Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
Articles 1 - 30 of 32
Full-Text Articles in Law
Global Environmental Law At A Crossroads: Introduction, Robert V. Percival, Jolene Lin, William Piermattei
Global Environmental Law At A Crossroads: Introduction, Robert V. Percival, Jolene Lin, William Piermattei
Robert Percival
No abstract provided.
Presidential Power To Address Climate Change In An Era Of Legislative Gridlock, Robert V. Percival
Presidential Power To Address Climate Change In An Era Of Legislative Gridlock, Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
No abstract provided.
Risk, Uncertainty And Precaution: Lessons From The History Of Us Environmental Law, Robert V. Percival
Risk, Uncertainty And Precaution: Lessons From The History Of Us Environmental Law, Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
Globalization and expanding world trade are creating new pressures to harmonize environmental standards. Countries increasingly are borrowing legal and regulatory policy innovations from one another, moving toward greater harmonization of regulatory policies. Regulatory policy generally seeks to prevent harm before it occurs, but the reality is that it usually has been more reactive than precautionary, responding only after harm has become manifest. As regulators seek to improve their responses to new and emerging environmental risks, it is useful to consider what lessons can be learned from past experience with regulatory policy. This chapter reviews controversies over regulatory policy through the …
Looking Backward, Looking Forward: The Next 40 Years Of Environmental Law, Robert V. Percival
Looking Backward, Looking Forward: The Next 40 Years Of Environmental Law, Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
The only certainty concerning predictions for the future of the environment is that most of them are likely to be wrong. This is illustrated by the fate of past predictions, such as those contained in Paul Ehrlich's Populations Bomb, Gregg Easterbrook's A Moment on the Earth, and Bjørn Lomborg's The Skeptical Environmentalist. While it is difficult to guess at the future of the environment, predictions concerning environmental law are even more hazardous because they turn in large part on the future of politics. After reviewing current political gridlock over environmental concerns, this Article considers contemporary forecasts of the fate of …
Protecting Coastal And Estuarine Resources- Confronting The Gulf Between The Promise And Product Of Environmental Regulation , Robert V. Percival
Protecting Coastal And Estuarine Resources- Confronting The Gulf Between The Promise And Product Of Environmental Regulation , Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
No abstract provided.
Human Rights And The Evolution Of Global Environmental Law, Robert V. Percival
Human Rights And The Evolution Of Global Environmental Law, Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
Environmental problems that jeopardize the health of humans increasingly implicate concerns that have played an important role in the development of international human rights. While some have questioned the wisdom or effectiveness of focusing human rights concerns on environmental problems, it seems an inevitable response to the failure of many countries to protect their citizens adequately from harm caused by environmental degradation. This paper reviews efforts to apply human rights concerns to environmental problems. It describes how these developments illustrate the growth of a kind of “global environmental law” that blurs traditional distinctions between domestic and international law and public …
Setting The Bar For "Injury" In Environmental Exposure Cases: How Low Can It Go?, John C. Cruden, Carla Burke, John Guttmann, Robert V. Percival
Setting The Bar For "Injury" In Environmental Exposure Cases: How Low Can It Go?, John C. Cruden, Carla Burke, John Guttmann, Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
On May 16, 2012, ELI convened a panel of experts to provide an overview and analysis of the tension between regulatory and common-law standards for injury in the context of toxic tort litigation. The speakers discussed and debated emerging trends in toxic tort litigation, including claims for property damage or medical monitoring regarding exposure to environmental contamination that never exceeds applicable regulatory standards. The panel also analyzed recent court opinions on the bounds of "injury" in environmental contamination cases and the potential for plaintiffs to recover damages based upon relatively low concentrations of chemicals. Issues explored by the panel included …
Cercla In A Global Context, Robert V. Percival, Katherine H. Cooper, Matthew M. Gravens
Cercla In A Global Context, Robert V. Percival, Katherine H. Cooper, Matthew M. Gravens
Robert Percival
The article first reviews the essential features of CERCLA and how they have evolved over time through legislative amendments and judicial interpretation. The article then compares CERCLA's approach to that embodied in the European Union's 2004 Directive on Environmental Liability with Regard to the Prevention and Remedying of Environmental Damage ("ELD:). It then reviews the laws adopted by various countries, including EU members, to respond to releases of hazardous substances. The article then discusses several case studies of how different countries handled incidents of environmental contamination. It concludes by summarizing the comparative law of environmental remediation and its implications for …
Of Coal, Climate And Carp: Reconsidering The Common Law Of Interstate Nuisance, Robert V. Percival
Of Coal, Climate And Carp: Reconsidering The Common Law Of Interstate Nuisance, Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
