U.S. Legal Responses to Climate Change (French)

Abstract:     
In this paper presented at the University of Paris March 13, 2009 Symposium, Climate Change and its Legal Challenges, Professor Bach reflects on the U.S. experience of climate change litigation in the last five years. Facing legislative inaction at the federal level, a number of nongovernmental organizations, states and municipalities, and individuals have argued that existing federal law like the Clean Air Act and National Environmental Policy Act, and state law like public nuisance can be used to remedy specific climate change harms. Bach describes how these suits, along with state climate change statutes, have provided the Obama administration tested legal tools for crafting federal climate change law.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 10

Keywords: climate change, legal challenges, climate change litigation, Clean Air Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Obama administration, federal climate change law

working papers series