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Articles 1 - 30 of 40
Full-Text Articles in Law
New York Environmental Legislation In 2021, Michael B. Gerrard, Edward Mctiernan
New York Environmental Legislation In 2021, Michael B. Gerrard, Edward Mctiernan
Faculty Scholarship
This annual survey of New York environmental legislation describes numerous new laws on single-use plastics, lead exposure, drinking water, fuel oil, climate resilience, solar energy, invasive species and other areas that were signed into law in 2021.
Endogenous Decentralization In Federal Environmental Policies, Howard F. Chang, Hilary Sigman, Leah G. Traub
Endogenous Decentralization In Federal Environmental Policies, Howard F. Chang, Hilary Sigman, Leah G. Traub
All Faculty Scholarship
Under most federal environmental laws and some health and safety laws, states may apply for “primacy,” that is, authority to implement and enforce federal law, through a process known as “authorization.” Some observers fear that states use authorization to adopt more lax policies in a regulatory “race to the bottom.” This paper presents a simple model of the interaction between the federal and state governments in such a scheme of partial decentralization. Our model suggests that the authorization option may not only increase social welfare but also allow more stringent environmental regulations than would otherwise be feasible. Our model also …
Comment: Emerging Epa Regulation Of Pharmaceuticals In The Environment, Gabriel Eckstein
Comment: Emerging Epa Regulation Of Pharmaceuticals In The Environment, Gabriel Eckstein
Faculty Scholarship
The May 25, 2012, report — entitled EPA Inaction in Identifying Hazardous Waste Pharmaceuticals May Result in Unsafe Disposal — disapproved of EPA’s lack of progress in determining whether certain pharmaceuticals found in surface, ground, and drinking water qualify as hazardous waste, as well as in establishing an evaluation and regulatory process for pharmaceutical wastes. As a result of the report, EPA is now considering mechanisms for assessing and regulating the presence of certain pharmaceutical products in the environment as hazardous wastes under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
Drafting Model Laws On Indoor Pollution For Developing And Developed Nations Workshop, July 12-13, 2012, Boulder, Colorado: Introduction, Lakshman Guruswamy
Drafting Model Laws On Indoor Pollution For Developing And Developed Nations Workshop, July 12-13, 2012, Boulder, Colorado: Introduction, Lakshman Guruswamy
Drafting Model Laws on Indoor Pollution for Developing and Developed Nations (July 12-13)
11 pages.
"This Essay introduces the framework for deliberation and legislative drafting undertaken at the workshop: Drafting Model Laws on Indoor Pollution for Developing and Developed Nations on July 12-13, 2012, in Boulder, Colorado. There are a number of fundamental premises upon which the workshop was based, and this Essay refers to the most salient among them."-- Excerpted from 24 Colo. Nat. Resources, Energy & Envtl. L. Rev. 319 (2013).
Agenda: Drafting Model Laws On Indoor Pollution For Developing And Developed Nations, University Of Colorado Boulder. Center For Energy & Environmental Security, Colorado Natural Resources, Energy And Environmental Law Review
Agenda: Drafting Model Laws On Indoor Pollution For Developing And Developed Nations, University Of Colorado Boulder. Center For Energy & Environmental Security, Colorado Natural Resources, Energy And Environmental Law Review
Drafting Model Laws on Indoor Pollution for Developing and Developed Nations (July 12-13)
On July 12 and 13, 2012, experts convened at Colorado Law to demonstrate the extent to which a model law could help address the global problem of indoor air pollution from inefficient cook stoves. The air pollution that results from inefficiently burning biomass as fuel for cooking has serious health and climatic consequences. The workshop produced two sets of Model Laws and commentaries to help nations solve the problem, and the commentaries were published in the Colorado Natural Resources, Energy, and Environmental Law Review.
Climate Change And Cercla Remedies: Adaptation Strategies For Contaminated Sediment Sites, Katrina Fischer Kuh
Climate Change And Cercla Remedies: Adaptation Strategies For Contaminated Sediment Sites, Katrina Fischer Kuh
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This article considers climate change questions in the context of a particular type of contaminated site--sites with contaminated sediments subject to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Although climate change may impact a variety of waste sites in different ways, even those without sediment contamination, this article focuses on sediment sites so as to frame a more manageable inquiry susceptible to in-depth treatment. The following section, Part II, identifies the vulnerability of contaminated sediment sites to climate change. The section describes sediment contamination, regulatory approaches to remediating contaminated sediments, and how climate change may impact sediment remedies. …
Slides: The Peril Of Energy Usage, Mike Tupper
Slides: The Peril Of Energy Usage, Mike Tupper
The Promise and Peril of Oil Shale Development (February 5)
Presenter: Mike Tupper, Executive Vice President, Composite Technology Development, Inc.