This paper argues that the common law of interstate nuisance remains an essential tool despite the rise of the modern regulatory state. In the rare cases when existing regulatory authorities fail to address emerging environmental problems, federal common law can serve as a backstop. When federal regulatory authorities are capable of addressing transboundary problems, but fail to do so, common law actions based on the law of source states remain a viable means of redress for states suffering significant harm from such pollution. Reconnecting the law of interstate nuisance to its historical roots, the paper concludes that the common law …
Global Law And The Environment, Robert V. Percival
Global Law And The Environment, Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
This article explores three areas in which globalization is profoundly affecting the development of a global environmental law. First, countries increasingly are borrowing law and regulatory innovations from one another to respond to common environmental problems. Although this is not an entirely new phenomenon, it is occurring at an unprecedented pace. Second, lawsuits seeking to hold companies liable for environmental harm they have caused outside their home countries are raising new questions concerning the appropriate venue for such transnational liability litigation and the standards courts should apply for enforcement of foreign judgments. Third, nongovernmental organizations are playing an increasingly important …
China's "Green Leap Forward" Toward Global Environmental Leadership, Robert V. Percival
China's "Green Leap Forward" Toward Global Environmental Leadership, Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
This article argues that China may be on the verge of a “Green Leap Forward” that could make it a global environmental leader. This article argues that two principal forces have contributed to this development. First, Chinese officials now realize that a global shift away from fossil fuels will create enormous business opportunities on a global scale. Chinese companies are now making enormous strides in the development of green technology, such as solar power, wind energy, and electric cars, with the active assistance of the Chinese government. Second, realizing that climate change severely threatens China, and stung by the criticism …
Resolving Conflicts Between Green Technology Transfer And Intellectual Property Law, Robert V. Percival, Alan Miller
Resolving Conflicts Between Green Technology Transfer And Intellectual Property Law, Robert V. Percival, Alan Miller
Robert Percival
This paper examines claims that intellectual property law, which is designed to create incentives for innovation, actually may inhibit the transfer to developing countries of green energy innovations. Although the paper cannot find significant examples of green energy technologies whose diffusion has been hindered by existing intellectual property protections, it explores strategies, such as compulsory licensing schemes, for responding to such problems if and when they arise in the future. The paper concludes that intellectual property law need not be an obstacle to a global transformation toward a green energy infrastructure that can promote economic development while advancing new levels …
Strategies For Promoting Green Energy Innovation, Deployment, & Technology Transfer, Robert V. Percival
Strategies For Promoting Green Energy Innovation, Deployment, & Technology Transfer, Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
This paper surveys various strategies for promoting the development and deployment of green energy technologies.
Environmental Law Goes Global: Taking Back Eden: Eight Environmental Cases That Changed The World, By Oliver A. Houck, Robert V. Percival
Environmental Law Goes Global: Taking Back Eden: Eight Environmental Cases That Changed The World, By Oliver A. Houck, Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
No abstract provided.
La Responsabilidad Por Daño Ambiental Global Y La Evolución En Las Relaciones Entre El Derecho Público Y Privado [Liability For Global Environmental Harm And The Evolving Relationship Between Public And Private Law], Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
No abstract provided.
Liability For Environmental Harm And Emerging Global Environmental Law, Robert V. Percival
Liability For Environmental Harm And Emerging Global Environmental Law, Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
Environmental law and policy are undergoing rapid change at the global, national, and even local levels. The nations of the world continue to struggle to develop an effective global response to climate change. Transboundary pollution and resource management problems command regional attention even as nations work to upgrade their own environmental standards and their energy, transportation, and land use policies. Surprising environmental initiatives are emerging even from state and local governments. In my previous work I have argued that globalization is affecting law and legal systems throughout the world in profound new ways. See Robert V. Percival, The Globalization of …
Environmental Law In The Supreme Court: Highlights From The Marshall Papers, Robert V. Percival
Environmental Law In The Supreme Court: Highlights From The Marshall Papers, Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
Justice Marshall served on the Court from 1967 until 1991. During that period, Congress passed all of the major federal environmental statutes and environmental regulation mushroomed. As a result, the Marshall papers reveal how the Court reached decisions that have shaped modern environmental law. The author, a former law clerk to former Justice Byron White and an associate professor of law at the University of Maryland, begins by describing the history of the Court's treatment of environmental disputes. He then discusses the steps the Justices take in deciding whether to accept cases for review; in reaching decisions on the merits …
Environmental Law In The Twenty-First Century, Robert V. Percival
Environmental Law In The Twenty-First Century, Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
No abstract provided.
