Law Commons^™

Disappearing Acts – Toward A Global Civil Liability Regime For Pollution Damage Resulting From Offshore Oil And Gas Exploration, Kissi Agyebeng

Cornell Law School J.D. Student Research Papers

Civil liability for pollution damage is recognized and firmly established under international law. However, there is no global international treaty that addresses this issue with respect to offshore oil and gas exploration. This may be due partly to the infrequency of the occurrence of offshore oil well blowouts. However, offshore operations represent a constant threat to the marine environment since the risk of a blowout leading to an ecological disaster is ever present. The trend has been the adoption of regional agreements to tackle the issue. However, most of the regional arrangements deal with the issue in a sidelong manner …

Conservation Cartels: How Competition Policy Conflicts With Environmental Protection, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

The alleged purpose of antitrust law is to improve consumer welfare by proscribing actions and arrangements that reduce output and increase prices. Conservation seeks to improve human welfare by maximizing the long-term productive use of natural resources, a goal that often requires limiting consumption to sustainable levels. While conservation measures might increase prices in the short run, they enhance consumer welfare by increasing long-term production and ensuring the availability of valued resources over time. That is true whether the restrictions are imposed by a private conservation cartel or a government agency. Insofar as antitrust law fails to take this into …

Free And Green: A New Approach To Environmental Protection, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

Most Americans consider themselves environmentalists, yet most experts are dissatisfied with existing environmental regulations, which are both inefficient and inequitable. Worse, many don't serve environmental goals. This article outlines an alternative approach to environmental policy based on market institutions and property rights rather than central-planning and bureaucratic control. The aim is both to improve environmental protection and lessen the costs ? Economic and otherwise ? Of achieving environmental goals. It seeks to ensure that Americans' environmental values are advanced without sacrificing the individual liberties the American government was created to protect.

The problem with current regulatory approaches is not merely …

The Administrative Law Of Global Private-Public Regulation: The Case Of Forestry, Errol E. Meidinger

Journal Articles

An important ensemble of transnational, transgovernmental regulatory institutions has emerged in the forestry sector over the past decade. These forest certification programmes set global standards for proper forest management and apply them through institutionalized licensing and inspection programmes. Similar programmes are appearing in other sectors. Developed largely by environmental NGOs and industry associations rather than governments, forest certification programmes are nominally voluntary, but are becoming increasingly mandatory in practice. They are also gradually linking with government regulatory and management programmes in various ways, while remaining in tension both with each other and with government programmes. The overall regulatory system is …

Alabama Court Allows Taxpayer To Challenge Ruling, Benjamin Spruill

Sea Grant Law Fellow Publications

No abstract provided.

Florida Court Limits Rule To Red Grouper, Jonathan Lew

Sea Grant Law Fellow Publications

No abstract provided.

The Real Problem With New Source Review, Shi-Ling Hsu

Scholarly Publications

Editors’ Summary: When the CAA was amended in 1977, the U.S. Congress imposed pollution control requirements on new stationary sources of air pollution, called new source review (NSR), but exempted existing facilities from such requirements. By creating a more favorable regulatory environment for existing facilities than for new ones, “grandfathering” creates an incentive to keep old facilities up and running. Moreover, as a command-and control program, requiring capital expenditures for pollution control equipment makes the capital sluggishness problem worse. Combined with often confusing EPA policies and a changing political environment, NSR has resulted in a running battle between the regulated …

New Directions In Conservation For The National Wildlife Refuge System, Robert L. Fischman, Vicky J. Meretsky, James R. Karr, Daniel M. Ashe, Michael Scott, Reed F. Noss, Richard L. Schroeder

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997 includes the nation’s broadest statutory commitment to ecosystem protection: to “ensure that the biological integrity, diversity, and environmental health of the system are maintained.” The act also directs the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to expand the scope of conservation monitoring, assessment, and management beyond refuge boundaries to encompass surrounding landscapes. The act thus gives the FWS a leadership role in developing research and management partnerships with other agencies, organizations, and neighboring landowners. Increasing research capacity and scientific expertise, and strengthening institutional resolve to limit activities that impede the attainment …

