Law Commons^™

Corporate Social Responsibility And Firm Compliance: Lessons From The International Law-International Relations Discourse, Christiana Ochoa

Articles by Maurer Faculty

There has been a long and fruitful discourse between and among legal academics and political scientists, known as international law (IL)-international relations (IL) scholarship. A great deal of that scholarship has discussed the effectiveness of particular IL regimes, usually as part of a larger discourse regarding the question of compliance with IL or international institutions, more generally, including agreed norms and soft law. This field of IL-IR scholarship has taken a fairly Westphalian and Weberian view of international law and of international relations, viewing states as the subjects of international law and, thus, seeing states as its subjects of study. …

A Tradable Conservation Easement For Vulnerable Conservation Objectives, W. William Weeks

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The critical conservation objectives in some conservation easements will probably be compromised by the effects of climate change in the relatively near future. Prompted to consider that likelihood, we can similarly predict that landscape fragmentation, invasive species, and other catastrophes— anthropogenic and natural—may also seriously diminish the capacity of particular parcels of land to serve narrowly defined conservation purposes, and especially, the conservation of a particular element of biodiversity.

The Story Of Kleppe V. New Mexico: The Sagebrush Rebellion As Un-Cooperative Federalism, Robert L. Fischman, Jeremiah Williamson

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The story of Kleppe v. New Mexico dramatizes how assertion of federal power advancing national conservation objectives collided with traditional, local economic interests on public lands in the 1970s. This article connects that history with current approaches to natural resources federalism. New Mexico challenged the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, which diminished both state jurisdiction and rancher influence over public rangelands. In response, the Supreme Court resoundingly approved federal authority to reprioritize uses of the public resources, including wildlife, and spurred a lasting backlash in the West. Further legislation passed in the wake of Kleppe transformed this unrest into …

From Global To Polycentric Climate Governance, Daniel H. Cole

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Global governance institutions for climate change, such as those established by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, have so far failed to make a significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Following the lead of Elinor Ostrom, this paper offers an alternative theoretical framework for reconstructing global climate policy in accordance with the polycentric approach to governance pioneered in the early 1960s by Vincent Ostrom, Charles Tiebout, and Robert Warren. Instead of a thoroughly top-down global regime, in which lower levels of government simply carry out the mandates of international negotiators, a polycentric approach provides …

The Fight For Clean Technology Funds: Who Should Control The Future Of Low-Carbon Technology In The Developing World, William Gardner

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

As part of a multilateral climate change treaty, the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have discussed establishing an international aid mechanism, or fund, to support low-carbon energy generation and energy efficiency projects in developing countries. The selection of a fund administrator has been particularly contentious. Many developed countries believe that, rather than creating a new fund, the COP should use an already established one-the World Bank's Clean Technology Fund (CTF)-and select the World Bank as fund administrator.H owever, many developing countries believe the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC should create a …

Migration Conservation: A View From Above, Robert L. Fischman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The extinction prevention focus of natural resources policy diverts attention from important issues of ecological integrity and adaptation to climate change. Animal migration conservation serves as a bridge from the imperiled species problem to the more spatially and temporally difficult problems surrounding climate change adaptation. Conserving abundant animal migrations both strengthens the resilience of the ecosystems in which they function and tests the resilience of social institutions responsible for adaptation. This essay synthesizes the findings of a two-year, interdisciplinary study of animal migration conservation. It also introduces the articles that follow in a symposium issue of the journal, Environmental Law.

Enabling Investments In Environmental Sustainability, Heather Hughes

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Hicks V. Dowd, Conservation Easements, And The Charitable Trust Doctrine: Setting The Record Straight, W. William Weeks, Nancy A. Mclaughlin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This is the fourth in an exchange of articles published by the Wyoming Law Review discussing the application of charitable trust principles to conservation easements conveyed as charitable gifts. In 2002, Johnson County, Wyoming, attempted to terminate a conservation easement that had been conveyed to the County as a tax-deductible charitable gift. The County's actions were challenged, first in a suit brought by a resident of the County, Hicks v. Dowd, and then in a suit brought by the Wyoming Attorney General, Salzburg v. Dowd. The over six years of litigation associated with the easement's attempted termination has been the …

The Legal Challenge Of Protecting Animal Migrations As Phenomena Of Abundance, Robert L. Fischman, Jeffrey B. Hyman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Animal migrations are as familiar as geese in the sky on a fall afternoon and as mysterious as the peregrinations of sea turtles across thousands of miles of open ocean. This article discusses the distinguishing attributes of animal migrations, why they are important to biodiversity conservation, and the legal challenges posed by migration conservation. In particular, the article focuses on those aspects of migration conservation that existing law, dominated by imperiled species protection, fails to address. It consequently suggests law reforms that would better conserve animal migrations. A step toward serious legal efforts to protect the process and function of …

