The Chair’s Comments: Here’s To Living In Interesting Environmental Law Times
In the last EENR newsletter, I remarked what an interesting time it is to practice environmental law. Evolving environmental policy, changing regulations, and interesting court cases make this a fascinating area of law. Two cases involving North Carolina lawyers that were in the news during the weeks since our last newsletter highlight this fact even more. The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Upstate Forever v. Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. appears to break new ground in Clean Water Act jurisprudence and challenges long-held and accepted notions regarding point source discharges. This is an important case that may well be combined with a recent Ninth Circuit case from Hawaii for appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a different case, on April 26, 2018, a federal jury awarded $50 million in punitive damages to neighbors of large-scale hog farms in Eastern North Carolina. Considered by many a landmark test case, this verdict challenges fundamental assumptions regarding hog farm operations in the multi-billion dollar industry in North Carolina. There is certain to be much more activity in the agricultural torts space going forward. These cases are further reminders that there is rarely a dull moment for followers of environmental law.