{ "id": "R42613", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "R42613", "active": true, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 433674, "date": "2014-08-20", "retrieved": "2016-04-06T20:10:29.102657", "title": "Climate Change and Existing Law: A Survey of Legal Issues Past, Present, and Future", "summary": "This report surveys existing law for legal issues that have arisen, or may arise in the future, on account of climate change and government responses thereto.\nAt the threshold of many climate-change-related lawsuits are two barriers\u2014whether the plaintiff has standing to sue and whether the claim being made presents a political question. Both barriers have forced courts to apply amorphous standards in a new and complex context.\nEfforts to mitigate climate change\u2014i.e., reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions\u2014have spawned a host of legal issues. The Supreme Court resolved a big one in 2007: the Clean Air Act (CAA), it said, authorizes EPA to regulate GHG emissions. Most of EPA\u2019s subsequent efforts to carry out that authority have been sustained by the D.C. Circuit. In 2014, however, the Supreme Court held that EPA\u2019s regulation of GHG emissions from motor vehicles does not categorically bring GHG emissions from power plants and factories under the permitting sections of the Act. EPA\u2019s alternative track for regulating GHG emissions from such \u201cstationary sources,\u201d standards of performance for new and existing sources, also raises issues. Still other mitigation issues are (1) the role of the Endangered Species Act in addressing climate change; (2) how climate change must be considered under the National Environmental Policy Act; (3) questions raised by carbon capture and sequestration; and (4) constitutional constraints on state actions to control GHG emissions.\nLiability for harms allegedly caused by climate change has raised another crop of legal issues. The Supreme Court has held that the CAA bars federal judges from imposing their own limits on GHG emissions from power plants, suggesting that common law remedies will play little role in addressing climate change. Questions of insurance policy coverage are also likely to be litigated. Finally, the applicability of international law principles to climate change has yet to be resolved.\nWater shortages thought to be induced by climate change likely will lead to litigation over the nature of water rights. Shortages have already prompted several lawsuits over whether cutbacks in water delivered from federal projects effect Fifth Amendment takings or breaches of contract.\nSea level rise and extreme precipitation linked to climate change raise questions as to (1) the effect of sea level rise on the beachfront owner\u2019s property line; (2) whether public beach access easements migrate with the landward movement of beaches; (3) design and operation of federal levees; and (4) government failure to take preventive measures against climate change harms.\nOther adaptation responses to climate change raising legal issues, often property-rights related, are beach armoring (seawalls, bulkheads, etc.), beach renourishment, and \u201cmanaged retreat\u201d measures. Retreat measures seek to move existing development away from areas likely to be affected by floods and sea level rise, and to discourage new development there.\nNatural disasters to which climate change contributes may prompt questions as to whether response actions taken in an emergency are subject to relaxed requirements and, similarly, as to the rebuilding of structures destroyed by such disasters just as they were before.\nFinally, immigration and refugee law appear not to cover persons forced to relocate because of climate change impacts such as drought or sea level rise.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R42613", "sha1": "698fc3e8161e5074c564f8df741a6ff9e45ace57", "filename": "files/20140820_R42613_698fc3e8161e5074c564f8df741a6ff9e45ace57.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R42613", "sha1": 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Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20130828_R42613_c7fb0677904ab09cd9dbecd4177ec5dfd7c559a6.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20130828_R42613_c7fb0677904ab09cd9dbecd4177ec5dfd7c559a6.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Climatic changes", "name": "Climatic changes" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Environmental protection", "name": "Environmental protection" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Air pollution control", "name": "Air pollution control" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc805178/", "id": "R42613_2013Mar25", "date": "2013-03-25", "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26", "title": "Climate Change and Existing Law: A Survey of Legal Issues Past, Present, and Future", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": 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These include greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, liability for harms caused by climate change, water shortages, sea level rise, natural disasters, and how immigration/refugee law does not cover relocation due to climate change impacts.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20120723_R42613_7dcefee60f95c2e67bb540ab8f53b21989f6b26f.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20120723_R42613_7dcefee60f95c2e67bb540ab8f53b21989f6b26f.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Climatic changes", "name": "Climatic changes" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Global climate change", "name": "Global climate change" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Air pollution", "name": "Air pollution" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc806061/", "id": "R42613_2012Jul02", "date": "2012-07-02", "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26", "title": "Climate Change and Existing Law: A Survey of Legal Issues Past, Present, and Future", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20120702_R42613_7776f57e8af519fcdb8c6d2e5708cc577d1f74b9.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20120702_R42613_7776f57e8af519fcdb8c6d2e5708cc577d1f74b9.html" } ], "topics": [] } ], "topics": [ "American Law", "Constitutional Questions", "Domestic Social Policy", "Energy Policy", "Environmental Policy", "Immigration Policy" ] }