Law Commons^™

Cjeu, Can You Hear Me? Access To Justice In Environmental Matters, Sanja Bogojevic

Sanja Bogojević

Over the years, much ink has been spilled in the debate on standing of NGOs before the EU courts. This issue has been the object of particular consideration following the ruling in the Greenpeace case where the General Court denied the NGO in question standing on the basis that it did not ‘adduce any special circumstances to demonstrate the individual interest of their members’. Considering that environmental NGOs tend to represent the interests of society as a whole, or that of the environment in particular, imposing this kind of conditioning seems unreasonable. Indeed, this judgment, coupled with the more general …

Costa Rica And Nicaragua Before The International Court Of Justice – Trying To Work Out The Complicated Relationship Between Law And The Environment, Britta Sjöstedt

Britta Sjöstedt

Nicaragua and Costa Rica have twice turned to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to resolve disputes related to environmental damage occurring in a transboundary context. In these two cases the Court has to consider at least two issues. The first issue concerns the territorial status of a disputed border area. The disagreement is triggered by natural variations of the San Juan River at the border between the two countries, which causes confusion as to where the State line lies. The second issue concerns environmental damage; more specifically, it involves adversely affected wetlands protected under the Ramsar Convention. The obligations …

What We Can Predict And Affect, Jill Fraley

Jill M. Fraley

No abstract provided.

Economic Thought And Climate Disruption: Neoclassical And Economic Dynamic Approaches In The Usa And The Eu, Sanja Bogojevic, David Driesen

Sanja Bogojević

In this article we consider the economic ideas that have influenced climate disruption law both in the USA and the EU. Although economic thought has led to the adoption of ‘market-based’ mechanisms in both places, its impact has been different: it created regulatory inertia in the USA, and green leadership in the EU—at least with respect to responding to climate disruption. We argue that different culture-specific economic conceptions about appropriate policy and policy analysis may help explain this divergence, thereby illustrating both various economic ideas and their distinct impact on climate law, as well as the need for environmental lawyers …

An Unnatural Disaster: The Aftermath Of Hurricane Katrina, David Driesen, Alyson Flournoy, Sheila Foster, Eileen Gauna, Robert Glicksman, Carmen Gonzalez, David Gottlieb, Donald Hornstein, Douglas Kysar, Thomas Mcgarity, Catherine O'Neill, Clifford Rechtschaffen, Christopher Schroeder, Sidney Shapiro, Rena Steinzor, Joseph Tomain, Robert Verchick, Karen Sokol

Rena I. Steinzor

No abstract provided.

Dangers Of Trying To Set Earth's Thermostat, Andrew Strauss, William Burns

Andrew L. Strauss

No abstract provided.

Considering Shale Gas Extraction In North Carolina: Lessons From Other States, Sarah Adair, Brooks Pearson, Jonas Monast, Avner Vengosh, Robert Jackson

Jonas Monast

No abstract provided.

Eu Climate Change Litigation, The Role Of The European Courts, And The Importance Of Legal Culture, Sanja Bogojevic

Sanja Bogojević

The purpose of this article is to show it is only in light of legal culture that climate change jurisprudence in the EU can be explained. Examining the case law concerning the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, this article demonstrates that climate change proceedings in the EU raise questions that stand at the heart of the EU legal order; that is, they demand that the boundaries of the EU’s regulatory competences are drawn. In effect, the EU courts focus on ensuring that EU climate change laws are in accord with the rule of law or, in the context of EU law, …

Emissions Trading Schemes: Markets, States And Law, Sanja Bogojevic

Sanja Bogojević

Over the past four decades emissions trading schemes have enjoyed a high profile in environmental law scholarship and environmental law and policy. Much of this regulatory discussion has promoted the use of emissions trading on the basis of its alleged straightforwardness in terms of construction and operation and wide applicability across different jurisdictions and environmental settings. This book challenges the common understanding of emissions trading by offering a more nuanced prism through which to view this regulatory choice. As such, it shows how different regulatory goals are entrusted to emissions trading, each having as its corollary particular governance structures, which, …

Law, The Laws Of Nature And Ecosystem Energy Services: A Case Of Wilful Blindness, David R. Hodas

David R. Hodas

Ecosystems services include the collection, concentration, and storage of solar energy as fossil fuels (e.g., coal, petroleum, and natural gas). These concentrated forms of energy were produced by ancient ecosystem services. However, our legal and economic systems fail to recognise the value of the ecosystem service subsidies embedded in fossil fuels. This ecosystem services price subsidy causes overuse and waste of fossil fuels in the free market: fossil fuels are consumed more quickly than they can be replaced by ecosystem services and in far larger quantities than they would be if the price of fossil fuels included the cost of …

The Key To Unlocking The Power Of Small Scale Renewable Energy: Local Land Use Regulation, Patricia Salkin

Patricia E. Salkin

Myriad federal and state programs have been promoted to incentivize the research and development of renewable energy as a means of achieving sustainability and producing more affordable alternative energy systems, and these programs could potentially have a profound impact on the way that electricity is produced and consumed in the United States. Small-scale renewable energy generation from sources such as solar and wind, that can be used at the consumer level as a source of power for homes and small businesses, is an important part of this paradigm shift. However, regardless of the fiscal incentives offered to clean-tech companies to …

Government "Green" Requirements And "Leedigation", Patricia Salkin, Graham Grady, Nicole Mueller, Susan Herendeen

Patricia E. Salkin

No abstract provided.

