Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Environmental Governance And The Global South, Jeffrey J. Minneti

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Over the last several decades, efforts to regulate the environment through traditional public law at national and international levels have stalled. In contrast, private environmental governance has flourished as nongovernmental entities have engaged in standard setting and assessment practices traditionally left to public government. This Article observes that while private governance of producers’ environmental product claims has grown tremendously in recent years, the vast majority of the governance originates in the global North and thrusts the global North’s economic and environmental agenda into the global South. In light of recent empirical studies of the effectiveness of such governance, the Article …

An Examination Of The Need For Campaign Fianance Reform Through The Lens Of The United States Treaty Clause And Environmental Protection Treaties, Jordan Smith

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

The United States’ federal election system is constantly the focus of debate, including components from voting mechanisms, to candidate selection, and to the candidates themselves. Unsurprisingly, campaign finance has also been the source of much debate. For decades, scholars, politicians, lawyers, and laypersons have debated the merits and shortcomings of the campaign finance system enumerated in the United States Code. The landmark Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (“FEC”) decision in 2010, in which the United States Supreme Court equated corporate speech to human speech, merely added fuel to the fire. The considerable volume of scholarship based upon campaign finance …

Reframing Humans (Homo Sapiens) In International Biodiversity Law To Frame Protections For Climate Refugees, Jullee Kim

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Currently, application of international environmental law assumes that humans are separate from nature. Yet, the terminology commonly adopted for persons displaced as a result of climate change, “climate refugees,” represents the ultimate expression of the nexus where impacts from both natural and human systems coalesce. “Climate” represents the physical conditions appearing as a result of climate change and altering a person’s home to render it no longer habitable. While suitability of the term “refugees” in the climate change context is debated, it represents the political and societal conditions forcing the person to flee from their home, potentially across national borders, …

"Un-Designating" Marine Sanctuaries?: Assessing President Trump's America-First Offshore Energy Strategy, Kevin O. Leske

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Incentive Compatible Climate Change Mitigation: Moving Beyond The Pledge And Review Model, Gabriel Weil

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Climate change represents a global commons problem, where individuals, businesses, and nation-states all lack sufficient incentives to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to levels consistent with meeting their collectively agreed upon mitigation goals. The current “pledge and review” paradigm for global climate change mitigation, which many see as a major breakthrough, relies primarily on moral pressure, reputational incentives, and global public opinion to foster cooperation on mitigation efforts over and above those driven by maximization of narrow conceptions of national interests. Given the scale of the emissions reductions required to meet stated mitigation goals, the substantial economic costs of deep …

The Environment And Nafta Policy Debate Redux: Separating Rhetoric From Reality, Linda J. Allen

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Requiescat In Pace: The Cemetery Dedication And Its Implications For Land Use In Louisiana And Beyond, Ryan M. Seidemann

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Translating Legal Norms Into Quantitative Indicators: Lessons From The Global Water, Sanitation, And Hygiene Sector, Sharmila L. Murthy

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Bike Lanes, Not Cars: Mobility And The Legal Fight For Future Los Angeles, Ernesto Hernandez-Lopez

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

In 2015, the City of Los Angeles adopted the controversial Mobility Plan 2035. The Plan restructures city transportation planning by emphasizing alternatives to cars for the next twenty years. Predictably, bike lanes became its most polemic aspect. The Plan envisions dramatic increases in bike lanes throughout car-obsessed Los Angeles. This bike lane increase was challenged in court, with objectors claiming that eliminating car lanes would increase congestion and compromise air quality. These arguments are ironic, since environmental justifications typically motivate bike projects.

The Mobility Plan illustrates how law supports and challenges bike lane projects. This Article argues that although this …

Water, Lead, And Environmental Justice: Easing The Flint Water Crisis With A Public Water Contamination Liability Fund, Jonathon Lubrano

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Pope Francis, Laudato Si', And U.S. Environmentalism, Jonathan Z. Cannon, Stephen Cushman

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Murky Skies Ahead! Analyzing Executive Authority And Future Policies Regarding Corporate Disclosure Of Greenhouse Gases, Chandler Crenshaw

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

A Fix For A Thirsty World - Making Direct And Indirect Reuse Legally Possible, Heather Payne

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Reliably providing safe drinking water to the public is an essential function of state and local governments. Across the United States, government officials and public water system managers are exploring mechanisms for ensuring water security. One method for increasing public drinking water security that has garnered the attention of water officials and the public is returning treated wastewater to the drinking water supply. However, in the absence of federal regulations on water reuse, states need guidance to develop the statutory framework necessary to make potable reuse legal. This Article details the processes of direct and indirect potable reuse and reviews …

Putting The Illegal Wildlife Trade In The Crosshairs: How The Global Conservation Crisis Demonstrates The Need For Lacey Act Enforcement Of Foreign Laws, Jonathan Gonzalez

