Law Commons^™

Connecticut Nitrogen Credit Exchange Program, Ann Powers

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Long Island Sound is a cherished national natural resource, surrounded by some of the most densely populated land in the country. It has long provided sustenance, economic opportunities and comfort to the spirit for those who inhabit or visit its shores and waters. Like many of our Nation's water bodies, it drains a substantial and diverse watershed, and suffers a broad range of environmental insults. The problem of most concern is the severe shortage of oxygen in the deep waters of the western part of the Sound during summer months. This hypoxia is attributable to excess nitrogen that fuels the …

"Slack" In The Administrative State And Its Implications For Governance: The Issue Of Accountability, David Markell

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

The Urban Bankside: An Introduction To The Issue, Paul Stanton Kibel

Publications

No abstract provided.

A New Kind Of "Outrageous Misconduct": Effects To Undermine The Law's Ability To Deter And Punish Intentional And Outrageous Corporate Behavior, Candace Howard

Student Articles and Papers

The current tort "reform" movement, if successful, will completely undermine our most effective tool for deterring outrageous corporate misconduct: the threat of punitive damages. Such "reform" would have a particularly egregious impact on the environment and public health because, due to a lack of enforcement and the undetectable nature of many pollutants, environmental offenses are often more difficult to deter than other types of offenses. The essay argues that, although rarely imposed for environmental offenses, punitive damages are especially vital in that arena because, when imposed, they are richly deserved. It concludes that, rather than tort reform, what we need …

The Effectiveness Of The Endangered Species Act: A Quantitative Analysis, Martin F.J. Taylor, Kieran F. Suckling, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Population trends for 1095 species listed as threatened and endangered under the Endangered Species Act were correlated with the length of time the species were listed and the presence or absence of critical habitat and recovery plans. Species with critical habitat for two or more years were more than twice as likely to have an improving population trend in the late 1990s, and less than half as likely to be declining in the early 1990s, as species without. Species with dedicated recovery plans for two or more years were significantly more likely to be improving and less likely to be …

A Common Tragedy: Promises To Benefit The Public Interest And The Enforceability Problem, Irma S. Russell

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

On Integrity: Some Considerations For Water Law, Christine A. Klein

UF Law Faculty Publications

Expanding upon the aspects of integrity protected under the Clean Water Act, this Article will explore the relevance to water law of chemical,physical, ecosystem, social, and ethical integrity. Just as the Clean Water Act intended to prevent unacceptable "perturbations" of ecosystems, so also this Article will consider the extent to which the law itself may work an unacceptable perturbation of fundamental hydrologic and social principles. In many instances, water policy compartmentalizes the law in ways that have little to do with hydrologic reality and in ways that are antithetical to wholeness and integrity. Examples include the legal bifurcation of surface …

Soft Regulators, Tough Judges, Gerrit De Geest, Giuseppe Dari-Mattiacci

George Mason University School of Law Working Papers Series

Judges have a tendency to be more demanding than regulators. In the United States, a majority of the courts has adopted the rule that the unexcused violation of a statutory standard is negligence per se. However, the converse does not hold: compliance with regulation does not relieve the injurer of tort liability. In most European legal systems, the outcome is similar. We use a framework in which, on the one hand, the effects of tort law are undermined by insolvency and evidence problems and, on the other hand, regulation is expensive in terms of monitoring and information gathering. We show …

Debacle In Dixie: A Story Of Six Rivers, Three States, Two Compacts And One Well-Paved Path, George William Sherk

Publications

No abstract provided.

Delawate River Basin Compact, Jeffrey Featherstone

Publications

No abstract provided.

Environmental Justice, Eileen Gauna, Catherine A. O'Neill, Clifford Rechtschaffen

Faculty Scholarship

This white paper describes briefly the remarkable journey of community-based environmental justice advocates over the last 15 years and their impact on environmental regulation. It will also describe some of the empirical evidence of disparities and the regulatory dynamics that make these inequities an intractable problem, despite the collective efforts of grassroots leaders, environmental justice organizations, public interest law firms, and governmental officials. The paper then focuses on one important set of issues that must be tackled in order to achieve environmental justice: those involving injustice in risk regulation. We strive in this white paper, as allies in this collective …

20th Annual Environmental Law Institute, Office Of Continuing Legal Education At The University Of Kentucky College Of Law

Continuing Legal Education Materials

Materials from the 20th Annual Environmental Law Institute held by UK/CLE in March 2005.

