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Environmental Law

2015

Environmental law

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Articles 31 - 60 of 91

Full-Text Articles in Law

Enhanced Water Quality Protection In Florida: An Analysis Of The Regulatory And Practical Significance Of An Outstanding Florida Water Designation, Thomas T. Ankersen, Richard Hamann, Rachel King, Megan Wegerif, John November Aug 2015

Enhanced Water Quality Protection In Florida: An Analysis Of The Regulatory And Practical Significance Of An Outstanding Florida Water Designation, Thomas T. Ankersen, Richard Hamann, Rachel King, Megan Wegerif, John November

Thomas T Ankersen

The Outstanding Florida Water (OFW) designation is the highest protection offered to a body of water by the state of Florida and is available only to those waters whose “natural attributes” warrant it. An OFW designation provides that water body with an antidegradation standard for certain activities affecting its water quality. Ordinarily, waters in Florida must meet the criteria established by rule for their respective class of water (based on the Florida water body classification system), regardless of existing water quality. Once a water body is designated as an OFW, however, a baseline water quality standard is set based on …


Mesoamerican Biological Corridor: The Legal Framework For An Integrated, Regional System Of Protected Areas, Thomas T. Ankersen Aug 2015

Mesoamerican Biological Corridor: The Legal Framework For An Integrated, Regional System Of Protected Areas, Thomas T. Ankersen

Thomas T Ankersen

This article first briefly examines the historical basis for the recent movement toward regional environmental integration in Central America. Part II discusses the biological, economic and cultural rationales for a regional, protected-areas system. With this background, Part III reviews the current international law framework for biodiversity conservation. Part IV examines the extent to which existing models of international and regional cooperation incorporate modern scientific principles of conservation biology, such as island biogeography, into their legal framework. Finally, Part V surveys alternative international law approaches for an integrated, regional, protected-areas system to achieve the region's stated goal of preserving an “effective …


Redressing The Failure Of Environmental Law To Protect Birds And Their Habitat, Mary Jane Angelo, Anthony J. Cotter Aug 2015

Redressing The Failure Of Environmental Law To Protect Birds And Their Habitat, Mary Jane Angelo, Anthony J. Cotter

Mary Jane Angelo

The Audubon Report indicates that the forty-seven bird species occupying grassland habitats may be at the greatest risk. This category has the highest proportion of species at great risk of extinction. The risk of extinction is also high for shrubland birds. Most shrublands are degraded, and 107 bird species reside in shrubland habitat. Twelve species are of high conservation concern and twenty-four are of moderate concern. One hundred sixty-four avian species occupy woodland habitats. Sixteen of those species are of high concern and another twenty-eight are of moderate concern. For woodland species, the Audubon Report established a declining trend for …


The Greening Of Canadian Cyber Laws: What Environmental Law Can Teach And Cyber Law Can Learn, Sara Smyth Aug 2015

The Greening Of Canadian Cyber Laws: What Environmental Law Can Teach And Cyber Law Can Learn, Sara Smyth

Sara Smyth

This article examines whether Canadian environmental law and policy could serve as a model for cyber crime regulation. A wide variety of offences are now committed through digital technologies, including thievery, identity theft, fraud, the misdirection of communications, intellectual property theft, espionage, system disruption, the destruction of data, money laundering, hacktivism, and terrorism, among others. The focus of this Article is on the problem of data security breaches, which target businesses and consumers. Following the Introduction, Part I provides an overview of the parallels that can be drawn between threats in the natural environment and on the Internet. Both disciplines …


Underground Environmental Regulations: Regulations Imposed As Mitigation Measures Under Ceqa Violate The California Administrative Procedure Act, Jonathan Wood Aug 2015

Underground Environmental Regulations: Regulations Imposed As Mitigation Measures Under Ceqa Violate The California Administrative Procedure Act, Jonathan Wood

Jonathan Wood

What happens when an agency adopts a regulation under the California Environmental Quality Act as mitigation for a program’s environmental impact, without complying with the procedural requirements of the California Administrative Procedure Act? According to a recent California Court of Appeal decision – Center for Biological Diversity v. Department of Fish and Wildlife – these mitigation measures, which this article refers to as underground environmental regulations, are invalid. This article defends that interpretation and addresses its consequences for agencies and the regulated public. Although these additional procedural protections benefit regulated parties in a variety of ways, they can also burden …


Nepa At 21: Over The Hill Already?, David G. Burleson Jul 2015

Nepa At 21: Over The Hill Already?, David G. Burleson

Akron Law Review

The first part of this Comment will briefly review the somewhat meteoric rise of NEPA including the increase in public awareness which led to federal action, its projected effect, and the manner in which the courts seemed to be heading in their treatment of NEPA. The Comment will then review the decline of NEPA due to subsequent Supreme Court decisions. Finally, the Comment will consider possible remedies for the present anemic condition of this first federal environmental statute.


