Law Commons^™

Deep Sea Mining. A New Frontier For International Environmental Law, Antonino Troianiello

antonino troianiello

Abstract — This paper intends to explore the main issues of the recent Deep Sea mining rush, which indeed raises huge strategic, geopolitical and environmental concerns. It notes that most of these concerns are significantly linked to the obvious insufficiency of international regulation regarding seabed exploitation. It concludes by stressing the need to implement as soon as possible a global regulation dimension under the Economic Exclusive Zone’s regime.

Localizing Climate Change Action, Marianne Dellinger

Myanna Dellinger

Localizing Climate Change Action - abstract

Myanna Dellinger

Waiting for national- or supranational-level actors to take substantively effective action against climate change is like waiting for Godot: unlikely to happen, at least at a substantively early enough point in time. The December 2012 negotiations under the UNFCCC umbrella yet again demonstrated the failure of action at the international level. This article adds new value to existing scholarship by conducting original research into select climate initiatives at the subnational, substate level in order to find out whether it is worth pursuing climate change action at this level instead. The article posits …

Localizing Climate Change Action, Marianne Dellinger

Myanna Dellinger

Localizing Climate Change Action - abstract

Myanna Dellinger

Waiting for national- or supranational-level actors to take substantively effective action against climate change is like waiting for Godot: unlikely to happen, at least at a substantively early enough point in time. The December 2012 negotiations under the UNFCCC umbrella yet again demonstrated the failure of action at the international level. This article adds new value to existing scholarship by conducting original research into select climate initiatives at the subnational, substate level in order to find out whether it is worth pursuing climate change action at this level instead. The article posits …

Localizing Climate Change Action, Marianne Dellinger

Myanna Dellinger

Localizing Climate Change Action - abstract

Myanna Dellinger

Waiting for national- or supranational-level actors to take substantively effective action against climate change is like waiting for Godot: unlikely to happen, at least at a substantively early enough point in time. The December 2012 negotiations under the UNFCCC umbrella yet again demonstrated the failure of action at the international level. This article adds new value to existing scholarship by conducting original research into select climate initiatives at the subnational, substate level in order to find out whether it is worth pursuing climate change action at this level instead. The article posits …

Localizing Climate Change Action, Marianne Dellinger

Myanna Dellinger

Localizing Climate Change Action - abstract

Myanna Dellinger

Waiting for national- or supranational-level actors to take substantively effective action against climate change is like waiting for Godot: unlikely to happen, at least at a substantively early enough point in time. The December 2012 negotiations under the UNFCCC umbrella yet again demonstrated the failure of action at the international level. This article adds new value to existing scholarship by conducting original research into select climate initiatives at the subnational, substate level in order to find out whether it is worth pursuing climate change action at this level instead. The article posits …

Localizing Climate Change Action, Marianne Dellinger

Myanna Dellinger

Localizing Climate Change Action - abstract

Myanna Dellinger

Waiting for national- or supranational-level actors to take substantively effective action against climate change is like waiting for Godot: unlikely to happen, at least at a substantively early enough point in time. The December 2012 negotiations under the UNFCCC umbrella yet again demonstrated the failure of action at the international level. This article adds new value to existing scholarship by conducting original research into select climate initiatives at the subnational, substate level in order to find out whether it is worth pursuing climate change action at this level instead. The article posits …

Localizing Climate Change Action, Marianne Dellinger

Myanna Dellinger

Localizing Climate Change Action - abstract

Myanna Dellinger

Waiting for national- or supranational-level actors to take substantively effective action against climate change is like waiting for Godot: unlikely to happen, at least at a substantively early enough point in time. The December 2012 negotiations under the UNFCCC umbrella yet again demonstrated the failure of action at the international level. This article adds new value to existing scholarship by conducting original research into select climate initiatives at the subnational, substate level in order to find out whether it is worth pursuing climate change action at this level instead. The article posits …

State Succession To Territorial Obligations: The Case Of South Sudan And The 1959 Nile Waters Agreement, Mohamed S. Helal