Science, Judgment, And Controversy In Natural Resource Regulation, (With H. Doremus), A. Dan Tarlock

All Faculty Scholarship

Natural resource regulation is heavily "scientized," by which we mean both that the current regulatory structure requires the use of science in a wide range of decisions, and that decisionmakers generally emphasize the role of science in those decisions. Nonetheless, critics on all sides of the political spectrum claim to believe that regulatory decisions remain too political and insufficiently scientific. Administration of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in the Klamath Basin illustrates the challenges of scientifically managing nature. A series of science-based decisions are needed, from species listing to consultation on federal actions. Those decisions carry substantial costs for the …

Environmental Justice, Clifford Rechtschaffen, Eileen Guana, Catherine A. O'Neill

Publications

This white paper describes briefly the remarkable journey of community-based environmental justice advocates over the last 15 years and their impact on environmental regulation. It will also describe some of the empirical evidence of disparities and the regulatory dynamics that make these inequities an intractable problem, despite the collective efforts of grassroots leaders, environmental justice organizations, public interest law firms, and governmental officials. The paper then focuses on one important set of issues that must be tackled in order to achieve environmental justice: those involving injustice in risk regulation.

Disappearing Defendants V. Judgment Proof Injurers: Upgrading The Theory Of Tort Law Failures, Giuseppe Dari-Mattiacci, Barbara Mangan

George Mason University School of Law Working Papers Series

Do injurers’ insolvency and victims’ reluctance to sue affect accident prevention in the same way? Are these circumstances less of a problem under the negligence rule than under strict liability? We argue, contrary to the literature, that the answer is, in most cases, negative and make three main points. First, the judgment proof problem and the disappearing defendant problem are shown to have different effects on injurers’ behavior and hence yield dissimilar levels of social welfare. Second, when these two problems occur simultaneously they may have offsetting effects. Third, the negligence rule is superior to strict liability only under some …

Protecting The Environment During Wartime, Daniel M. Bodansky

Popular Media

Woodruff Chair Daniel M. Bodansky explores the impact of war on the environment and what can be done to protect precious resources during times of conflict. This article is drawn from a study completed in 2003 for the German Environment Agency, “Legal Regulation of the Effects of Military Activity on the Environment” (Erich Schmidt Verlag, 2003).

A Shallow Fix: The Uniform Environmental Covenants Act Leaves Hard Brownfield Questions Unanswered, Paul Stanton Kibel

Publications

The shortcomings of UECA are on the front end, at the point when state and local environmental agencies decide to approve environmental covenants at a particular site.

Environmental Tribalism, Douglas A. Kysar, James Salzman

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Recent writings by Dan Farber and J.B. Ruhl have put forward a strong case for "eco-pragmatic" and "radical middle" approaches to environmental policymaking. Rather than debate the merits of such an approach, in this Article we examine whether eco-pragmatic policy development is likely in practice and where it might occur, given the tribal nature of public environmental advocacy. We use the remarkably polarized reaction to Bjorn Lomborg's book, "The Skeptical Environmentalist," as a vehicle to explore the seemingly fundamental divide that exists between warring parties within the environmental law and policy communities. By offering a more complete understanding of why …

Gis In An Age Of Homeland Security: Accessing Public Information To Ensure A Sustainable Environment, Patricia E. Salkin

Scholarly Works

Critical to the goal of achieving sustainable development is governments' ability to maintain public information, including maps, charts, statistics, and narrative text, about a wide variety of environmental factors, indicators, resources, and threats in easily understandable formats that are readily accessible to the public. While federal and state freedom of information laws help to ensure a relatively high rate of public access to traditional information, such as environmental impact statements, studies and reports,significant environmental events and resources, and census data, the growing use and reliance on geographic information systems ("GIS") has the potential to move the public discourse to a …

