James R. Milkey | |
---|---|
Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court | |
In office April 8, 2009 –September 3, 2024 | |
Nominated by | Deval Patrick |
Preceded by | William Cowin |
Succeeded by | Vacant |
Personal details | |
Born | Hartford,Connecticut,U.S. | December 17,1956
Education | Harvard University (BA,JD) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MS) |
James R. Milkey (born December 17,1956) is an American judge and former environmental lawyer who served as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court.
Milkey was born in Hartford,Connecticut,and earned an undergraduate degree and a J.D. degree from Harvard University. Milkey also earned a master's degree in city planning from MIT. [1]
Milkey served as a law clerk to Appellate Justice Benjamin Kaplan,did research for the Boston Foundation,and interned for the Department of Interior. [1] [2] In 1984,Milkey joined the environmental protection division of the Massachusetts Attorney General's office. [2] Milkey became head of the division in 1996. [1] Concerned about global warming,Milkey initiated the case Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency,joining with eleven other states to argue that the George W. Bush administration should regulate carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act. [3] [4] The case made its way to the Supreme Court,with Milkey himself arguing before the court that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases should be regulated by the EPA as air pollutants. [5] [6] Massachusetts prevailed in a 5–4 decision. [7] The EPA would ultimately begin regulating greenhouse gases under the Obama administration. [8]
Milkey was appointed to the Massachusetts Appeals Court by Governor Deval Patrick,joining the court in 2009. [1] He retired from the court on September 3,2024. [1]
David Stephen Tatel is an American lawyer who served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Lisa Perez Jackson is an American chemical engineer who served as the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from 2009 to 2013. She was the first African American to hold that position.
Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency,549 U.S. 497 (2007),is a 5–4 U.S. Supreme Court case in which Massachusetts,along with eleven other states and several cities of the United States,represented by James Milkey,brought suit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) represented by Gregory G. Garre to force the federal agency to regulate the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) that pollute the environment and contribute to climate change.
The United States produced 5.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2020,the second largest in the world after greenhouse gas emissions by China and among the countries with the highest greenhouse gas emissions per person. In 2019 China is estimated to have emitted 27% of world GHG,followed by the United States with 11%,then India with 6.6%. In total the United States has emitted a quarter of world GHG,more than any other country. Annual emissions are over 15 tons per person and,amongst the top eight emitters,is the highest country by greenhouse gas emissions per person.
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The environmental policy of the United States is a federal governmental action to regulate activities that have an environmental impact in the United States. The goal of environmental policy is to protect the environment for future generations while interfering as little as possible with the efficiency of commerce or the liberty of the people and to limit inequity in who is burdened with environmental costs. As his first official act bringing in the 1970s,President Richard Nixon signed the U.S. National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) into law on New Year's Day,1970. Also in the same year,America began celebrating Earth Day,which has been called "the big bang of U.S. environmental politics,launching the country on a sweeping social learning curve about ecological management never before experienced or attempted in any other nation." NEPA established a comprehensive US national environmental policy and created the requirement to prepare an environmental impact statement for "major federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the environment." Author and consultant Charles H. Eccleston has called NEPA the world's "environmental Magna Carta".
The Clean Air Act (CAA) is the United States' primary federal air quality law,intended to reduce and control air pollution nationwide. Initially enacted in 1963 and amended many times since,it is one of the United States' first and most influential modern environmental laws.
The climate change policy of the United States has major impacts on global climate change and global climate change mitigation. This is because the United States is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in the world after China,and is among the countries with the highest greenhouse gas emissions per person in the world. Cumulatively,the United States has emitted over a trillion metric tons of greenhouse gases,more than any country in the world.
American Electric Power Company v. Connecticut,564 U.S. 410 (2011),was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court,in an 8–0 decision,held that corporations cannot be sued for greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) under federal common law,primarily because the Clean Air Act (CAA) delegates the management of carbon dioxide and other GHG emissions to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Brought to court in July 2004 in the Southern District of New York,this was the first global warming case based on a public nuisance claim.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began regulating greenhouse gases (GHGs) under the Clean Air Act from mobile and stationary sources of air pollution for the first time on January 2,2011. Standards for mobile sources have been established pursuant to Section 202 of the CAA,and GHGs from stationary sources are currently controlled under the authority of Part C of Title I of the Act. The basis for regulations was upheld in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in June 2012.
Energy Tax Prevention Act,also known as H.R. 910,was a 2011 bill in the United States House of Representatives to prohibit the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gases to address climate change. On April 7,2011,the bill passed the House by a vote of 255 to 172. The bill died in January 2013 with the ending of the Congressional session.
Regina McCarthy is an American air quality expert who served as the first White House national climate advisor from 2021 to 2022. She previously served as the thirteenth Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from 2013 to 2017.
Utility Air Regulatory Group v. Environmental Protection Agency,573 U.S. 302 (2014),was a US Supreme Court case regarding the Environmental Protection Agency's regulation of air pollution under the Clean Air Act.
The Clean Power Plan was an Obama administration policy aimed at combating climate change that was first proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in June 2014. The final version of the plan was unveiled by President Barack Obama on August 3,2015. Each state was assigned an individual goal for reducing carbon emissions,which could be accomplished how they saw fit,but with the possibility of the EPA stepping in if the state refused to submit a plan. If every state met its target,the plan was projected to reduce carbon emissions from electricity generation 32% by 2030,relative to 2005 levels,as well as achieving various health benefits due to reduced air pollution.
The environmental policy of the Donald Trump administration represented a shift from the policy priorities and goals of the preceding Barack Obama administration. Where President Obama's environmental agenda prioritized the reduction of carbon emissions through the use of renewable energy with the goal of conserving the environment for future generations,the Trump administration policy was for the US to attain energy independence based on fossil fuel use and to rescind many environmental regulations. By the end of Trump's term,his administration had rolled back 98 environmental rules and regulations,leaving an additional 14 rollbacks still in progress. As of early 2021,the Biden administration was making a public accounting of regulatory decisions under the Trump administration that had been influenced by politics rather than science.
Juliana,et al. v. United States of America,et al. was a climate-related lawsuit filed in 2015 and dismissed in 2020. Filed by 21 youth plaintiffs against the United States and several executive branch officials. Filing their case in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon,the plaintiffs,represented by the non-profit organization Our Children's Trust,include Xiuhtezcatl Martinez,the members of Martinez's organization Earth Guardians,and climatologist James Hansen as a "guardian for future generations". Some fossil fuel and industry groups initially intervened as defendants but later requested to be dropped following the 2016 presidential election,stating that the case would be well defended under the new administration.
Climate change litigation,also known as climate litigation,is an emerging body of environmental law using legal practice to set case law precedent to further climate change mitigation efforts from public institutions,such as governments and companies. Finding that climate change politics provides insufficient climate change mitigation for their tastes,activists and lawyers have increased efforts to use national and international judiciary systems to advance the effort. Climate litigation typically engages in one of five types of legal claims:Constitutional law,administrative law,private law,fraud or consumer protection,or human rights.
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Jonathan Z. Cannon is an American environmental lawyer,academic and author. He is a Blaine T Phillips Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law Emeritus at the University of Virginia School of Law.
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