Response To Heather Gerken's Federalism And Nationalism: Time For A Détente?, Erin Ryan Jul 2015

Response To Heather Gerken's Federalism And Nationalism: Time For A Détente?, Erin Ryan

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.


Environmental Law, Eleventh Circuit Survey, Travis M. Trimble Jul 2015

Environmental Law, Eleventh Circuit Survey, Travis M. Trimble

Scholarly Works

In 2014, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, addressing an issue of first impression, rejected the district court's use of a Lone Pine case-management order as a means of testing the sufficiency of the plaintiffs' pleadings in a state law environmental torts case. The court also interpreted Florida law to mean that plaintiffs are not required to allege that groundwater contamination exceeded regulatory maximum contaminant levels for drinking water to maintain their claims and that they could recover "stigma" damages to their property without alleging actual contamination. The United States District Court for the Middle District …


The Increasing Privatization Of Environmental Permitting, Jessica Owley Jun 2015

The Increasing Privatization Of Environmental Permitting, Jessica Owley

Akron Law Review

This article examines the increasing privatization of environmental law by taking a close look at mitigation measures in permitting programs. As mitigation has become an increasingly important element of permitting programs, permitting agencies have looked for outside organizations to help design, monitor, and enforce the mitigation projects. Thus, compensatory mitigation projects provide a good lens for examining the role of private organizations in environmental law. There are good reasons for drawing on the power of private organizations. They can provide flexibility and expertise as well as increased capacity. However, concerns regarding democracy and accountability arise when government agencies hand off …


Toward Regional Governance In Environmental Law, Douglas R. Williams Jun 2015

Toward Regional Governance In Environmental Law, Douglas R. Williams

Akron Law Review

This article will proceed in three parts. Part I provides a brief introduction to the structured institutional arrangements under the CAA and the CWA. I discuss how these programs have evolved in ways that depart from what may have been originally anticipated and how their structure poses impediments to effective environmental management. Part II provides a short summary of current thinking about the institutional architecture of our environmental programs, focusing primarily on the “environmental federalism” scholarship of recent years. I offer reasons for abandoning federalism as an appropriate institutional framework. Part III presents a conceptual, rather than tightly engineered, argument …


Looking Back To The Future: The Curmudgeon's Guide To The Future Of Environmental Law, Denis Binder Jun 2015

Looking Back To The Future: The Curmudgeon's Guide To The Future Of Environmental Law, Denis Binder

Akron Law Review

This essay is not intended as a traditional law review article, but as an essay intended to raise questions about the current status and future of Environmental Law in light of the three and one-half centuries of a developmental, exploitative ethos in America.


Power To The People: Restoring The Public Voice In Environmental Law, Albert C. Lin Jun 2015

Power To The People: Restoring The Public Voice In Environmental Law, Albert C. Lin

Akron Law Review

Although the last forty years of environmental law have witnessed some successes, they have also increasingly revealed the limitations of existing laws and regulatory structures. Congress has been unable to pass substantial environmental legislation in recent years, notwithstanding widespread recognition of the need for better tools for responding to climate change, toxic chemicals, non-point source water pollution, and other problems. In addition, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has struggled in the wake of limited resources and politicization to effectively use the tools it has, and its rulemaking processes are often dominated by industry and other repeat players. To deal with …


Aligning Regulation With The Informational Need: Ecosystem Services And The Next Generation Of Environmental Law, Keith H. Hirokawa, Elizabeth J. Porter Jun 2015

Aligning Regulation With The Informational Need: Ecosystem Services And The Next Generation Of Environmental Law, Keith H. Hirokawa, Elizabeth J. Porter

Akron Law Review

This article explores the Clinch Coalition decision to understand why the court would perpetuate a process that systematically rejects the relevance and value of ecosystem processes in the information gathering exercise entailed in these environmental regulations. The discussion begins with an introduction to ecosystem services as a study of human dependency on the services provided by functioning ecosystems. In the second section, the article turns to the Clinch Coalition decision to outline the arguments relied upon by the court to legitimize the Forest Service’s decision to avoid an ecosystem services analysis. The article then presents the Clinch Coalition decision as …