The Clean Water Act And The Demise Of The Federal Common Law Of Interstate Nuisance, Robert V. Percival
The Clean Water Act And The Demise Of The Federal Common Law Of Interstate Nuisance, Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
No abstract provided.
Environmental Federalism: Historical Roots And Contemporary Models, Robert V. Percival
Environmental Federalism: Historical Roots And Contemporary Models, Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
No abstract provided.
Who's Afraid Of The Precautionary Principle?, Robert V. Percival
Who's Afraid Of The Precautionary Principle?, Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
The precautionary principle – the notion that lack of scientific certainty should not foreclose precautionary regulation – has become enormously popular in recent years, as reflected by its endorsement in many important international declarations and agreements. Despite its growing influence, the precautionary principle recently has come under fire by critics who argue that it is incoherent, potentially paralyzing, and that it will lead regulators to make bad choices. They maintain that society faces greater peril from overly costly regulations than from exposure to sources of environmental risks whose effect on human health and the environment is not fully understood at …
Responding To Environmental Risk: A Pluralistic Perspective, Robert V. Percival
Responding To Environmental Risk: A Pluralistic Perspective, Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
No abstract provided.
Escaping The Common Law's Shadow: Standing In The Light Of Laidlaw, Robert V. Percival, Joanna B. Goger
Escaping The Common Law's Shadow: Standing In The Light Of Laidlaw, Robert V. Percival, Joanna B. Goger
Robert Percival
No abstract provided.
Risk Based Decision-Making At The Environmental Protection Agency, Robert V. Percival
Risk Based Decision-Making At The Environmental Protection Agency, Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
No abstract provided.
Water Pollution Control: Lessons From Transnational Experience, Robert V. Percival
Water Pollution Control: Lessons From Transnational Experience, Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
Water is fundamental to life, as reflected in space scientists' compulsive search for signs of its presence when scrutinizing other planets for possible life forms. Fortunately for our species, more than two-thirds of our planet is covered with water, creating an environment richly conducive to life. Humans have just begun to appreciate how precious earth's water resources are and how vulnerable they are to damage from human activity. Efforts to protect earth's water resources from contamination have been among the most prominent catalysts for the development of environmental law thoroughout the world. After surveying this experience, this paper finds that …
El Surgimiento Del Derecho Ambiental Global, Robert V. Percival
El Surgimiento Del Derecho Ambiental Global, Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
Legal systems across the globe are responding to environmental concerns in surprising new ways. As nations upgrade their environmental standards, some are transplanting law and regulatory policy innovations derived from the experience of other countries, including nations with very different legal and cultural traditions. New national, regional, and international initiatives have been undertaken both by governments and private organizations. Greater cross-border collaboration between government officials, nongovernmental organizations, multinational corporations and other entities is shaping environmental policy in ways that blur traditional private/public land domestic/international distinctions. The result has been the emergence of a kind of “global environmental law” – law …
Conservation And Renewable Energy Sources As Supply Alternatives For New York's Electric Utilities, Robert V. Percival
Conservation And Renewable Energy Sources As Supply Alternatives For New York's Electric Utilities, Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
No abstract provided.
The Challenge Of Chinese Environmental Law, Robert V. Percival
The Challenge Of Chinese Environmental Law, Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
China faces some of the most difficult environmental problems in the world as rapid industrial growth has produced horrendous air and water pollution. How China’s government responds to these challenges will have profound effects on the global environment. This essay discusses how Chinese environmental laws are evolving to cope with these problems and the severe obstacles that Chinese authorities face. It notes that the highly decentralized nature of China’s system of environmental laws makes it difficult for the central government to implement and enforce the laws. The essay concludes that, despite some progress, the lack of an independent judiciary and …
Resolución De Conflictos Ambientales: Lecciones Aprendidas De La Historia De La Contaminación De Las Fundiciones De Minerales, Robert V. Percival
Resolución De Conflictos Ambientales: Lecciones Aprendidas De La Historia De La Contaminación De Las Fundiciones De Minerales, Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
No abstract provided.
21世纪环境法展望 (Environmental Law In The 21st Century), Robert V. Percival
21世纪环境法展望 (Environmental Law In The 21st Century), Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
After reviewing the history of environmental law, this article discusses some important lessons that can be learned from its successes and failures. It discusses the continued influence of common law notions of causal injury on the administrative state and how the globalization of environmental concerns is affecting environmental law throughout the world. It concludes by venturing some predictions concerning the future of environmental law.