The fossil fuel industry has filed an increasing number of dormant Commerce Clause lawsuits to overturn actions by coastal states and cities rejecting proposals for new coal and oil export facilities in their jurisdictions. These lawsuits are creating a wholly new “law of energy exports”...

During 2018, Peru signed the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean (Costa Rica) (March) and adopted the Declaration of Buenos Aires (October). This year was also important for the...

Most any industry, property owner, or individual is simultaneously subject to countless regulations at the local, state, and federal levels. That is an unavoidable consequence of living in the modern administrative state. At least some of those regulations are arbitrary or unreasonable, exceed...

“Extreme” weather has become the new normal. What were previously considered to be inexplicable and unpredictable “acts of God” can no longer reasonably be said to be so. They are acts of man. The established doctrine of contractual impracticability rests on the notion that a party may...

Given the high levels of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere and the likelihood of growing emissions in the future, even aggressive limits on greenhouse gas emissions might ultimately fail to prevent dangerous climate disruptions. To prepare for this risk, some scientists have started to...

The use of arbitration in investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) enables foreign investors to sue host states for alleged breaches of international investment law. But the practise has grown increasingly controversial over the past decade, with respondent states refusing to pay damages, or...

Modern energy and natural resource development has always been, at heart, a global enterprise. Energy companies and developers, by necessity, frequently work in far-flung locations scattered among nations with vastly different legal systems and environmental regulatory systems. If one of their...

Governments are facing an increasing number of arbitration claims by foreign investors relating to important public policies or seeking substantial damages, and many governments are taking a greater joint interest in how such cases are resolved in investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). This...

Governments are facing an increasing number of arbitration claims by foreign investors relating to important public policies or seeking substantial damages, and many governments are taking a greater joint interest in how such cases are resolved in investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). This...

Arguments for and against mandatory labels for genetically modified foods tend to be based upon the assertion of public interest. Those who advocate against labels say GM foods are safe and carry significant social benefits, such as increased yields, reduced use of pesticides and enhanced...