Law Commons^™

Environmental Takings And The California Public Utilities Commission--The Covalt Decision, Paul Lacourciere

UC Law Environmental Journal

No abstract provided.

The Rise Of Environmental Law In The Asian Region, Ben Boer

University of Richmond Law Review

In the past three decades, the realm of environmental law in many Western countries, and internationally, has grown from a small baby crying for attention to a full-fledged, articulate adult, participating in a wide variety of international, regional, and national fora concerning the protection of the environment and the management of our natural resources. More recently, in many non-Western countries and especially in Asia, environmental law has begun to enter into adulthood, manifested by significant legislative initiatives, judicial activism and a resulting environmental jurisprudence, and the establishment and growth of environmental and resource management agencies.

Unreasonable Risk: Model Rule 1.6, Environmental Hazards, And Positive Law, Irma S. Russell

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

The Social Costs Of Punitive Damages Against Corporations In Environmental And Safety Torts, W. Kip Viscusi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Legal scholars and judges have long expressed concerns over the unpredictability and arbitrariness of punitive damages awards. Proposed remedies, such as restricting punitive damages to narrowly defined circumstances, have not yet met with success. This paper addresses the threshold issue of whether, on balance, punitive damages have benefits in excess of their costs. There is no evidence of a significant deterrent effect based on an original empirical analysis of a wide range of risk measures for the states with and without punitive damages. These measures included accident rates, chemical spills, medical malpractice injuries, insurance performance, and other outcomes that should …

Rising Seas, Coastal Erosion, And The Takings Clause: How To Save Wetlands And Beaches Without Hurting Property Owners, James G. Titus

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

New York State's Brownfields Programs: More And Less Than Meets The Eye, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

New York, as the nation's second most populous state, and one of its oldest and most urban, has an abundance of brownfields-slightly contaminated properties that were formerly used for industrial purposes, but that are now unused or underused, and ripe for redevelopment if they can be cleaned up. Thus, it may be surprising that New York is one of the few states without a comprehensive statute or regulation for the voluntary cleanup of brownfields.

There is, however, more here than meets the eye. New York has three important programs and several smaller ones that provide procedures, money, or incentives for …

Federalism In The Era Of International Standards: Federal And State Government Regulation Of Merchant Vessels In The United States (Part I), Craig H. Allen

Articles

In examining federalism issues relevant to merchant vessels, this article will distinguish between those laws and regulations governing liability for harm and those which regulate safety. Federalism questions arise most frequently in the former, private, maritime law domain, when courts are called upon to determine judicial jurisdiction and the extent to which state law may be applied to adjudicate liability and damages in cases falling within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction. Less frequently, the federalism debate focuses on public maritime law, when states seek to regulate commercial vessel safety or vessel-source pollution.

This article will begin with an examination of …

The Commerce Clause Meets The Delhi Sands Flower-Loving Fly, John C. Nagle

Journal Articles

Is the Endangered Species Act constitutional? The D.C. Circuit considered that question in National Association of Home Builders v. Babbitt in 1997. More specifically, the case considered whether the congressional power to regulate interstate commerce authorized the ESA's prohibition upon building a large regional hospital in the habitat of an endangered fly that lives only in a small area of southern California. The three judges on the D.C. Circuit approached the question from three different perspectives: the relationship between biodiversity as a whole and interstate commerce, the relationship between the fly and interstate commerce, and the relationship between the hospital …

Reason And Pollution: Construing The "Absolute" Pollution Exclusion In Context And In Light Of Its Purpose And Party Expectations, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

Responding to the flurry of environmental coverage litigation over the application of the “sudden and accidental” pollution exclusion, the insurance industry during the mid-1980s largely adopted new standard pollution exclusion language for commercial general liability (CGL) policies. Since the mid-1980s, the standard form CGL has included the so-called absolute pollution exclusion, which provides that the insurance does not apply to bodily injury or property damage “arising out of the actual, alleged or threatened discharge, dispersal, seepage, migration, release, or escape of pollutants.” A “pollutant” is defined as “any solid, liquid, gaseous or thermal irritant or contaminant, including smoke, vapor, soot, …

Recent Case Developments, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

Recent case developments in Insurance law in the year 1998.

Recent Case Developments, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

Recent case developments in Insurance Law in years 1998 and 1999.

Governmental Takings, Court Of Appeals: Gazza V. New York State Department Of Environmental Conservation

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

University Of Richmond Law Review

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Environmental Law, Kelley A. Kinney, Andrea West Wortzel

University of Richmond Law Review

This article reviews the key environmental developments at the federal and state levels during the period from June 1996 to June 1998. Legislation and judicial decisions are presented topically. Certain issues, such as public participation and environmental justice, are playing an increasing role and will likely impact all media.

