Are you interested in environmental law or policy? In a special interview with Danielle Spiegel-Feld, the Executive Director and an Adjunct Law Professor of the Guarini Center on Environmental, Energy, and Land Use Law, I got the inside scoop on environmental policies, how the NYU community can get involved at the Guarini Center, environmental policies under the current administration, what Danielle’s days look like, and much more. Why didn’t New York City ban plastic bags? You’ll have to keep reading to find out!
So I have to admit, after sitting with Danielle for an hour and discussing local, domestic, and international environmental policies, I found her passion infectious!
Meet Danielle. Her days are extremely varied. You can catch her teaching a course on Urban Environmental Law, researching and writing on topics of interest, overseeing fellows at the Guarini Center, or managing its resources.
Danielle’s work focuses on helping cities think about how they can more effectively promote environmental goals. She’s critiqued and worked on the development of two incredible policies in New York City: 1. energy grades; and 2. green roofs. Danielle’s goal was to help NYC adopt a system to display energy grades for buildings. Each building had been submitting data to the city about their energy use per square foot but few people knew this data even existed! Danielle proposed and NYC adopted into law that buildings must post their energy scores and report their standing in the form of a letter grade displayed on the building. The second policy Danielle has been working on is related to how NYC can expand its number of green roofs. While there are already policies to promote green roofs, they haven’t all been very effective. With a student from the Law school, Lauren Sherman, Danielle has proposed a way for the city to reform its tax incentives for green roofs to help get more built in the future.
A lot of people are concerned about what’s happening to environmental policies under the current federal administration, so I asked Danielle for the insider details. Danielle told me that the proposed changes to fuel efficiency standards as well as to methane emissions are upsetting developments. In addition, the appointment of Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court raises concerns about the efficacy of the Clean Air Act in regulating greenhouse gas emissions. But there’s good news: many attempts to retreat from previous policy decisions are subject to judicial review. So we can hope that these retreats will be disciplined some what by the courts. With threats to environmental policies at the federal level, state and local actions are increasingly more important. Danielle believes there’s a lot that is and can be done. She told me, “I would really encourage students of NYU communities during this time in which the federal government seems to be fairly hostile towards environmental interests to redouble their efforts to ensure progress is being made locally.” Danielle also noted that in NYC we are lucky to have a council and mayor that support environmental progress and are responsive to constituents that push to see more.
Speaking of NYC, I asked Danielle to tell me about environmental policies in NYC and New York State. Danielle acknowledged that New York is highly polarized. The polarization effects NYC when the state prevents the city from adopting certain environmental policies. What happened to the proposed fee on plastic bags? Danielle explained that the fee on plastic bags wasn’t supported by the state legislature in Albany. Another example of this is congestion pricing, which is an essential policy for NYC as it can fund the subway system and reduce local air pollutants in addition to greenhouse emissions. Overall, up-state and down-state communities can have different views which can stifle NYC’s environmental progress. This phenomenon when the state can prevent the city from acting in many instances, is call preemption. NYC has home rule which means it can create policies for itself. However, the policies are subject to NY state’s right to preempt their legislation. Therefore, we see the state preempting local laws due to conflicting views like the case for the plastic bag fee.
I don’t know about you, but after my time with Danielle, I was itching to have more of an impact on local policies. Did you know that you can get involved right here on NYU’s campus? The Guarini Center’s goal is to promote a more sustainable economy, through policy, research, and advocacy. The Center is looking to help lawmakers think about what kind of policies should be adopted to promote sustainability. In addition, they are also thinking about how the judiciary should be considering environmental law questions. Danielle wants to inform students outside of the law school that they can attend their events which are held regularly throughout the school year. In addition, they have research assistant position and even undergraduates can apply for these positions!
For students looking to get into law and policy, Danielle recommends you try sitting in on a class, working with government officials, or for organizations that work in law reform. NYU’s Law School offers classes to observe each semester: Fall 2018 Classes to Observe. 
To conclude, Danielle encourages members of the NYU community to take action in order to seek policy outcomes that represent their beliefs. Vote. Volunteer. Work. Speak Up. Attend Events. Educate Yourself.
We the people of the United States are especially lucky that we can speak our minds and elect our officials. Take advantage of the resources around you whether that’s here at NYU, NYC, or the country at large. Not to mention we have an incredibly international student body from politically diverse countries that can educate peers on how their countries’ political systems work.
And don’t forget to vote on November 6!
Danielle Spiegel-Feld is the Executive Director of Guarini Center on Environmental, Energy and Land Use Law. She is also an Adjunct Professor of Law. Danielle received her JD from New York University School of Law in 2010 and BA from University of Pennsylvania in 2006.