The Legal Challenge Of Protecting Animal Migrations As Phenomena Of Abundance, Robert L. Fischman, Jeffrey B. Hyman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Animal migrations are as familiar as geese in the sky on a fall afternoon and as mysterious as the peregrinations of sea turtles across thousands of miles of open ocean. This article discusses the distinguishing attributes of animal migrations, why they are important to biodiversity conservation, and the legal challenges posed by migration conservation. In particular, the article focuses on those aspects of migration conservation that existing law, dominated by imperiled species protection, fails to address. It consequently suggests law reforms that would better conserve animal migrations. A step toward serious legal efforts to protect the process and function of …

Adaptive Management In The Courts, Robert L. Fischman, J. B. Ruhl

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Adaptive management has become the tonic of natural resources policy. With its core idea of “learning while doing,” adaptive management has infused the natural resources policy world to the point of ubiquity, surfacing in everything from mundane agency permits to grand presidential proclamations. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to suggest that these days adaptive management is natural resources policy. But is it working? Does appending “adaptive” in front of “management” somehow make natural resources policy, which has always been about balancing competing claims to nature’s bounty, something more and better? Many legal and policy scholars have asked that question, with …

Beyond Chemicals: The Lessons That Toxic Substance Regulatory Reform Can Learn From Nanotechnology, Scott Bomkamp

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Preemption In Green Marketing: The Case For Uniform Federal Marketing Definitions, Robert B. White

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Is There An International Environmental Constitution?, Daniel Bodansky

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

The surge of interest among international lawyers in "constitutionalism" represents one of several efforts to reconceptualize internationa governance; others include the research projects on global administrative law and legalization. The article applies the constitutionalist lens to international environmental law-one of the few fields of international law to which constitutionalist modes of analysis have not yet been applied. Given the protean quality oft he terms "constitution"and "constitutionalism,"t he article begins by unpacking these concepts. By disaggregating these concepts into a number of separate variables, which have more determinate, unambiguous meanings, we can answer the question, "Is there an international environmental constitution?", …

Emerging Global Environmental Governance, N. Brian Winchester

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Environmental thinking and activism are steadily gaining widespread, even global acceptance, but are often in conflict with economic interests and international politics. Environmental priorities are further challenged by scientific uncertainty involving effects that in some cases will only become manifest far into the future. Nonetheless, accompanying this global environmental awakening has been an extraordinary number of international agreements on a wide range of critical environmental issues. While many of these environmental regimes lack adequate financial support and sanctions for non-compliance, they involve a variety of non-state actors, suggesting meaningful movement towards an evolving, complex form of global environmental governance. Indeed, …

Pain, Gain, Or Shame: The Evolution Of Environmental Law And The Role Of Multinational Corporations, Michael Ewing-Chow, Darryl Soh

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

The evolution of environmental law in the past century has been linked to the growing acceptance of the notion of collective global responsibility, which entails the notion of sustainable development. At the turn of this century, the focus in environmental law has shifted from the creation of a global framework to deal with environmental problems to that of compliance with these frameworks. As a result, the primary actor of environmental policy has shifted from the state to the corporation. How has environmental law developed so as to encourage compliance by this new primary actor? Conversely, how has the corporation been …

In Defense Of Conservation Easements: A Response To The End Of Perpetuity, W. William Weeks, Nancy A. Mclaughlin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Reclaiming International Law From Extraterritoriality, Austen L. Parrish

Articles by Maurer Faculty

A fierce debate ensues among leading international law theorists that implicates the role of national courts in solving global challenges. On the one side are scholars who are critical of international law and its institutions. These scholars, often referred to as Sovereigntists, see international law as a threat to democratic sovereignty. On the other side are scholars who support international law as a key means of promoting human and environmental rights, as well as global peace and stability. These scholars are the 'new' Internationalists because they see non-traditional, non-state actors as appropriately enforcing international law at the sub-state level. The …

Information Generation And Use Under Proposition 65: Model Provisions For Other Postmarket Laws?, Carl Cranor

Indiana Law Journal

Symposium: Missing Information: The Scientific Data Gap in Conservation and Chemical Regulation, held on March 24, 2006 at Indiana University School of Law- Bloomington.

Using Competition-Based Regulation To Bridge The Toxics Data Gap, Wendy Wagner

Indiana Law Journal

Symposium: Missing Information: The Scientific Data Gap in Conservation and Chemical Regulation, held on March 24, 2006 at Indiana University School of Law- Bloomington.

The Divides Of Environmental Law And The Problem Of Harm In The Endangered Species Act, Robert L. Fischman

Indiana Law Journal

Symposium: Missing Information: The Scientific Data Gap in Conservation and Chemical Regulation, held on March 24, 2006 at Indiana University School of Law- Bloomington.

