Law Commons^™

Air Pollution & Environmental Inequity In The San Francisco Bay Area, Ken Kloc

Publications

Environmental justice advocates have long been concerned about the health impact of elevated air pollution levels found in disadvantaged communities across the country. Sustained public pressure on this issue has motivated regulators to initiate a variety of programs to better characterize the combined or “cumulative” air pollution exposure in localities with multiple pollution sources. In the last decade, local and state agencies have completed a number of relevant San Francisco Bay Area studies and the results are now being used to develop new pollution control policies. The goal of the present paper is to review this air quality research and …

Why California Failed To Meet Its Rps Target, Deborah N. Behles

Publications

Congress and states are developing and implementing plans to mitigate the impact of climate change through measures that reduce greenhouse gases. Many of these efforts are focused on the electrical generation industry since approximately 40% of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States are created from burning fossil fuels to generate electricity. To reduce the greenhouse gases produced by the electrical industry sector, many greenhouse reduction plans have required increased generation of electricity through renewable, less-polluting, resources which mandates electric utilities to obtain a percentage of their power from renewable resources. Congress has attempted to follow suit by proposing several …

Fighting For Environmental Justice Takes Long-Lasting Coalitions, Helen Kang

Publications

“It’s official!” read Theresa Mueller’s long-awaited February 2011 e-mail to community activists. A veteran deputy city attorney with the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office, Mueller was referring to a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission decision that finally allowed the Potrero power plant, the second of the two dirtiest fossil fuel power plants in the most polluted area of San Francisco, to close.

Power plants do not typically close. Although power plants are designed to operate for thirty to forty years, most power plants continue to operate long beyond their planned life spans. The last step in a long list of agency, …

Navigating Environmental Regulations, Helen Kang

Publications

When compliance with federal and local laws is at issue, knowing where to look is key to ensuring not running afoul of either, explains Helen Kang of Golden Gate University School of Law.

Failure To Launch, Alan Ramo

Publications

No abstract provided.

Community Growth And Land Use, Susan Kelly

Publications

No abstract provided.

Urbanization, Water Quality, And The Regulated Landscape, Dave Owen

Publications

Watershed scientists frequently describe urbanization as a primary cause of water quality degradation, and recent studies conclude that even in lightly-developed watersheds, urbanization often precludes attainment of water quality standards. This article considers legal responses to this pervasive problem. It explains why traditional legal measures have been ineffective, and it evaluates several recent innovations piloted in the northeastern United States and potentially applicable across the nation. Specifically, the innovations involve using impervious cover TMDLs, residual designation authority, and collective permitting. More generally, the innovations involve transferring regulatory focus from end-of-the-pipe to landscape-based controls. I conclude that the innovations, while raising …

The Public Trust Navigates California's Bay Delta, Paul Stanton Kibel

Publications

California's Bay Delta, where freshwater from the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers meets the saltwater from San Francisco Bay, has been mired in litigation and political controversy for decades. In the 2009 Delta Reform Act, the California State Water Board was ordered to conduct hearings to establish flow criteria to protect public trust resources in the Bay Delta. This article examines how the statutory deployment of the public trust in the 2009 Delta Reform Act built on the California Supreme Court's 1983 National Audubon decision, and details the California State Water Board proceedings leading up to the public trust Delta …

Winter 2011 Utton Center Newsletter, Utton Center, University Of New Mexico - School Of Law

Publications

No abstract provided.

Instream Flow And The Public Trust: Statutory Innovation In California's 2009 Delta Reform Act, Paul S. Kibel

Publications

No abstract provided.

Environmental Benefits And The Notion Of Positive Environmental Justice, Colin Crawford

Publications

Following the introductory section, the Article is divided into three parts. The first portion of Part 1 will chart the relatively thin case made in the U.S. literature for what this Article labels "positive environmental justice." The second section in Part 1 then looks outside the United States and analyzes an important and relatively recent decision of the Colombian Constitutional Court. The Colombian decision, which affirmed the constitutional and other international and domestic law rights of native and Afro- Colombian peoples in that country to make decisions regarding the use and exploitation of the nation's abundant forests," provides a nuanced …

The Inefficiencies And Deficiencies Of Waste Coal, Jonathan Skinner, Michael Brown

Publications

No abstract provided.

How Can The Rural Energy Poor Obtain Appropriate Sustainable Energy Technologies?, Michael Waggoner

Publications

Solutions to a current serious problem for the rural energy poor might best be found at least in part in older practices.

The problem comes from cooking over open fires, impairing the health of the cook and of others in her family, using fuel so inefficiently as to threaten forests, and releasing soot that contributes to global warming. Small, cheap, reliable cooking stoves could address these issues, improving health by reducing smoke and exhausting it through a chimney and thus away from the cook, using fuel more efficiently so that less needs to be gathered, and more completely burning the …

Who Killed The Hybrid Car? State And Local Green Incentive Programs After Metropolitan Taxicab V. City Of New York, Jonathan Skinner

Publications

Unnecessarily broad preemption ruling under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act discourages other states and municipalities from pursuing innovative, environmentally beneficial policies.

The Curious Case Of Greening In Carbon Markets, William Boyd, James Salzman

Publications

Over the last several years, so-called carbon markets have emerged around the world to facilitate trading in greenhouse gas credits. This Article takes a close look at an unexpected and unprecedented development in some of these markets--premium "green" currencies have emerged and, in some cases, displaced standard compliance currencies. Past experiences with other environmental compliance markets, such as the sulfur dioxide and wetlands mitigation markets, suggest the exact opposite should be occurring. Indeed, buyers in such markets should only be interested in buying compliance, not in the underlying environmental integrity of the compliance unit. In some of the compliance carbon …

Beyond Adjudication: Resolving International Resource Disputes In An Era Of Climate Change, Anna Spain

Publications

This Article examines the role of international adjudication as a mechanism for resolving international disputes and promoting global peace and security in an era of climate change. The central claim is that adjudication has limitations that make it ineffective as a tool for resolving international resource disputes. The Article argues that adjudication is limited due to source and process challenges and it illustrates this claim by reviewing cases adjudicated by the International Court of Justice, the Permanent Court of Arbitration and other international courts and tribunals. Four categories of adjudication limitation emerge: a) cases where the parties refused to submit …