Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Publication
- File Type
Articles 1 - 13 of 13
Full-Text Articles in Law
Developing An International Carbon Tax Regime, Steven Specht
Developing An International Carbon Tax Regime, Steven Specht
Steven Specht
As atmospheric CO2 remains in the range of 400 ppm, it is necessary to find new international coordination to deal with climate change. The best way forward is an international regime of harmonized domestic carbon taxes. By agreeing to a minimum amount of taxation on domestic, point-source producers, money can be set aside for adaptation costs and alternative means of energy production. Finally, such a plan will overcome the problem of non-participation of countries in agreements like the Kyoto Protocol. As this is a treaty dealing with economics and trade, countries can place taxes on imports of non-participatory countries under …
Environmental Law's Heartland And Frontiers, Todd Aagaard
Environmental Law's Heartland And Frontiers, Todd Aagaard
Todd S Aagaard
The locus of innovation moving forward is likely to be outside of the traditional domain of environmental law — in areas that are at the frontiers of environmental law, but in the heart of related fields such as energy law, corporate social responsibility, and insurance. At the same time, environmental law’s heartland will continue to dominate the regulation of environmental harms for the foreseeable future. The future of environmental law therefore will be determined by a dialectic relationship between the heartland and frontiers of environmental law; each playing its own crucial role in the development of the field, in tension …
The Compromise Verdict: How The Court’S Resolution Of New Jersey V. Delaware Iii Implicitly Advanced Environmental Litigation, Joel M. Pratt
The Compromise Verdict: How The Court’S Resolution Of New Jersey V. Delaware Iii Implicitly Advanced Environmental Litigation, Joel M. Pratt
Joel M Pratt
New Jersey and Delaware have often fought over their territorial boundaries in the Delaware River. Three times, they have litigated cases in the Supreme Court under the Court’s original jurisdiction to hear cases or controversies between states. In 1905, a Compact negotiated by the states and confirmed by Congress settled the first case between the two states. The second case between the two states led the Supreme Court to issue a Decree confirming the boundaries of the two states. The third case, which began in 2005, asked the Court to decide the scope of each state’s power to regulate development …
Energy Poverty And The Environment, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Energy Poverty And The Environment, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Carmen G. Gonzalez
Nearly 3 billion people in Asia, Africa, and Latin America (the Energy Poor) face daily hardships due to lack of modern energy for cooking, heating, sanitation, lighting, transportation, and basic mechanical power. Despite their minimal greenhouse gas emissions, the Energy Poor will be disproportionately burdened by the floods, droughts, rising sea levels, and other disturbances caused by climate change. Although climate change has been framed as an issue of climate debt and climate justice, the plight of the Energy Poor has received short shrift in the climate change negotiations. Will efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions consign the Energy Poor …
Applying Administrative Law Principles To Hydraulic Fracturing, Joel M. Pratt
Applying Administrative Law Principles To Hydraulic Fracturing, Joel M. Pratt
Joel M Pratt
Because fracking regulators and industry need both legal clarity and the ability to react to new information, courts should apply principles of administrative deference to resolve conflicts between state and local fracking regulations.Under these principles, courts weigh expert agency decision making more heavily when the agency has acted reasonably. When faced with a conflict between state and local fracking laws, courts should adopt administrative principles and privilege expert agency regulations rather than engage in an independent judicial inquiry. Part I provides background on fracking and argues that states are in the best position to regulate the practice. Part II then …
Sustaining An Unsustainable Fuel Source: How Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Limitations Can Improve The Sustainability Of The Tar Oil Industry, Brittany Debord
Sustaining An Unsustainable Fuel Source: How Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Limitations Can Improve The Sustainability Of The Tar Oil Industry, Brittany Debord
Brittany DeBord
The United States seeks to achieve energy security and self-sufficiency by acquiring energy from Canadian tar sands and promoting a domestic tar sands industry. However, support for this industry is inconsistent with the greenhouse gas reduction policies of the Energy Independence and Security Act and the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, since tar oil extraction creates three times more carbon emissions than conventional oil extraction. Legislation limiting lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions has already been implemented through the Renewable Fuel Standard Program in response to concerns that plant-based fuel production leads to greater carbon emissions than intended. Since the lifecycle …
Regulation Of Greenhouse Gases And Other Air Pollutants In The First Obama Administration And Major Air Issues For The Second Term, Patricia Mccubbin
Regulation Of Greenhouse Gases And Other Air Pollutants In The First Obama Administration And Major Air Issues For The Second Term, Patricia Mccubbin
Patricia Ross McCubbin