Data Gaps In Natural Resource Management: Sniffing For Leaks Along The Information Pipeline, Holly Doremus

Indiana Law Journal

Despite wide recognition that natural resource management decisions are heavily dependent on the supply of scientific information, little attention has been paid to the processes by which that information is supplied. This paper lays out the key steps of the information supply pipeline, which include exploration, extraction, refining, blending, distribution, and consumption. Leaks in the pipeline can occur at any of these steps, interrupting the supply of information to decision makers. Because information supply is contextual and complex, no universal fix can address all information shortfalls. Nonetheless, several general recommendations emerge. First, decision makers must recognize the limits of scientific …

Uncertainty And The Endangered Species Act, Teresa Woods, Steve Morey

Indiana Law Journal

The U.S. Endangered Species Act requires the US. Fish and Wildlife Service to use the "best available" information when deciding whether to list species as threatened or endangered, and when regulating conservation for species already listed. The agency has discretion to determine the types, quantity, and quality of the information it uses as "best available, "but little discretion to defer decision making in cases where important scientific information is lacking. Complexities of nature, obscurity of many species' life history, and changing environmental circumstances are only some of the reasons why information is rarely complete, and why decisions are almost always …

Forward, John S. Applegate, Robert L. Fischman

Indiana Law Journal

Scientific information has become a centralr ationalef or environmental regulation, and scientific uncertainty is viewed as a major obstacle in developing, justifying, and enforcing environmental laws and policies. In the context of environmental regulation, scientific information may be analyzed as subject to both supply and demand. A regulatory system that supplies more scientific information than it demands can operate effectively to impose protective regulation. By contrast, a system that demands more information than it supplies will face a "data gap "and will fail to accomplish its protective goals. The data gap can be addressed by applying regulatory techniques that increase …

Bridging Data Gaps Through Modeling And Evaluation Of Surrogates: Use Of The Best Available Science To Protect Biological Diversity Under The National Forest Management Act, Robert L. Glicksman

Indiana Law Journal

Symposium: Missing Information: The Scientific Data Gap in Conservation and Chemical Regulation, held on March 24, 2006 at Indiana University School of Law- Bloomington.

Supply, Demand, And Consequences: The Impact Of Information Flow On Individual Permitting Decisions Under Section 404 Of The Clean Water Act, Alyson C. Flournoy

Indiana Law Journal

Symposium: Missing Information: The Scientific Data Gap in Conservation and Chemical Regulation, held on March 24, 2006 at Indiana University School of Law- Bloomington.

Sustainable Development And Market Liberalism's Shotgun Wedding: Emissions Trading Under The Kyoto Protocol, David M. Driesen

Indiana Law Journal

This Article analyzes the international emissions trading regime at the heart of the world's effort to address global warming as a means of exploring broader international governance issues. The trading regime seeks to marry two models of global governance, market liberalism, which embraces markets as the model of global governance, and sustainable development, which seeks to change development patterns to protect future generations.

This Article explores a previously unacknowledged tension between market liberalism's goal of maximizing short-term cost effectiveness and sustainable development's goal of catalyzing technological change for the benefit of future generations.T his Article presents new data and theory …

Adjudicatory Triggers Of Enhanced Ambient Environment Information, William W. Buzbee

Indiana Law Journal

Symposium: Missing Information: The Scientific Data Gap in Conservation and Chemical Regulation, held on March 24, 2006 at Indiana University School of Law- Bloomington.

Synthesizing Tsca And Reach: Practical Principles For Chemical Regulation Reform, John S. Applegate

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The European Union's newly enacted comprehensive regulation for industrial chemicals, known as REACH, draws heavily on three decades of experience in the United States under the Toxic Substances Control Act. Much of that experience has been negative, inasmuch as TSCA is widely regarded as a disappointment among US environmental laws, and so REACH deliberately reverses many of the legislative choices that Congress made in TSCA. REACH also takes advantage of important new regulatory concepts that were not available to the framers of TSCA thirty years ago. The passage of REACH has sparked renewed interest in reforming TSCA, and the reformers …

The Temporal Dimension Of Land Pollution: Another Perspective On Applying The Breaking The Logjam Principles To Waste Management, John S. Applegate

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Unlike air and water pollution, pollution from dangerous solid and liquid wastes on land remains a relatively concentrated, active hazard for long periods of time. Uncontrolled, land pollution moves through the environment slowly and often without significant diminution of toxicity. Persistence, in fact, is often regarded as the defining quality of dangerous land pollutants. Hazardous and nuclear waste regulation is very much concerned with the problem of maintaining the isolation of solid and liquid materials over decades, centuries, and even millennia, and, the author argues, there is good reason to believe that waste management practices and institutions are not well …