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Full-Text Articles in Law
Introductory Essay: Catastrophe Thinking, Fast And Slow, Todd A. Wildermuth
Introductory Essay: Catastrophe Thinking, Fast And Slow, Todd A. Wildermuth
Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy
We know far more about certain catastrophic risks than we have been willing to do anything serious about. This was not always the case, of course. There was a time when we could have plausibly said we had no real knowledge of a problem and therefore no possible obligation to do anything different. For climate change, the nuances of the date can be endlessly debated; the possible window puts Americans knowing somewhere between 1896, with transatlantic arrival of scientific findings from Sweden, and no later than James Hansen’s testimony before Congress in 1988. For the threats posed by a Cascadia …
Is The "Act Of God" Dead?, Clifford J. Villa
Is The "Act Of God" Dead?, Clifford J. Villa
Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy
In more than twenty years with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) before joining the legal academy, I saw many communities affected by fires, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. However, I never saw a case where the act of God defense prevailed against environmental liability. Confirming this personal experience, I later learned that the number of reported cases where the act of God defense had prevailed against environmental liability, under all statutes and all federal circuits, was also exactly zero. This raises two obvious questions: (1) why does the act of God defense so often fail? and (2) …
Insurance Against Catastrophe: Government Simulation Of Insurance Markets For Catastrophic Events, Véronique Bruggeman, Michael Faure, Tobias Heldt
Insurance Against Catastrophe: Government Simulation Of Insurance Markets For Catastrophic Events, Véronique Bruggeman, Michael Faure, Tobias Heldt
Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy
As a result of climate change, technological development, and other variables, natural and technological catastrophes have increased dramatically. Moreover, due to infrastructural issues, such as building in floodplains, damages resulting from catastrophes have increased as well. The massive earthquake and tsunami that occurred in Japan on March 11, 2011 are still fresh in people's memories, providing sobering illustrations of the extensive reach of such catastrophes. After a catastrophe, which is defined for the purposes of this Article as an accident with large losses in either the number of victims or the amount of property damage, governments often intervene in the …
The Internationalization Of Climate Damages Litigation, Michael Byers, Kelsey Franks, Andrew Gage
The Internationalization Of Climate Damages Litigation, Michael Byers, Kelsey Franks, Andrew Gage
Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy
The annual global costs of climate change in 2010 were estimated at nearly $700 billion. As the costs continue to escalate, discussion is necessarily shifting to who should pay for mitigation and adaption. Many scholars argue that policy considerations and principles of tort law support holding greenhouse gas producers responsible for the costs of climate change. However, legal claims against greenhouse gas producers in the United States have thus far proven unsuccessful. This Article explores two previously overlooked potentialities that could significantly and rapidly alter the landscape for climate change litigation: (1) the emergence of transnational climate change litigation coupled …
Invest To Withstand The Test Of Time: Capital Planning For High-Impact Earthquakes, Jan Whittington
Invest To Withstand The Test Of Time: Capital Planning For High-Impact Earthquakes, Jan Whittington
Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy
Can people expect buildings and infrastructure to last, keeping their occupants sheltered from the elements, free to go about their business? The professionals who design facilities—as well as the taxpayers and entrepreneurs who fund them—make this assumption, but is this a safe assumption to make? Contemplate the effect of one extreme event—a magnitude 9.0 earthquake along the Cascadia Subduction Zone of the Pacific coast—and it is easy to realize that this is not a safe assumption. Though seismic technology can be used to fortify structures against extreme events and land use plans can keep development out of harm’s way, the …
The Nature Of Extreme Natural Risks In The Natural Environment, Denis Binder
The Nature Of Extreme Natural Risks In The Natural Environment, Denis Binder
Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy
This paper suggests a paradigm change to recognize the uncontrollable risks of extreme natural hazards. All areas of the country face extreme geological and meteorological risks. This paper discusses the historic American approach to the natural environment, the underlying nature of extreme natural hazards in Washington State, California, and the New Orleans-Mississippi River, and proposals to address these hazards. It also lays out two historic limitations on action: the Fifth Amendment and human nature.
Ocean Acidification Policy: Applying The Lessons Of Washington To California And Beyond, Ryan P. Kelly
Ocean Acidification Policy: Applying The Lessons Of Washington To California And Beyond, Ryan P. Kelly
Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy
This Article aims to distill the lessons of Washington’s experience with ocean acidification (OA) policy and apply them to the political framework that exists in California. More generally, this Article evaluates the political landscape in which OA policy is taking shape along the west coast of the United States and highlights elements of a political and policy strategy that would build current momentum on OA in California and elsewhere into a larger, more sustained policy infrastructure capable of addressing coastal issues of environmental resilience and water quality in the context of global change. It concludes by identifying some ways in …
Playing Nice In The Sandbox: Making Room For Historic Structures In Olympic National Park, Christopher Chellis
Playing Nice In The Sandbox: Making Room For Historic Structures In Olympic National Park, Christopher Chellis
Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy
As ambitious as it is at times challenging to meaningfully apply, the Wilderness Act purports to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness. Interest groups often seek to extract from the Act a meaning of wilderness that comports with whatever interest they wish to secure for themselves and their members, and their interests often conflict with each other. These conflicts can turn national parks into sandboxes where interest groups draw lines and ask the National Park Service to pick a side. The losing party inevitably looks to a judge …
Exhausted Of Concurrent Jurisdiction: A Reexamination Of National Audubon V. Superior Court Of Alpine County, Zoe A. Wong
Exhausted Of Concurrent Jurisdiction: A Reexamination Of National Audubon V. Superior Court Of Alpine County, Zoe A. Wong
Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy
California maintains a complex system of water rights, with the State Water Resources Control Board as the premiere administrative agency overseeing it. The State Water Resources Control Board has the ability, for example, to investigate water usage and implement regulations. However, when it comes to adjudicating water rights disputes, the agency’s power is not absolute. Under the California Supreme Court’s holding in National Audubon v. Superior Court of Alpine County, the trial court shares concurrent jurisdiction with the State Water Resources Control Board over water rights disputes. As California faces extreme drought conditions and climate change, legal battles over …
Building A Better Process: Improving Washington State's "Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council" Review Procedures To Better Encourage Public Participation, Gregory L. Porter
Building A Better Process: Improving Washington State's "Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council" Review Procedures To Better Encourage Public Participation, Gregory L. Porter
Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy
Washington State's Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) is responsible for siting the state's energy facilities. The current process can frustrate robust public participation. One reason is that applicants must submit a single, comprehensive, application and these submissions have grown to enormous size and complexity. Local groups struggle with responding to these complex applications in time. Additionally, the council uses quasi-judicial adjudication where the applicant is represented by professional counsel, but local groups may lack the financial support to retain comparable counsel. Washington should learn from how New York overhauled its energy facility siting process in 2011. New York's Board …
Arctic Law & Policy Year In Review: 2016, Arctic Law & Policy Institute, University Of Washington
Arctic Law & Policy Year In Review: 2016, Arctic Law & Policy Institute, University Of Washington
Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy
According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with a boost by El Niño, 2016 set new records for global temperatures, capping three consecutive years of record global warming. In Alaska, for example, the average temperature was 31.9 degrees Fahrenheit — 5.9 degrees above the long-term average. The globally averaged sea surface temperature was the highest on record at 1.35° F above average. The globally averaged land surface temperature was also the highest on record at 2.57° F above average. The NOAA report records that in 2016 the Arctic experienced some of its highest air temperatures, least sea-ice (averaging …