How should Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency (‘EPA’) deal with the complex legal issue of how to allocate responsibility for pollutants produced in one state and carried elsewhere by the wind? The court dealt with this narrow and complex legal issue in EPA v. EME Homer City Generation, L.P. […]
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The Solar Eclipse to Strain Europe’s Electricity Supply
The ensuing solar eclipse has the potential to cause rolling blackouts around Europe. The not-so-evident reason: Solar energy in Europe has risen drastically. The last eclipse that would be comparable to this occurred in 1999, where much of the power was generated using nuclear power and fossil fuels. Now, many […]
Striking the Right Balance
On March 9, 2015, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) announced the latest draft revisions of the Environmental Protection Performance Standards at Oil and Gas Well Sites in an effort to continue balancing the benefits of drilling with some of the potential risks that drilling poses to citizens of […]
Hydroelectricity: Can it be the next big power source?
Hydropower is a type of renewable energy. Hydropower uses water movement to make energy, and unlike major energy generators it does not destroy, or lessen the source of power in anyway during the process. With low operating and maintenance costs, and high reliability, it seems to be an excellent choice […]
When the Doctrine of Displacement Leaves a Village Without a Home
Kivalina, Alaska is located on the northwest coast of Alaska.((Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corp. (Kivalina II), 696 F. 3d 849, 853 (9th Cir. 2012).)) It is only six miles long and sits atop a barrier reef only seventy miles from the Arctic Circle.((Id.)) This city is home to […]
DEP Proposes Agreement to Ensure the Continued Recovery of Dunkard Creek
On November 1st, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection published a Notice of Proposed Agreement, page 6994, to clean up parts of Dunkard Creek, a small river that runs through Greene County, Pennsylvania and Monongalia County, West Virginia. The agreement between the DEP and Dana Mining Company of Pennsylvania, LLC, […]
The Potential Dangers of Hydraulic Fracturing and Induced Earthquakes
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracing, is relatively new to the Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio region with most wells being drilled in the past decade. The act of hydraulic fracturing to extract oil and gas involves drilling deep into the ground and pumping water and chemicals into fractures in rock formations, […]
Is Everyone Leased Up?
After half a decade into oil and gas leasing in Western Pennsylvania, many of the more desirable farming areas are now committed to a drilling unit for production and leased-up. Until recently, if a smaller parcel landowner, such as those located in towns, wanted to lease their mineral estate, they […]
The Pros and Cons of International Environmental Soft Law
The United Nations brought attention to the globalization of our society and with it the need to understand international relations especially in regards to the environment. The international community, in which we are all passive members, must focus on our atmosphere, waterways and wildlife because these resources do not adhere […]