Mohamed S. Helal

South Sudan’s independence has increased the number of Nile riparian States to eleven. Unfortunately, the Nile remains without an all-inclusive legal regime to regulate its use and to ensure that this indispensible natural resource is conserved for future generations. What, therefore, are the legal obligations of the newborn Republic of South Sudan regarding the Nile River? Specifically, this paper asks whether the Egyptian-Sudanese Nile Waters Agreement of 1959 has devolved onto South Sudan. This paper looks to the law of State succession to treaties to answer to this question. This is a field of international law that is beset with …

Book Review, Environmental Law And Sustainability After Rio, David Wirth

David A. Wirth

Review of an accessible collection of essays from around the world, offering insights into legal and political issues surrounding environmental law and sustainability.

Penn Central After 35 Years: A Three-Part Balancing Test Or A One-Strike Rule?, R. S. Radford

R. S. Radford

Penn Central Transportation Co. v. City of New York has been called the “polestar” of regulatory taking jurisprudence. Yet after 35 years, there is still no consensus on whether Penn Central sets forth a three-part balancing test, or a "one strike, you're out" checklist. This article presents an empirical analysis of how Penn Central is actually applied in the federal courts, finding distinct differences in the application of the test across jurisdictions.

International Trade And Investment Law And Carbon Management Technologies, Shi-Ling Hsu

Shi-Ling Hsu

Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases will require the development of carbon management technologies that are not currently available or that are not currently cost-effective. While market mechanisms such as carbon pricing must play a central role in stimulating the development of these technologies, governmental policy aimed at fostering carbon management technologies and lowering their costs must also play a part. Both types of policies will form part of an optimal greenhouse gas control portfolio.

This article develops a framework of international trade and investment law insofar as they may affect carbon management technologies. While it is commonly perceived that international …

The Importance Of Being Earnest: An Environmental Whistleblower’S Guide To Protection Under Sox § 806 And Dodd-Frank, John J. Tollefsen

John J. Tollefsen

This paper argues that the reason so few whistleblowers have won in court is because counsel failed to focus on SEC rule violations. It lays out a strategy for reversing that trend by identifying 13 SEC rules that could be cited by environmental whistleblowers under SOx §806 and its Dodd-Frank cousin.

Peak Coordinating Bodies And Invasive Alien Species: Is The Whole Worth More Than The Sum Of Its Parts?, Sophie Riley

Sophie Riley

The development of regimes to regulate invasive alien species (IAS) has historically progressed in a fragmented and ad hoc manner. To remedy this situation the United States of America and Great Britain have introduced peak coordination bodies to draw their regimes together. However, in Australia, the Senate has expressed concern at the consequences of establishing such bodies, concluding that they merely duplicate regulation at the various levels of government; and, additionally, have the potential to destabilize Australia’s constitutional balance of powers. Using a comparative methodology based on the ‘functionalist’ approach, this paper undertakes a comparative study of IAS regulation in …

Legalising Environmental Leadership: A Comment On The Cjeu's Ruling In C-366/10 On The Inclusion Of Aviation In The Eu Emissions Trading Scheme, Sanja Bogojevic

Sanja Bogojević

This article examines the recent judgment in case C-366/10 in which the CJEU upheld the widened scope of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, to include aviation, against a challenge by US airlines. At the core of this case stands the question of the extent to which, if at all, the EU is allowed to unilaterally control greenhouse gas emissions from aviation given that to date these are unregulated at an international level. As such, this is a case concerning the legitimacy of regional regulatory responses to global institutional failings. What the court does is to legitimise EU’s leading role in …

Climate Change Regulation And Litigation: A "Lost Decade" Of Controversy And Confrontation, Richard Faulk

Richard Faulk

Years ago, we published our first article regarding climate change. In it, we foresaw “stormy weather ahead,” but we attempted to begin a “constructive dialogue” about the issues raised by global climate change. Today, we can look back over a decade of controversy and confrontation regarding climate change in virtually all legal forums and institutions – and say, without hesitation, that the issue of global climate change has truly experienced a “lost decade.”

