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Full-Text Articles in Law
Statutory Interpretation In The Era Of Oira, Lisa Heinzerling
Statutory Interpretation In The Era Of Oira, Lisa Heinzerling
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
In recent years, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has asserted a remarkable degree of authority over administrative agencies' rulemaking processes. One of the ways in which OIRA has exercised power over agencies has been to foist upon them its own views about the requirements of the statutes under which they operate. The most notable trend in this area has been OIRA's insistence on converting technology-based environmental laws into cost-benefit laws. In OIRA's hands, for example, the Clean Water Act ("the Act") is being transformed from a technology- based regime …
Applying Cost-Benefit To Past Decisions: Was Environmental Protection Ever A Good Idea?, Lisa Heinzerling, Frank Ackerman, Rachel Massey
Applying Cost-Benefit To Past Decisions: Was Environmental Protection Ever A Good Idea?, Lisa Heinzerling, Frank Ackerman, Rachel Massey
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
In this Article, however, we do not mount a critique from outside the technique of cost-benefit analysis. Instead, we examine an argument that proponents of cost-benefit analysis have offered as a linchpin of the case for cost-benefit: that this technique is neither anti- nor pro-regulatory, but rather a neutral tool for evaluating public policy. In making this argument, these proponents have often invoked the use of cost-benefit analysis to support previous regulatory decisions (their favorite example involves the phase down of lead in gasoline, which we shall shortly discuss) as a sign that this technique can be used to support …
The Humbugs Of The Anti-Regulatory Movement, Lisa Heinzerling, Frank Ackerman
The Humbugs Of The Anti-Regulatory Movement, Lisa Heinzerling, Frank Ackerman
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
It is so hard to get beyond cynicism these days. Even a symposium devoted to this goal has, as reflected in the articles by Professors Cynthia Farina, Jeffrey Rachlinski, and Mark Seidenfeld, succeeded primarily in suggesting that regulators are not so much selfish as they are obtuse, stubborn, and sometimes downright dumb. Undoubtedly this is true some of the time. But Farina, Rachlinski, and Seidenfeld want to convince us that it is true enough of the time to warrant quite large-scale solutions. In this Comment, we take issue with this pessimistic assessment of regulatory behavior by discrediting the most prominent …
The Greening Of America And The Graying Of United States Environmental Law: Reflections On Environmental Law’S First Three Decades In The United States, Richard J. Lazarus
The Greening Of America And The Graying Of United States Environmental Law: Reflections On Environmental Law’S First Three Decades In The United States, Richard J. Lazarus
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
The purpose of this article is to begin to place the developments of the past few decades in historical perspective. To that end, the article is divided into three parts, roughly corresponding to the final three decades of the past century. The first part of the article describes the origins of U.S. environmental law, focusing primarily on its first decade from 1970 through 1980. The second part examines how U.S. environmental laws have since evolved, focusing primarily on their second decade (the 1980s), which was a period of tremendous expansion for environmental law. Finally, the third part considers future trends …
Putting The Correct "Spin" On Lucas, Richard J. Lazarus
Putting The Correct "Spin" On Lucas, Richard J. Lazarus
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
Part I describes and discusses the significance of the Lucas majority's desire to draft an opinion making environmental regulations more susceptible to takings challenges. Part II identifies the majority's antiquated notions of the physical and social function of real property as the source of the majority's misguided efforts. Finally, Part III describes how the majority's analytical framework may ultimately make it easier, rather than harder, for environmental protection measures to survive takings challenges.
The Tragedy Of Distrust In The Implementation Of Federal Environmental Law, Richard J. Lazarus
The Tragedy Of Distrust In The Implementation Of Federal Environmental Law, Richard J. Lazarus
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
The need to reduce dramatically the strain we place on the natural environment is simultaneously immediate and long-term. Our domestic laws reflect that understanding and express a symbolic commitment to that goal. Those laws have achieved, moreover, significant improvement in discrete areas and, in some others, have managed to resist further environmental degradation in the face of a growing economy. For that reason, they warrant great praise. The past twenty years nevertheless reveal that those same laws decline to undertake the concomitant modification of our governmental institutions, and the way we think about them, which is necessary for a fuller …