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The Development Of Environmental Governance Regimes: A Chinese-Inspired Reconstruction, Roda Mushkat Sep 2010

The Development Of Environmental Governance Regimes: A Chinese-Inspired Reconstruction, Roda Mushkat

Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment

The challenge of protecting the biosphere has both salient academic and policy dimensions. On the academic side, persistent efforts have been made in the field of socio-legal studies to enhance the understanding of the complex processes involved, in the domestic arena and on the international front, in the formation and transformation of the elaborate institutional arrangements designed to contribute to this goal. The scholars engaged in those efforts have pursued divergent paths, but one school of thought has moved decisively to the forefront. China’s experience does not cast doubt on its relevance, or even prominence, yet it suggests that multi-pronged …


Using The Federal Communication Commission’S Tower Construction Notification System As A Model For Siting Nuclear Waste On Native American Land, Casey Zivin Sep 2010

Using The Federal Communication Commission’S Tower Construction Notification System As A Model For Siting Nuclear Waste On Native American Land, Casey Zivin

Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment

Since the advent of nuclear power in the United States in the mid-20th century, the federal government has struggled to find a suitable location to store the hazardous waste associated with nuclear power generation. In 1991, in an attempt to solve the problem of storing nuclear waste, the federal government created grant programs which offered funding to states and Native American tribes who volunteered to store nuclear waste on their lands. One tribe in particular, the Skull Valley Goshute of Utah, viewed storing nuclear waste as an opportunity to infuse their reservation with monies. Further, because tribes enjoy sovereign status …


Gas Flaring In Nigeria‘S Niger Delta: Failed Promises And Reviving Community Voices, Eferiekose Ukala Sep 2010

Gas Flaring In Nigeria‘S Niger Delta: Failed Promises And Reviving Community Voices, Eferiekose Ukala

Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment

This Note examines the use of litigation to stop gas flaring in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, and proposes an alternative solution to the ongoing gas flaring in the Niger Delta region. In exploring an alternative solution, this Note (1) details the history of gas flaring in Nigeria; (2) discusses Nigeria’s gas-flaring legislation and its implementation; (3) analyzes the impact that landmark gas flaring cases have had on the stoppage of gas flaring; and (4) details how litigation has been used as a tool to combat gas flaring, juxtaposing the concept of the rule of law. This Note concludes by suggesting that …


The Improbability Of Meaningful Climate Change Regulation: A Constructivist Understanding Of The Global Commons And The Need For U.S. Leadership, Stacey Valentine Sep 2010

The Improbability Of Meaningful Climate Change Regulation: A Constructivist Understanding Of The Global Commons And The Need For U.S. Leadership, Stacey Valentine

Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment

Climate change is a topic that permeates today’s scientific, political, and social discourse. It is a term that is both widely known and hotly debated across the country and across the globe. While an ever-increasing majority of the scientific and political realms has come to the conclusion that meaningful climate change regulation is necessary to prevent negative repercussions across the globe, there is little consensus on what that regulation should look like or how to bring it about. The nature of greenhouse gases, or GHGs, makes international cooperation a must if the world hopes to prevent and avoid the experts’ …


Climate Change Comes To The Clean Water Act: Now What?, Robin Kundis Craig Mar 2010

Climate Change Comes To The Clean Water Act: Now What?, Robin Kundis Craig

Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment

In January 2009, the EPA agreed to respond to the Center for Biological Diversity’s (CBD’s) petition requesting it to modify its marine pH water quality criteria to reflect ocean acidification. Ocean acidification, however, is a by-product of increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Thus, climate change has come to the Clean Water Act—and in May 2009, the CBD filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Washington to bring this point home. The question, of course, is what the Clean Water Act can actually contribute to efforts to deal with climate change. After reviewing the …


Using National Border Climate Adjustment Schemes To Facilitate Global Greenhouse Gas Management In Industrial Production, Alexandra Khrebtukova Mar 2010

Using National Border Climate Adjustment Schemes To Facilitate Global Greenhouse Gas Management In Industrial Production, Alexandra Khrebtukova

Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment

I argue that an appropriately conceived and well-designed border climate adjustment scheme, as a policy mechanism potentially utilizable by many States party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, may lead to desirable consequences for the development of comprehensive global greenhouse gas management in furtherance of the Framework Convention’s objectives. By creating the conditions for a healthy experimentalism and regulatory competition among the regulating bodies of diverse national markets, the use of origin-neutral border climate adjustment schemes, equivalent to the climate regulatory costs imposed on like domestic products as a condition of market access, may lead to a …


Greening The Economy Sustainably, David L. Markell Mar 2010

Greening The Economy Sustainably, David L. Markell

Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment

No abstract provided.


Climbing Mount Mitigation: A Proposal For Legislative Suspension Of Climate Change "Mitigation Litigation", J. B. Ruhl Mar 2010

Climbing Mount Mitigation: A Proposal For Legislative Suspension Of Climate Change "Mitigation Litigation", J. B. Ruhl

Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment

No abstract provided.


Climate Change, Scale, And Devaluation: The Challenge Of Our Built Environment, Nathan F. Sayre Mar 2010

Climate Change, Scale, And Devaluation: The Challenge Of Our Built Environment, Nathan F. Sayre

Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment

Climate debate and policy proposals in the United States have yet to grasp the gravity and magnitude of the challenges posed by global warming. This paper develops three arguments to redress this situation. First, the spatial and temporal scale of the processes linking greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to climate change is unprecedented in human experience, challenging our abilities to comprehend, let alone act. An adequate understanding of the scale of global warming leads to an unequivocal starting point for all discussions: we must leave as much fossil fuel in the ground as possible, for as long as possible. Second, a …