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Read the report Cities, E-Commerce & Public Health: 3 Legal Pathways to Limiting Freight Vehicle Emissions in Columbia Law School's Scholarship Archive.

By Amy Turner

Read the article, The Legal Case for Equity in Local Climate Action Planning in the Fordham Urban Law Journal on Columbia Law School's Scholarship Archive

Abstract

Over the last half decade, local climate action plans have regularly come to incorporate considerations of racial and socioeconomic equity, recognizing the ways in which low-income communities and communities of color experience earlier and worse consequences from global warming, and these communities are also at risk of being harmed by policies meant to address climate change. Until now, however, the discourse on equity in climate action planning has largely pertained to policy; it acknowledges the disproportionate harm that certain communities experience as a result of climate change and policies to address climate change, and suggests policy tools that can address these disparities. Missing is a discussion of why local governments are compelled or strongly encouraged by law to develop climate plans that aim to address racial and socioeconomic inequity alongside rising GHG emissions. This Article seeks to fill in the missing legal context for why equitable climate action planning is strongly encouraged by three aspects of federal law: the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and recent federal law developments like the Inflation Reduction Act and Justice40. While none of these mandate that local governments consider equity in their climate action planning, they do provide a compelling legal argument for local climate policy that is equitable and racially just.

The Article explores all three areas of federal law and suggests ways in which they might interplay with equitable local climate action planning. In addition to delineating new applications for these areas of federal law, the research seeks to provide a legal rationale for local climate policy that is just and equitable that can support local government efforts when their climate action plans face political, fiscal, legal, and other forms of challenge.

Disciplines

Civil Rights and Discrimination | Environmental Law | Environmental Policy | Law | State and Local Government Law

Recommended Citation

Amy E. Turner, The Legal Case for Equity in Local Climate Action Planning, 50 Fordham Urb. L. J.1245 (2023). 
Available at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/sabin_climate_change/210

By Amy Turner and Michael Burger 

Read the report, Cities Climate Law: A Legal Framework for Local Action in the U.S. in Columbia Law School's Scholarship Archive. 

Cities around the world are looking to reduce greenhouse gas and other emissions from vehicles through the use of low emissions zones and congestion pricing. These strategies have been employed to great success abroad, including in central London, where both congestion pricing and fees and restrictions on higher-emitting vehicles are in effect. In the U.S. law context, these policy approaches give rise to significant legal issues that have not been well-explored. With an eye towards U.S. law considerations, Legal Tools for Achieving Low Traffic Zones (LTZs): LEZ, ULEZ & Congestion Pricing in the U.S. Law Context proposes that these policy approaches should be called “Low Traffic Zones,” or LTZs, and surveys those legal considerations. The areas of law explored herein are: (1) potential for preemption of LTZ policies by U.S. federal laws including the Clean Air Act (“CAA”), the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (“EPCA”) and the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (“FAAAA”), (2) U.S. constitutional considerations including the dormant Commerce Clause, (3) federal tolling authority, (4) state enabling law, (5) laws to protect individual privacy and data security and (6) other claims that may be raised in litigation. The paper will conclude by outlining guidance U.S. law- and policy-makers may take into account in drafting LTZ policies to comport with U.S. and state law.

By Amy E. Turner

Read the report Legal Tools for Achieving Low Traffic Zones (LTZs): LEZ, ULEZ & Congestion Pricing in the U.S. Law Context in Columbia Law School's Scholarship Archive.