Fordham Environmental Law Review Volume 24, Number 2 2017 Article 3 Climate Change and the Convergence of Environmental and Energy Law Alexandra B. Klass∗ ∗University of Minnesota Law School,
[email protected] Copyright c 2017 by the authors. Fordham Environmental Law Review is produced by The Berkeley Electronic Press (bepress). http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/elr CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE CONVERGENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND ENERGY LAW Alexandra B. Klass* INTRODUCTION Upon being asked to contribute to the Fordham Environmental Law Review's 20th Anniversary book on the trajectory of environmental law over the past twenty years, I quickly realized that a reflection on twenty years of environmental law would also be, for me, a reflection on my twenty years as an environmental lawyer and scholar. I graduated from law school in 1992, practiced environmental law for just over ten years, and then moved to academia, where I have taught and written about environmental law for just under ten years. This type of reflection necessarily causes one to think about what has changed and what has remained the same during these twenty years, as well as future of the field. Much is the same. Environmental law is still concerned with clean air, clean water, protecting species, remediating contaminated property, and ensuring decisions are made with sufficient information on and concern for potential adverse environmental impacts. Differing visions of federalism, in the context of jurisdiction over wetlands, the scope of the federal government's authority to protect species on private lands, and other areas, continue both in Congress and the courts. The lack of major federal legislation in the environmental law area has also been a constant over these past twenty years, with Congress limiting itself primarily to targeted fixes to existing legislation such as Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act ("CERCLA") and the Clean Air Act, even while the Environmental Protection Agency * Julius E.