People Places Planet – Details, episodes & analysis

Have you seen the images of urban smog from the 1960s? Although there is still progress to be made, U.S. air quality has dramatically improved over the past 50 years. We have the Clean Air Act to thank. Passed in 1970, the Act gave the newly formed EPA the legal authority to regulate air pollution. In this episode, ELI Staff Attorney Jarryd Page breaks down how the Clean Air Act works and why it matters today.

Relevant Resources:
Chevron Deference in the Dock: SCOTUS and the Future of Environmental Protection
Community Lawyering for Environmental Justice Part 9: Air Permitting

From producing food deserts and food swamps to negatively impacting biodiversity and ecosystem health, land use laws have shaped America’s food system for decades. Unfortunately, the shape the food system has taken perpetuates serious inequities. In this episode, Jonathan Rosenbloom, law professor and author of Remarkable Cities and the Security and Sovereignty of Food and Nutrition, explains how changes to local development codes and zoning laws can promote food and nutrition security and sovereignty across the country. In conversation with host Sarah Backer, Rosenbloom shares recommendations and paths forward for creating a more equitable and sustainable food system.

When airports, buildings, highways, dams, power plants, and other federal activities are proposed, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements are invoked. Passed by Congress in 1969 and signed into law on January 1, 1970, NEPA fundamentally altered how lawmakers and regulators approach human impacts on the natural world. Despite significant success in involving the public in decision-making, NEPA regulations have been criticized for delaying projects and raising costs. In this episode, ELI Senior Attorney Amy Reed breaks down how NEPA works and explains proposed regulation changes. 

Relevant Resources:
Vibrant Environment, Proposed NEPA Rule Goes All-In on Environmental Justice
ELR, Amending the NEPA Regulations 

After millennia of humankind exploiting terrestrial resources, national governments and private enterprises alike are eyeing the skies. There’s evidence of asteroids containing precious metals. Ice on the Moon can be extracted to generate drinking water, oxygen, hydrogen, and helium-3. And Mars has useful minerals, ice, and perhaps even liquid water. All of this requires mining—a pollution-heavy industry. But if activities impacting the environment are being carried out in outer space, what law applies? Or is it all just a . . . legal void? In this episode, ELI’s Cynthia Harris talks to Scot Anderson and Julia La Manna, attorneys with Hogan Lovells in Denver, Colorado, to help us navigate the uncertain terrain of space mining. 

Migration—the temporary or permanent movement of people from one place of residence to another, within a country or across an international border—occurs for myriad reasons. It also involves a host of dangers, complications, and risks. “Migration with Dignity” is a new concept increasingly being used to promote voluntary migration in the pursuit of life with dignity. In this episode, we hear from Carl Bruch, ELI’s Director of International Programs, and Dr. Shanna McClain, Visiting Scientist at ELI and Global Partnerships Manager for NASA’s Earth Sciences Division. The two speak with ELI Staff Attorney Kristine Perry about the legal and policy framework they have been developing to help people migrate with dignity. 

In the first few weeks of the Biden-Harris Administration, we’ve seen an unprecedented environmental justice (EJ) campaign platform develop into far-reaching executive actions. But even before the Biden-Harris campaign brought EJ to the federal spotlight, states were starting to implement ambitious, history-making EJ-focused legislation, a trend that appears to be continuing into 2021.  In this episode, Hilary Jacobs, an attorney at Beveridge & Diamond, speaks with Dr. Karla Drenner, a State Representative from Georgia, and Rebecca Saldaña, a State Senator from Washington State, about pending EJ legislation in their states. This episode is part of the Groundtruth series created in partnership with Beveridge & Diamond, one of the nation’s leading environmental law firms.

Since 1989, ELI has honored over 200 champions of wetlands protection through the National Wetlands Awards program, which recognizes individuals who have demonstrated exceptional effort, innovation, and excellence in protecting these critical ecosystems. In this episode, hear from our five 2021 awardees, who share their perspectives and insight on a variety of wetlands-related matters. 

On May 18, 1971, Pennsylvania’s voters ratified an Environmental Rights Amendment to its state constitution. Fifty years later, with climate change now the overriding threat to the health of the planet, the architect of that amendment makes the case for an environmental amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In this episode, we talk to Franklin L. Kury, who served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1966 to 1972 and the Pennsylvania Senate from 1972 to 1980, about his new book, The Constitutional Question to Save the Planet: The Peoples' Right to a Healthy Environment. 

There are many benefits to offshore wind, but what about its impacts on birds, bats, and other wildlife? In this episode, we "engage the experts” and listen in on a conversation between two experts in the field of environmental law and policy, Brooke Marcus Wahlberg, a Partner at Nossaman LLP, and Ed Roggenkamp, an associate. The two offer background on offshore wind, discuss obstacles and opportunities, and share recent developments, including what we might expect under the Biden Administration. 

For over 60 years, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and its predecessor agencies have been a national and global leader on a wide range of environmental issues, from air quality to water quality to remediation. In this episode, Heather Palmer, a Partner at Sidley Austin LLP, talks with Toby Baker, Executive Director of the TCEQ. The two discuss a wide range of issues, including COVID-19, severe weather and power outages, and the Biden Administration.