EELP Senior Staff Attorney Hannah Perls speaks with Olatunde Johnson, the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. Professor Johnson and Hannah discuss the history and evolution of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, a crucial legal tool for the environmental justice movement. Earlier this year, a federal judge blocked EPA and the…

EELP senior staff attorney Sara Dewey speaks with Andy Mergen, Faculty Director of the Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School and former chief of the Appellate Section of the Environment & Natural Resources Division at the Department of Justice. Andy and Sara discuss the origin and evolution of presidential authority to de…

In this episode, EELP Founding Director and Harvard Law Professor Jody Freeman speaks with Andy Mergen, faculty director of the Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School and former chief of the Appellate Section of the Environment & Natural Resources Division at the Department of Justice. Jody and Andy break down what they ca…

California has had a pivotal role in creating US clean car and clean air regulations under multiple administrations. In this episode, EELP Founding Director and Harvard Law Professor, Jody Freeman, speaks with Mary Nichols, former Chair of the California Air Resources Board and California's Secretary for Natural Resources, as well as former Assista…

Ari Peskoe, director of our Electricity Law Initiative, speaks with Claire Wayner, senior associate at RMI's Carbon-Free Electricity program, and Casey Baker senior program manager at GridLab. They discuss how the utility industry thinks about building new high-voltage transmission lines and how FERC Order No. 1920 attempts to push the industry to …

Hannah Perls, EELP Senior Staff Attorney, and Deanna Moran, vice president of healthy and resilient communities at the Conservation Law Foundation in Boston, walk through some of the surprising ways that law and policy drive adaptation decisions in Massachusetts and beyond, including state and local building codes, design standards and risk disclos…

The Endangered Species Act, which turned 50 years old on December 28, 2023, has been described as one of the most potent environmental law statutes ever enacted. Harvard Law Professor Richard Lazarus and Andy Mergen, director of the Harvard Law Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, discuss the initial bipartisan support for the act, the Supre…

In this episode Harvard Law professor and EELP’s Founding Director Jody Freeman, speaks with Bjorn Otto Sverdrup, Chair of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative’s Oil and Gas Executive Committee, Riley Duren, CEO and Founder of Carbon Mapper, Peter Zalzal Distinguished Counsel and Associate Vice President of Clean Air Strategies at Environmental Defen…

Ari Peskoe, director of our Electricity Law Initiative, speaks with Staff Attorney Hannah Dobie about Ari’s new article about power sector governance, Replacing the Utility Transmission Syndicate’s Control. They discuss how FERC’s legal authority shapes regional governance, how independent decisionmaking by Regional Transmission Organizations is co…

Harvard Law Professor and EELP’s Founding Director Jody Freeman, speaks with Kevin Poloncarz, a partner at the law firm Covington & Burling and Jack Ewing, a New York Times business reporter who writes about the auto industry and electric vehicles. Jody, Kevin, and Jack discuss the three cases currently before the D.C. Circuit about how agencies se…

Harvard Law Professor and EELP’s founding director Jody Freeman, speaks with Andy Mergen, director of Harvard Law’s Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, about a case the US Supreme Court will hear this fall, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, in which petitioners have asked the Court to overrule the Chevron doctrine — a legal doctrine tha…

EELP Senior Staff Attorney Hannah Perls talks with Susan Crawford, the John A. Riley clinical professor at Harvard Law School, and Michelle Mapp, an Equal Justice Works law fellow at the ACLU of South Carolina and former CEO of the South Carolina Community Loan Fund, about Susan's most recent book, Charleston: Race, Water, and the Coming Storm.Quot…

Harvard Law School Professor and EELP's Founding Director Jody Freeman, who is also an independent director of ConocoPhillips, speaks with Harvard Law School Professor Richard Lazarus and University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor of Law Steph Tai about the US Supreme Court’s recent decision in Sackett v. EPA.They discuss how the Court’s reliance on…

EELP Senior Staff Attorney Hanna Perls, Executive Director Carrie Jenks, and Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe break down recent changes to federal permitting passed as part of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, aka the debt ceiling bill, which President Biden signed on June 3rd.Mentioned link: https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2…

Executive Director Carrie Jenks and EELP’s Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe discuss the Supreme Court’s recent National Pork Producers Council v. Ross decision. Ari explains how this case about a California law regulating sales of pork products will help insulate state clean energy laws from certain types of legal challenges.Mentioned…

EELP’s Founding Director Jody Freeman, who is also an independent director of ConocoPhillips, and EELP's executive director, Carrie Jenks speak again with Jay Duffy, litigation director at Clean Air Task Force, and Kevin Poloncarz, a partner at the law firm Covington and Burling. Jody, Jay, and Kevin recently joined CleanLaw to discuss the Supreme …

