Great Lakes Law

Bottled water and wasted energy

Here’s another reason to pass on bottled water (besides wasting your money) – bottled water uses up to 2,000 times as much energy to produce and distribute as tap water. Water scientist extraordinaire Dr. Peter Gleick and Heather Cooley of the Pacific Institute have just released a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Research Letters detailing the energy footprint of bottled water. The study “Energy Implications of Bottled Water” concludes that the annual consumption... Read more →

One step forward, one step back for clean energy in Michigan

The legal stakes were raised last week in the ongoing effort to move from dirty coal to clean energy in Michigan. First, the U.S. EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board sided with the Sierra Club on several key issues in its challenge to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s air permit for Northern Michigan University’s proposed new coal-fired boiler. The EPA Environmental Appeals Board’s decision, PSD Appeal No. 08-02, ruled that the Michigan DEQ was required to... Read more →

The Great Lakes as “sentinels” of climate change

This week’s issue of Science has an interesting article by Craig E. Williamson, Jasmine E. Saros, and David W. Schindler titled “Sentinels of Change.” The authors suggest that freshwater lakes, notably the Great Lakes, are uniquely vulnerable to climate change and are useful indicators of the changes that are occurring: “Given the vast and complex landscape of Earth’s surface, where do we look for signals of how climate change influences ecosystems? Lakes and reservoirs are... Read more →

The Boundary Waters Treaty and United States–Canadian Transboundary Water Management

As an introduction to the special symposium issue of the Wayne Law Review commemorating the centennial of the Boundary Waters Treaty, I’ve written an article on the role of the treaty in United States–Canadian transboundary water management. A prepublication draft of “The Centennial of the Boundary Waters Treaty: A Century of United States–Canadian Transboundary Water Management” can be downloaded free here or on SSRN. Here’s the short summary: The Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 has... Read more →

ABA Annual Water Law Conference in San Diego next week

Next week (February 18-20) is the American Bar Association’s 27th Annual Water Law Conference in San Diego. The theme is “Change in the Midst of Constants: Adapting Water Law to Meet New Demands” and the agenda looks fantastic. Here’s the blurb: The 27th Annual Water Law Conference will focus on change and adaptation at a time when diverse demands on water resources are straining both the availability of this precious resource, and the ways in... Read more →

What is “sustainable” water management?

Before “green” became cool, “sustainable” was the guiding phrase for shaping environmental solutions with economic prosperity. Like most trends, the focus on sustainability brought valuable changes and discussions, but at some point the term became overused and lost its meaning. Terminology aside, the concept remains very useful and important, as illustrated by Tracy Mehan’s recent testimony on “Sustainable Wastewater Management” before the U.S. House of Representative’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Subcommittee on Water Resources and... Read more →

A touching, emotional reminder of the human aspect of pollution problems

I don’t usually get emotional about environmental issues. Instead, I try to focus on logic, facts, science, and the law. But this story “Questions outweigh clues to cancer cluster in Clyde” about 10-year-old Tanner Hisey, who just started a round of chemotherapy, breaks my heart. Tanner is from a town in Sandusky County, Ohio with frighteningly high cancer rates for children. His older sister also had leukemia, and Tanner’s 7-year-old sister “cries at night, wondering... Read more →

Michigan Governor puts the brakes on new coal plants

Michigan Governor Granholm this week issued an Executive Directive (No. 2009-2) that effectively prevents any new coal plants from being permitted or built until a comprehensive analysis of alternatives, including use of renewable energy and energy efficiency, is performed. This strong and decisive executive action is justified under federal and state environmental laws and could prevent decades of unnecessary coal plant pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Over the past few months, the Great Lakes Environmental... Read more →

The Obama administration and EPA get a strong advocate for regulating greenhouse gas pollution

It now appears official that Georgetown Law Professor Lisa Heinzerling will be joining the EPA as a special advisor to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson on climate change issues. I’ve known Lisa H. for several years (we are co-authoring the casebook Environmental Law and Policy: Nature, Law, and Society) and there is no better person for the job. Lisa is one of the most effective, intelligent, passionate, and knowledgeable environmental and regulatory law scholars in the... Read more →

Great Lakes Environmental Law Center gets a new home in TechTown

The Great Lakes Environmental Law Center has a new home in TechTown, the Wayne State University Research and Technology Park. TechTown is an exciting hub of social and business entrepreneurs in the historic New Amsterdam district of Detroit. TechTown was incorporated in 2000 and opened for business in 2004. The flagship TechOne building has a rich history. It was designed by renowned industrial architect Albert Kahn and features Kahn’s signature skylights – an innovation at... Read more →