Law Commons^™

Climate Change Law And Policy In The European Union, Sanja Bogojevic

Sanja Bogojević

No abstract provided.

General Deterrence And Corporate Environmental Behavior, Dorothy Thornton, Neil Gunningham, Robert Kagan

Robert Kagan

This research addresses the assumption that“general deterrence” is an important key to enhanced compliance with regulatory laws. Through a survey of 233 firms in several industries in the United States, we sought to answer the following questions: (1) When severe legal penalties are imposed against a violator of environmental laws, do other companies in the same industry actually learn about such“signal cases”? (2) Does knowing about“signal cases” change firms’ compliance-related behavior? It was found that only 42 percent of respondents could identify the“signal case,” but 89 percent could identify some enforcement actions against other firms, and 63 percent of firms …

The Environmental And Social Injustice Of Farmworker Pesticide Exposure, Joan Flocks

Joan D. Flocks

Farmworkers in the United States are recognized as an environmental justice community. The farmworker population is low-income and primarily Hispanic, and is at a disproportionate risk from exposure to an environmental contaminant pesticides. Farmworkers face distributional, procedural, corrective, and social challenges with this exposure, as is common with other environmental justice communities. Social challenges include socioeconomic and political inequities that are grounded in the historical domination of the agricultural industry over its labor force. The production and use of pesticides is a function of the economic priorities of industry. Employers profit from pesticide use and are able to maximize their …

Wetlands Regulation In An Era Of Climate Change: Can Section 404 Meet The Challenge?, Alyson Flournoy, Allison Fischman

Alyson Flournoy

This Article raises the question of how we should assess the potential threat to wetlands posed by the impacts of a changing climate and considers the role that section 404 of the Clean Water Act can play both in assessing and responding to that threat. Our inquiry is two-fold. First, should we be concerned about climate impacts on wetlands? And if so, how can section 404 help us to assess and respond to this threat? Part I surveys the scientific literature on the projected impacts of climate change of particular relevance to wetlands and the impacts anticipated for particular types …

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 …

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 …

Robinson Township V. Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania: Examination And Implications, John C. Dernbach, James R. May, Kenneth T. Kristl

John C. Dernbach

The International And Domestic Law Of Climate Change: A Binding International Agreement Without The Senate Or Congress?, David A. Wirth

David A. Wirth

This Article asserts that neither Senate advice and consent nor new congressional legislation are necessarily conditions precedent to the United States' becoming a party to a binding agreement to be adopted at the 21st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which is to be held in Paris in December 2015. Depending on the form of such an agreement, which is presently under negotiation, the President's Climate Action Plan could provide sufficient domestic legal authority for the conclusion of all or part of such a binding international instrument as an executive agreement, as well as …

Facing Down The So-Called Agenda 21 'Conspiracy', John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

The Aba Embraces Sustainability: From The Earth Summit To Rio+20 And Beyond, John Dernbach, Ira Feldman

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

The Potential Meanings Of A Constitutional Public Trust, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

A Response To The Ipcc Fifth Assessment, Sarah Adams-Schoen, Deepa Badrinarayana, Cinnamon Carlarne, Robin Craig, John Dernbach, Keith Hirokawa, Alexandra Klass, Katrina Kuh, Stephen Miller, Jessica Owley, Shannon Roesler, Jonathon Rosenbloom, Inara Scott, David Takacs

John C. Dernbach

This collection of essays is the initial product of the second meeting of the Environmental Law Collaborative, a group of environmental law scholars that meet to discuss important and timely environmental issues. Here, the group provides an array of perspectives arising from the Fifth Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Each scholar chose one passage from one of the IPCC’s three Summaries for Policymakers as a jumping-off point for exploring climate change issues and responding directly to the reports. The result is a variety of viewpoints on the future of how law relates to climate change, a result …

Robinson Township V. Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania: Examination And Implications, John Dernbach, James May, Kenneth Kristl

Kenneth T Kristl

In Robinson Township v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held unconstitutional major parts of Pennsylvania’s “Act 13”—a 2012 oil and gas law designed to facilitate the development of natural gas from Marcellus Shale. In so doing, the Court breathed new life into Article I, Section 27 of Pennsylvania’s constitution, which creates public rights in certain environmental amenities and requires the state to “conserve and maintain” public resources “for the benefit of all the people.” This paper describes the decision, explains some of its immediate implications in Pennsylvania, and also explains its importance for public environmental rights and environmental …

Can Shale Gas Help Accelerate The Transition To Sustainability?, John Dernbach, James May

John C. Dernbach

The sudden and unexpected development of shale gas has the potential to accelerate or hinder the transition to sustainability, depending on how it is handled. Sustainable development is a useful evaluative framework for shale gas development. It would have us analyze its environmental, social, economic, and security dimensions at the same time, and look for ways to make all four dimensions mutually reinforcing. This article suggests that sustainable shale gas development: 1) requires a sophisticated and comprehensive regulatory system to protect the environment and public health as well as a legal and policy framework capable of both ensuring significant social …

Robinson Township: A Model For Environmental Constitutionalism, Erin Daly, James May

Erin Daly

In Robinson Township v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a plurality of the court held that a controversial law encouraging fracking (“Act 13”) violates the state’s constitutional Environmental Rights Amendment, the provisions of which the court held are “on par” with political rights. The decision highlights the challenges of engaging constitutional environmental provisions but demonstrates that, with sufficient creativity and commitment, meeting these challenges lies well within the bounds of judicial capability and authority. Because courts around the world are increasingly being asked to engage in environmental constitutionalism, and Robinson Township's thorough examination of the issues is instructive, not only for cases …

A Legislative History Of Article I, Section 27 Of The Constitution Of The Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania, John Dernbach, Edmund Sonnenberg

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

Eu Climate Change Litigation: All Quiet On The Luxembourgian Front?, Sanja Bogojevic

Sanja Bogojević

No abstract provided.

