Science and Technology Law Commons^™

Fuel Efficiency: The Disconnect Between Environmental Policy And Tax Policy, John J. Marciano

ExpressO

The recent high gas prices in America have intensified the debate over oil and gas efficiency, use, and reserves. As the national average for a gallon tops $2.10, Congress and the President strive to find a common position to foster energy independence, protect the environment, and bolster the struggling economy.

President Bush’s energy policy and recent Senate and House bills have not contemplated their effects on the environmental state of our nation or its impact on the internal revenue code. In this time of uncertainty, energy independence and measured use of resources may be at odds, but must we stray …

Assessing The Options For Designing A Mandatory U.S. Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program, Robert R. Nordhaus, Kyle W. Danish

ExpressO

The United States faces growing pressure – both from domestic and international sources – to adopt a mandatory greenhouse gas reduction program to address the risk of global climate change. If policy-makers decide to establish such a program, they could end up creating an environmental regulatory regime of potentially unprecedented scope and impacts. A domestic greenhouse gas program could break ground in other ways too. Many policy-makers are considering innovative market-based approaches to regulation, including a multi-billion dollar economy-wide “cap-and-trade” program. In this paper, we: (1) set forth criteria for evaluating program options; (2) analyze the leading design options and …

Innovation, Regulation And The Selection Environment, Timothy F. Malloy, Peter Sinsheimer

ExpressO

This article focuses on the question of how regulation can be best designed to encourage technological innovation. Most scholarship in this area applies standard economic analysis to evaluate the impact of various forms of regulation on technological innovation. We reject that approach as too narrow, drawing instead upon principles of evolutionary economics. The basic premise of the article is that a firm’s technology choices—and its response to regulation intended to shape those choices—are influenced by other actors (such as suppliers and competitors), by external social and legal institutions (e.g., industry standards and norms) and by the firms' internal structure (such …

Shifting Sands: The Limits Of Science In Setting Risk Standards, Cary Coglianese, Gary E. Marchant

All Faculty Scholarship

Regulators need to rely on science to understand problems and predict the consequences of regulatory actions, but over reliance on science can actually contribute to, or at least deflect attention from, incoherent policymaking. In this article, we explore the problems with using science to justify policy decisions by analyzing the Environmental Protection Agency's recently revised air quality standards for ground-level ozone and particulate matter, some of the most significant regulations ever issued. In revising these standards, EPA mistakenly invoked science as the exclusive basis for its decisions and deflected attention from a remarkable series of inconsistencies. For example, even though …

Invasion Of The Clones: Animal Cloning And The Potential Implications On The Future Of Human Cloning And Cloning Legislation In The United States, The United Kingdom, And Internationally, Adrienne N. Calhoun

ExpressO

Cloning is an area of science that changes daily; with advances being made constantly. This technology has caused great controversy in the United States and across the world. The issue has raised religious, ethical, technical and legal concerns. This paper is broken into four parts in order to best address the complex area of cloning technology. Part one will be a review of the history of the science of cloning and the history of animal cloning. Part two will be a discussion of the risks and benefits of cloning. Part three will address ethical and religious concerns surrounding human cloning. …