ELI-ABA-NAELS
"Endangered Environmental Laws"
Student Writing Competition

The Environmental Law Institute (ELI), the American Bar Association's Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources (ABA-SEER), and the National Association of Environmental Law Societies (NAELS) announce the third annual "Endangered Environmental Laws" Student Writing Competition. The Constitution has long been interpreted by the courts and understood by most Americans to support comprehensive environmental protections. However, arguments targeting the constitutional legitimacy of environmental laws are gaining new traction in the federal courts. To inform the debate, we invite law students to submit papers exploring current issues of constitutional environmental law.

AWARD: $2000 cash prize and offer of publication in ELI's Environmental Law Reporter (ELR).

TOPIC: Any topic addressing recent developments or trends in U.S. environmental law that have a significant constitutional or "federalism" component. Examples of possible topics include:

1. Federal courts declining to reach the merits of climate change cases by invoking the political question doctrine. Examples: the decisions in California v. General Motors Corp., __F. Supp. 2d__, 2007 WL 2726871 (N.D. Cal. 2007); Comer v. Murphy Oil, Case No. 1:05-CV-436 (S.D. Miss. Aug. 30, 2007) (granting motion to dismiss); and Connecticut v. American Electric Power Co., 406 F. Supp. 2d 265 (S.D.N.Y. 2005).

2. Challenges to environmental plaintiffs' standing to be heard in federal courts—

   1. Standing to sue to enforce federal environmental laws in climate-change and other kinds of environmental cases. Examples: implications of the Supreme Court's decision in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, 127 S.Ct. 1438 (2007) and its progeny; the decision in Comer v. Murphy Oil, Case No. 1:05-CV-436 (S.D. Miss. Aug. 30, 2007) (granting motion to dismiss).

   2. Standing to sue for increased risk of harm to the environment and public health. Examples: the implications for environmental law of an emerging risk-based injury standard in the D.C. Circuit, in light of decisions such as NRDC v. EPA, 440 F.3d 476 (D.C. Cir. 2006) (NRDC I), vacated by NRDC v. EPA, 464 F.3d 1 (D.C. Cir. 2006) (NRDC II); NRDC v. EPA, 489 F.3d 1364 (D.C. Cir. 2007); and Public Citizen v. NHTSA, 489 F.3d 1279 (D.C. Cir. 2007).

3. The application of preemption and other "federalism" doctrines to state environmental protection efforts, such as the interaction of the Clean Air Act and Energy Policy and Conservation Act with state regulation of greenhouse gases and promotion of alternative fuels. Examples: the opinions in Green Mountain Chrysler v. Crombie, 508 F. Supp. 2d 295 (D. Vt. 2007); Engine Manufacturers' Association v. South Coast Air Quality Maintenance District, 498 F.3d 1031 (9th Cir. 2007); and the recently decided case of Central Valley Chrysler-Jeep, Inc. v. Witherspoon, __F. Supp. 2d__, 2007 WL 4372878 (E.D. Cal. 2007).

4. Commerce Clause challenges to environmental protection—

   1. Attacks on Congress's power to legislate environmental protections grounded in the Commerce Clause. Examples: the decision in Alabama-Tombigbee Rivers Coalition v. Norton, 477 F.3d 1250 (11th Cir. 2007), petition for cert. denied, __S. Ct. __(Jan. 7, 2008) (No. 07-364); or the constitutional implications of cases arising in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Rapanos v. United States, 126 S. Ct. 2208 (2006), including: United States v. Gerke Excavating, 464 F.3d 723 (7th Cir. 2006), petition for cert. denied, Gerke Excavating, Inc. v. United States, 128 S. Ct. 45 (Oct 01, 2007); United States v. Johnson, 467 F.3d 56 (1st Cir. 2006), petition for cert. denied, 128 S. Ct. 375 (Oct. 9, 2007); and Northern California River Watch v. City of Healdsburg, 496 F.3d 993, 2007 WL 2230186 (9th Cir. 2007), petition for cert. filed, 76 U.S.L.W. 3260 (Nov. 5, 2007) (No. 07-625).

   2. "Dormant" Commerce Clause challenges to the scope of state environmental regulation. Example: implications of the Supreme Court's decision in United Haulers Association, Inc. v. Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Management Authority, 127 S.Ct. 1786 (2007).

These are intended only as illustrations. Students are free to select other current topics within the field of constitutional environmental law.

ELIGIBILITY: Any student currently enrolled in law school (in the U.S. or abroad) may submit an entry. This includes students graduating in the spring or summer of 2008. Any relevant article, case comment, note, or essay may be submitted, including writing submitted for academic credit. Jointly authored pieces are eligible only if all authors are students. Previously published pieces, or pieces that are slated for publication, are ineligible.

DEADLINE: Entries must be received no later than 5:00 PM ET on April 4, 2008. Email essays (and any questions) to Yen Hoang at hoang@eli.org. You will receive a confirmation by email.

For more information about the Environmental Law Institute and its Endangered Environmental Laws Program, please visit http://www.eli.org and http://www.endangeredlaws.org. Information about the American Bar Association can be found at http://www.abanet.org/. Information about the National Association of Environmental Law Societies can be found at http://www.naels.org/.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

Cover page. This page must include the following information:

• Title;
• Author's name, year in law school, and expected graduation date (to facilitate judging, the author's name and law school must NOT appear anywhere in the essay itself, other than on the cover page);
• Law school name and address;
• Author's permanent and school mailing address, e-mail address, and phone number (IMPORTANT: indicate effective dates for all addresses);
• Abstract (limited to 100 words) describing the piece;
• Certification that the article has not been published and is not slated for future publication, and if a jointly authored article, that all authors agree to submit the article to this competition (while authors may submit their articles to other competitions, publication elsewhere will disqualify an entry from further consideration, as the Environmental Law Reporter only publishes original analysis); and
• Statement as to where the author(s) learned about this competition.

Format. Submissions may be of any length (up to a maximum of 50 pages, including footnotes), in a double-spaced, single-sided, 8.5 x 11-inch page format with 12-point font (10-point for footnotes). Citation style must conform to the current edition of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation. Please submit all essays by e-mail attachment in Microsoft Word format, with the cover sheet included as a separate attachment.

CRITERIA AND PUBLICATION: The prize will be awarded to the student work that, in the judgment of ELI, ABA-SEER, and NAELS, best informs the debate on a current topic of constitutional environmental law and advances the state of scholarship. While there is only one cash prize, ELI reserves the right to extend multiple offers of publication, or to determine that no submission will receive the prize.

For more about ELI and its Endangered Environmental Laws Program, please visit www.eli.org and www.endangeredlaws.org. Information about the ABA and SEER may be found at www.abanet.org and www.abanet.org/environ/. Information about NAELS may be found at www.naels.org.

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