9 slides
Agenda: The Climate Of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock, University Of Colorado Boulder. School Of Law
Agenda: The Climate Of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock, University Of Colorado Boulder. School Of Law
The Climate of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock (March 16-17)
On March 16-17, The Climate of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock conference gathered 125 academics and practitioners from around the country to consider the pressing issues facing low-income and/or communities of color that continue to be subjected to a disproportionate share of environmental maladies.
"Some people are more equal than others when it comes to bracing ourselves for the impacts of climate change," said conference organizer Professor Maxine Burkett. "Whether it's because poor folks lived in the lowest areas of New Orleans when Katrina floodwaters rushed in, or are less able to afford the cooling bill during increasingly frequent heat waves, …
Strict Liability In International Environmental Law, Dinah L. Shelton
Strict Liability In International Environmental Law, Dinah L. Shelton
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
The principle that a State is responsible for causing environmental harm outside its territory in breach of an international obligation has been slow to evolve to address the allocation of loss due to accidents. In settling the well-known dispute between the United States and Canada concerning the activities of the Canadian smelter located in Trail, British Columbia, the arbitral tribunal asserted a general duty on the part of the State to protect other States from injurious acts by individuals (both state and non-state actors) within its jurisdictions. The tribunal, however, noted the difficulty determining what constitutes an injurious act, but …
Book Review, Lakshman D. Guruswamy
Protocol On Liability And Compensation For Damage Resulting From The Transboundary Movements Of Hazardous Wastes And Their Disposal, Jerrold A. Long
Protocol On Liability And Compensation For Damage Resulting From The Transboundary Movements Of Hazardous Wastes And Their Disposal, Jerrold A. Long
Articles
No abstract provided.
The Benefits And Risks Of Going It Alone, Michael B. Gerrard
The Benefits And Risks Of Going It Alone, Michael B. Gerrard
Faculty Scholarship
Brownfield projects are essentially real estate developments with a twist, and the old real estate adage certainly applies: "Location, location, location." But if time is the fourth dimension, then time is also the fourth element in a successful brownfield project – preferably, spending as little of it as possible.
The timing of standard governmental cleanup processes is simply incompatible with many kinds of real estate projects. Forget about cleanups of National Priorities List (NPL) sites under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Contingency Plan (NCP); those take on average almost twenty years to complete. But even many state voluntary cleanup …
Hazardous Waste Determination And Government Enforcement Actions In The Resource Conservation And Recovery Act And The Law No. 24051: Comparison Between The United States And Argentina, Eduardo Jose Conghos
Hazardous Waste Determination And Government Enforcement Actions In The Resource Conservation And Recovery Act And The Law No. 24051: Comparison Between The United States And Argentina, Eduardo Jose Conghos
LLM Theses and Essays
The incremental generation and disposal of hazardous waste, causing severe environmental pollution, has become one the world’s most important ecological problems starting with the Stockholm Conference in 1972. This paper examines two legislative reactions to pollution caused by hazardous wastes in the United States, under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act 1976 (RCRA), and Argentina, in Law No. 24051. This paper makes a comparative analysis of the material provisions of both the RCRA and the Law with emphasis on the tools and actions provided for the enforcement of the RCRA and the Law. The paper concludes that the RCRA and …
The Transboundary Movement Of Hazardous Waste A Comparative Analysis, Els Reynaers
The Transboundary Movement Of Hazardous Waste A Comparative Analysis, Els Reynaers
LLM Theses and Essays
An analysis of the transboundary movement of hazardous waste requires a comparative examination of three main regulatory entities. First, the international Basel Convention on the Control of the Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal will be covered. More particularly, an inquiry of its raison d'etre, will be followed by a critical examination of its goals and mechanisms. The relationship the United States has with the Convention and its national approach towards the export of hazardous waste will be covered next. A brief investigation of the real situation impacts of the Basel Convention will finalize this chapter. The second …
Demons And Angels In Hazardous Waste Regulation: Are Justice, Efficiency, And Democracy Reconcilable?, Michael B. Gerrard
Demons And Angels In Hazardous Waste Regulation: Are Justice, Efficiency, And Democracy Reconcilable?, Michael B. Gerrard
Faculty Scholarship
The Superfund program is perhaps environmental law's best Rorschach test, in which those who write about the national effort to clean up contaminated sites disclose as much about their own philosophies of justice, democracy, and economic efficiency as about environmental legislation. The ten books reviewed here show deep conflicts among these values. I argue, based on these disparate judgments, that many of the Superfund debates have an almost religious character. The law has been shaped to fit the view that demonic polluters were, and remain, at work. The law also reflects a sense of higher duty to future generations – …
The Seven Degrees Of Relevance: Why Should Real-World Environmental Attorneys Care Now About Sustainable Development Policy?, J.B. Ruhl
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This article explores the evolution of the concept of "sustainable development" through what I suggest are the "seven degrees" of relevance of legal conceptualizations: (1) translation of concept into norm; (2) uncontestability of the norm; (3) intolerance of violation of the norm; (4) demand for fulfillment of the norm; (5) translation of the norm as policy goal; (6) policy consequences based on the norm; (7) translation into hard law to apply. I suggest that, at the time of the writing (1998), sustainable development was stuck on level five.