Recognition Of Environmental Rights For Pennsylvania Citizens: A Tribute To Chief Justice Castille, John Dernbach, Marc Prokopchak

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

Harnessing The Power Of Information To Protect Our Public Natural Resource Legacy, Alyson Flournoy, Heather Halter, Christina Storz

Alyson Flournoy

In practice, our laws have proven unequal to the lofty objectives of preserving a legacy of public natural resources for our children or achieving sustainable use of these resources. There are many factors that contribute to this shortfall, but inherent inadequacies in the design of these statutes cannot be overlooked as an important determinant. Despite the statutes' broadly stated aspirations toward sustainability and protection of the interests of future generations, only a handful of these statutes include strong and enforceable mandates for sustainable resource use. Many of these statutes accord natural resource-management agencies broad discretion to balance and permit a …

Building An Environmental Ethic From The Ground Up, Alyson Flournoy

Alyson Flournoy

Over the last twenty years there has been a remarkable theoretical flourishing in the field of environmental philosophy, with the development of biocentric ethics, animal rights theories, deep ecology, ecofeminism, modified utilitarianism, moral pluralism and theories drawing on numerous religious and cultural traditions. These theories explore the intellectual and moral causes for the environmentally destructive practices of the dominant western industrial and economic culture, and propose alternatives that might avoid these consequences. This symposium raises a worthy question: to what extent have these theories had practical impact on environmental law and policy. I come to this question as a lawyer …

Ten Good Practices In Environmental Constitutionalism: Structure, Text And Justiciability, James May, Erin Daly

Erin Daly

Environmental constitutionalism is a relatively recent phenomenon at the confluence of constitutional law, international law, human rights, and environmental law. It embodies the recognition that the environment is a proper subject for protection in constitutional texts and for vindication by constitutional courts worldwide. This White Paper posits ten “good practices” – those attributes that make effective outcomes more likely, but not assured – in environmental constitutionalism for advancing positive environmental outcomes considering energy, and governance and sustainability. Good practices in environmental constitutionalism can serve as a useful construct for considering the relationship between sustainability, energy and governance. Accordingly, Section A …

Constitutional Limitations On Sovereignty, 2014 Edition, Garrett Power

Garrett Power

This electronic book is published in a searchable PDF format as a part of the E-scholarship Repository of the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. It is an “open content” casebook intended for classroom use in courses in Constitutional Law, Land Use Control, and Environmental Law. It consists of 130 odd judicial opinions (most rendered by the U.S. Supreme Court) carefully selected from the two hundred years of American constitutional history which address the clash between public sovereignty and private property. The text considers both the personal right to liberty and the personal right in property.

The …

Sustainable Development, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

Assessing The Legal Toolbox For Sea Level Rise Adaptation In Delaware: Options And Challenges For Regulators, Policymakers, Property Owners, And The Public, Kenneth Kristl

Kenneth T Kristl

Sea level rise is a real and growing issue in the State of Delaware. Over the next 90 years, a significant percentage—between 8 and 11 percent—of Delaware is at risk of being inundated. The threat of inundation has the potential to trigger reactions from some property owners that will seek to protect their interests. Thousands of these resulting individual, ad hoc decisions and non-decisions will make it difficult to carry out a unified strategy to adapt to the massive economic and geographic impacts sea level rise will likely cause in the State. It therefore behooves regulators, policy makers, property owners, …

Essential Reading On Sustainable Development Law, Andrea Ross, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

This short bibliography identifies and describes twelve key readings in the law of sustainable development.

Rising Sea Levels: A Tidal Wave Of Legal Issues, Kenneth Kristl

Kenneth T Kristl

No abstract provided.

Evolution Of U.S. Climate Policy, John Dernbach, Robert Altenburg

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

Eu:S Handel Med Utsläppsrättigheter Och De Globala Obalanserna I Klimatskyddet, Sanja Bogojevic

Sanja Bogojević

No abstract provided.

State Initiatives, David Hodas

David R. Hodas

Every state in the United States has adopted laws or policies to address climate change, either explicitly or indirectly through energy regulation, transportation-related initiatives, or energy building codes. Innovative state laws and policies have proven remarkably effective in reducing GHG emissions both quantitatively and as a percentage of state GDP. Broadly speaking, states understand that climate change is a global phenomenon that must be addressed nationally and internationally. Inevitably much GHG emission reduction and adaptation to the adverse consequences of climate change falls on states to implement because of their local powers to regulate utilities, land use, building codes, transportation, …

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 …