It's a Soft Shell Life for ME: The Case for Expanding NPDES Permitting to Include Causes of Ocean Acidification

• Main Author: Nowatzke, Natalie L.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: University of Maine School of Law Digital Commons 2024
• Subjects: Ocean Acidification; Gulf of Maine; Clean Air Act; Clean Water Act; NPDES; Shell Dissolution; New England; Fishing; Lobstering; Functional Equivalent; Carbon Dioxide; Energy and Utilities Law; Labor and Employment Law; Land Use Law; Legislation; Natural Resources Law; Taxation-Federal; Tax Law; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.mainelaw.maine.edu/oclj/vol29/iss1/4; https://digitalcommons.mainelaw.maine.edu/context/oclj/article/1427/viewcontent/vol29_oclj_51.pdf

Ocean acidification, a lesser-known counterpart to climate change, is primarily caused by the ocean’s absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This absorption, in turn, reduces the ocean’s pH, and has detrimental effects on the health of the entire ecosystem. This Comment examines the applicability of the “functional equivalent test,” coined by the Supreme Court in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, to the causes of ocean acidification. Using this test, this Comment proposes expanding NPDES permitting under the Clean Water Act to cover some landbased sources emitting carbon dioxide.