Christopher Rizzo

June 21, 2021 | New York Law Journal

A proposed environmental rights amendment in New York would create an individual right to clean air, clean water and a healthy environment. In this edition of their Domestic Environmental Law column, Karen Meara and Christopher Rizzo consider what the amendment might mean for New Yorkers, lawyers and courts.

By Karen Meara and Christopher Rizzo

7 minute read

October 20, 2020 | New York Law Journal

In their column on Domestic Environmental Law, Karen Meara and Christopher Rizzo summarize the Accelerated Renewable Energy Growth and Community Benefit Act, its draft implementing regulations, and the challenges that remain.

By Karen Meara and Christopher Rizzo

8 minute read

June 26, 2020 | New York Law Journal

In their Environmental Law column, Karen Meara and Christopher Rizzo explain that environmental advocates and lawmakers have an opportunity to glean some important lessons from the pandemic before they are lost to our rapidly changing news cycle.

By Karen Meara and Christopher Rizzo

8 minute read

May 14, 2020 | New York Law Journal

In this Domestic Environmental Law column, Christopher Rizzo assesses the options for the state and City (or any municipality) to limit uses of outdoor public spaces in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and proposes a concept that is more likely to be sustainable and defensible in court.

By Christopher Rizzo

10 minute read

March 03, 2020 | New York Law Journal

Recent EPA rulemaking seeks to limit the types of waterbodies protected by the Clean Water Act. The Rule takes effect in late March 2020 and is widely expected to face immediate litigation from state attorneys general and environmental advocates. In this edition of their Domestic Environmental Law column, Karen Meara and Christopher Rizzo take a closer look and conclude that by ignoring its own scientists, applying the narrowest reading to the Act and disregarding Clean Water Act case law, the EPA has made the Rule extremely vulnerable to legal challenge.

By Karen Meara and Christopher Rizzo

8 minute read

October 23, 2019 | New York Law Journal

New York state recently enacted a sweeping new law to curtail greenhouse gas emissions from virtually all sources over the next 20 to 30 years. The law contains no specific regulatory roadmap and instead leaves the details to be developed over the next three years with the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the Public Service Commission taking leading roles. As New York takes up the hard work of developing a regulatory path forward, it will need to tread carefully to withstand the public and legal scrutiny that lies ahead. In their Domestic Environmental Law column, Karen Meara and Christopher Rizzo have identified three significant challenges that the state will face as well as possible solutions.

By Karen Meara and Christopher Rizzo

8 minute read

June 19, 2019 | New York Law Journal

In their Domestic Environmental Law column, Karen Meara and Christopher Rizzo discuss the 2019 “Climate Mobilization Act,” a key component of New York City's climate strategy. The Act aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the City by cutting building emissions by 40% by 2030 and 80% by 2050. It is one of the most demanding climate change laws in the country and will have an unprecedented impact on large residential buildings, which is the focus of this article.

By Karen Meara and Christopher Rizzo

11 minute read

February 20, 2019 | New York Law Journal

Domestic Environmental Law columnists Karen Meara and Christopher Rizzo focus on some of the ways that disparate laws and policies governing parks are creating open space winners and losers and how a few changes might level the playing field.

By Karen Meara and Christopher Rizzo

8 minute read

October 24, 2018 | New York Law Journal

In their Domestic Environmental Law column, Karen Meara and Christopher Rizzo write: Historically, the most consistent aspect of now-Justice Kavanuagh's record regarding environmental (and other administrative law) matters has been his insistence that agencies never stray from a strict reading of the statute at hand, even when a strict reading leads to undesirable results. We consider whether he has applied this approach evenly and conclude that he has not.

By Karen Meara and Christopher Rizzo

8 minute read

June 20, 2018 | New York Law Journal

States and cities are striving to improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in an era when the federal government is moving in the opposite direction.

By Karen Meara and Christopher Rizzo

1 minute read