Law Commons^™

Climate Change And The Political Question Doctrine, James R. May

James R. May

No abstract provided.

Tiny Fish/Big Battle: 30 Years After Tva And The Snail Darter Clashed, The Case Still Echoes In Caselaw, Politics, And Popular Culture, Zygmunt J.B. Plater

Zygmunt J.B. Plater

No abstract provided.

The (First) American State Litter Scorecard (2008), Stephen [Steve] L. Spacek

Stephen [Steve] L Spacek

ABSTRACT Littering is an American environmental crime, creating a danger to public health and safety. Experts nationwide have done little research on litter’s impingement upon state jurisdictional environmental degradation. Unfortunately, the 50 American states do not collect uniform litter data measures, such as volumes of waste collected, total litter eradication expenditures, the number of persons injured or killed by litter/dumping-related incidents. For the first time, a "litter scorecard" is created, measuring each state’s environmental quality indicators and litter eradication programs. The research first examines salient social and political mores that influence littering and statewide environmental degradation through a review of …

Transnational Corporations (Tncs) And The Effective Implementation Of Social And Economic Rights: Current And Prospective Avenues, Analia Marsella

Analia Marsella Sende

In this Essay, I explain the role and impact of transnational corporations in the process of development and implementation of economic and social rights at a global scale and identify the solutions that I regard as plausible. I do so from an international human rights perspective that integrates both the legal and non-legal approaches. I concentrate on the international aspects of legalization, adjudication, and policy making. First, I analyze social and economic rights in the current context, the old and most recent understandings, and the challenges posed by the phenomenon of globalization together with the rising of corporations in the …

Technical Capacity, Policymaking And Food Standards: An Overview Of Indian Experience, Nupur Chowdhury, Sanjay Kumar

Nupur Chowdhury

The SPS Agreement in the WTO gives legal validity to the CODEX standards. Since the developed countries have been at the forefront of setting the food standards in the CODEX, the developing countries have been increasingly engaged in the CODEX, and also in the WTO, with an objective to increase their exports of the agricultural and food products. But such objective and desire have often been stymied by the lack of institutions which can sustain the intense technical negotiations at the CODEX. If these participations are not qualitatively satisfactory, the very objective of such participations is not fulfilled. But since …

Sustainable Federal Land Management: Protecting Ecological Integrity And Preserving Environmental Principal, Robert L. Glicksman

Robert L. Glicksman

This article explores the application of the principles of sustainability to management of lands and resources under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. These two agencies operate a mandate to manage the resources under their control to achieve sustained yield. In this context, sustainability has

operated to date primarily in an aspirational fashion, as a broad objective of public land

management, rather than as a useful management tool or an enforceable constraint on agency management discretion.

The article urges the adoption of amendments to the laws under which the Forest Service and the …

Protecting Public Health And The Environment By The Stroke Of A Presidential Pen: Seven Executive Orders For The President’S First 100 Days, Rebecca Bratspies, David Driesen, Robert Fischman, Sheila Foster, Eileen Gauna, Robert Glicksman, Alexandra Klass, Catherine O'Neill, Sidney Shapiro, Amy Sinden, Rena Steinzer, Robert R.M. Verchick, Wendy Wagner, James Goodwin

Robert R.M. Verchick

No abstract provided.

Ceqa Rules For Agency Actions Affecting Climate Change, Paul Stanton Kibel, Barry H. Epstein, Sara N. Pasquinelli

Paul Stanton Kibel

No abstract provided.

A Line Drawn In Water: Aquifers Beneath The Mexico-United States Border, Paul Stanton Kibel

Paul Stanton Kibel

No abstract provided.

Water Is Security, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Reasonable and equitable water resource decision-making is at the core of good governance around the world. Sustained water collaboration is an antidote to foreign relations disintegration. Lack of water quality and quantity policies can lead to water insecurity for everyone, yet bureaucratic obstacles such as inertia and corruption must be averted in altering water governance schemes. There are multiple ways to lower transaction costs and strive for optimal water use. Several ingredients of good water governance include: (1) broad participation through the entire decision-making process; (2) transparent flow of information; (3) equitable opportunities to increase well-being; (4) accountability from governments, …

A Climate Of Extremes: Transboundary Conflict Resolution, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

This Article examines evolving climate change policy. In April 2007 Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency clarified that the EPA has the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. This Supreme Court ruling coincided with the United Nations Security Council's decision to put climate change on its agenda. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has found that anthropogenic climate change has impacted the natural world and human societies. Scientific and governmental consensus has coalesced that multilateral climate mitigation and adaptation must be implemented. International institutions, governments, businesses, non-governmental organizations, and civil society can achieve multilateral greenhouse gas mitigation and climate adaptation.

Water Leadership And The Rights Of Youth To Sustainable Development, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Reasonable and equitable use of water can help achieve local, regional, and international peace and security. This Article addresses water security around the world. Lack of safe drinking water and sanitation kills roughly 4500 children a day according to the World Health Organization. Youth have an important role to play as stakeholders with the longest range interests in policy outcomes. We have a shared responsibility to ensure water access and water quality. This Article concludes that clean technology transfer in particular and international cooperation generally can facilitate informed decisions upon which egalitarian agreements can establish sustainable watershed management.

