Law Commons^™

Consequences For Cleanup: Epa Gets Serious About Weak Watershed Improvement Plans, Rena I. Steinzor, Anne Havemann

Faculty Scholarship

In a landmark series of reports issued on June 26, 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) put the seven jurisdictions that pollute the Chesapeake Bay on notice that their plans for reducing nitrogen, phosphorous, and sediment fall short of where they must be to make cleanup by 2025 a reality. By EPA’s reckoning, Pennsylvania and Delaware were furthest off the mark, but Maryland, New York, Virginia, and West Virginia face EPA action if they fail to substantially improve their plans. Of the seven jurisdictions, only Washington, D.C. escaped serious criticism.

Falling Behind: Processing And Enforcing Permits For Animal Agriculture Operations In Maryland Is Lagging, Rena I. Steinzor, Anne Havemann

Faculty Scholarship

After decades of failed interstate agreements, the Chesapeake Bay is choking on too many nutrients. The estuary’s last, best chance of recovery is the Environmental Protection Agency's Total Maximum Daily Load (“TMDL”) program, also known as a pollution diet. To meet this deadline, all polluters, including large animal farms, will need to sharply reduce the pollutants they release into the Bay. The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) must ensure that each Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (“CAFO”) has developed a facility-specific permit that details when and where manure is applied to fields and how waste is stored and handled. Then …

Of Coal, Climate And Carp: Reconsidering The Common Law Of Interstate Nuisance, Robert V. Percival

Faculty Scholarship

This paper argues that the common law of interstate nuisance remains an essential tool despite the rise of the modern regulatory state. In the rare cases when existing regulatory authorities fail to address emerging environmental problems, federal common law can serve as a backstop. When federal regulatory authorities are capable of addressing transboundary problems, but fail to do so, common law actions based on the law of source states remain a viable means of redress for states suffering significant harm from such pollution. Reconnecting the law of interstate nuisance to its historical roots, the paper concludes that the common law …

B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Bag): A Comprehensive Assessment Of China's Plastic Bag Policy, Mary O'Loughlin

Student Articles and Papers

On June 1, 2008, the Chinese government enacted a nationwide policy prohibiting all stores from freely distributing plastic bags to customers. This new policy requires that, henceforth, all retailers must charge a nominal fee for plastic bags and that those purchasable bags must meet certain quality requirements to improve their potential reusability. These retailers, which include everything from grocery and clothing stores to farmer’s markets and food stalls, individually determine how much to charge for their bags and get to keep all related proceeds. The policy is an effort to mitigate the “white pollution” that is choking China’s landscape, as …

Testimony Of Robert V. Percival Regarding The Scope Of Federal Jurisdiction Under The Clean Water Act, Robert V. Percival

Congressional Testimony

No abstract provided.

The Frictions Of Federalism: The Rise And Fall Of The Federal Common Law Of Interstate Nuisance, Robert V. Percival

Faculty Scholarship

Prior to the erection in the 1970s of a comprehensive federal regulatory infrastructure to protect the environment, transboundary pollution disputes frequently were adjudicated by the U.S. Supreme Court, exercising its original jurisdiction over disputes between states. In a series of cases commencing at the dawn of the Twentieth Century, the Court served as a national arbiter of interstate pollution disputes. This paper reviews the history of the Supreme Court's use of these cases to develop a federal common law of interstate nuisance.

The paper argues that while federal common law initially performed a zoning function by encouraging polluters to relocate …

An Environmental History Of Fairfield/Wagner Point, Philip Diamond

Legal History Publications

This paper traces the history of the Fairfield/Wagner Point peninsula from the beginning of the European settlement to the present, observing the ambitions and dreams of developers and industrial entrepeneurs, the significant contribution the area made to our nation's wartime production in World War II, the rise and fall of the tight-knit workers' communities, the struggles of outside activists and community leaders to better the living conditions of these neighborhoods, and the environmental devastation of the area followed by the attempt to redevelop the area with “green" industry. A 'central strand in this complex and contradictory story will be the …

Risk Based Decision-Making At The Environmental Protection Agency, Robert V. Percival

Congressional Testimony

No abstract provided.