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Full-Text Articles in Law
Environmental Justice And Natural Areas Protection Trends & Insight, Michael B. Gerrard
Environmental Justice And Natural Areas Protection Trends & Insight, Michael B. Gerrard
Faculty Scholarship
There are 3,119,963 square miles in the continental United States. That sounds like plenty of space to put just about anything. However, when the facility seeking a home is environmentally controversial, finding even one square mile can seem almost impossible.
This country is now in its third major era in making siting decisions. The first era – unconstrained siting – lasted until the late 1960s. Then began the second era – protecting natural areas. In the early 1990s, we embarked upon a third era – environmental justice. The growing tensions between protecting natural areas and achieving environmental justice suggest that …
The Role Of Existing Environmental Laws In The Environmental Justice Movement, Michael B. Gerrard
The Role Of Existing Environmental Laws In The Environmental Justice Movement, Michael B. Gerrard
Faculty Scholarship
I will focus on what can and cannot be done under the existing statutory and regulatory structures and the common law to protect minority communities from environmental hazards. I will highlight some of the current holes in the legal system to suggest areas where statutory reform might be useful. Fights against these facilities break down between future unbuilt facilities, on the one hand, and existing facilities on the other hand.
A broad array of statutes regulates future facilities, such as landfills, incinerators, interstate highways, and polluting factories. Some of these laws are aimed at providing information and requiring the decision …