Can We Talk Climate? The SEC Disclosure Rule and Compelled Commercial Speech
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) Climate Disclosure Rule has provoked heated controversy on many fronts. Several commenters have argued that the First Amendment precludes the SEC from demanding climate-related disclosures. This Article grapples with the unsettled state of “compelled commercial speech” doctrine, arguing that the rule’s constitutionality should be scrutinized using the prevailing rational basis test, and that even under the intermediate scrutiny test, the rule should be upheld.
Climate Change Disinformation Liability Under the Federal Trade Commission Act
Oil companies and their agents have been actively involved in creating and propagating climate change disinformation for the past half-century. In response to this deception, more than two dozen American states and cities have sued these companies under traditional tort-based causes of action like public nuisance, fraud, negligence, and failure to warn, alleging that the companies fueled uncertainty about climate science and undercut public support for necessary climate action.
Fighting Methane Emissions With the False Claims Act
This Comment argues that the False Claims Act (FCA) can now be used to enforce the Inflation Reduction Act's waste emissions charge and its royalties on vented and flared gas. It first explains why, unlike with other environmental violations, dodging either of these fees can trigger FCA liability. It then examines how two possible groups of plaintiffs—industry employees and outside observers—might discover unreported methane emissions and use the FCA against companies that dodge each of the IRA’s methane fees.
Federal Leadership for Relocation of Coastal Communities
More severe storm surges and rising sea levels along the coast of the United States pose a threat to coastal communities, infrastructure, and ecosystems.
The Business of Sustainability
This Comment argues that what is needed to make sustainability work for business is a National Business Sustainability Council that would develop and promulgate sustainability criteria, be able to evaluate whether specific small businesses are meeting those criteria, and be able to “certify” that a small business is, in fact, meeting these criteria, and is therefore “sustainable.” It asserts the Council’s criteria and evaluation methodology should be both rigorous and transparent, such that when the Council awards a sustainability certification to a business, the federal and state governmen
The Environmental Justice Impacts of Plastic Pollution
Plastic pollution is a global environmental problem with a disproportionate impact on marginalized communities and other vulnerable groups. On June 27, 2023, the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), ELI’s Women in Environmental Law & Leadership initiative, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and WilmerHale co-hosted a panel of experts who explored the environmental justice implications of continued production and disposal of plastics, and addressed key domestic and international policy efforts.