Great Lakes Law

The Flint Water Crisis: Systemic Racism Through the Lens of Flint – Report of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission

The Michigan Civil Rights Commission has just released a major report, The Flint Water Crisis: Systemic Racism Through the Lens of Flint. Oday Salim, Senior Attorney at the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, testified before the Commission and authored the following guest post on the Commission’s report. The Flint Water Crisis: Systemic Racism Through the Lens of Flint is not just another recycled indictment of government officials with all the accompanying horrid details of the... Read more →

A Changing Environment in China: The Ripe Opportunity for Environmental Law Clinics to Increase Public Participation and to Shape Law and Policy

My colleague Nick Schroeck has just published an exciting article exploring new opportunities for environmental law clinics in China. Nick directs Wayne Law's Transnational Environmental Law Clinic and is Executive Director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center. In the fall of 2014, Nick traveled to Xi'an China where he taught international environmental law at the Northwest University of Politics & Law as part of a faculty exchange program. While Nick was teaching at NWUPL,... Read more →

Federal court orders the state to deliver bottled water and inform residents about lead contamination in Flint’s drinking water

“In modern society, when we turn on a faucet, we expect safe drinking water to flow out. As the evidence shows, that is no longer the case in Flint. The Flint water crisis has in effect turned back the clock to a time when people traveled to central water sources to fill their buckets and carry the water home.” – U.S. District Court Judge David M. Lawson, Opinion and Order Granting Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary... Read more →

Michigan court allows claims against the state for violating Constitutional rights to bodily injury from the Flint water crisis to go forward

In one of the first court decisions on the Flint water crisis, Mays v. Snyder, the Michigan Court of Claims has ruled that a major class action based on the state’s alleged violation of individual rights to bodily integrity under substantive due process can proceed. The court’s opinion begins with a detailed factual background based on allegations which would give rise to valid claims against the state for causing the Flint water crisis and state... Read more →

The Flint Water Crisis, KWA and Strategic-Structural Racism – Guest post by Professor Peter Hammer

The following guest post is by my colleague Professor Peter Hammer, Director of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights at Wayne Law. In his testimony before the Michigan Civil Rights Commission last week, Professor Hammer offers an explanation of the causes and methods behind the Flint water crisis that goes far deeper than the standard account. (The Flint Water Crisis, KWA and Strategic-Structural Racism is also available on SSRN.) He explains why and... Read more →

The Refined State: Tar Sands, Pet Coke, and the Front Lines of Great Lakes Oil Cities

The Freshwater Lab, a program of the Institute for the Humanities at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has hosted a year-long series exploring the oil-water mix in the Great Lakes. Next Tuesday, April 19, is the final event, titled The Refined State: Tar Sands, Pet Coke, and the Front Lines of Great Lakes Oil Cities. I’m very excited to be presenting (thanks Rachel Havrelock for organizing and inviting me) and will discuss our region’s... Read more →

Appointment as Special Assistant Attorney General for the Flint water investigation

I've been appointed Special Assistant Attorney General for Michigan, joining the Special Counsel team for the Flint water investigation. The team is led by Todd Flood, a tenacious and experienced former prosecutor with a superb record of jury trials. Andrew Arena, the former director of the Detroit FBI office, has also been appointed to the investigation team. The appointment of the Special Counsel team to investigate and potentially prosecute is necessary because the Michigan Attorney... Read more →

Litigating the Flint water crisis – an overview of the lawsuits and legal action

Lawsuits have started over the Flint water crisis, with several prominent public interest organizations and law firms filing complaints in federal and state courts. This post provides an overview of the lawsuits filed, and I expect to update it as more come in. As we’ve seen in other major environmental disasters, the legal action is coming from three directions, pretty much following the textbook, but with a few wrinkles: Class actions and torts, coupled with... Read more →

The Flint drinking water crisis - first thoughts and a legal overview

The Flint drinking water crisis is a nightmare for the families and children affected. As the father of school-aged children, my heart breaks for the parents that were betrayed by the system that was supposed to protect their kids but instead put them at unconscionable risk. Giving the kids a bath, pouring them a glass of water, and taking them to school are the daily activities a parent should take for granted as safe. But... Read more →

Petcoke on the Detroit River – a tar sands byproduct threatens local public health and Great Lakes water

In the early spring of 2012, a black pile three stories high and as large as many of the surrounding buildings appeared along the shores of the Detroit River. This pile was made up of petroleum coke, or “petcoke,” a byproduct created by the process of transforming heavy tar sands oil into useable fuel. While petcoke is not traditionally burned in the United States, competitive markets exist for petcoke in the developing world. This pile’s... Read more →