Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Institution
- Publication
- Publication Type
Articles 1 - 14 of 14
Full-Text Articles in Natural Resources Law
Why Environmental Laws Fail, Jan G. Laitos, Lauren Joseph Wolongevicz
Why Environmental Laws Fail, Jan G. Laitos, Lauren Joseph Wolongevicz
William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review
Although governments have deployed an array of environmental protection laws, our planet continues to experience unprecedented environmental “crises,” including climate change, resource depletion, species extinction, ecosystem damage, and toxic air-water-land pollution. Despite universal acknowledgment and recognition of these serious environmental issues, and despite a growing list of laws designed to address these issues, the reality is that these adverse Earth-based environmental changes continue, and may even be worsening. Environmental protection laws have often failed because they usually include certain problematic characteristics: they are anthropocentric, in that their goal is to protect and benefit humans, not the environment in which humans …
Protecting A Natural Resource Legacy While Promoting Reslience: Can It Be Done?, Alyson C. Flournoy
Protecting A Natural Resource Legacy While Promoting Reslience: Can It Be Done?, Alyson C. Flournoy
Alyson Flournoy
Our stock of natural resources, and the values and services they provide, are diminishing steadily over time. We have dozens of laws, enacted over a period of almost forty years that express the objective of stemming this tide. Yet, the inexorable, incremental loss continues. Scholars concerned with conservation of our natural capital have long wrestled with how best to improve the laws we have in place and to supplement the framework of existing law with newer approaches. One common theme in efforts to design progressive conservation law is how to better incorporate scientific insights into our legal regimes. This effort …
Billionaires, Birds, And Environmental Brawls: Reconceptualizing Energy Easements, Nadia B. Ahmad
Billionaires, Birds, And Environmental Brawls: Reconceptualizing Energy Easements, Nadia B. Ahmad
Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Sue And Settle: Demonizing The Environmental Citizen Suit, Stephen M. Johnson
Sue And Settle: Demonizing The Environmental Citizen Suit, Stephen M. Johnson
Seattle University Law Review
In the spring of 2013, industry groups and states began a concerted lobbying effort to oppose citizen enforcement of the federal environmental laws. The United States Chamber of Commerce and lobbyists for states created a catch-phrase—“sue and settle”—to demonize citizen enforcement and the federal government’s practice of settling lawsuits it is destined to lose in court. The Chamber alleged that the federal government, by settling lawsuits brought by citizens groups rather than defending them in court, was colluding with those non-governmental organizations and excluding other affected parties to reallocate the agencies’ priorities and obligations. Federal environmental laws establish a central …
Calling Foul: Deficiencies In Approaches To Environmental Whistleblowers And Suggested Reforms, Emily Becker
Calling Foul: Deficiencies In Approaches To Environmental Whistleblowers And Suggested Reforms, Emily Becker
Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment
Whistleblowers could facilitate the regulation of the environmental sector at little to no cost to the taxpayer. Often, potential whistleblowers have timely access to information that would enable them to avert or minimize environmental damage and to protect our communities. However, existing federal and state regulations fail to adequately protect environmental whistleblowers and to incentivize potential environmental whistleblowers. These failures unjustly penalize whistleblowers and discourage potential whistleblowers. This article uses research findings and a case study to illuminate these failings and to argue for reforms that would better protect and incentivize whistleblowers
Billionaires, Birds, And Environmental Brawls: Reconceptualizing Energy Easements, Nadia B. Ahmad
Billionaires, Birds, And Environmental Brawls: Reconceptualizing Energy Easements, Nadia B. Ahmad
Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment
In the substantial power outages associated with Hurricane Sandy and the 2013 Oklahoma tornadoes and Colorado floods, which left millions without power, the United States witnessed the insufficiency of its existing energy infrastructure. The lack of access to reliable energy widens the cleavage between the rich and poor, particularly in times of disaster and crisis. Policymakers and government regulators involved with long distance energy transmission projects have not adequately instituted laws and policies for existing and future energy access. This Article holds that current regulations, practices, and norms for long distance energy transmission may be doomed because of complications with …
Incorporating The Third Party Beneficiary Principle In Natural Resource Contracts, James T. Gathii
Incorporating The Third Party Beneficiary Principle In Natural Resource Contracts, James T. Gathii
James Thuo Gathii
Third world citizens—parties who often have the most to lose in natural resource contracts between their governments and foreign investors—often have no voice in negotiations of the contracts and consequently have no remedy under contract law when harms occur or when the contracts are not properly enforced. The privity doctrine, which permits contract suits only by parties to the contract, bars these citizens from suing because they were not in privity with any of the contracting parties, despite that these contracts are generally made for the benefit of these citizens. However, some countries have adopted—and this Essay argues other countries …
Avoiding The Road To Ferc-Dom: The Supreme Court Affirms The Right To Contract In Morgan Stanley V. Snohomish, Jorge A. Mestre
Avoiding The Road To Ferc-Dom: The Supreme Court Affirms The Right To Contract In Morgan Stanley V. Snohomish, Jorge A. Mestre
Jorge A Mestre
No abstract provided.
