river’s fate to be determined, the result of this election will undoubtedly have an effect on whether the falls are put back in River Falls.


The Path of Pollutants Under the Clean Water Act

Ted Harrington, MJLST Staffer

In 1972, the Clean Water Act set forth a lofty goal—to “[r]estore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s waters.” (33 U.S.C. §1251(a)). Yet, the Clean Water Act only regulates point sources that discharge pollutants into navigable waters (33 U.S.C. §1251(a)(1)). As a result, many forms of water pollution escape federal jurisdiction, most notably, groundwater. This is because CWA regulation depends on how a pollutant reaches navigable water, instead of focusing on the end result. This added constraint is hardly logical when juxtaposed against the stated goal.

For example, if a pollutant is discharged into groundwater, and eventually reaches navigable Water Body B, the CWA does not have the ability to regulate the groundwater. In other terms, if the polluted effluent passes through groundwater, considered a “nonpoint source,” before it reaches Water Body B, no CWA regulation occurs.

To combat this issue, Federal District Courts in Hawai’i, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania have begun adopting the “Conduit Theory” (See Allison Kvien note Volume 16). The conduit theory states that if a body of water (groundwater) simply acts as a conduit, it should be viewed as an extension of the point source from which it is receiving the pollutant. This theory directs its attention to the ultimate result—the pollution of Water Body B. It is only logical that if Water Body B is being polluted, the source should fall under CWA jurisdiction. Why should we leave a source of pollution unregulated simply because the effluent isn’t being directly discharged into a navigable water? As the Court in Rapanos v. United States noted, “The [Clean Water] Act does not forbid the ‘addition of any pollutant directly to navigable waters from any point source,’ but rather the ‘addition of any pollutant to navigable waters.’”

The issue of groundwater as a pollutant is receiving increasing attention in the courts. In the Northern District of Iowa, a case concerning the discharge of groundwater through tile drains is currently in litigation‑ Board of Water Works v. Sac County Board of Supervisors. This could be an opportunity for Iowa to take one of the first stances on the conduit theory in the 8th Circuit. Stay tuned!