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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Green's Dilemma: Building Tomorrow's Climate Infrastructure Today, J. B. Ruhl, James Salzman
The Green's Dilemma: Building Tomorrow's Climate Infrastructure Today, J. B. Ruhl, James Salzman
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
"We need to make it easier to build electricity transmission lines." This plea came recently not from an electric utility executive but from Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, one of the Senate's champions of progressive climate change policy. His concern is that the massive scale of new climate infrastructure urgently needed to meet our nation's greenhouse gas emissions reduction policy goals will face a substantial obstacle in the form of existing federal, state, and local environmental laws. A small but growing chorus of politicians and commentators with impeccable green credentials agrees that reform of that system will be needed. But how? How …
Connecting Ecosystem Services Science And Policy In The Field, J. B. Ruhl, James Salzman, Craig A. Arnold, Robin Craig, Keith Hirokawa, Lydia Olander, Margaret Palmer, Taylor H. Ricketts
Connecting Ecosystem Services Science And Policy In The Field, J. B. Ruhl, James Salzman, Craig A. Arnold, Robin Craig, Keith Hirokawa, Lydia Olander, Margaret Palmer, Taylor H. Ricketts
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Conservation and provision of ecosystem services (ES) have been adopted as high-level policy in many countries, yet there has been surprisingly little application of these broad policies in the field; for example, ES are rarely considered in permit issuance or other discrete agency actions. This large implementation gap arises in part because the science that drove general policy interest in ES differs from the science needed for practical application. A better understanding of the environmental policy toolkit can guide more effective research to support agency decisions. Here, we outline the framework used to teach environmental policy instruments through the “Five …
The Gap-Filling Role Of Private Environmental Governance, Jim Rossi, Michael P. Vandenbergh
The Gap-Filling Role Of Private Environmental Governance, Jim Rossi, Michael P. Vandenbergh
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Private environmental governance provides new tools that can fill gaps in government regulatory regimes. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a valuable case study for testing the efficacy of private environmental governance because it is one of the largest utility carbon emitters and is largely insulated from near-term federal and state government pressure to reduce emissions. TVA is not on a trajectory to achieve the decarbonization targets necessary to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, but private governance initiatives can motivate TVA to accelerate its decarbonization process. TVA's securities filings acknowledge that it faces material threats on the energy …
The Presidential Memorandum On Mitigation, J.B. Ruhl
The Presidential Memorandum On Mitigation, J.B. Ruhl
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
On November 3, 2015, President Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum aimed at unifying the mitigation practice and policy for activities carried out and approved by the Departments of Defense, Interior, and Agriculture, the EPA, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration... See Mitigating Impacts on Natural Resources from Development and Encouraging Related Private Investment, 80 Fed. Reg. 68743 (Nov. 6, 2015). The broad policy goal of the Memorandum is to ensure that the agencies mitigation policies are clear, work similarly across agencies, and are implemented consistently within agencies. Id. at 68743. The Memorandum also emphasizes the need for transparency, measurable …
Good For You, Bad For Us: The Financial Disincentive For Net Demand, Jim Rossi, Michael P. Vandenbergh
Good For You, Bad For Us: The Financial Disincentive For Net Demand, Jim Rossi, Michael P. Vandenbergh
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This Article examines a principal barrier to reducing U.S. carbon emissions — electricity distributors’ financial incentives to sell more of their product — and introduces the concept of net demand reduction (“NDR”) as a primary goal for the modern energy regulatory system. Net electricity demand must decrease substantially from projected levels for the United States to achieve widely-endorsed carbon targets by 2050. Although social and behavioral research has identified cost-effective ways to reduce electricity demand, state-of-the-art programs to curtail demand have not been implemented on a widespread basis. We argue that electric distribution utilities are important gatekeepers that can determine …
Good For You, Bad For Us: The Financial Disincentive For Net Demand Reduction, Michael P. Vandenbergh, Jim Rossi
Good For You, Bad For Us: The Financial Disincentive For Net Demand Reduction, Michael P. Vandenbergh, Jim Rossi
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This Article examines a principal barrier to reducing U.S. carbon emissions — electricity distributors’ financial incentives to sell more of their product — and introduces the concept of net demand reduction (“NDR”) as a primary goal for the modern energy regulatory system. Net electricity demand must decrease substantially from projected levels for the United States to achieve widely-endorsed carbon targets by 2050. Although social and behavioral research has identified cost-effective ways to reduce electricity demand, state-of-the-art programs to curtail demand have not been implemented on a widespread basis. We argue that electric distribution utilities are important gatekeepers that can determine …
Entrenching Environmentalism, Christopher Serkin
Entrenching Environmentalism, Christopher Serkin
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This piece for the University of Chicago Law Review Symposium: Reassessing the State and Local Government Toolkit, examines how local governments can use private law mechanisms to entrench policy in ways that circumvent typical legal limitations. The piece examines in detail a specific example of a town donating conservation easements over property it owns to a third-party not-for-profit conservation organization in order ensure that the property would not be developed in the future. This is nearly the functional equivalent of passing an unrepealable zoning ordinance restricting development, something existing anti-entrenchment rules would never permit. The piece examines the costs and …
Who Needs Congress? An Agenda For Administrative Reform Of The Endangered Species Act, J.B. Ruhl
Who Needs Congress? An Agenda For Administrative Reform Of The Endangered Species Act, J.B. Ruhl
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This article comprehensively examines the history and content of the numerous administrative reforms of the Endangered Species Act program carried out under the tenure of Department of the Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. The assessment is that these reforms provide a tremendous impetus for innovation of species conservation.
Biodiversity Conservation And The Ever-Expanding Web Of Federal Laws Regulating Nonfederal Lands: Time For Something Completely Different, J.B. Ruhl
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This article offers an early examination of the law and governance of biodiversity (circa 1995) through the lenses of the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, and Coastal Zone Management. It suggests that true multi-scalar, cooperative federalism will be needed to manage complex ecological resources for biodiversity conservation. A suggested model employing regional biodiversity management approaches is outlined.