Renewable Energy: Where We Are Now And How Renewable Energy Investment And Development Can Be Expanded, Kevin M. Walsh
Renewable Energy: Where We Are Now And How Renewable Energy Investment And Development Can Be Expanded, Kevin M. Walsh
Kevin M Walsh
The renewable energy field is currently stifled because many renewable energy developments require tax equity investors to provide additional funds to get the project off the ground and running. The Code provides tax credits to incentivize investors to invest. Currently, the Investment Tax Credit (“ITC”) is the only available credit left for renewable projects placed in service from 2014 on. Tax credits are a step in the right direction to encourage renewable investment; however, the credits are limited in application mostly to large financial institutions. Moreover, investments into one specific renewable energy project can be risky because there is no …
Enforcement Activism Of The Eu’S Renewable Energy Directive During The Global Financial Crisis, Jon Truby
Enforcement Activism Of The Eu’S Renewable Energy Directive During The Global Financial Crisis, Jon Truby
William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review
No abstract provided.
Europe Should Dump Cap-And-Trade In Favor Of Carbon Tax With Reinvestment To Reduce Global Emissions, Stephen Sewalk
Europe Should Dump Cap-And-Trade In Favor Of Carbon Tax With Reinvestment To Reduce Global Emissions, Stephen Sewalk
Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment
It is time for the European Union to dump the EU-ETS cap-and trade system, as it is not working. By adopting a carbon tax with reinvestment, the European Union (EU) could reduce its economy-wide emissions by forty-eight percent (and emissions from buildings and utilities by sixty-five percent) within twenty years while automatically putting in place a border tax adjustment. By adopting the carbon tax with reinvestment, the EU's trading partners would be heavily encouraged to adopt the same system, thereby dramatically reducing global emissions. This adoption would occur much like the EU adopting the Value-Added Tax and 150 countries following …
Climate Engineering Field Research: The Favorable Setting Of International Environmental Law, Jesse Reynolds
Climate Engineering Field Research: The Favorable Setting Of International Environmental Law, Jesse Reynolds
Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment
As forecasts for climate change and its impacts have become more dire, climate engineering proposals have come under increasing consideration and are presently moving toward field trials. This article examines the relevant international environmental law, distinguishing between climate engineering research and deployment. It also emphasizes the climate change context of these proposals and the enabling function of law. Extant international environmental law generally favors such field tests, in large part because, even though field trials may present uncertain risks to humans and the environment, climate engineering may reduce the greater risks of climate change. Notably, this favorable legal setting is …
Oil And Gas Law: From Habendum To Patent Law, Emir Crowne, Barbero C. Michael
Oil And Gas Law: From Habendum To Patent Law, Emir Crowne, Barbero C. Michael
Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment
This article outlines and addresses the specific patent issues affecting the oil and gas industry. In so doing, it argues that the business realities of the industry, coupled with its fast-paced environment, make it a perfect example of why the current patent prohibition against professional skills and business methods must be reformed.
Will More, Better, Cheaper, And Faster Monitoring Improve Environmental Management?, Ryan P. Kelly
Will More, Better, Cheaper, And Faster Monitoring Improve Environmental Management?, Ryan P. Kelly
Ryan P Kelly
Two critical problems in environmental management are a lack of primary data and the difficulty of assessing the environmental impacts of human activities. Producing the information necessary to address these twin challenges is often difficult and expensive, which impedes decisionmaking in environmental management. I focus here on the possibility of making data collection more powerful and more cost-effective with a suite of analyses made tractable by emerging technology for genetic analysis. More, better, cheaper, and faster information about the planet’s living resources promises to influence a wide range of legal and policy processes—from Clean Water Act compliance and related public …