EELP senior staff attorney Hannah Perls speaks with Dr. Carolyn Kousky, associate vice president for economics and policy at the Environmental Defense Fund, and Sean Hecht, who is the managing attorney of Earth Justice's California Regional Office. They discuss the past, present, and future of disaster insurance, including the role that governments…

Harvard Law Professor and EELP's Founding Director Jody Freeman, who is also an independent director of ConocoPhillips, speaks with Chet France, a former senior executive at EPA who oversaw the first national greenhouse gas standards for cars and trucks in US history. Jody and Chet analyze EPA's most recent proposal to update greenhouse gas emissio…

Executive Director Carrie Jenks speaks with Harvard Law School Professor Richard Lazarus about his recently released book, The Making of Environmental Law, Second Edition. In this long-awaited update, Professor Lazarus describes how environmental law has developed over the last two decades and explores new challenges for the field, including the sh…

Carrie Jenks and Hannah Oakes Dobie talk about EPA’s latest regulation to address interstate ozone pollution, the “Good Neighbor Plan.” They discuss how the rule’s new design features will refine EPA’s longstanding air transport program to require power plants to reduce smog-forming pollutants. You can read more about the 2023 “good neighbor plan” …

Senior Staff Attorney Sara Dewey speaks with Hannah Perls talk about the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. They discuss the regulatory and legal implications of the derailment, including who is in charge of the response and the different roles that federal agencies play. They also discuss the cleanup order issued by EPA and possible federal…

In our first CleanLaw Quick Take*, our Executive Director Carrie Jenks and Staff Attorney Hannah Perls walk through the latest updates on the Dakota Access Pipeline. Hannah explains how the US Army Corps of Engineers' announcement about its upcoming draft environmental impact statement might affect the future of the pipeline, and how litigation bet…

Recent HLS graduate Lowry Yankwich speaks with Earthjustice attorney Chris Eaton about the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement's proposed Blowout Preventer Systems and Well Control Revisions rule for oil and gas operations in the Outer Continental Shelf. This rule is intended to protect workers and prevent oil spills, and is part of the …

Carrie Jenks, our executive director, speaks with Kyle Danish, a partner at Van Ness Feldman, and Dan Zimmerle, the director of the Methane Emissions Program at Colorado State University. They discuss EPA's recently released supplemental proposal to reduce methane emissions from the oil and natural gas sector, and how the regulatory framework EPA h…

EELP Legal Fellow Abby Husselbee speaks with Cory-Ann Wind, the Program Manager of Oregon’s Clean Fuels Program in the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Cory has worked for ODEQ for over 29 years, the last 12 in fuels, transportation, and climate policy. Abby and Cory discuss clean fuel standards and their benefits, Oregon’s program and h…

Director of our Electricity Law Initiative Ari Peskoe spoke with Staff Attorney Hannah Oakes about electric transmission regulation and how it has disincentivized regional transmission build out. They discuss Ari’s work in recent FERC transmission proceedings, and how Congress, states, and utilities can help catalyze transmission development to ena…

Hannah Perls speaks with Professor Rebecca Bratspies at the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law and founding Director of the Center for Urban Environmental Reform, which works with community groups seeking to obtain full and meaningful participation in environmental decision-making. They discuss recent environmental justice legislation…

Lowry Yankwich, a recent graduate of HLS, speaks with Roger Martella, GE's Chief Sustainability Officer. They discuss GE’s recent sustainability commitments and how the company is tackling its operational and downstream emissions across the aviation, public health, and power sectors.A note for our listeners – this episode was recorded before Congre…

Harvard Law Professor and EELP’s Founding Director Jody Freeman, who is also an independent director of ConocoPhillips, speaks with Greg Dotson, an associate professor at the University of Oregon School of Law and recent Democratic chief counsel to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Jody and Greg discuss the climate and clean ene…

EELP’s Founding Director Jody Freeman, who is also an independent director of ConocoPhillips, speaks with Jay Duffy, an attorney at Clean Air Task Force, and Kevin Poloncarz, a partner at the law firm Covington and Burling, about what the Supreme Court’s decision in West Virginia v. EPA means for their clients and the potential implications for red…

Professor Jody Freeman, who is also an independent director of ConocoPhillips, Professor Richard Lazarus, and EELP Executive Director Carrie Jenks discuss the Supreme Court’s decision in West Virginia v. EPA. They break down the majority decision, concurrence, and dissent, and discuss how the major questions doctrine could affect EPA regulations ad…

Professors Jody Freeman, who is also an independent director of ConocoPhillips, and Professor Richard Lazarus discuss the Supreme Court case West Virginia v. EPA. The Court's decision in this case will address the scope of EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector, potentially impacting future EPA rules.Transctipt: …