Standing And Global Warming: Is Injury To All Injury To None?, Bradford Mank

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

Since global warming potentially affects everyone in the world, does any individual have standing to sue the U.S. EPA or other federal agencies to force them to address climate change issues? Suits addressing global warming raise difficult standing questions because some Supreme Court decisions have stated or implied that courts should not allow standing for plaintiffs who file suits alleging general injuries to the public at large because the political branches of government - Congress and the executive branch - are better equipped to resolve such issues. There is a better argument, however, for courts to recognize standing for plaintiffs …

A Scrivener's Error Or Greater Protection Of The Public: Does The Epa Have The Authority To Delist Low-Risk Sources Of Carcinogens From Section 112'S Maximum Achievable Control Technology Requirements?, Bradford Mank

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

This article will focus on the scope of the EPA's authority to delist categories and subcategories of sources, especially those emitting carcinogens.

This article concludes that the EPA's creation of a low-risk subcategory of PCWP sources is improper because the plain language of subsection 112(c)(9)(B)(i) limits the Agency's delisting authority to whole categories of carcinogenic sources. The EPA has failed to meet its heavy burden in attempting to demonstrate that Congress made a drafting error when it omitted the term "subcategory" in subsection 112(c)(9)(B)(i) for carcinogenic chemicals. The doctrine of scrivener's error is inapplicable to the plain language of subsection …

Can Administrative Regulations Interpret Rights Enforceable Under Section 1983?: Why Chevron Deference Survives Sandoval And Gonzaga, Bradford Mank

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

There is a split in the circuits regarding whether and when agency regulations may establish rights enforceable through 42 U.S.C. Section 1983. In 1987, in Wright v. City of Roanoke, the Supreme Court held that a statute and regulations interpreting the statute could create enforceable rights under Section 1983, but left unclear to what extent it had relied on the regulations alone to reach this conclusion. The District of Columbia Circuit and Sixth Circuit have held that at least some valid federal regulations may create rights enforceable through Section 1983. Concluding that only Congress by enacting a statute may create …

Enduring Optimism: Examining The Rig-To-Reef Bargain, Rachael E. Salcido

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Governance Of International Institutions: A Review Of The North American Commission For Environmental Cooperation's Citizen Submissions Process, David L. Markell

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

On The Role Of Cost-Benefit Analysis In Environmental Law: A Book Review Of Frank Ackerman And Lisa Heinzerling's Priceless: On Knowing The Price Of Everything And The Value Of Nothing, Shi-Ling Hsu

Scholarly Publications

Legal scholarship on the role of cost-benefit analysis in environmental law is often stimulating, but does not seem to be changing anybody's mind. The entrenchment of a camp of detractors and a camp of advocates of cost-benefit analysis parallels the impasse that has stymied environmental law for over a decade. Professors Frank Ackerman and Lisa Heinzerling have coauthored a book that captures most of the arguments from the detractor side, and they have done so skillfully and powerfully. However, this Review criticizes the book's contribution to perpetuating this intellectual stalemate. The book does this by focusing on an environmental theory …

What Is A Tragedy Of The Commons? Overfishing And The Campaign Spending Problem, Shi-Ling Hsu

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

Towards Conservation Of Submerged Lands: The Law And Policy Of Conservation Leasing And Ownership, The Nature Conservancy, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Marine Affairs Institute Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Against Sustainable Development Grand Theory: A Plea For Pragmatism In Resolving Disputes Involving International Trade And The Environment, Robert F. Blomquist

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Continued Success Of Proposition 65 In Reducing Toxic Exposures, Clifford Rechtschaffen, Patrick Williams

Publications

California’s Proposition 65 is by now a well-known regulatory tool for warning consumers about the potentially toxic components of products they consume or to which they are exposed. Rechtschaffen and Williams argue that while Proposition 65 has been subject to some abuses, it has also brought about important reductions in exposures to toxic substances. To make their point, they examine product reformulations caused by enforcement of Proposition 65’s warning requirements over the past five years.

2005 Annual Report - 50 Years Of Progress, Bay Area Air Quality Management District

California Agencies

No abstract provided.