Environmental Law Commons^™

Centrality And Compliance: Unitary Vs. Federalist Political Systems In The Implementation Of The Kyoto Protocol In Argentina And Uruguay, Aidan Homan

Baker Scholar Projects

When Uruguay and Argentina first gained their respective independence in the early 1800s, they appeared to be following the same path of development As countries that came from the same Spanish colonization, share almost identical agricultural economies, and retain a close relationship, it is logical that they would follow similar trajectories. This assumption proves to be inaccurate in more ways than one, but most prominently within the environmental sphere. One way to analyze this difference in policy implementation lies in compliance with international environmental treaties which contain specific goals and limits for all parties involved. The Kyoto Protocol presents a …

Renewable Portfolio Standards: Effectiveness And Carbon Implications, Alexander S. Albrecht

CMC Senior Theses

A renewable portfolio standard (RPS) policy is a popular regulatory tool implemented within the U.S. and abroad to limit energy sector emissions and incentivize renewable energy. Assessing their effectiveness and efficiency is a key component of achieving further reductions. We assess an energy market under an RPS using fixed-effects panel and 2SLS regression models to lend empirical credence to common theory-based concerns about RPS policy, namely (1) that they leave emissions unregulated once the RPS requirement is met and (2) that they do not incentivize full use of renewable energy resources. Our results show these to be valid concerns that …

Community Empowerment In Decarbonization: Nepa’S Role, Wyatt G. Sassman

Washington Law Review

This Article addresses a potential tension between two ambitions for the transition to clean energy: reducing regulatory red-tape to quickly build out renewable energy, and leveraging that build-out to empower low-income communities and communities of color. Each ambition carries a different view of communities’ role in decarbonization. To those focused on rapid build-out of renewable energy infrastructure, communities are a potential threat who could slow or derail renewable energy projects through opposition during the regulatory process. To those focused on leveraging the transition to clean energy to advance racial and economic justice, communities are necessary partners in the key decisions …

Environmental Soft Law As A Governance Strategy, Cary Coglianese

All Faculty Scholarship

Soft law governance relies on nongovernmental institutions that establish and implement voluntary standards. Compared with traditional hard law solutions to societal and economic problems, soft law alternatives promise to be more politically feasible to establish and then easier to adapt in the face of changing circumstances. They may also seem more likely to be flexible in what they demand of targeted businesses and other entities. But can soft law actually work to solve major problems? This Article considers the value of soft law governance through the lens of three major voluntary, nongovernmental initiatives that address environmental concerns: (1) ISO 14001 …

An Analysis Of United States Nuclear Power Plant Decommissioning Policy And The Public Participation Process, Alexis Stabulas

Sustainability and Social Justice

As the number of nuclear power plants slated for decommissioning increases, reflecting on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) decommissioning regulations in relation to public participation becomes increasingly important. When plants close, communities lose security in economics, employment, and environmental and human health. The NRC’s regulations on public involvement are very limited and generally stakeholders do not feel supported in the decommissioning process. Local and tribal governments, citizen groups, the general public, and those directly affected have all found the NRC’s public involvement inadequate, ineffective, and infrequent. The case studies of two completely decommissioned plants, Maine Yankee and Big Rock …

Inquiry Into The Implementation Of Bush’S Executive Order 13211 And The Impact On Environmental And Public Health Regulation, Elizabeth Ann Glass Geltman, Gunwant Gill, Miriam Jovanovic

Publications and Research

Executive Order 13211, promulgated in 2001, requires the federal government to consider the impact of federal action on energy independence as part of the George W. Bush’s National Energy Policy. This law review examines whether EO 13211 was used to curtail environmental protection and natural resource conservation. The article begins with a review of the procedure required of federal agencies under EO 13211 and its associated documents. The paper then examines case law and published federal rulemaking proceedings and examines how federal agencies apply tests to evaluate the potential energy effect. The study concludes that EO 13211 strikes a reasonable …

Drilling For Common Ground: How Public Opinion Tracks Experts In The Debate Over Federal Regulation Of Shale Oil & Gas Extraction, Elizabeth Ann Glass Geltman