Will The Environmentalists Find Their Voice?, Clifford Rechtschaffen

Publications

For U.S. environmentalists, 2005 will be remembered harshly, because it marked the clear and undeniable end of U.S. global environmental leadership. For three decades, the United States was the world's environmental trendsetter. But now leadership comes from the European Union,

Energy Efficiency, R. Steven Konkel

Environmental Health Science Faculty and Staff Research

Using energy efficiently can reduce the cost of heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning, which account for a significant part of the overall cost of housing. Energy costs recur month-to-month and are hard to reduce after a home has been designed and built. The development of an energy-efficient home or building must be thought through using a systems approach

International Decisions–Guatemala Genocide Case, Naomi Roht-Arriaza

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Planning The Funeral At The Birth: Extended Producer Responsibility In The European Union And The United States, Noah M. Sachs

Law Faculty Publications

This Article examines how governments in the world's two largest economies are diverging in their approaches to regulating hazardous products and packaging, with major ramifications for manufacturing, waste management, and trade. The European Union is implementing product-oriented environmental regulation based on the principle of Extended Producer Responsibility ("EPR"), which assigns responsibility to manufacturers to take back their products after consumers discard them. In theory, EPR could dramatically alter production practices by internalizing externalities from products and providing incentives for environmentally friendly design. However, practical problems of implementation raise questions about the effectiveness of EPR as a policy tool.

This Article …

The Public Trust Doctrine And Natural Law: Emanations With A Penumbra, George P. Smith Ii, Michael W. Sweeney

Scholarly Articles

In American jurisprudence, the public trust doctrine emerged as a means of protecting certain limited environmental interests, such as coastal waterways and fishing areas, which were preserved for the benefit of the public and distinguished from grants of private ownership. Modern scholars have, however, called for an expansive application of the public trust doctrine - citing, as such, the growing inventory of "changing public needs" in the environmental context, such as the need for improved air and water quality, and the conservation of natural landscape. This Article examines the history and scope of the public trust doctrine in order to …

Initial Steps Towards An Assessment Of The Potential For A Collaborative Approach To Colorado Delta Ecosystem Restoration, Gregory S. Weber

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Keep Your Money: Let The West Pay For Its Own Water Projects, Denise D. Fort

Faculty Scholarship

The question posed here is what role the federal government should play in responding to the western water crisis, in light of the changes in the social and political landscape that have occurred in the last decade. My thesis is that solutions to water needs that are funded locally are more likely to be sustainable than those produced through national appropriations. My thinking is affected by the work I did on a Presidential commission that recommended sustainability be the cornerstone of western water policy.

Deflating The Deference Myth: National Interests Vs. State Authority Under Federal Laws Affecting Water Use, Reed D. Benson

Faculty Scholarship

This Article seeks to separate the myth from the reality of federal deference to state water allocation authority. Section I briefly addresses background principles of state water law and federal constitutional law, and Section II traces the early history of deference prior to 1910. Section III analyzes three federal statutory schemes and Supreme Court cases applying them, suggests that each represents a different level of federal deference, and distills a few principles for analyzing deference under federal statutes. Section IV addresses deference issues arising in the context of the CWA and the ESA, applying the principles identified in the previous …

A Review Of Price, Principle, And The Environment, By Mark Sagoff, Matthew J. Steilen

Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

Can States Regulate Hydropower Dams As Dischargers Pursuant To Their Clean Water Certification Authority?, Robert H. Abrams

Journal Publications

Under §401 of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C §13·n, to obtain a federal license for any activity that results in a "discharge into the navigable waters," the license applicant must obtain a certification from the state in which the activity takes place that the discharge complies with several aspects of state water-quality regulation under the Clean Water Act. A common setting in which this requirement has been applied is when a hydropower dam seeks to be relicensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

Dawn Of A New Era In The Extraterritorial Application Of U.S. Environmental Statutes: A Proposal For An Integrated Judicial Standard Based On The Continuum Of Context, Randall S. Abate

Journal Publications

Congress has the authority to enact laws beyond the territorial boundaries of the United States. However, whether Congress intended to exercise extraterritorial authority in a given statute is a matter for the courts to ascertain through statutory interpretation. When considering the reach of federal legislation, courts are guided by a presumption against extraterritoriality. Part I of this Article discusses the origins and evolution of the presumption against extraterritoriality before and after the landmark decision in Aramco. Part II addresses the continuum of context paradigm from Massey and describes the extraterritorial application of U.S. environmental statutes. Part III of the Article …

Six Thinking Hats For The Lorax: Corporate Responsibility And The Environment, Robert F. Blomquist

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

When Is A Wetland Not A Wetland, Jonathan Lew

Sea Grant Law Fellow Publications

No abstract provided.

