Great Lakes Law

State of Wisconsin joins other states in Supreme Court fight asking for preliminary injunction to protect the Great Lakes from Asian carp

Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen and the Wisconsin Department of Justice have now joined the U.S. Supreme Court fight over the Chicago Canal and Asian carp, supporting Michigan’s request for a preliminary injunction. Wisconsin has filed a brief with the Supreme Court explicitly supporting Michigan’s call to close the key locks on the Chicago Canal and connecting channels, operate electric barriers in the canal at full strength, and monitor for Asian carp and eradicate... Read more →

State of Minnesota joins Michigan in asking Supreme Court for a preliminary injunction to protect the Great Lakes from Asian carp

Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson has filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the state of Minnesota supporting Michigan’s motion for a preliminary injunction to protect the Great Lakes from Asian carp pending a reopening of the Wisconsin v. Illinois original action. The Supreme Court may take up the motion at its January 8, 2010 conference. The state of Ohio has also filed a short memorandum with the Supreme Court supporting... Read more →

Michigan lawmakers to join legal fight over Asian carp in the Supreme Court

Two leading Michigan state lawmakers have announced that they intend to file a brief supporting Michigan’s lawsuit in the Supreme Court against Illinois over Asian carp. Senator Patty Birkholz (R-Saugatuck), chair of the Senate Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee, and Representative Rebekah Warren (D-Ann Arbor), chair of the House Great Lakes and Environment Committee, have joined together in a bipartisan effort to protect the Great Lakes from Asian carp. They made the announcement just... Read more →

Michigan files suit against Illinois in the Supreme Court over Asian carp

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox has filed suit in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the State of Michigan against the State of Illinois for allowing Asian carp to potentially invade the Great Lakes through the Chicago Canal and other managed waterways. Technically, this is not a new lawsuit, but a petition for a new Supreme Court decree (basically an order) under the old Chicago diversion case, Wisconsin v. Illinois. That case, which has... Read more →

Great Lakes on the Ground – new blog by Andy Buchsbaum of the National Wildlife Federation

Here’s a great new blog for you to bookmark or put on your RSS feed - Great Lakes on the Ground (www.greatlakesontheground.wordpress.com). It’s authored by Andy Buchsbaum, Regional Executive Director of the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes office. I’ve known Andy since I was in law school and had the pleasure of working with him for several years at NWF. Andy has been personally involved in every major Great Lakes issue this decade, most recently... Read more →

The Evolution of the Law and Politics of Water

Apologies for the shameless shilling of a product, but if you are looking for a last-minute holiday gift for the water wonk in your life, consider the new book, The Evolution of the Law and Politics of Water. (I contributed a chapter on the Great Lakes but don’t get any royalties, although I did get one free copy of the book to put on my shelf.) Here’s the description from the publisher (Springer): The Evolution... Read more →

Climate change torts - a perspective from an energy industry attorney

Tort law, which is traditionally used to protect property or collect monetary damages, is now being used with some initial success against electric utilities and coal, oil, and chemical companies for climate change harms from greenhouse gas emissions. Two recent federal appeals decisions have opened the door to climate change torts, and more litigation is on the horizon. The following guest post gives an inside perspective on climate change torts from an energy industry attorney... Read more →

US EPA issues finding that greenhouse gas emissions threaten public health and welfare, triggering new regulations under the Clean Air Act

As expected, the US EPA this week took two formal actions finding that: (1) greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare; and (2) greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles contribute to the greenhouse gas pollution which threatens public health and welfare. The details of the EPA’s “endangerment findings” are available on the EPA’s climate change regulatory initiatives webpage. These findings have been nearly inevitable ever since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Massachusetts v. EPA decision in... Read more →

Michigan’s Attorney General and environmental groups threaten legal action to stop carp invasion into Great Lakes

This week, Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox and numerous environmental groups have made public their respective intentions to pursue legal action to stop the imminent invasion of Asian carp into the Great Lakes via the Chicago Canal. As detailed in my previous post, the terribly invasive Asian carp have come up the Mississippi River and into the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal that provides an artificial link to Lake Michigan. DNA testing shows that invasive... Read more →