Law Commons^™

Reinventing Environmental Regulation Through The Government Performance And Results Act: Are The States Ready For The Devolution?, Rena I. Steinzor

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Possible Solutions: Policy Tools To Achieve Flexibility To Meet New Conditions, Preliminary Thoughts For Coping With Future Droughts, Maria O'Brien

Faculty Scholarship

The following comments are premised on the author's experience with the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (Conservancy) in New Mexico and its endeavor to implement a water banking system. Background information about the Conservancy is helpful for an understanding of its efforts at water banking.

Shortage And Tension On The Upper Rio Grande: Protecting Endangered Species During Times Of Drought, Comments From The Perspective Of The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, Maria O'Brien

Faculty Scholarship

Looking back at the drought of 1996 and at the efforts to protect endangered species in the midst of the drought, the most glaring fact remains that the water managers and users of the Rio Grande were in crisis management. In fact, despite some efforts, if the drought had manifested with equal or greater intensity in 1997, we would have remained in crisis management. Hence, as we move forward and examine lessons learned, the most vital premise we must return to is the imperative for balance as we undertake the precarious task of allocating water to protect endangered species, serve …

Intermediate Sanctions: Controlling The Tax-Exempt Organization Manager, Alex Ritchie

Faculty Scholarship

On August 4, 1988, the Department of the Treasury issued proposed intermediate sanctions regulations that allow the Internal Revenue Service to impose significant excise taxes on executives of tax-exempt organizations who receive compensation in excess of reasonable compensation or in excess of amounts that would ordinarily be paid for like services by like enterprises. Exempt organization theory holds that government provides a tax exemption to further social goals, but those goals are frustrated when management has conflicting incentives. In a for-profit entity, management and firm owners have conflicting goals when control is separated from ownership, but in a tax-exempt entity, …

The Benefits And Risks Of Going It Alone, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

Brownfield projects are essentially real estate developments with a twist, and the old real estate adage certainly applies: "Location, location, location." But if time is the fourth dimension, then time is also the fourth element in a successful brownfield project – preferably, spending as little of it as possible.

The timing of standard governmental cleanup processes is simply incompatible with many kinds of real estate projects. Forget about cleanups of National Priorities List (NPL) sites under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Contingency Plan (NCP); those take on average almost twenty years to complete. But even many state voluntary cleanup …

How Seqra Cases Fared In 1998, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

In the annals of the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), 1998 should be remembered as the year when developers throughout New York State became frustrated with what they perceived as irrational requirements or excessive delays in the SEQRA process, went to court for redress, and almost uniformly lost. There were 18 attempts at such relief and one highly mixed success.

The Past, Present And Future Of Title Vi Of The Civil Rights Act As A Tool Of Environmental Justice, Michael B. Gerrard, Nicholas Johnson, Peggy Shepard, Melva J. Hayden, Sheila Foster, Elizabeth Georges

Faculty Scholarship

Mr. Michael Gerrard: I am going to try to do something a little unconventional. After hearing some remarks from Professor Johnson, I will try to start a dialogue. I have been requested to ask very tough questions of our panelists, so I will do that in the hope of drawing all of you in the audience into the dialogue. First, we will hear some remarks from Professor Nicholas Johnson of Fordham University School of Law.

Beyond Backyard Environmentalism, Archon Fung, Charles F. Sabel, Bradley C. Karkkainen

Faculty Scholarship

From California habitats to Massachusetts toxics, the United States is in the midst of a fundamental reorientation of its environmental regulation, one that is as improbable as it is unremarked Minimally, the new forms of regulation promise to improve the quality of our environment At a maximum, they suggest a novel form of democracy that combines the virtues oflocalism and decentraliz.ation with the discipline of national coordination.

In substance and spirit, this new approach to regulation grows out of the tradition of backyard environmentalism. For two decades, residents of Woburn, Love Canal, and countless other communities across the country have …