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INTRODUCTION 1037 I. WHAT Is INFRASTRUCTURE--AND WHY IS IT 1041 IMPORTANT? A. "Shared Means to Many Ends" 1042 1. Taxonomy 1042 2. Economic Foundations 1044 a. An Imperfect Public Good [...], This Article explains a critical, yet unexplored issue: How are some communities like Jackson--the 80% Black capital of Mississippi--often left without water or electricity, while their mostly white neighbors are not? The Article maps uncharted territory by interrogating the underlying causes of this disparity, untangling how three seemingly unrelated factors interplay with the accelerating effects of climate change to perpetuate systemic inequities. First, and somewhat uniquely, the U.S. federalist construct allocates infrastructure responsibility to the states, which, under the guise of autonomy, subdelegate to often under-resourced local authorities. Second, this capital mismatch requires governmental units to borrow using complex municipal instruments that provide investors vastly underestimated power over critical assets. Finally, these dynamics are compounded by America's segregationist past, the legacy of which involuntarily concentrated minority groups in areas most exposed to climate change, and as a result increasingly struggling to meet their constituents' most basic needs. The Biden administration's keenly underappreciated legislative package reflects a welcome evolution of the prevailing construct. Yet, the "Infrastructure New Deal's" financial and structural shortcomings suggest it may disappoint, requiring mitigating strategies which this Article recommends based in part on comparative analysis of successful approaches from other jurisdictions.

Introduction 1247 I. Equity in Local Climate Action Planning 1249 A. What is Climate Action Planning? 1250 B. "Equity-Infused Climate Action Planning" Reflects Local Governments' Varying Terminology 1251 C. Equity-Infused [...], 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.

Alcohol-impaired driving killed 11,654 people on America's roadways in 2020. (1) Prosecutors play an important role in minimizing the number of lives lost each year by pursuing impaired driving (i.e., [...]

The year 2022 was an interesting year for interstate compacts. While there were no blockbuster judicial decisions, one was decided in 2023. New York v. New Jersey, an original jurisdiction [...]

I. INTRODUCTION 310 II. EXPLORING AND SUMMARIZING EXISTING TRANSMISSION LAW 315 A. A Brief History of Pre-EPAct 2005 Transmission Policy 315 B. The Effect of EPAct 2005 317 C. FPA [...], The Energy Policy Act of 2005 amended Section 216 of the Federal Power Act and permitted federal agencies to designate an area of land as a National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor (NIETC). Designating an NIETC was meant to give federal agencies the authority to preempt state siting law and issue construction permits to build new transmission lines. The new transmission lines could then create high value connections that might otherwise be blocked by third parties, e.g. transmission lines running from State A to State C through State B. The corridor program received swift political backlash and was ail-but eliminated by two important federal circuit court decisions. To this day, no federal agency has successfully designated an NIETC using Section 216. In the recent past, extreme weather events have demonstrated how the ongoing climate crisis is wreaking havoc throughout the United States. The Biden Administration has responded to these climate issues, in part, by passing legislation to prioritize the protection and construction of new electrical transmission. The so-called Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act explicitly amended Section 216 and indicates Congress's willingness to revitalize the NIETC program. This Note explores how the Biden Administration's new legislation could finally empower federal agencies to designate and site new transmission corridors under Section 216. It also explores challenges with and new alternatives to the siting process, including internal agency reformation through rulemaking and standardized state takings laws.

INTRODUCTION 512 I. THE CLIMATE CRISIS AND THE CURRENT STATE OF ENERGY RESILIENCE IN LOUISIANA 514 A. The Dark State of the Coastal Louisiana Grid 515 B. Hurricane Ida as [...], After Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Louisiana coast in 2005, residents were hung out to dry and left in the dark for forty days. In 2020, Hurricane Laura left much of southwest Louisiana in the dark for three weeks. Then in 2022, over one million people in southeast Louisiana lost power following Hurricane Ida, the majority of whom had their power restored in around fifteen days, but for some it would take over a month. This pattern remains unbroken despite its predictability. Power disruption after these summer storms is not just a mere inconvenience, but an issue of public health and safety. While residents wait for the lights to turn back on, they are unable to escape the heat and humidity, leading to many unnecessary and preventable deaths from heat exhaustion or carbon monoxide poisoning from portable generators. These storms are becoming more frequent and more intense due to the climate crisis, but little has been done to fortify Louisiana's energy infrastructure in response. It is clear that the current power grid model is not sustainable for the coast of Louisiana, so the question becomes: What can be done? The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJR), signed into law by President Biden in November 2021, specifically addresses "Grid Infrastructure and Resiliency." Five billion dollars in grants that could fund the construction of decentralized standalone microgrids are made available through this Act. Then, in August of 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which has the potential to cut the cost of microgrids by 10-50% through tax incentives and will further facilitate their construction. Together, the IIJA and the IRA could allow more development of rooftop community solar microgrids in furtherance of establishing energy resilience for vulnerable communities in the face of the climate crisis. Moving past the traditional grid model would prevent a repeat of what happened in the wake of Hurricane Ida, where the collapse of a transmission tower and the failure of the few remaining transmission lines left the entirety of the City of New Orleans without power. By decentralizing power, more residents and individual communities would maintain access to power during these devastating storms and achieve faster power restoration in the event of power disruption.

I. INTRODUCTION 778 II. GREEN SPACE AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE COMMUNITIES 779 A. Why Green Space is Important 780 B. Environmental Justice Communities' Lack of Green Space 781 C. The Gentrification [...], Public green spaces, such as parks, sporting fields, streams and riverbanks, trails, and community gardens, are extremely beneficial to the health and wellbeing of a community. Unfortunately, environmental justice (EJ) communities, including low-income communities of color, are largely excluded from these benefits compared to middle and upper income communities. The federal government has acknowledged this disparity by providing competitive grants to fund green spaces in underserved neighborhoods. However, the current grant-based system does not address the systemic disenfranchisement that helps define EJ communities, and is therefore unlikely to properly address the absence of green space. This Comment explains the specific benefits of green space and the level of disparity between EJ communities and middle and upper income communities. It then outlines the current federal grant-based system, which primarily relies on state applications and matching funds. Next, it discusses why the current grant-based system is a poor solution to the lack of green space in EJ communities. Finally, this Comment provides alternative methods of properly funding equitable green spaces. While the current grant-based system is ill-equipped to solve the disparity in access to green spaces, the Biden administration is showing an interest and emphasis on environmental justice, which will hopefully allow EJ communities to come closer to matching the green space available in middle to upper income communities.