Publications and Research

Public interest in environmental and health impacts from shale oil and gas extraction (what the public calls “fracking”) is growing. Industry claims the public outcry against the new technology is not grounded in science. In February 2013, Resources for the Future (“RFF”) published a list of high priority “risk pathways” that experts from NGOs, academia, government, and industry all agreed were real concerns about fracking. This article used the risk matrix to evaluate whether public comments in dockets of federal agencies that proposed regulation concerning hydraulic fracturing tracked expert concern. The article found that the public tracked many of the …

Impact Of Executive Order 13211 On Environmental Regulation: An Empirical Study, Elizabeth Ann Glass Geltman

Publications and Research

A great deal has been written about the Energy Policy Act of 2005 exempting oil and gas operations using hydraulic fracturing from the purview of certain federal environmental laws. Far less attention has been paid to George W. Bush’s Executive Order 13211 (EO 13211), entitled “Actions Concerning Regulations that Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution or Use.” The executive order requires federal agencies to evaluate the impact of federal regulations on “supply, distribution and use of energy.” This study examined the impact of EO 13211 on United States environmental and conservation regulations proposed and promulgated by federal agencies. The study found …

Expanding The Renewable Energy Industry Through Tax Subsidies Using The Structure And Rationale Of Traditional Energy Tax Subsidies, Blake Harrison

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Just as the government invested in oil and gas, it must now invest in new energy sources. In a sense, Americans need history to repeat itself. This Note suggests that Congress should amend the United States Tax Code to further subsidize the renewable energy industry. Congress should use subsidies historically available to the oil and gas industries as a model in its amendments. These subsidies serve as a model for promoting the renewable energy industry because such subsidies were fundamental in facilitating the oil and gas industries’ dominance today. Ultimately, Congress must further subsidize the renewable energy industry to avoid …

Designing Co2 Performance Standards For A Transitioning Electricity Sector: A Multi-Benefits Framework, Jonas J. Monast, David Hoppock

Faculty Scholarship

A significant transition is underway within the electricity sector due to several market forces, retirement of certain plants, and regulatory pressures. There is notable overlap between available strategies for mitigating electricity sector risks and potential compliance strategies for states under the Clean Power Plan. This overlap presents regulators with an opportunity to pursue strategies that help manage the transition occurring in the electricity sector and achieve greenhouse gas reductions required under the Clean Power Plan, particularly in the areas of end-use energy efficiency and additional renewable power generation.

Land Management, U.S. Bureau Of, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides a historical overview and current assessment of the role played by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management in its ownership of federal lands in western states and its efforts to balance economic development of natural resources and conservation of these resources on these lands.

Toward A Sustainable Future: An Environmental Agenda For The Second Term Of The Obama Administration, David M. Uhlmann

Other Publications

Much was at stake in the Presidential election of 2012, which was marked by heated debate over the trajectory of the economy, the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, and the fat of the President's health care plan. The candidates disagreed about nearly every issue from foreign policy and the war on terror to a woman's right to choose and same-sex marriage. Lost amid the din and never mentioned in the Presidential debates or most of the campaign speeches was another divisive topic: how our environmental laws and policies should address global climate change and chart a sustainable future for …

Agenda: A Cartography Of Governance: Exploring The Province Of Environmental Ngos, University Of Colorado Boulder. School Of Law, University Of Colorado Boulder. Environmental Program, University Of Tulsa. National Energy-Environment Law & Policy Institute, University Of Colorado Boulder. United Government Of Graduate Students

A Cartography of Governance: Exploring the Province of Environmental NGOs (April 7-8)

Presented by: the Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law and Policy on April 7 & 8, 2001. Symposium director: Lakshman D. Guruswamy.

Co-sponsored by: University of Colorado School of Law, University of Colorado Environmental Program, University of Tulsa National Energy-Environment Law and Policy Institute, University of Colorado United Government of Graduate Students.

The papers and edited proceedings of the conference will be published in a special symposium issue of the Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law & Policy (CJIELP).

"The first objective of the Symposium was to understand and explore the growing importance of nongovernmental actors, and delineate the manner …

Thermal Electric Power And Water Pollution: A Sitting Approach, Billy Darrell Mcdaniel

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.