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Thorium’S Glow: Lighting The Way For Safe, Cheap Energy Production, Zachary Hawari

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Plan Ej 2014: Fact Or Fiction? A Critique Of The Obama Administration’S Efforts On Environmental Justice, Jeanne Zokovitch Paben

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

As President Obama’s tenure in office draws to a close, environmental injustices continue to proliferate in communities across this country. During the Obama Administration, there has been a strong government voice on combating these injustices, yet under their watch we see travesties like Flint, Michigan. Flint is the latest example of how our laws and government processes are not only inadequate in protecting overburdened communities, but also how they are complicit in perpetuating harm. This Article aims to answer how that happens, first, by cataloging the environmental justice efforts under the Obama Administration, most notably through Plan EJ 2014, then …

Waging War On The Rising Seas: Fashioning A Comprehensive Approach To Combating The Effects Of Sea Level Rise On Hampton Roads, Virginia Military Installations Under Existing Frameworks, Paul Hawkins

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Water Quality Conflict Resolution And Agricultural Discharges: Lessons From Waterkeeper V. Hudson, Jennifer M. Egan, Joshua M. Duke

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

This Article presents a comparative institutional analysis of an increasingly important type of environmental conflict—the agricultural-waste-discharge and water-land-nexus conflict—using the recent citizen suit Waterkeeper v. Hudson as a case study. The objective is to assess the resource allocation efficiency and procedural fairness of the dispute processing in Hudson. The Hudson setting involves substantial scientific complexity, including ecological interdependencies, unobservable and observable land management decisions, pollutant transport, in-stream removal, and the problem of multiple and diverse sources of water quality pollution. Although the Hudson farm does fall under a regulated point source category in a state legislative definition, not all agricultural …

Buzzkill: How The Epa’S Inaction Is Killing America’S Bees, Kelsey Ott

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Sensible Bytes: States Need A New Approach To Justify Their Recruitment Of Internet Data Centers, Michael F. Kaestner

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Making Regional And Local Tmdls Work: The Chesapeake Bay Tmdl And Lessons From The Lynnhaven River, Shana Campbell Jones

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

This Article will first provide an overview of how restoration developed in the Bay in order to provide a regional context for the Lynnhaven River “total maximum daily load[s]” or TMDL. The Article will then explain the 2011 Chesapeake Bay TMDL and how it potentially foreshadows “next generation” cooperative federalism and watershed restoration because it is generating increased engagement from local government, private citizens, and non-profit restoration efforts. This Article will then tighten its focus to the Lynnhaven River, a local tributary within the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and will examine the local government’s success in implementing measures to meet a …

How To Save The Chesapeake Bay Tmdl: The Critical Role Of Nutrient Offsets, Robert H. Nelson

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Disagreement And Design: Searching For Consensus In The Climate Policy And Intergenerational Discounting Debate, Michael A. Kane

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Current approaches to discounting in climate policy present a seemingly intractable problem. While it is widely recognized that choice of discount rate in climate models can easily dwarf the effect of other parameter inputs, there is at present a very wide disagreement, both in law and in economics, about the appropriate discount rate to use. This Paper provides a framework for achieving a workable consensus range for acceptable discount rates in climate models. It does so by emphasizing three factors previously ignored in the literature. First, it demonstrates that the choice of discount rate should be tailored to the type …

Effectiveness Of Environmental Law: What Does The Evidence Tell Us?, Michael Faure

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Let's Face Facts, These Mountains Won't Grow Back: Reducing The Environmental Impact Of Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining In Appalachia, Diana Kaneva

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Wall Street Walk Dead End For Chesapeake Cleanup?, Bradford T. Bartels

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Environmental Law: The Policy Implications Of The Reaction To Climate Change, Federalist Society

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Bringing Sexy Brac: The Case For Allowing Local Governments To Control Environmental Cleanup In The Military Base Closure And Redevelopment Process, Thomas William "T.W." Bruno

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Seeking A Seat At The Table: Has Law Left Environmental Ethics Behind As It Embraces Bioethics?, Heidi Gorovitz Robertson

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Long before its crystallization as an academic discipline in the 1960s and '70s, bioethics was evolving from isolated ideas and theories into a coherent and practical field. Today, people train in academic bioethics programs and seek careers as bioethicists. Hospitals, universities, government organizations, and corporations hire bioethicists, where they use their training to help make decisions regarding life or death issues in science and medicine. Although there is controversy over the extent and content of the influence they exert there, bioethicists have achieved a seat at the decision-making table.

Environmental ethics also emerged in the 1960s and'70s, beginning most notably …

The Precautionary Principle: More Than A Cameo Appearance In United States Environmental Law?, Phillip M. Kannan

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.