Rio 20 - An Analysis Of The Zero Draft And The Final Outcome Document "The Future We Want", Vicki-Ann Assevero, Sonali P. Chitre

Sonali P Chitre

Rio 20 the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) was held June 20-22, 2012 to allow world leaders as well as participants from governments, civil society, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and other groups to come together to draft a roadmap detailing how the world should promote sustainable development. The Final Outcome Document (FOD) of Rio 201 is more detailed and stronger than the initial Zero Draft. The Zero Draft of January 10, 2012 by the Secretariat was purposely general and left many areas to be filled in by specific country proposals. The FOD was finalized and agreed upon by 192 …

Evaluating Rules And How We Measure Their Effects, Rena I. Steinzor, Michael Patoka

Rena I. Steinzor

The Center for Progres­sive Reform undertook an empirical study of the Office of Information of Regulatory Affairs, the White House office that reviews every significant regulation issue by Executive Branch agencies. The study assembled an unprecedented portrait of its behav­ior during the decade from October 16, 2001, when notices of meetings with outside parties were first available on the Internet, until June 1, 2011. OIRA conducted 6,194 separate reviews of regulatory submissions, holding 1,080 meetings that involved 5,759 ap­pearances by outside par­ticipants. Both the final report and the database we assembled are available on the CPR website, at pro­gressivereform.org. OIRA …

Escaping The Sporhase Maze: Protecting State Waters Within The Commerce Clause, Mark S. Davis, Michael Pappas

Michael Pappas

Eastern states, though they have enjoyed a history of relatively abundant water, increasingly face the need to conserve water, particularly to protect water-dependent ecosystems. At the same time, growing water demands, climate change, and an emerging water-oriented economy have intensified pressure for interstate water transfers. Thus, even traditionally wet states are seeking to protect or secure their water supplies. However, restrictions on water sales and exports risk running afoul of the Dormant Commerce Clause. This Article offers guidance for states, partciularly eastern states concerned with maintaining and improving water-dependent ecosystems, in seeking to restrict water exports while staying within the …

Protecting Coastal And Estuarine Resources- Confronting The Gulf Between The Promise And Product Of Environmental Regulation , Robert V. Percival

Robert Percival

No abstract provided.

Human Rights And The Evolution Of Global Environmental Law, Robert V. Percival

Robert Percival

Environmental problems that jeopardize the health of humans increasingly implicate concerns that have played an important role in the development of international human rights. While some have questioned the wisdom or effectiveness of focusing human rights concerns on environmental problems, it seems an inevitable response to the failure of many countries to protect their citizens adequately from harm caused by environmental degradation. This paper reviews efforts to apply human rights concerns to environmental problems. It describes how these developments illustrate the growth of a kind of “global environmental law” that blurs traditional distinctions between domestic and international law and public …

The Legal Profession’S Critical Role In Systems-Level Bioenergy Decision-Making, Jody M. Endres

Jody M. Endres

Mounting resource scarcity confronts policymakers to make decisions based on predictions of complex system behavior under conditions of great uncertainty. Nowhere is this more evident than in bioenergy policy, which relies heavily on modeling to determine biofuels’ effects on complex climate, food and natural systems. This article provides a primer on models’ inner workings to facilitate engagement by the legal field so critical in building and applying models, and remedying them when they fail. Any conceptual model cannot predict future reality with accuracy absent accounting for regulatory and litigatory scenarios that only the legal discipline can assess fully. Administrative law …

Interstate Water Compact Version 3.0: Missouri River Basin Compact Drafters Should Consider An Inter-Sovereign Approach To Accommodate Federal And Tribal Interests In Water Resources, Jeffrey T. Matson

