Category: Students

Taiwan in the Global Climate Fight, and how America can Support it.

by Linden Dexter, 2L.

[1] The recent 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 27) provided an illustration of a novel way to protect the climate: by passing the Taiwan Enhanced Resilience Act (TERA) as part of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2022 (NDAA).[1]

[2] Our climate is rapidly deteriorating, and the world is running out of time to come together and stabilize it. Humanity cannot afford to allow any country to prevent another country from participating in the global climate fight. In response to strong support among attendees for Taiwan’s inclusion in the conference, China reminded the world of its stance on Taiwan, stating: “There is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China”.[2] China maintains that Taiwan is a part of China, while Taiwan does not. The two countries have been locked in a deeply ambiguous, pseudo cold war for decades. China wields significant economic and political influence on the global stage. For another country to defy China’s stance on Taiwan would most likely have disastrous effects for many nations that benefit greatly from Chinese trade. As a result, China’s brief statement regarding Taiwan at COP27 will most likely have a significant chilling effect on other nations and thus impede Taiwan’s aspirations to work more closely with the international community.

[3] Despite being excluded from COP27, Taiwan has nonetheless diligently worked towards a better climate future. In March of 2022, Taiwan published “Taiwan’s Pathway to Net-Zero Emissions in 2050”, a plan containing 4 major transition strategies for Taiwan in the fields of energy, industry, lifestyle, and social life, as well as legislation promoting sustainability and green R&D.[3] This indicates that Taiwan genuinely wants to cooperate with the rest of the world in working toward a better climate future, if given the chance to do so.

[4] Therefore, as part of its efforts to protect the environment, America must continue to counteract Chinese influence over Taiwan by passing the NDAA, which contains the TERA. Congress has passed the bill and has presented it to President Joe Biden.[4] The TERA contains approximately 10 billion dollars in security assistance and weapon procurement for Taiwan, as well as the establishment of training programs for Taiwan’s military. Though the link between a military funding bill and the environment may not be facially apparent, the benefit comes from Taiwan’s increased legitimacy on the global stage. Every action America takes to support Taiwan reverberates in the international community and indicates to the world that Taiwan is a valuable American partner. Just as China’s stance on Taiwan may have a chilling effect on international cooperation, America’s stance on Taiwan may have a warming effect that counteracts it. This, in turn, may encourage other countries to advocate more fiercely for Taiwan’s inclusion in global climate ventures.

Day 1 Recap of the Yosemite Conference 2022

Hundreds of legal professionals, students, and scholars alike all flocked to the beautiful Yosemite area this weekend for the annual Yosemite Conference. The conference aims to bring leaders together from environmental, land use, and natural resources law.

Today, the opening session was an all-group session that looked at federal action on environmental justice. Martha Guzman, Regional Administrator for the EPA, led the discussion and explored the ways in which the federal government is investing in environmental justice. It was an exciting session to listen in on. But even more so, it was empowering to see so many legal scholars gathered in one room to further explore the importance of environmental justice in our nation.

Following the opening session, I chose to attend the session on permitting the future of renewable energy. Here, the three panelists discussed the balance between California’s ambitious clean energy goals and the regulatory nature surrounding those goals. Some of the major projects that need to be permitted to enable California to reach its goal of 0 carbon output are a major increase in renewable energy as well as transmission lines. At the same time, the planning and development stages of those projects often have many obstacles. However, the panel was hopeful that California will be able to reach its goals through interagency collaboration moving forward.

For the last session of the day, I attended the session on California Ports and the global supply chain crisis. This session looked at some of the environmental justice issues surrounding communities that are near major ports. These communities are drastically impacted by emissions from trucks and vessels. The panelists discussed the goals of the Port authorities as well as the California Air Resource Board in reducing the emissions that strain communities. However, they also discussed the limitations and obstacles in doing so. For instance, all-electric fleets are technologically possible. However, many truck drivers are small-business owners who do not have the initial capital to purchase an electric truck. Therefore, a promulgated rule from CARB requiring all trucks to be electric would be unfairly burdensome to those small business owners. The panelists discussed this, among a number of other issues, facing CA Ports and the path toward a cleaner future.