Territoriality, Risk Perception, And Counterproductive Legal Structures: The Case Of Waste Facility Siting, Michael B. Gerrard
Territoriality, Risk Perception, And Counterproductive Legal Structures: The Case Of Waste Facility Siting, Michael B. Gerrard
Faculty Scholarship
The siting of hazardous and nuclear waste facilities has proven to be a task of enormous difficulty in our federal system. In this Article, the Author argues that one of the major causal factors for this difficulty is that the legal regime surrounding waste facility siting decisions is not structured in a manner sensitive to the human factors involved. The siting of a hazardous waste facility is likely to generate a negative community response where the imposition of externally made decisions and externally generated wastes fails to take into account the innate human trait of territoriality. Territoriality is a powerful …
The Benefits And Costs Of Regulatory Reforms For Superfund, W. Kip Viscusi, James T. Hamilton
The Benefits And Costs Of Regulatory Reforms For Superfund, W. Kip Viscusi, James T. Hamilton
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The current policy approach used in the Superfund program is a peculiar halfway house. EPA devotes substantial effort to identifying chemicals at a site and ascertaining their potential risks. It also assesses the costs of a range of remedies in considerable detail. However, many key elements are missing in the agency's analyses. There is no explicit consideration of the size of the population at risk. Risks to a single individual have the same weight as risks to a large exposed population. Actual and hypothetical exposures to chemicals receive equal weight so that risks to a person who, in the future, …
Cercla's Mistakes, John C. Nagle
Cercla's Mistakes, John C. Nagle
Journal Articles
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) confounds every theory of statutory interpretation. Congress hurriedly enacted CERCLA during the lame-duck period following the election of President Reagan and a Republican Senate majority in November 1980 but before they took office in January 1981. The resulting statute has been criticized for its apparently textual mistakes, sparse legislative history, conflicting purposes, and questionable public policy. Courts routinely complain about the difficulty of interpreting CERCLA under those circumstances. This article reviews several of the interpretive challenges presented by CERCLA, and suggests some broader implications for statutory interpretation more generally. CERCLA, hazardous …
Comparative Risk Assessment In New York, Michael B. Gerrard, Deborah Goldberg
Comparative Risk Assessment In New York, Michael B. Gerrard, Deborah Goldberg
Faculty Scholarship
Comparative risk assessment (CRA) is the examination of the relative risks posed by different dangers, with a view to deciding which dangers deserve the most governmental attention. CRA frequently tries to reduce different problems to a common metric, usually the statistical lives saved by a program, so that apples can be weighed against oranges. This article will discuss and assess the growing use of CRA in New York State.
There are two principal arguments for the use of CRA in the environmental context. The first is that we do not have unlimited resources; we cannot move against all problems simultaneously. …
Superfund And Real Risks, W. Kip Viscusi, James T. Hamilton
Superfund And Real Risks, W. Kip Viscusi, James T. Hamilton
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
An analysis of the Superfund program represents the first systematic effort to document the character of the risks addressed by this legislation, which will in turn determine the total cleanup cost and the degree to which Superfund addresses environmental risks. This analysis is examined.
Fear And Loathing In The Siting Of Hazardous And Radioactive Waste Facilities: A Comprehensive Approach To A Misperceived Crisis, Michael B. Gerrard
Fear And Loathing In The Siting Of Hazardous And Radioactive Waste Facilities: A Comprehensive Approach To A Misperceived Crisis, Michael B. Gerrard
Faculty Scholarship
Few laws have failed so completely as the federal and state statutes designed to create new facilities for the disposal of hazardous and radioactive waste. Despite scores of siting attempts and the expenditure of several billion dollars since the mid-1970s, only one radioactive waste disposal facility, only one hazardous waste landfill (in the aptly named Last Chance, Colorado), and merely a handful of hazardous waste treatment and incineration units are operating on new sites in the United States today.
In 1981, a leading member of Congress, relying on data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), predicted that by 1985 …
The Impact Of Environmental Liabilities On Privatization In Central And Eastern Europe: A Case Study Of Poland, Randall Thomas
The Impact Of Environmental Liabilities On Privatization In Central And Eastern Europe: A Case Study Of Poland, Randall Thomas
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries are breaking up their centrally planned economies at a record pace by selling formerly state-owned industrial enterprises to private sector investors. Privatization is expected to create more profit-oriented and efficient industries, a predicate for sustained long term economic growth. This transformation from public to private ownership presents tremendous challenges to these new democracies as they struggle to create market economies and democratic institutions.
