Law Commons^™

The Hidden Human And Environmental Costs Of Regulatory Delay, Catherine O'Neill, Amy Sinden, Rena Steinzor, James Goodwin, Ling-Yee Huang

Rena I. Steinzor

Each year dozens of workers are killed, thousands of children harmed, and millions of dollars wasted because of unjustifiable delays in federal regulatory action. Such delays in regulatory action have become commonplace, part of the wallpaper of Washington’s regulatory process for the protector agencies—the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), EPA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and OSHA. Despite its significance, the problem of regulatory delay and the costs it generates has been virtually ignored in the debate over the general wisdom of the U.S. regulatory system over the last 30-plus years. Opponents …

Unfunded Environmental Mandates And The "New (New) Federalism": Devolution, Revolution, Or Reform, Rena Steinzor

Rena I. Steinzor

No abstract provided.

'You Just Don't Understand!" - The Right And Left In Conversation, Rena Steinzor

Rena I. Steinzor

No abstract provided.

In Defense Of The Superfund Liability System: Matching The Diagnosis And The Cure, Rena Steinzor, Linda Greer

Rena I. Steinzor

No abstract provided.

Oversight Hearing On The Federal Superfund Program's Activities To Protect Public Health, Rena Steinzor

Rena I. Steinzor

No abstract provided.

A Perfect Storm: Mercury And The Bush Administration, Rena Steinzor, Lisa Heinzerling

Rena I. Steinzor

In December 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a rule for mercury emissions from power plants and issued a final rule for mercury emissions from chlor-alkali facilities. Regarding power plants, EPA had previously found that mercury posed the most serious threat among the hazardous air pollutants emitted by power plants, and also that regulation of mercury from power plants was appropriate and necessary under section 112 of the Clean Air Act, which requires stringent technology-based regulation for hazardous air pollutants. Despite section 112's clear rejection of emissions trading as a compliance option, EPA has proposed to allow commercial trading …

Capture, Accountability, And Regulatory Metrics, Sidney Shapiro, Rena Steinzor

Rena I. Steinzor

No abstract provided.

U.S. Supreme Court Environmental Cases 2008-2009: A Year Like No Other, James R. May

James R. May

The author of this article says the last term of the U.S. Supreme Court was in many respects like no other in modern environmental law. During the 2008-2009 term, the Supreme Court ruled on novel and important questions concerning preliminary injunctions under the National Environmental Policy Act; cost-benefit analyses and permitting under the Clean Water Act; arranger and joint and several liability under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act; and environmental standing. At no turn, says the author, did the court favor the environment over other interests. He says the court even reached down to reverse decisions in …

Pyrrhic Victory: Daniel Goldman's Defeat Of Zoning In The Maryland Court Of Appeals, Garrett Power

Garrett Power

Nowadays government regulation of the use of urban land is taken for granted. Such was not always the case. Some sixty years ago, the Maryland Court of Appeals held it unconstitutional for Zoning Commissioner J. Frank Crowther to deny a request for a permit to operate a tailor shop in the basement of a Eutaw Place home. This paper examines the case of Goldman v. Crowther. Goldman's story reads like a comic melodrama with a tragic ending. But the saga also illuminates the social condition - it sheds light and casts shadows on the practice of xenophobia, the nature of …

When Every Drops Counts: The Public Health Impact Of Drought, R. Konkel, Mark Miller, Robert Blake, Valeria Carlson

Steve Konkel

What are the public health effects of drought? What is the role of public health and environmental health in planning for drought? What are the political implications of drought and need for public health to be involved in drought planning? How can we reshape environmental health involvement in drought planning?

Using An Innovative Electronic Interface To Develop A Public Health Guidance Document, R. Konkel

Steve Konkel

This is part of a presentation given at the NEHA (National Environmental Health Association) 2009 conference in the Atlanta Enterprise Center June 21-24 in Atlanta Georgia.

The Concept Of Private Property And The Limits Of The Environmental Imagination

John Meyer

Book Review (Reviewing Kenneth P. Murchison, The Snail Darter Case: Tva Versus The Endangered Species Act, 2007), John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

Vindicating Fundamental Environmental Rights: Judicial Acceptance Of Constitutionally Entrenched Environmental Rights, James May, Erin Daly

Erin Daly

This article examines the extent to which constitutionally embedded fundamental environmental rights have met the promise of ensuring a right to an adequate environment. It explains these results and suggests ways to neutralize judicial resistance to these emerging constitutional rights. In Part II we explain the prevalence of constitutionally entrenched rights to a quality environment. In Part III, we provide examples of the extent to which courts have enforced these provisions. In Part IV, we examine institutional and structural factors, conceptual disjunctions, and pragmatic considerations that help to explain judicial receptivity to constitutionally entrenched environmental rights. And in Part V …

Climate Change Law: Mitigation And Adaptation, Richard Hildreth, David Hodas, Nicholas Robinson, James Speth

David R. Hodas

No abstract provided.