From Stockholm To Kyoto And Back To The United States: International Environmental Law's Effect On Domestic Law, Joel B. Eisen

University of Richmond Law Review

We Americans think we're so darned smart. We invented modern environmental law, developed its sophisticated "command-and-control" structure, got the public involved as never before in fighting corporate polluters, and achieved measurable successes by getting lead out of our air and bald eagles back from near extinction. We've even tried "second generation" tools such as emissions trading systems' and incentive-based regulatory flexibility approaches when we discovered our system's limitations. Not that we've got it all figured out, mind you, but we're inclined to think of ourselves as world leaders when it comes to environmental protection.

Understanding Compliance With International Environmental Agreements: The Baker's Dozen Myths, Edith Brown Weiss

University of Richmond Law Review

Until recently, little attention has been given to whether states and other actors comply with the agreements they negotiate. The assumption has been that most states comply with most international law most of the time. There is, however, strong reason to question this assumption. As was apparent in the Breard case, which involved implementation and compliance with the consular convention, states do not necessarily comply with the international agreements they join, particularly when they involve implementation at the provincial/state and local levels.

The Seven Degrees Of Relevance: Why Should Real-World Environmental Attorneys Care Now About Sustainable Development Policy?, J.B. Ruhl

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This article explores the evolution of the concept of "sustainable development" through what I suggest are the "seven degrees" of relevance of legal conceptualizations: (1) translation of concept into norm; (2) uncontestability of the norm; (3) intolerance of violation of the norm; (4) demand for fulfillment of the norm; (5) translation of the norm as policy goal; (6) policy consequences based on the norm; (7) translation into hard law to apply. I suggest that, at the time of the writing (1998), sustainable development was stuck on level five.

Who Needs Congress? An Agenda For Administrative Reform Of The Endangered Species Act, J.B. Ruhl

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This article comprehensively examines the history and content of the numerous administrative reforms of the Endangered Species Act program carried out under the tenure of Department of the Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. The assessment is that these reforms provide a tremendous impetus for innovation of species conservation.

The Seesaw Of Environmental Power From Epa To The States: National Environmental Performace Plans, Joyce M. Martin, Kristina Kern

Villanova Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Epa's Hazardous Waste Identification Rule For Process Waste (Hwir-Waste) Gone Haywire, Again, Christopher J. Urban

Villanova Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

It's A Lorax Kind Of Market - But Is It A Sneetches Kind Of Solution: A Critical Review Of Current Laissez-Faire Environmental Marketing Regulation, Kimberly C. Cavanagh

Villanova Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Environmental Rights Statutes In The United States And Canada: Comparing The Michigan And Ontario Experiences, Joseph F. Castrilli

Villanova Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Rumpke Of Indiana, Inc. V. Cummins Engine Co.: The Potentially Responsible Party's Right To Full Cost Recovery Is Expanded, Christine D. Mcguire

Villanova Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The 'Ascent Of Man': Legal Systems And The Discovery Of An Environmental Ethic, Nicholas A. Robinson

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

A decade ago, firefighters in a warehouse on the Rhine in Switzerland washed chemicals, solvents, and mercury into the river, destroying all life in the river for miles, killing millions of fish, and endangering the water supplies of cities in Germany and the Netherlands. This tragedy galvanized the river valley states into action. They vowed to clean up the river, not just from that incident but from the effects of having used the river as a sewer for two centuries. But how clean is clean? The goal for this calculated plan, which will take decades to achieve, is symbolized by …

Endangered Species Wannabees, John Copeland Nagle

Journal Articles

Environmental law and theories of statutory interpretation have developed side by side in the United States during the past twenty-five years. Many of the leading environmental law cases are also statutory interpretation cases. China is different. China has enacted many environmental statutes, often patterned after foreign laws such as those in the United States, but there are no Chinese environmental law statutory interpretation cases.

This article examines why there are no such cases, and what we may learn from that fact. I am indebted to the work of Professor Stewart, whose engaging article in this symposium issue combines three of …

Book Review, Lakshman D. Guruswamy

Publications

No abstract provided.

Should Unclos Or Gatt/Wto Decide Trade And Environment Disputes?, Lakshman D. Guruswamy

Publications

No abstract provided.

Unreasonable Risk: Model Rule 1.6, Environmental Hazards, And Positive Law, Irma S. Russell

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Emerging Statutory And Constitutional Tools For States To Resist Federal Environmental Regulation, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

This is a time of high tensions between the federal government and the states over environmental regulation. The flashpoints include actions by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) against states that enact laws shielding environmental audit reports from discovery; the withdrawal of several states from certain regulatory reform programs and delegated programs; and EPA accusations that some states are ignoring many violations of the pollution control laws, and loud denials by state representatives.

The Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution and the complex of federal environmental statutes enacted in the 1970s and 1980s still give Washington the upper hand in …

Without A Clue And Still Without A Master Plan: Municipalities Left Uncertain How To Manage Waste Disposal Crisis In Wake Of Third Circuit Decision In Harvey & (And) Harvey, Inc. V. County Of Chester, Erik T. Koons

Villanova Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.