President Barack Obama has made addressing climate change the centerpiece of his environmental policy. Most recently, on June 25, 2013, the President gave a groundbreaking speech detailing the steps his administration will take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions throughout the United States. Of great controversy, the President directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to limit emissions of greenhouse gases from both new and existing power plants, which represent 40% of total U.S. carbon emissions. The President’s call to action – in his June 2013 speech and throughout his first term – stands in stark contrast to Congress’s inability to …
Legal Analysis Of The Eu Policy For Sustainable Transport Biofuels, Evgenia Pavlovskaia
Legal Analysis Of The Eu Policy For Sustainable Transport Biofuels, Evgenia Pavlovskaia
Evgenia Pavlovskaia
Warnings about limited oil resources, as well as the necessity to reduce GHG emissions and secure energy supply1 have become prioritized issues on the EU agenda. It has been suggested to partially replace traditional fossil fuels with other sources of renewable energy, for example with biofuels in the transport sector. This has been seen as a promising solution for complications connected with the extraction and supply of oil, as well as for the reduction of GHG emissions. It has also become understandable that the quality of biofuels and their production methods need to be sustainable. The material, from which biofuels …
Risk Tradeoff Analysis, Public Opinion And Nuclear Safety: A Spanish Case Study, Xiao Recio-Blanco
Risk Tradeoff Analysis, Public Opinion And Nuclear Safety: A Spanish Case Study, Xiao Recio-Blanco
Xiao Recio-Blanco
The 2011 nuclear accident at Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant opened a heated worldwide debate over nuclear energy. Unfortunately, neither the previous nor current Spanish governments have publicized the evidence used to evaluate the merits of extending the lifespan of Spain’s own Garoña plant. This article uses the Garoña case for a twofold purpose. First, the article analyzes the accountability of Spain’s executive power decisions on potentially catastrophic industrial activities. The paper finds that the lack of appropriate information disclosure duties in Spain may allow the government to abuse its discretion on actions potentially damaging to human health and the environment. …
Community-Scale Renewable Energy, Sara C. Bronin, Hannah Wiseman
Community-Scale Renewable Energy, Sara C. Bronin, Hannah Wiseman
Sara C. Bronin
As the movement toward cleaner energy has gained momentum within the United States, a growing number of scholars and policymakers have made the case for community-scale renewable energy: mid-sized energy sources supported by resources pooled from several private parties in close geographic proximity. When built and utilized at the community level, these energy facilities may allow for economies of scale that their owners could not achieve working individually. Individual distributed generation, such as solar infrastructure on the roofs of homes, involves high transaction costs and creates relatively small impacts. At the same time, community-scale renewable energy has advantages over large-scale …
Globalization And The Environment: Why All The Fuss?, David A. Wirth
Globalization And The Environment: Why All The Fuss?, David A. Wirth
David A. Wirth
The relationship between globalization and environmental policies presents more nuances than the popular paradigm of free trader versus self-serving protectionists, the familiar model of environmentalist battling greedy polluters, or the outmoded view of a progressive multilateral agenda juxtaposed against a parochial, inward-looking domestic one. This piece sets out a structural and analytical framework for addressing the major issues in the field -- including (1) unilateral trade-based measures to protect the environment; (2) science-based tests applied through trade agreements; (3) disciplines on foreign investment that may have a "chilling effect" on environmental regulation; and (4) the relationship between free trade agreements …
Federal Energy Efficiency And Conservation Laws, John Dernbach, Marianne Tyrrell
Federal Energy Efficiency And Conservation Laws, John Dernbach, Marianne Tyrrell
John C. Dernbach
This paper provides an overview of U.S. law and policy concerning energy efficiency and conservation. The United States appears torn between two narratives - one expressing the abundant demonstrated opportunities provided by energy savings and the other based on a fear of deprivation from using less energy. Rather than choosing between the two, U.S. law and policy splits the difference - embracing efficiency and conservation more or less halfheartedly. Energy efficiency and conservation policy thus has a Groundhog Day aspect, in which the same or similar arguments are made year after year, decade after decade, and often (it appears) to …
The Rising Tide Of Climate Change: What America’S Flood Cities Can Teach Us About Energy Policy And Why We Should Be Worried, Joshua P. Fershee
The Rising Tide Of Climate Change: What America’S Flood Cities Can Teach Us About Energy Policy And Why We Should Be Worried, Joshua P. Fershee
Joshua P Fershee
To provide a model for assessing the current and likely responses to climate change risks, this Article considers two of America’s worst flood disasters—in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and New Orleans, Louisiana— and applies the same rationale to critical climate change issues facing the nation today. This Article, written by a current resident of Grand Forks and a former New Orleans resident, begins with a background on climate change and related policy initiatives. Next, it considers the flood of 1997 in Grand Forks, which caused more than 50,000 people to abandon their homes. The development of the flood preparations, the …