I spend my weeks surrounded by engineers working in wastewater plants. And I work with regulators trying to find the right numbers or standards to ensure we have “clean” water. Both are tied by regulations and laws that demand strict compliance, and are used to “industrial” solutions – measuring end of pipe levels of nutrients and pollutants to confirm those numbers are below established thresholds. If a number is off, you turn a wheel or add some chemical based…
Continue Reading Help Clients with Environmental Issues by Using the Tools of Our Trade

Simply put, carbon capture is a collection of technologies that capture carbon – as to limit the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Carbon can be captured from a
point source of emissions, like a power plant or industrial facility. Or carbon can be captured
directly from the atmosphere. ​Once captured, carbon can be
permanently stored underground or transformed into
useful products (aka “carbontech”). For example, captured carbon could be used to create
cement, textiles, carbon …
Continue Reading How Wisconsin Can Profit from Carbon Capture

Please note that views presented in blog articles are those of the author, not those of the Wisconsin Department of Justice, the section, nor the State Bar of Wisconsin.It’s difficult to contemplate seemingly insurmountable environmental justice issues – think climate change, lead in drinking water and paint – without feeling like individual action could be futile. Although each individual needs to arrive at their own motivation for action, one path forward is to start with discrete, local steps.The State…
Continue Reading Your Voice, Your State Bar: Diversity & Inclusion in Our Environmental Law Section

Since graduating from law school and moving to Milwaukee in August, I’ve met several longtime residents who didn’t know Summerfest is not on a natural land formation – it’s built on lakebed fill – or that Lakeshore State Park is also built on lakebed fill, or that Bradford Beach and parts of Lincoln Memorial Drive are located on land that used to be covered by water.Lakebed Fill and the Public Trust DoctrineWhat do all these spaces have in common?
Continue Reading Public Rights on Milwaukee’s Fresh Coast: Issues with Lakebed Fill

This article was originally posted Dec. 10, 2021, in the Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog. It is reprinted here with permission.

When it rains or snows, the resulting runoff can collect pollutants including salts, fertilizers, chemicals, oils, and sediment, among other things. These contaminants have the potential to impair surface water and groundwater that receive the runoff. Communities in the United States face growing challenges to effective stormwater management as a result of aging infrastructure, increasing urbanization,…
Continue Reading Interdisciplinary Research in Stormwater Management

Please note that views presented in blog articles are those of the author, not those of the Wisconsin Department of Justice, the section, nor the State Bar of Wisconsin.

Climate change has significant implications for a vast array of human rights.

A recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reiterated the damage that climate change is wreaking and the urgent need for action to keep the earth from warming even more drastically – which would also…
Continue Reading Climate Justice: Human Rights and Climate Change Litigation

This article was originally posted July 15, 2021, in the Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog. It is reprinted here with permission.About four years ago I wrote a blog post titled “The Quiet Revolution in Wisconsin Administrative Law.” My purpose then was to point out an “unprecedented makeover in longstanding principles of state-level administrative law” that “shift[ed] power away from agencies and toward courts, the legislature, and the governor.”Recently the Wisconsin Supreme Court finally took the field…
Continue Reading The Wisconsin Supreme Court Slows Down the ‘Quiet Revolution’

Headwaters of Three Springs near Sister Bay. Photo by Joanne Kline.

Wetlands are critical ecosystems that help reduce flood severity, filter polluted runoff before it reaches open water, and provide waterfowl and wildlife with food and shelter.

In 2020, rollbacks in federal protection of waterways and wetlands under the Clean Water Act left millions of wetland acres in Wisconsin vulnerable to development. Although Wisconsin law protects many waterways and wetlands that are no longer covered by federal regulation, continued…
Continue Reading Wisconsin’s Wetlands & Waterways and the WOTUS Rule

Carbon farming markets are emerging as an appealing prospect to reverse the flow of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

They are also a breath of fresh air in the metaphorical sense because of the unusual alliances and rare bipartisan support they are attracting. Agricultural groups and environmental advocates have coalesced around the prospect that farming can be a meaningful part of the climate change solution. While a small private market for carbon farming practices already exists, the seeds…
Continue Reading New Prospects for Carbon Farming Lead Stakeholders to Common Ground