The Analysis Of 'Amicus Curiae Briefs' In The Wto Dispute Settlement Proceedings, Pawarit Lertdhamtewe

Pawarit Lertdhamtewe

The aim of this article is to identify and illustrate to what extent has the WTO/DSU adopt its clear, coherent, and workable rules for the acceptance of amicus curiae briefs in the WTO dispute settlement proceedings.

Greening The Grid And Climate Justice, Alice Kaswan

Alice Kaswan

This short symposium essay argues that the collateral environmental and economic justice benefits of greening the grid provide support for transformative climate policies that speed the development of fossil fuel alternatives. More broadly, policymakers should integrate climate justice considerations into the design of any new energy infrastructure in order to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks of the profound transition ahead. While efforts to integrate climate justice could complicate climate and energy legislation, they would, on balance, further rather than hinder the political prospects for greening the grid. The essay concludes by encouraging an inclusive and participatory process for …

Agenda For A Sustainable America, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

Ending The Honeymoon: Deconstructing Emissions Trading Discourses, Sanja Bogojević

Sanja Bogojević

Emissions trading schemes are often portrayed as straightforward regulatory strategies. The aim of this article is to initiate a much needed environmental law debate on this subject and defy any claims about emissions trading being unproblematic from a legal viewpoint. In doing so, I deconstruct emissions trading discourses, or more precisely, I categorise different viewpoints, as presented in emissions trading literature, in the Economic Efficiency, Private Property Rights, and Command-and-Control models. These reflect ways in which emissions trading schemes are understood in the relevant scholarly discussions. More importantly, the models show that emissions trading can be viewed through different lenses, …

Not At All: Environmental Sustainability In The Supreme Court, James R. May

James R. May

The principle of “sustainability” is soon to mark its 40th anniversary. It is a concept that has experienced both evolution and stasis. It has shaken the legal foundation, often engaged, recited, and even revered by policymakers, lawmakers, and academics worldwide. This essay assesses the extent to which sustainability registers on the scales of the United States Supreme Court, particularly during the tenure of Chief Justice John Roberts. None of the environmental cases decided thus far during the tenure of Chief Justice Roberts engage sustainability. The word “sustainability” does not appear to exist before the Court. It does not appear in …

Decentralizing Cap-And-Trade? The Question Of State Stringency, Alice Kaswan

Alice Kaswan

A cap-and-trade program is likely to be a centerpiece of federal climate change legislation. The presence of a national market does not, however, render irrelevant the states’ vital interest in the goals and operation of a national trading program. This Article addresses a first critical question about a state’s role in a federal system: whether federal legislation should allow states to be more stringent than the federal government and to achieve that stringency through controls on stationary sources. This Article reviews the compelling justifications for allowing states to be more stringent. It then assesses particular mechanisms for achieving state stringency …

Vindicating Fundamental Environmental Rights: Judicial Acceptance Of Constitutionally Entrenched Environmental Rights, James R. May, Erin Daly

James R. May

This article examines the extent to which constitutionally embedded fundamental environmental rights have met the promise of ensuring a right to an adequate environment. It explains these results and suggests ways to neutralize judicial resistance to these emerging constitutional rights. In Part II we explain the prevalence of constitutionally entrenched rights to a quality environment. In Part III, we provide examples of the extent to which courts have enforced these provisions. In Part IV, we examine institutional and structural factors, conceptual disjunctions, and pragmatic considerations that help to explain judicial receptivity to constitutionally entrenched environmental rights. And in Part V …

Constitutional Law And The Future Of Natural Resource Protection, James R. May

James R. May

This is a chapter of a recently published book that examines how constitutional law shapes natural resources law in the United States. Following a brief background, part I identifies and discusses the various constitutional law developments affecting the scope of Congress’s power to regulate the use of natural resources. It focuses primarily on the Commerce Clause (in conjunction with the corresponding case study) and the concomitant extrinsic limits on such authority, including principles of federalism and the Tenth Amendment, as well as the diminished Nondelegation doctrine. Part II does the same for state authority and the dormant Commerce and Supremacy …

The Intersection Of Constitutional Law And Environmental Litigation, James R. May

James R. May

The U.S. Constitution propels the majority of environmental litigation. Thirty years ago, constitutional issues seldom arose in environmental law. Nowadays, nearly two in three federal environmental, energy and land use cases are litigated on constitutional grounds. Such cases implicate approximately twenty constitutional principles involving federalism, separation of powers and individual rights. Constitutional issues in environmental litigation are torn from the headlines, from climate change to natural resource extraction. Accordingly, this chapter aims to contextualize constitutional litigation for environmental lawyers in five ways. Part One provides a brief background to environmental litigation in the United States. Part Two addresses how constitutional …