Jeffrey T Matson

In the aftermath of the historic 2011 Missouri River flood, Missouri River Basin (MRB) state representatives and governors criticize the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) for operating the Missouri River Mainstem Reservoir System (System) in support of the multiple, often conflicting, purposes outlined in the Flood Control Act of 1944. These officials envision entering into an interstate compact to divest the Corps of some of its operational authority and to broaden their role in managing water resources. Similarly, MRB tribal leaders argue that the Corps fails to operate its System in a manner that respects the interrelated issues of …

Vietnam And The United States: Mining Pollution And The Tragedy Of The Commons, Heather Whitney

Heather Whitney

This paper will discuss Vietnam’s mining pollution problem, and its efforts to foster clean water create and an environmental protection framework within its Constitution, environmental laws and regulations. This paper will also juxtapose these issues with the United States’ regulatory mechanisms for mining and water quality protection, which in comparison are complex and well-rounded, but nonetheless still have regulatory and enforcement loopholes that prevent proper water quality protection. In Vietnam, like most developing countries, regulations and policy statements place socioeconomic growth above water quality protection that frustrates these efforts. Environmental and water quality laws and regulations in Vietnam have not …

The Unfinished Story Of The Rio Plus 20 Conference, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

Reporting on the 2012 U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development (or Rio+20 conference) has generally followed two lines: the conference was essentially a failure because of its tepid official response to the enormous and related problems of global environmental degradation and global poverty; and the conference successfully managed to mobilize hundreds of voluntary commitments and at least $513 billion for specific sustainability goals. A third story line has received little attention, however, and may redeem the account of official failure. This article addresses that story line, reviewing a series of processes set in motion by the parties to the conference that …

Review Of "Wild Ideas" By David Rothenberg, David N. Cassuto

David N Cassuto

No abstract provided.

The Law Of Words: Standing, Environment, And Other Contested Terms, David Cassuto

David N Cassuto

Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services (TOC), Inc., 528 U.S. 167 (2000), exposes fundamental incoherencies within environmental standing doctrine, even while it ostensibly makes standing easier to prove for plaintiffs in environmental citizen suits. According to Laidlaw, an environmental plaintiff needs only to show personal injury to satisfy Article III's standing requirement; she need not show that the alleged statutory violation actually harms the environment. This Article argues that Laidlaw's distinction between injury to the plaintiff and harm to the environment is nonsensical. Both the majority and dissent in Laidlaw incorrectly assume that there exists an objective …

Nastygram Federalism: A Look At Federal Self-Audit Policy, David N. Cassuto

David N Cassuto

This Article examines the evolution of EPA's audit policy, explores the reasons for states' dissatisfaction with it, and then discusses whether the federal policy should have been issued as a rule under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). Part I examines the evolution of the federal audit policy and then analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the policy in its current form. Part II explores various types of evidentiary privilege and looks at the arguments for and against extending the privilege to audit reports. It then offers a similar analysis of the case for limited immunity, concluding that neither an expanded …

Air Pollution Control On The Southern Ute Indian Reservation, Sam Maynes

Sam W. Maynes

No abstract provided.

Get Smart To Go Green?, Alfred R. Light

Alfred Light

This article critiques the LEED Neighborhood Development rating system. As presently constituted, LEED-ND is unlikely to succeed in the way other LEED rating systems have. The rating system ignores important aspects of the quality of life in modern American suburbia such as security and privacy. If the proponents of smart growth and the new urbanism are to attract ordinary Americans to their quest for traditional neighborhoods, they must incorporate standards that recognize such missing dimensions. The aesthetics of a traditional neighborhood may not be completely congruent with factors which encourage environmental sustainability. LEED-ND ignores technological innovation, such as the implications …

Property And Republicanism In The Northwest Ordinance, Matthew J. Festa

Matthew J. Festa

This Article shows that individual property rights held a central place in the republican ideology of the founding era by examining the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Between the two predominant strains of founding-era political ideology—liberalism and republicanism—the conventional view holds that individual property rights were central to Lockean liberalism, but not to the republican political tradition, where property is thought to have played more of a communitarian role as part of promoting civic virtue and the common good. Republicanism has been invoked in modern debates, and its emphases are present in current ideas such as the important new theory of …