The Role Of Existing Environmental Laws In The Environmental Justice Movement, Michael B. Gerrard
The Role Of Existing Environmental Laws In The Environmental Justice Movement, Michael B. Gerrard
Faculty Scholarship
I will focus on what can and cannot be done under the existing statutory and regulatory structures and the common law to protect minority communities from environmental hazards. I will highlight some of the current holes in the legal system to suggest areas where statutory reform might be useful. Fights against these facilities break down between future unbuilt facilities, on the one hand, and existing facilities on the other hand.
A broad array of statutes regulates future facilities, such as landfills, incinerators, interstate highways, and polluting factories. Some of these laws are aimed at providing information and requiring the decision …
The Victims Of Nimby, Michael B. Gerrard
The Victims Of Nimby, Michael B. Gerrard
Faculty Scholarship
It is a syndrome, a pejorative, and an acronym of our times: NIMBY, or Not In My Back Yard. It has a political arm, NIMTOO (Not In My Term Of Office), an object of attack, LULUs (Locally Undesired Land Uses), and an extreme form, BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone). Acronyms aside, however, the question remains as to whether or not NIMBY has victims. Is anyone hurt by NIMBY?
Many leading voices in the environmental justice movement believe that minority communities are victims of NIMBY. For example, Professor Robert D. Bullard has written that "[t]he cumulative effect of not-in-my-backyard …
Charging A Higher Fee For Disposal Of Out-Of-State Hazardous Waste: Will The Dormant Commerce Clause Become Dormant?, Robert H. Abrams
Charging A Higher Fee For Disposal Of Out-Of-State Hazardous Waste: Will The Dormant Commerce Clause Become Dormant?, Robert H. Abrams
Journal Publications
No abstract provided.
Incentives For Action: Market-Based Environmental Strategies, Sheikh Sarmad Hafeez
Incentives For Action: Market-Based Environmental Strategies, Sheikh Sarmad Hafeez
LLM Theses and Essays
Societies have dealt with problems of environmental degradation for centuries, revealing a consistent concern among law makers regarding rates of natural resource consumption. More recently, the United States and other nations have begun to face increasingly perilous environment challenges such as global climate change, indoor pollution, stratospheric ozone depletion, acid rain, urban smog and the degradation of public lands.
The present work explores the environmental problems that, for centuries have plagued our planet, and that continue to threaten it, as well as different approaches to curtail these problems. The present work concludes by showing the most promising of these approaches …
Cleaning House: Environmental Hazards Can Undermine A Property's Use And Value, Michael B. Gerrard
Cleaning House: Environmental Hazards Can Undermine A Property's Use And Value, Michael B. Gerrard
Faculty Scholarship
Numerous horror movies and books depict the woes that befall fictional homeowners who don't know or care that they are living too close to cemeteries or brooding woods or scenes of hauntings.
However, even the vivid imaginations of filmmakers and novelists can't conjure up some of the real-life horrors that environmental hazards can create for property owners. These hazards can destroy the value and salability of property, render it unusable for its intended purpose, and burden owners with clean-up costs, fines and lawsuits.
Fortunately, an alert eye and inexpensive tests can identify most common environmental dangers.
Direct Liability For Hazardous Substance Cleanups Under Cercla: A Comprehensive Approach, Michael P. Healy
Direct Liability For Hazardous Substance Cleanups Under Cercla: A Comprehensive Approach, Michael P. Healy
Law Faculty Scholarly Articles
In enacting the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act (CERCLA), Congress intended to impose liability for hazardous substance cleanups on all parties responsible for a site's use and contamination. However, in implementing the CERCLA liability scheme, courts have issued opinions offering unclear and misguided explanations of their decisions. The author suggests that, to properly assure CERCLA's proper operation, the basis for the imposition of liability must be clarified. To this end, the author examines the prescribed liability for individuals, parent corporations and secured creditors and explains the appropriate grounds for the responsibility of each.
The Two-Headed Dragon Of Siting And Cleaning Up Hazardous Waste Dumps: Can Economic Incentives Or Mediation Slay The Monster, Bradford Mank
The Two-Headed Dragon Of Siting And Cleaning Up Hazardous Waste Dumps: Can Economic Incentives Or Mediation Slay The Monster, Bradford Mank
Faculty Articles and Other Publications
This Article will show that neither economic incentives nor mediation alone has been successful in addressing the issues of siting or remediation, despite good theoretical reasons for the success of both approaches. This Article advocates a two-pronged approach of using economic incentives and mediation together to attack the dilemmas of siting and remediation. A developer could offer to remediate an orphan or MSW landfill site, and thereby improve public safety, in exchange for the opportunity to build a new, less risky hazardous or solid waste disposal facility.15 In conjunction with mediation and negotiated compensation, this proposal may be able to …