Toward A Vibrant Peruvian Middle Class: Effects Of The Peru-United States Free Trade Agreement On Labor Rights, Biodiversity, And Indigenous Populations, Stephen J. Powell, Paola A. Chavarro

Stephen Joseph Powell

Past research confirms that trade and human rights are inextricably linked by trade's effects on poverty, labor, women, indigenous populations, health, and the environment. We identified surprisingly direct linkages between these two vital policies in WTO agreements as well as that regional trade agreements add positive indirect contributions by to rules-based governance through their emphasis on transparency, accountability, and due process by governments, as well as timeliness, inclusive record keeping, and impartiality in the administrative decisional process. The present research examines a particular country and a single trade agreement, Peru and the trade agreement between Peru and the United States. …

A Whale Of A Tale: Post-Colonialism, Critical Theory, And Deconstruction: Revisiting The International Convention For The Regulation Of Whaling Through A Socio-Legal Persepctive, Nick J. Sciullo

Nick J. Sciullo

This article is a critical interpretation of the indigenous whaling debate, which, although often discussed in legal academia, has received only passing critical attention. As a scholar in the critical theory/critical legal studies model, I am primarily concerned with the impact that law and debates about law have on divergent groups (racial, ethnic, gender, etc.). This article develops a criticism of the United States's postcolonial opposition to whaling, arguing, instead, for cultural relativism. The article indicts U.S. imperialism, and treatment of indigenous peoples, arguing for interdisciplinary analysis and a more keen appreciation for the voice of indigenous peoples. As I …

Developing An International Competence-Based Curriculum For Environmental Health, R. Konkel, Maurice Brennan, Tony Lewis

Steve Konkel

In 1998, the International Federation of Environmental Health (IEFH) commissioned the International Faculty Forum (IFF) of environmental health educators to develop an international curriculum for environmental health. In commissioning such a curriculum, IFEH implicitly recognised and sought to address the ongoing issues of professional identity, status and the transportability of qualifications for Environmental Health Practitioners (EHPs). A draft model for an international curriculum based on competence was proposed by Brennan, Konkel anad Lewis and developed and supported by IFF members when they met in May 2008 in Brisbane, Australia. Development of the model and its underpinning concepts of 'environmental healthness' …

Using Mandates And Incentives To Promote Sustainable Construction And Green Building Projects In The Private Sector: A Call For More State Land Use Policy Initiatives, Carl J. Circo

Carl J. Circo

Vantage Point, David R. Hodas

David R. Hodas

No abstract provided.

Preliminary Plan For The Doctoral Thesis: The Role And Function Of Law As The Promoter Of The Sustainable Use Of Bio-Fuels In The Transport Sector, Evgenia Pavlovskaia

Evgenia Pavlovskaia

The paper contains the preliminary plan of the doctoral thesis made in 2008. It explains that the purpose of the project is to analyze the use of the law as a means to implement the sustainable policy on bio-fuels. The author will investigate and evaluate in what respect legal systems promote respectively restrain trade, production and use of bio-fuels in the transport sector, and how they balance the bio-fuel objective against other objectives important for the sustainable development (such as food production and biodiversity). The author will also identify efficient and less efficient legal constructions and discuss possibly successful legal …

Federal Climate Change Legislation As If The States Matter, John C. Dernbach, Robert B. Mckinstry,, Thomas D. Peterson

John C. Dernbach

The growing prospect of comprehensive national climate change legislation raises many important questions about the role of state efforts in a national climate change program. This article identifies the key state/federal issues that should be addressed in any comprehensive national comprehensive climate change legislation. It also provides recommendations for resolving these issues. In addition to a cap-and-trade program and uniform national standards for some sectors, federal climate change legislation should adopt and modify the State Implementation Plan model in the Clean Air Act. That is, states should be given responsibility through State Implementation Plans to achieve specified emissions reductions, including …

Developing A Comprehensive Approach To Climate Change Policy In The United States That Fully Integrates Levels Of Government And Economic Sectors, John C. Dernbach, Thomas D. Peterson, Robert B. Mckinstry

John C. Dernbach

The United State Supreme Court's holding in Massachusetts v. EPA that greenhouse gases are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act makes it virtually certain that federal climate change legislation will be accomplished by amending that Act. This Article explains and justifies an approach to federal climate legislation that uses and builds on the Act's various tools, including air quality standards, technology-based limitations, and state implementation plans. The Article discusses models for climate response that have emerged from state responses to date and presents the reductions that could be achieved if these were scaled up to the federal level. Federal …

Drowning Our Sorrows To Create A Carbon Free Future? Some International Legal Considerations Relating To Sequestering Carbon By Fertilising The Oceans, Rosemary Rayfuse

Rosemary Rayfuse

No abstract provided.

Trying To Vote In Good Conscience, Elizabeth F. Brown

Elizabeth F Brown

This Article analyses the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ statement, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility from the Catholic Bishops of the United States, and how it addresses the economic and environmental issues raised during the 2008 Presidential election.

Much Ado About Pluralities: Pride And Precedent Amidst The Cacophy Of Concurrences, And Re-Percolation After Rapanos, Donald J. Kochan, Melissa M. Berry, Matthew J. Parlow

Donald J. Kochan

Conflicts created by concurrences and pluralities in court decisions create confusion in law and lower court interpretation. Rule of law values require that individuals be able to identify controlling legal principles. That task is complicated when pluralities and concurrences contribute to the vagueness or uncertainty that leaves us wondering what the controlling rule is or attempting to predict what it will evolve to become. The rule of law is at least handicapped when continuity or confidence or confusion infuse our understanding of the applicable rules. This Article uses the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Rapanos v. United States to …

Greenwashed?: Developers, Environmental Consciousness, And The Case Of Playa Vista, Matthew J. Parlow

Matthew Parlow