Adaptive Management And The Future Of Environmental Law, Eric Biber Jun 2015

Adaptive Management And The Future Of Environmental Law, Eric Biber

Akron Law Review

Adaptive management is the new paradigm in environmental law. It is omnipresent in scholarship and management documents and is even starting to appear in court opinions. There have been many calls for environmental law to adapt itself to adaptive management by becoming more flexible and dynamic. But does adaptive management really warrant a revolution in environmental law? Or is it adaptive management that might need to adapt to the world of environmental law? There has been an abundance of scholarship on the strengths of adaptive management, making the case for changing environmental law to embrace adaptive management. But answering the …


Environmental Law And The Collapse Of New Deal Constitutionalism, Arthur F. Mcevoy Jun 2015

Environmental Law And The Collapse Of New Deal Constitutionalism, Arthur F. Mcevoy

Akron Law Review

This Article, which is a précis for a book in progress about the history of late twentieth-century U.S. environmental law, argues that our modern environmental law is peculiarly a creature of the New Deal. Despite its obvious legacy from common-law nuisance and Progressive regulation, what makes modern environmental law different from anything that came before is the way in which reformers built it out of parts copied from New Deal reform projects: cooperative federalism, the tax-and-spend power, representation-reinforcing, rights trumps, and so on. Environmental law’s history, its character, its accomplishments, and its shortcomings thus entwined with those of the New …


Replacing Sustainability, Robin Kundis Craig, Melinda Harm Benson Jun 2015

Replacing Sustainability, Robin Kundis Craig, Melinda Harm Benson

Akron Law Review

This Article argues that, from a policy perspective, we must face the impossibility of even defining—let alone pursuing—a goal of “sustainability” in a world characterized by such extreme complexity, radical uncertainty, and discomfiting loss of stationarity. Instead, we need new policy directions and orientations that provide the necessary capacity to deal with these “wicked problems” in a meaningful and equitable way. The realities of current and emerging SES dynamics warrant a new set of tools and approaches to governance of those systems. Part II of this Article provides a brief history of sustainability and sustainable development, including corollary emphases on …


Symposium: The Next Generation Of Environmental And Natural Resources Law: What Has Changed In Forty Years And What Needs To Change As A Result, Kalyani Robbins Jun 2015

Symposium: The Next Generation Of Environmental And Natural Resources Law: What Has Changed In Forty Years And What Needs To Change As A Result, Kalyani Robbins

Akron Law Review

Introduction to nine perspectives changing in the field of Environmental and Natural Resources Law. These discussions, and our shared concern for the issues that will impact the planet for centuries to come, are so valuable.


What The Frack? How Weak Industrial Disclosure Rules Prevent Public Understanding Of Chemical Practices And Toxic Politics, Benjamin W. Cramer Jun 2015

What The Frack? How Weak Industrial Disclosure Rules Prevent Public Understanding Of Chemical Practices And Toxic Politics, Benjamin W. Cramer

Benjamin W. Cramer

Hydraulic fracturing, known colloquially as “fracking,” makes use of chemically-formulated fluid that is forced down a gas well at great pressure to fracture underground rock formations and release embedded natural gas. Many journalists, environmentalists, and public health advocates are concerned about what may happen if the fracking fluid escapes the well and contaminates nearby drinking water supplies. This article attempts a comprehensive analysis and comparison of all relevant fracking fluid disclosure regulations currently extant in the United States, and considers whether the information gained is truly useful for citizens, journalists, and regulators. In recent years the federal government and several …


Promoting Sustainable Development Through Environmental Law: Prospects For Saudi Arabia, Faisal K. Alturki Jun 2015

Promoting Sustainable Development Through Environmental Law: Prospects For Saudi Arabia, Faisal K. Alturki

Dissertations & Theses

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia enjoys a rich cultural and natural heritage and has an advanced state of socio- economic development. It also suffers from a wide range of growing environmental problems such as securing its potable water supply, coping with solid and liquid waste, ensuring clean air or protecting the marine environment. It is the objective of sustainable development to ensure that further development in the Kingdom does not damage the public health of the people or the natural environment. The policies underlying sustainable development have developed internationally over the past four decades and are well explained in Agenda …


Trending @ Rwu Law: Dennis Esposito's Post: Marine Affairs: Esposito Takes The Helm, Dennis Esposito Apr 2015

Trending @ Rwu Law: Dennis Esposito's Post: Marine Affairs: Esposito Takes The Helm, Dennis Esposito

Law School Blogs

No abstract provided.


