Author: richards

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Administrative Law Issues in Teaching Climate Change

This page supports the SEALS Forum – Administrative Law Issues in Teaching Climate Change. It will be updated on an ongoing basis. Climate Change Law Teaching Resources Teaching Mass. v. EPA, 127 S.Ct. 1438 (2007) The Case – Study guide Slides on the…

Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) – History and Restoration

History Albert E Cowdrey, Land’s End, a History of the New Orleans District US Army Corps of Engineers, and Its Lifelong Battle With the Lower Mississippi and Other Rivers Wending Their Way To the Sea. US Army Corps of Engineers.…

Liability for Disaster Predictions – The Italian Earthquake Case

Also see: Faults Alemanno, Alberto and Lauta, Kristian Cedervall, The L’Aquila Seven: Re-Establishing Justice after a Natural Disaster (July 1, 2014). European Journal of Risk Regulation, 2/2014. This article discusses the Italian case finding a group of earthquake scientists criminally liable…

Virginia Court Blocks FOIA Access to Climate Research Emails

The Climate Change Email Fight: Court recognizes proprietary value of university research communications – Am. Tradition Inst. v. Rector & Visitors of Univ. of Virginia, 756 S.E.2d 435 (Va. 2014) – Universities amicus brief.

U.N. – Sea-Level Rise in Small Island Nations

Sea-Level Rise in Small Island Nations – Up to Four Times the Global Average – to Cost US$ Trillions in Annual Economic Loss and Impede Future Development: Shift to Green Policies and Investment Critical Bridgetown, 5 June 2014 – Climate…

Exxon to World – You will never fix climate change

http://corporate.exxonmobil.com/en/environment/climate-change/managing-climate-change-risks/carbon-asset-risk Exxon had to prepare this report due to pressures from activist shareholders. Their claim was that Exxon was overvaluing its reserves because greenhouse gas restrictions would make it impossible to produce them all. Thus the company’s stock was overvalued.…

Louisiana SB 469 – Killing the Coastal Erosion Lawsuit

Morial v. Smith & Wesson Corp., 785 So. 2d 1 (LA 2001) This case reviews the LA law that retroactively stopped LA cities from suing gun manufacturers. It is a good discussion of the state police power and the state’s…

The Mississippi River Delta Cycle and Coastal Restoration

  Click here – Video of a presentation by Prof. Edward Richards to the LSU Mineral Law Institute on the delta cycle and the coastal erosion lawsuit. (1.3gb file – works best if you download it before playing. Otherwise it…

Stupid Coastal Restoration Schemes

The land is subsiding and the ocean is rising. Let’s fix this by putting heavy stuff on the bottom of the ocean. http://wwno.org/post/restoring-coast-creating-oyster-beds-st-bernard-parish Maybe we can fix it by building a dam in front of the marsh: http://www.djc.com/news/en/12070163.html Sewage diversions –…

Coastal Sea Level Rise Resources

Surging Seas – Flood risks with climate change on the US coast (Climate Central) Excellent site for illustrating the current and future risk of sea level rise. It is also useful for showing what lower levees of hurricane storm tides…

Pew Annual Report on Clean Energy Investment – 2013

Who’s Winning the Clean Energy Race? 2013 Edition Overview For the past five years, Pew has tracked investment and finance trends in the world’s leading economies. Over that period, the clean energy industry has been buffeted by a global recession,…

Gulf Coast Tsunamis – NOAA

Gulf Coast Tsunamis: What you need to know. If you thought sinking land and rising seas were the only things we had to worry about in south Louisiana, think again. Tsunamis have now joined the list. Researchers with the National…

Caernarvon Freshwater Diversion

Caernavron Diversion Location Feasibility Report on Freshwater Diversion·to Barataria and Breton Sound Basins, June 1984. Feasibility Report on Freshwater Diversion·to Barataria and Breton Sound Basins, August 1984. Feasibility Report on Freshwater Diversion·to Barataria and Breton Sound Basins, September 1984. C19840314-Sediment…