CLA Free Webinar: Intro to Environmental Law Series: An Introduction to the Law of the River (Wednesday, August 3, 2022, 12pm)

The Environmental Law Section of the California Lawyers Association is hosting a free webinar today (Wednesday, August 3, 2022) on the Colorado River at 12 pm – 1:30 pm. Their past webinars have been excellent, especially for students interested in environmental law, but unfamiliar with the field. (This may be particularly timely for those students who will be taking environmental law this coming academic year.)

It’s part of a series of “Introduction to Environmental Law” webinars hosted by the Section for law students and new lawyers. Here is a link to the Section’s Youtube channel, which has past presentations.

Student Environmental Law Writing Competition Opportunities

Environmental Law Writing Competitions Offer Opportunities for $$, Showcasing Ideas and Writing to the Bar, and Bragging Rights on your Resume.

Writing competitions can be excellent opportunities for law students to get their (relatively) short course papers recognized publicly . . . usually with a nice prize check to boot! Sometimes, the prize will come with an opportunity to have the paper published. Most importantly, for career development and future job interviews, it comes with a great resume line-item and bragging rights for a paper well done!

Ask your favorite environmental law professor for help. They are always happy to support eager-beaver environmental law students who want to save the world! (At Santa Clara Law, that would be . . . me!)

Here are a few upcoming writing competition deadlines:

Environmental Law Student Writing Competition – sponsored by the California Lawyers Association Environmental Law Section. Submission Deadline: July 31, 2022. “The competition is free and open to all law school students currently enrolled at any law school located within California. Entries may be on any issue of legal and/or policy significance relating to the field of environmental law, and must be 5,000 words or less.” First place prize is $1000 and recognition at the October 2022 Yosemite Environmental Law Conference.

Annual Professor John R. Nolon Student Writing Competition – sponsored by the Pace Environmental Law Review. Submission Deadline: August 15, 2022. (This information came across one of the listservs I am on, and there does not seem to be any specific info posted on the web. So, it may be prudent to check with the Pace Environmental Law Review before submission.) Here’s the info: “Entries are encouraged from any law student from now until the final deadline as August 15, 2022. This year’s topic is Environmental Constitutionalism. Maximum length, 35 double-spaced pages, 12pt times new roman font (including footnotes, which may be single-spaced, 10pt times new roman font). To submit, email pelracq@law.pace.eduwith the subject line reading: PELR 2023 Writing Competition. Prize Awarded: 1st place: $500 and publication in PELR. 2nd and 3rd place – consideration of publication in PELR. Criteria for judging entries will be organization, practicality, originality, quality of research, clarity of style.”

Annual Student Essay Competition – sponsored by the Yale Law Journal. Submission Deadline: Sept. 9, 2022. This year’s competition topic is “Law and the Changing Environment,” designed to capture a broad range of legal topics related to the environment, energy, EJ, indigenous people, animal rights, financial regulations, etc. Eligible students include any JD and LLM students of classes 2018-20225 of any ABA-accredited school. Essays should be 4000-8000 words, including footnotes. Up to three winners will receive a $300 cash prize and published in the Yale Law Journal Forum (the Yale Law Journal’s online web publication).

Scholarships for Yosemite Environmental Law Conference (Deadline: July 29, 2022)

Apply by July 29, 2022 for registration fee and/or travel grants to attend the 2022 Annual Yosemite Environmental Law Conference (October 13-18, 2022) (in Yosemite National Park, of course!), sponsored by the California Lawyers Association’s Environmental Law Section. For environmental law students, this is a great opportunity to learn about the latest environmental law developments, both national and California, and to network with environmental law practitioners. Don’t miss this great opportunity for free money! It’s better than cash. (Haha – actually just free conference registration or travel cost.)

For additional information and for application link, check the CLA Environmental Law Section webpage.