EELP Legal Fellow Hannah Perls speaks with Joel Scata, a Water and Climate Attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, where he works on clean water and climate change adaptation policy solutions. They discuss the ins and outs of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which, for the past fifty years, has helped define floodplain develo…

Our founding director Jody Freeman, who is also an independent director of ConocoPhillips, speaks with Chet France, who served as a senior executive at EPA and led the development of vehicle pollution standards at the agency, including overseeing, during the Obama administration, the first national greenhouse gas standards for cars and trucks. They…

Lowry Yankwich, a recent graduate of Harvard Law, speaks with Doug Christel, policy analyst for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office. They discuss the approval of the South Fork Wind Project, which is only the second commercial-scale offshore wind project to be approved in federal waters. …

Our executive director Carrie Jenks speaks with Kate Konschnik of Duke University about EPA’s recently proposed methane rules for new and existing oil and natural gas sources. They discuss some of the input EPA is seeking from stakeholders related to advanced technologies and how regulations could enable their deployment to achieve emission reducti…

Our staff attorney Hana Vizcarra speaks with Madison Condon, associate professor of law at Boston University who studies how climate change relates to corporate governance, market risk, and regulation. They discuss her research on how the market has failed to properly price climate risk and how the Securities and Exchange Commission might address t…

Our executive director Carrie Jenks speaks with Kevin Poloncarz, a partner at the law firm Covington and Burling. Kevin co-chairs the firm’s Environmental and Energy Practice Group, Energy Industry Group, and ESG Practice. Kevin and Carrie discuss what is at stake with the appeals to the Supreme Court of the D.C. Circuit decision to vacate the Trum…

Legal Fellow Hannah Perls speaks with Aminta Ossom, a Clinical Instructor at Harvard Law’s International Human Rights Clinic, where she focuses on equality, inclusion, and economic and social rights. They discuss how looking at environmental problems through a human rights lens can provide new insights and legal strategies for addressing environmen…

Our Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe speaks with Brandon Smithwood, Senior Director of Policy at Dimension Renewable Energy. They talk about business models for development of small-scale renewable energy and storage systems. Please see here for a transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-59-Ar…

EELP Staff Attorney Hana Vizcarra and Fellow Hannah Perls talk about the progress of the Biden administration on climate and environmental priorities now that the first hundred days have passed. We originally posted this as a video, which you can view at the link below. See here for a full transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-c…

EELP Fellow Hannah Perls speaks with Naeema Muhammad and Elizabeth Haddix. Naeema is a life-long activist and the Organizing Co-Director of the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, where she has worked for the past two decades leading state-wide campaigns and supporting grassroots efforts for environmental and social justice.Elizabeth is a…

In this episode EELP Fellow Hannah Perls spoke with Naeema Muhammad and Alexis Andiman. Naeema is a life-long activist and the Organizing Co-Director of the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, where she has worked for the past two decades leading state-wide campaigns and supporting grassroots efforts for environmental and social justice. …

Note: this episode was recorded in January, 2021.In this episode our staff attorney Caitlin McCoy was joined by Justin Gundlach and Elizabeth Stein to discuss their recent article "Harmonizing States' Energy Utility Regulation Frameworks and Climate Laws. A Case Study of New York." Justin is a senior attorney at the Institute for Policy Integrity a…

Ari Peskoe, speaks with Scott Hempling, adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center about Scott’s new book, Regulating Mergers and Acquisitions of the U.S. Electric Utilities: Industry Concentration and Corporate Complication. Scott has also written about FERC’s review of utility merger applications in a 2018 Energy Law Journal Articl…

In this episode our executive director Joe Goffman interviews climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, director of the Texas Tech Climate Center and Professor in Public Policy and Public Law in the Department of Political Science. Professor Hayhoe talks about the cutting edge science of climate change attribution, how she tries to help the public unders…

In this episode, our Electricity Law Initiative director Ari Peskoe speaks with Matto Mildenberger, assistant professor of political science at the UC Santa Barbara, about the politics of carbon pricing. Note - we recorded this episode in late October, prior to the presidential election. This is a link to the article they discuss http://bostonrevie…

In this episode, our executive director Joe Goffman speaks again with Cynthia Giles, our guest fellow and former Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. They discuss her ongoing work examining how well environmental rules do in ensuring compliance with pollution and waste reduction requirements, where they …

In our 50th episode of CleanLaw, Erin Brockovich speaks with Caitlin McCoy about some of the major water issues in the U.S. today and what people can do to work toward better water quality in their communities and beyond. Their conversation covers community science, tips for effective advocacy, legacy water pollution issues, and the problems with c…

Robin Just interviews our former EELP Fellow Laura Bloomer about changes in the Department of the Interior under the Trump administration. Laura interviewed dozens of former DOI career staff, former political appointees, and natural resources and American Indian law experts and distills their insights in our newest white paper - link below. She bre…