Ninth Circuit Upholds The Corps' Adjacency Jurisdiction Over Wetlands, Jonathan Lew

Sea Grant Law Fellow Publications

No abstract provided.

Rethinking The Great Lakes Compact, Mark Squillace

Publications

On December 13, 2005, the Governors and Premiers of the Great Lakes states and provinces signed a Compact and Agreement that commits the parties to a rigorous program to regulate individual water uses, with citizen suits to enforce the requirements. While the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact and companion Agreement are commendable in many respects, this Article argues that people who care about the future of the Great Lakes should urge policymakers to reject the current proposals and rethink the entire approach. The proposed compact is fundamentally flawed and will not achieve the ultimate stated goal of …

Revisiting The Tense Relationship Between The U.S. Supreme Court, Administrative Procedure, And The National Environmental Policy Act, Jason J. Czarnezki

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article addresses the possibility, under the prevailing understanding of NEPA, that an agency might draft a comprehensive report containing information about potential environmental effects and alternate approaches to a proposed plan--and then wholly disregard all of this information in making its final decision. Although an agency may contend that it has “considered” the environmental consequences of alternative courses of action, what if these factors have no actual impact on its final decision? Hypothetically, an agency could simply “steamroll” toward its preferred decision, hurdling NEPA's procedural obstacles without genuinely considering potential environmental harms or the means to avoid them.

This …

A Strategy For Developing Stationary Biodiesel Generation, Karl R. Rábago

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This paper discusses the drivers of change in the electricity system and the opportunities presented for biodiesel electric generation in this context. This paper also introduces the primary issues facing increased utilization of biodiesel—both those that challenge increased use of the fuel and those that support this use. Finally, the paper presents key elements of a strategy for realizing the potential of an electric generation infrastructure that incorporates more distributed biodiesel generation in the near term and even more distributed energy resources over the longer term.

Why A Conference On Redevelopment, And Why Now, Colin Crawford

Publications

When the Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth proposed the conference that produced the volume of essays you have in your hand, it was our idea to bring together a diverse group of professionals - environmental and land use lawyers, land use planners and city officials, politicians and engineers to discuss the legal and policy issues concerning "redevelopment." That is, we were concerned, living as we do in the rapidly changing and growing metropolitan area of Atlanta, to focus on the frequently exciting but also often tense and controversial area of redeveloping urban and suburban landscapes in ways …

Protecting Environmentally-Sensitive Areas And Promoting Tourism In The Back Patio Of The United States: Thoughts About Shared Responsibilities In Ecosystem And Biodiversity Protection, Colin Crawford

Publications

If the Dominican Republic is really in our back patio, what role, if any, do we bear in keeping it - as part of a property over which we have some dominion - in order? This article seeks to answer that question and, in the process, to provide some answers. In Part II, it will briefly lay out the urgency of strengthening the Dominican system of environmental protection areas, both for that nation and for the region of which it is a part. Part II thus endeavors to outline the importance of protected areas as the fulcrum of a larger …

Environmental Law News - Winter 2006

Environmental Law and Justice Clinic

No abstract provided.

2006 Annual Report - Clean Air, Bay Area Air Quality Management District

California Agencies

No abstract provided.

Toward A New Horizontal Federalism: Interstate Water Management In The Great Lakes Region, Noah D. Hall

Law Faculty Research Publications

This article presents a new model for environmental policy, called cooperative horizontal federalism. The cooperative horizontal federalism approach utilizes a constitutional mechanism for states to bind themselves to common substantive and procedural environmental protection standards, implemented individually with regional resources and enforcement. Here, the concept of the cooperative horizontal federalism model is illustrated through the recently proposed Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact. Under this proposed compact, the eight Great Lakes states would cooperatively manage the world's largest freshwater resource under common minimum standards, which are then incorporated into state law and implemented individually. This cooperative horizontal federalism …