Law Commons^™

Cleaning Up Superfund, W. Kip Viscusi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The cleanup of hazardous wastes is the number one environmental concern of the American people. The government's response: the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched its Superfund program, which was established by Congress in 1980 and reformed in 1986. But, though not even two decades old, the Superfund effort is now a major target of Congress in its regulatory reform efforts. There are two main sources of dissatisfaction: First, cleanups of hazardous wastes are expensive, averaging $25.7 million per site. Superfund expenditures increased from under $400 million in 1985 to over $1.4 billion in 1995 and continue to be above the …

Recovering Environmental Cleanup Costs Under The Resource Conservation And Recovery Act: A Potential Solution To A Persistent Problem, Randall J. Butterfield

Vanderbilt Law Review

The rise of environmental concerns in the 1950s and 1960s' led Congress to adopt a number of statutes designed to curtail the pro- duction of air and water pollution as well as to promote the proper handling, storage, and disposal of those substances capable of contaminating the nation's natural resources. Citizen suit provisions were eventually incorporated into these environmental statutes in an effort to supplement what many perceived to be less than diligent governmental enforcement measures. However, despite early congressional efforts to regulate air and water pollution, disposal of hazardous waste on land went largely unregulated. This legislative oversight resulted …

Venue For Offshore Environmental Crimes: The Seaward Limits Of The Federal Judicial Districts, M. Benjamin Cowan

Vanderbilt Law Review

Consider the following scenario: USA Oil, an American company incorporated in Delaware with its principal place of business in California, has been conducting ongoing oil drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The company operates three oil platforms off the Texas coast. One is located two miles offshore, another six miles offshore, and the third ten miles offshore.

Federal authorities receive notice that on several occasions since the company began operating these rigs, it deliberately allowed large quantities of oil to leak into the Gulf from each of them. The government seeks to indict USA Oil on three counts of …

Deterring Irresponsible Use And Disposal Of Toxic Substances: The Case For Legislative Recognition Of Increased Risk Causes Of Action, Tamsen D. Love

Vanderbilt Law Review

Increasing risk does not ordinarily result in tort liability. For instance, every speeding driver increases the risk of a traffic accident.' Tort liability, however, attaches only if the driver actually causes an accident, This means that of two reckless drivers who engage in exactly the same risky behavior, one might face great liability, while the other might escape with no liability at all. The difference between the two cases is in many ways a mere fortuity-whether timing and circumstance conspire to cause a traffic accident in a particular case or not. Many acts of reckless driving go unanswered in tort …

Environmental Reform In An Era Of Political Discontent, Walter R. Burkley

Vanderbilt Law Review

When Congress sought in 1995 to restructure the federal environmental regulatory schemes, it looked like a good fight to pick.' Congress, Republican-controlled for the first time in decades, was armed with an apparent mandate to shrink the federal government. Moreover, Americans were concerned about jobs and the economy. Environmental regulation, so the argument goes, impedes competitiveness, which in turn leads to loss of jobs. In addition, if history is any guide, environmental concerns tend to suffer in times when the economic interest of individuals is the driving political force. Given these dual concerns over the economy and the size of …

What Should Be The Leading Principles Of Land Use Planning? A German Perspective, Clifford Larsen

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In this Article discussing German land use planning, the author begins by tracing the historical emergence of land use planning in Germany. The author then evaluates the influence of Germany's constitution on the fundamental principles of land use planning. The author reviews German land use planning's historical and constitutional foundations, then examines the goals guiding federal and state planning and the system constructed to achieve these goals. The author proceeds to analyze the challenges presented to German land use planning by reunification, the environment, and European interdependence. In conclusion, the author reviews the relative merits of German land use planning …

Regulating The Regulators, W. Kip Viscusi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Since the 1970s, there has been a tremendous growth in government regulation pertaining to risk and the environment. These efforts have emerged quite legitimately because market processes alone cannot fully address risk-related concerns.' Without some kind of regulation or liability, for example, firms lack appropriate incentives to restrict their pollution. Similarly, when products or activities are extremely risky, if people are not cognizant of the risks they face, the firms generating the hazards may not have adequate incentives to issue warnings. To solve these problems, regulatory agencies have mounted a wide variety of efforts to improve the quality of the …

Malpractice And Environmental Law: Should Environmental Law "Specialists" Be Worried?, J.B. Ruhl

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This article examines the field of environmental law as a potential minefield for malpractice claims given its complex and dynamic nature. The article outlines principles for malpractice law applied to environmental law, based on malpractice principles applied in the tax and patent fields.

The Fitness Of Law: Using Complexity Theory To Describe The Evolution Of Law And Society And Its Practical Meaning For Democracy, J.B. Ruhl

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This article is the second in my series of articles exploring the application of complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory to legal systems. Building on the model outlined in the first installment (in the Duke Law Journal), this work develops an evolutionary theory of legal systems as CAS. It suggests that long-term fitness of the legal system will require use of innovative, adaptive legal institutions and instruments.

An Alternative To Ready, Fire, Aim: A New Framework To Link Environmental Targets In Environmental Law, Michael P. Vandenbergh

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This Article begins with a brief overview of the state of the environment and the lessons learned from the early development of the command and control system. It then explores recent reform proposals and the scholarship on the democratic impact of means-based approaches. The Article next examines the new model that is emerging in the Netherlands and other countries, and identifies the critical feature of the new model: the development of context for environmental decisionmaking at each of the three levels discussed above. The Article concludes by analyzing the implications of this Framework Approach for the environmental debate and for …