Paul Hanle ’69 Is Educating Judges About Climate Science
Princeton Alumni Weekly (by Elisabeth H. Daugherty)
October 6, 2021
https://paw.princeton.edu/article/paul-hanle-69-educating-judges-about-climate-…

Paul Hanle ’69 has a gift for explaining science to non-scientists. He’s been doing it for decades — to families and teachers through science museums, and later to adults through agencies on up to the White House and the United Nations. Now he’s explaining the science of climate change to a group of people with real power to act on it: judges. About three years ago, Hanle helped found the Climate Judiciary Project at the Environmental Law Institute. It fills a need that’s growing primarily in the U.S.

New EPA Adviser Looks to Juice Investing in Communities of Color
Bloomberg Law (by Stephen Lee)
September 1, 2021
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/new-epa-adviser-looks-to-j…

The new head of the EPA’s in-house financial advisory board wants to prove low-income communities of color aren’t risky places for private investors to park their money. That goal is crucial because President Joe Biden has made environmental justice one of his central concerns. But it’s historically been hard to convince bottom line-oriented investors that projects such as laying down permeable pavement or shoring up disaster resiliency are worth financing, especially in rural areas without much economic activity. . . .

Young environmental hero: Sonja Michaluk
The Trentonian (Michele Byers)
September 24, 2021
https://www.trentonian.com/2021/09/24/young-environmental-hero-sonja-michaluk/

“Think globally, act locally” is a motto used for years to encourage local action on environmental problems. Seventeen-year-old Sonja Michaluk has been thinking globally and acting locally since she was a six-year-old monitoring streams for water quality in her hometown of Hopewell Township. And the Carnegie Mellon University student went on to act globally as well – and for that she was just named a winner of the 2021 Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes.

FEMA Knows a Lot About Climate-Driven Flooding. But It’s Not Pushing Homeowners Hard Enough to Buy Insurance
Inside Climate News (by James Bruggers)
August 4, 2021
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04082021/fema-flood-insurance-general-accoun…

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been collecting a lot of information about flood risks across America, including the increased risk of flooding linked to climate change. But the agency has not effectively used that new knowledge to persuade more Americans to buy flood insurance, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. . . .

Environmentalists Relieved as Critics Slam ‘Muddled’ SCOTUS Term
Bloomberg Law (by Ellen M. Gilmer)
June 22, 2021
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/environmentalists-relieved…

The U.S. Supreme Court’s latest term, wrapping up this month, went surprisingly well for environmental lawyers who feared cases on the docket could prove disastrous to their cause. Many advocates prepared for a barrage of bad news from the conservative-leaning bench as the court weighed major Clean Water Act, Superfund, and pipeline questions, plus non-environment cases that could cause collateral damage. Instead, they got a slate of decisions they could live with—even some worth celebrating.

Berta Cáceres’ Murder Shocked the World in 2016, But the Killing of Environmental Activists Continues
Inside Climate News (by Katie Livingstone)
August 24, 2021
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24082021/berta-caceres-murder-environmental-…

When the people of Rio Blanco first saw workers bringing heavy construction machinery into their village along the sacred Gualcarque River in Honduras 15 years ago, they went to Berta Isabel Cáceres for help. Cáceres, an activist representing the Lenca tribe who co-founded the National Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), would go on for a decade leading a campaign to stop the Agua Zarca Dam, a joint venture between a Chinese dam developer, the largest in the world, and a Honduran company, Desarrollos Energeticos SA (Desa). . . .

Big changes afoot for US chemical risk evaluations
Chemical & Engineering News (by Britt E. Erickson)
July 8, 2021
https://cen.acs.org/policy/chemical-regulation/Big-changes-afoot-US-chemical/99…

Facing lawsuits and criticism from scientists, environmental groups, and the chemical industry, the US Environmental Protection Agency is overhauling its approach for evaluating risks associated with high-priority chemicals that are already on the market.

EJ Expert Gets Nod for Superfund Office
Politico Morning Energy (by Matthew Choi)
June 14, 2021
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-energy/2021/06/14/g-7s-climate-tal…

The White House has nominated Carlton Waterhouse to run EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management, which oversees the expansive Superfund program and other waste issues. Waterhouse, who has been the top political appointee at OLEM since January, first joined EPA after graduating from Penn State and Howard University Law School in the 1990s. More recently, he's taught law at Howard and joined the board of the Environmental Law Institute.

How Biden’s EPA waste office pick could bolster equity goals
E&E (by E.A. Crunden)
August 2, 2021
https://www.eenews.net/articles/how-bidens-epa-waste-office-pick-could-bolster-…

EPA’s waste office might soon be run by a law professor whose background could prove key in addressing the Biden administration’s environmental justice goals along with hot-button concerns like so-called forever chemicals. Carlton Waterhouse, whose nomination to oversee the Office of Land and Emergency Management is being taken up by a Senate committee this week, would bring a vital perspective to the job, advocates say . . . .

Land use climate bubbles are popping up all over the nation at an alarming rate, and they could very well lead to an economic crisis that will be more damaging than that of the housing bubble of 2008. What can we do to respond? Land Use Law expert John Nolon describes how the local land use legal system can leverage state and federal assistance to reduce per capita carbon emissions as an important and now recognized component of global efforts to manage climate change. The podcast is being released in tandem with CNN’s Call to Earth Day, an initiative to share the stories of those dedicated to conservation, environmentalism, and sustainability. 
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