The Sustainable Relationship: What The United States And The United Kingdom Can Teach Each Other About Climate Change And Sustainable Development At The National Level, John Dernbach, Andrea Ross

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

Energy Versus Property, Michael Pappas

Michael Pappas

This article is the first to detail the balance legislatures and courts have struck between private property rights and the compelling public interest in energy production. By examining how property rights have consistently yielded to energy development from colonial times to the most recent decisions involving hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), it identifies a coherent energy/property balance that has shaped property expectations to accommodate energy needs. The article then applies this insight to current disputes pitting aggressive renewable energy policies— such as nuisance immunity or mandatory installations on private property— against fundamental property expectations— the right to exclude and the right to …

Hitting The Sustainability Accelerator: 51 Sustainability Experts, 4 Approaches, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

Book Review, The Law Of Adaptation To Climate Change: U.S. And International Aspects, David Wirth

David A. Wirth

No abstract provided.

Acting As If Tomorrow Matters: Mapping The Obstacles To Sustainability, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

What Motivates Sustainability Efforts In The U.S.?, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

U.S. Sustainability Efforts: Modest Progress But An Increasingly Distant Goal, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

As If Tomorrow Matters: Accelerating Progress Toward Sustainability, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

Seven Principles For Equitable Adaptation, Alice Kaswan

Alice Kaswan

Given the inevitability of serious climate impacts, climate change adaptation is becoming an urgent priority. Policy makers at the local, regional, state, and federal level are struggling to determine how to parlay existing authorities and develop new measures to avoid future calamity.

Successful adaptation will require not only attention to physical infrastructure, but to the underlying socioeconomic conditions that strongly determine the severity of climate impacts. Given the importance of underlying socioeconomic factors, this essay argues that equity should be a central feature of emerging domestic climate adaptation initiatives. It suggests seven principles for achieving equitable adaptation, principles designed to …

A World Of Choices, David Wirth

David A. Wirth

In this keynote address, David Wirth identifies fundamental and dynamic attributes of globalisation, examines the need to confront institutional failures and systemic challenges of multilateral governance, and offers some preliminary observations on directions in which global governance might evolve to achieve salutary outcomes that are good for all.

Environmental Justice And Environmental Law, Alice Kaswan

Alice Kaswan

This essay, prepared for the Fordham Environmental Law Review’s 20th Anniversary edition marking key developments in environmental law, addresses the past and future of environmental justice. From a historical perspective, it analyzes the central features of the environmental justice movement, its strengths and weaknesses in influencing environmental law, and the systemic reasons why environmental justice has struggled for influence in environmental policy. Looking forward, the essay focuses on how the environmental justice movement can contribute to the future of environmental law. Amplifying the voices of many environmental justice scholars, it argues that the environmental justice movement and its sister movement, …

The Role Of Multilateral Environmental Agreements In Armed Conflict: ‘Green-Keeping’ In Virunga Park. Applying The Unesco World Heritage Convention In The Armed Conflict Of The Democratic Republic Of The Congo, Britta Sjöstedt

Britta Sjöstedt

This article analyses the application of the 1972 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Convention (the WHC) in the context of the armed conflicts that have taken place in the Virunga National Park (the Park), a natural world heritage site in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the DRC). Instead of addressing wartime environmental damage under the law of armed conflict, this article seeks to establish how such damage can be addressed using multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs). MEAs often consist of general principles and vague obligations and their relevance or applicability during situations of armed conflict …

Plant Variety Protection In Thailand: The Need For A New Coherent Framework, Pawarit Lertdhamtewe

Pawarit Lertdhamtewe

Thailand's plant protection regime, currently represented by the Plant Variety Protection Act (‘PVPA’), represents a sui generis plant protection system, which several developing nations use as a model to enact their plant protection laws. It is currently uncertain whether the PVPA serves the needs of all actors in agricultural management in Thailand; this uncertainty may dilute the benefits of Thailand's plant protection regime. In view of concerns regarding the adequacy of the legal framework for plant variety protection, this article argues that greater certainty must be provided to ensure the effective protection of plant varieties, the validity of national legislation …

Controlling The Fulfillment Of The Eu Sustainability Criteria For Transport Biofuels (On The Basis Of Directive 2009/28/Ec), Part I, Evgenia Pavlovskaia

Evgenia Pavlovskaia

The present article researches the mechanisms suggested for controlling the fulfillment of the EU sustainability criteria for transport biofuels that have been presented in the central legal framework in this area, which is Directive 2009/28/EC. The analysis is extended to the related EU policy documents of a non-binding explanatory and recommendatory character. Judging from the content of Directive 2009/28/EC, two main levels of the EU control can be distinguished. The first one is exercised by the EU internal bodies on how the sustainability criteria are fulfilled by the Member States. This level of control is primarily characterized by the scheduled …