Comparative Environmental Constitutionalism, Erin Daly, James May Mar 2015

Comparative Environmental Constitutionalism, Erin Daly, James May

Erin Daly

As more and more countries around the globe are amending their constitutions to recognises environmental rights and duties relating to air, water, the use of natural resources, sustainability, climate change, and more, courts are increasingly engaging with these provisions and developing a common constitutional law of environmental rights. This article examines this growing jurisprudence and surveys the central axes around which debates about environmental constitutionalism revolve. First, we examine whether environmental rights are more suitably advanced at the international level or at the national level of constitutional law, as is increasingly the case; the former offers two alternatives—protecting the environment …


Advancing Climate Justice In International Law: Evaluating The United Nations Human Rights Based Approach, Dr. Damilola S. Olawuyi Mar 2015

Advancing Climate Justice In International Law: Evaluating The United Nations Human Rights Based Approach, Dr. Damilola S. Olawuyi

Environmental and Animal Law

The Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University College of Law's Center for International Law & Justice and the Environment, Development & Justice Program presented the First Annual Climate and Energy Justice Lecture featuring Dr. Damilola S. Olawuyi. Dr. Olawuyi teaches and conducts research in the area of public international law, specializing in natural resources, energy and environment, oil and gas law and international human rights law.


Measuring Brief, Susan Johnson, Mitchell Lowenthal, Rose Monahan Mar 2015

Measuring Brief, Susan Johnson, Mitchell Lowenthal, Rose Monahan

Pace Environmental Law Review Online Companion

No abstract provided.


Measuring Brief, Alex Acerra, Grant Campbell, Lauren Christmas Mar 2015

Measuring Brief, Alex Acerra, Grant Campbell, Lauren Christmas

Pace Environmental Law Review Online Companion

No abstract provided.


Measuring Brief, Harley Carmer, John Robinson Jr., Douglas Naftz Mar 2015

Measuring Brief, Harley Carmer, John Robinson Jr., Douglas Naftz

Pace Environmental Law Review Online Companion

No abstract provided.


2014 Bench Memorandum Mar 2015

2014 Bench Memorandum

Pace Environmental Law Review Online Companion

No abstract provided.


Maintaining A Healthy Water Supply While Growing A Healthy Food Supply: Legal Tools For Cleaning Up Agricultural Water Pollution, Mary Jane Angelo, Jon Morris Mar 2015

Maintaining A Healthy Water Supply While Growing A Healthy Food Supply: Legal Tools For Cleaning Up Agricultural Water Pollution, Mary Jane Angelo, Jon Morris

Mary Jane Angelo

This article will explore a number of legal mechanisms that could play a role in ensuring that discharges from agricultural activities do not cause or contribute to violations of water quality standards. Specifically, this article will evaluate the relative effectiveness of: (1) narrative nutrient criteria as compared with numeric nutrient criteria; (2) Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) implementation through regulatory and non-regulatory mechanisms; and (3) the relative efficacy of design-based standards such as Best Management Practices (BMPs) and performance-based standards in reducing water pollution from agriculture. The article will draw on experiences from the State of Florida, including Everglades' restoration …


Florida's Troubled Phosphate Companies: Can Bankruptcy Law Be Used To Relieve Their Obligation To Reclaim The Land?, Mary Jane Angelo Mar 2015

Florida's Troubled Phosphate Companies: Can Bankruptcy Law Be Used To Relieve Their Obligation To Reclaim The Land?, Mary Jane Angelo

Mary Jane Angelo

The conflict that brings us here arises when the earth is disturbed and the environment in which we live is threatened. . . . On the one hand are the corporations who mine phosphate reserves in Florida—their intentions are based on the argument that an ever-shrinking agrarian base in America must have fertilizer to remain effective and productive. On the other hand are the individuals and groups who oppose that mining and their argument is based upon the contention that such mining is too destructive of a unique and very fragile ecosystem. By the year 2000, phosphate companies will have …


Exalting The Corporate Form Over Environmental Protection The Corporate Shell Game And The Enforcement Of Water Management Law In Florida, Mary Jane Angelo, Charles Lobdell, Tara Boonstra Mar 2015

Exalting The Corporate Form Over Environmental Protection The Corporate Shell Game And The Enforcement Of Water Management Law In Florida, Mary Jane Angelo, Charles Lobdell, Tara Boonstra

Mary Jane Angelo

Current laws in Florida afford substantial protection to the “people behind the corporations” (corporate principals) and generally do not allow environmental permitting agencies such as the water management districts to consider such people in their permitting or enforcement efforts. This article poses the question “Do existing corporate law principles of limited liability defeat the important public policy of water resource protection in Florida?” First, in Parts II and III, this article introduces the problem and provides an overview of Florida water management district permitting and enforcement authorities and processes. Next, in Part IV, this article explores the existing legal authorities …


Scholarship With Purpose: The View From A Mission-Driven School, Christine N. Cimini Mar 2015

Scholarship With Purpose: The View From A Mission-Driven School, Christine N. Cimini

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.