Recent Hurricane Research – Climate, Dynamics, and Societal Impacts

Recent Hurricane Research – Climate, Dynamics, and Societal Impacts Chapter 1  The Interannual and Interdecadal Variability in Hurricane Activityby Anthony R. Lupo Chapter 2  Influence of Cosmophysical Phenomena and African Dust on Hurricanes Genesisby Jorge Pérez-Peraza, Víctor Manuel Velasco Herrera…

Advances in Hurricane Research – Modelling, Meteorology, Preparedness and Impacts

Advances in Hurricane Research – Modelling, Meteorology, Preparedness and Impacts Chapter 1  Initialization of Tropical Cyclones in Numerical Prediction Systems by Eric A. Hendricks and Melinda S. Peng Chapter 2  Elaboration of Technologies for the Diagnosis of Tropical Hurricanes Beginning in…

Louisiana State-wide Perspective on Water Resources and Salt Water Intrusion

Louisiana State-wide Perspective on Water Resources. Prepared for: Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development Public Works and Water Resources Division April 2010. – Good discussion of freshwater resources in Louisiana. Heywood, C.E., and Griffith, J.M., 2013, Simulation of groundwater flow in…

An Historical and Topographical Description of Louisiana and West-Florida – 1784

Hutchins, Thomas. An Historical Narrative and Topographical Description of Louisiana, and West-Florida Comprehending the River Mississippi with Its Principal Branches and Settlements, and the Rivers Pearl, Pascagoula, Mobille, Perdido, Escambia, Chacta-Hatcha, &C. : The Climate, Soil, and Produce Whether Animal,…

Army Corps of Engineers 404 Permit Process

Corps permits are also necessary for any work, including construction and dredging, in the Nation’s navigable waters. The Corps balances the reasonably foreseeable benefits and detriments of proposed projects, and makes permit decisions that recognize the essential values of the…

EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS – Limiting Federal Fiscal Exposure

EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS: Limiting Federal Fiscal Exposure and Increasing the Nation’s Resilience GAO-14-364T: Published: Feb 12, 2014. Publicly Released: Feb 12, 2014. What GAO Found The federal government has opportunities to limit its exposure and increase the nation’s resilience to…

Coastal Zone Management Resources

Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Program –  Coastal Resources Management Plan – Rhode Island’s Coastal Program – The Enabling Act NOAA Coastal Zone Management Resources States    

Morganza to the Gulf of Mexico – EIS Resources

Review Plan for the Post Authorization Change Decision Document of the Mississippi River and Tributaries, Morganza to the Gulf of Mexico Hurricane Protection Project, LA – 2011 Final Independent External Peer Review Report for the Mississippi River and Tributaries, Morganza…

FLOOD INSURANCE – Strategies for Increasing Private Sector Involvement

FLOOD INSURANCE Strategies for Increasing Private Sector Involvement What GAO Found According to stakeholders with whom GAO spoke, several conditions must be present to increase private sector involvement in the sale of flood insurance. First, insurers need to be able…

GAO – Making the Clean Water Act Work

CLEAN WATER ACT – Changes Needed If Key EPA Program Is to Help Fulfill the Nation’s Water Quality Goals, GAO-14-80 What GAO Found The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the states each have responsibilities for developing and implementing pollution targets,…

General NEPA Resources

White House Guidance Guidance on the Applicability of E.O. 13807 to States with NEPA Assignment Authority Under the Surface Transportation Project Delivery Program (2019) Statutes and Regulations The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended Council on Environmental Quality(CEQ)…

Why Coastal Restoration Cannot Succeed

This  article goes to the heart of the problem. Sea level rise pushes the wetlands inland. If you have barriers, the wetlands drown. The only thing the coastal restoration folks care about is building levees, but if they only push…

Louisiana Coastal Restoration Plans

Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority The Plans Decision-making chronology for the lake Pontchartrain & vicinity hurricane protection project Van Beek, Johannes L. “Recommendations for freshwater diversion to Louisiana estuaries east of the Mississippi River.” (1982). Van Beek, Johannes L.,…