Digital Commons Network^™

Regulating Cumulative Risk, Sanne H. Knudsen

Articles

This Article proceeds in four parts. Part I describes how cumulative risk assessments tackle the real-world exposure problems that lie at the heart of public health. It shows how risk science has evolved and why policy, not science, lags behind. Part II then examines why key public health concerns cannot be answered through information disclosure or consumer choice models alone.

Having established that regulatory drivers are needed, Part III begins to examine how to move forward. It does so by looking backward and examining how TSCA and FIFRA have failed historically to provide this critical public health focus despite room …

Accumulating Risk: Environmental Justice And The History Of Capitalism In Detroit, 1880-2015, Josiah John Rector

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation is an environmental history of Detroit, Michigan from the 19th century to the present. Recent scholarship on the history of capitalism has largely ignored the problem of environmental inequality, and the negative externalities of economic growth. In contrast, studies of the environmental justice movement have richly documented race, class, and gender inequalities in environmental risk exposure. However, they have neglected the relationship between the development of the environmental justice movement and the restructuring of American capitalism since the 1970s, including deindustrialization and the shift to neoliberalism. Bringing these fields together, this dissertation connects Detroit’s long-term economic transformation to …

Inner-City Anti-Poverty Campaigns, Anthony V. Alfieri

Articles

This article offers a defense of outsider, legal-political intervention and community triage in inner-city anti-poverty campaigns under circumstances of widespread urban social disorganization, public and private sector neglect, and nonprofit resource scarcity. In mounting this defense, the Article revisits the roles of lawyers, nonprofit legal services organizations, and university-housed law school clinics in contemporary anti-poverty, civil rights, and social justice movements, in part by chronicling the emergence of a faith-based municipal equity movement in Miami, Florida. The Article proceeds in four parts. Part I introduces the notion of community triage as a means of addressing the impoverished and segregated aftermath …

Climate Legislation And Litigation In Brazil, Gabriel Wedy

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Brazil plays a major role in the global fight against climate change, especially because of its vast forests. However, the amount of deforestation now occurring is in great dispute. Between August 2014 and July 2015, for example, deforestation in the Amazon rainforest increased by 215% according to Imazon Research Institute. Contrarily, according to the Brazil Government, the increase was only 16%.

This paper discusses the role that legislation and litigation are playing, and the roles they may and should play in the future, in combatting deforestation and other factors relevant to climate change in Brazil.

10 Questions To Ask About The Proposed “Global Pact For The Environment”, Susan Biniaz

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

There is no doubt that more needs to be done, both nationally and internationally, to protect the environment. It is tempting, particularly during the Trump era, to welcome any concerted effort to do so. The issue is whether the proposed “Global Pact” is the right vehicle for enhancing environmental protection.

The Global Pact was launched this past June in Paris, with support from, among others, President Macron of France and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. At least in its preliminary state, the Pact reflects broad, cross-cutting principles in legally binding form. France intends to seek support at the upcoming UN …

Freedom Of Information Beyond The Freedom Of Information Act, David Pozen

Faculty Scholarship

The U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) allows any person to request any agency record for any reason. This model has been copied worldwide and celebrated as a structural necessity in a real democracy. Yet in practice, this Article argues, FOIA embodies a distinctively “reactionary” form of transparency. FOIA is reactionary in a straightforward, procedural sense in that disclosure responds to ad hoc demands for information. Partly because of this very feature, FOIA can also be seen as reactionary in a more substantive, political sense insofar as it saps regulatory capacity; distributes government goods in an inegalitarian fashion; and contributes …

Overreach And Innovation In Equality Regulation, Olatunde C.A. Johnson

Faculty Scholarship

At a time of heightened concern about agency overreach, this Article highlights a less appreciated development in agency equality regulation. Moving beyond traditional bureaucratic forms of regulation, civil rights agencies in recent years have experimented with new forms of regulation to advance inclusion. This new "inclusive regulation" can be described as more open ended, less coercive, and more reliant on rewards, collaboration, flexibility, and interactive assessment than traditional modes of civil rights regulation. This Article examines the power and limits of this new inclusive regulation and suggests a framework for increasing the efficacy of these new modes of regulation.

Two, Three Many Rosas! Rebellious Lawyers And Progressive Activist Organizations, Brian Glick

Faculty Scholarship

The cast of prototypic rebellious lawyers promoted by Gerald Lopez is incomplete. It leaves out a very important mode of lawyering: that of working for a progressive activist organization. To fill that gap, this essay introduces “Rosa,” a lawyer on the staff of an organization of low-wage workers fighting for workplace justice and systemic change. The essay argues that working for such organizations in a way that is accountable to the organizations is an especially effective way for lawyers to contribute to economic, racial, gender, social and environmental justice. It examines three current models of such practice: in-house, in an …

Trial To Perdition: The Ninth Circuit’S “Emission” Omission Disposition, Jordan Luebekemann

North Carolina Journal of Law & Technology

No abstract provided.

Climate Disobedience, Maxine Burkett

Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum

In sharp contrast to the flurry of legal and policy-oriented efforts of years past, climate activists today employ protest and nonviolent civil disobedience to advance their agenda for rapid and ambitious mitigation and adaptation. In so doing, activists make explicit references to the storied past of defining social movements in American history—notably the anti-slavery movements of the 19th century and the civil rights movement of the 20th—and draw direct comparison to the moral failure igniting the relevant social movements. This article examines a topic largely ignored by the legal academy, the emerging climate movement, to assess the usefulness of its …

La “Marca Canadiense”: La Violencia Y Las Compañías Mineras Canadienses En América Latina, Shin Imai, Leah Gardner, Sarah Weinberger

All Papers

Este informe, elaborado por el Proyecto Justicia y Responsabilidad Corporativa (JCAP, por sus siglas en inglés), es el primero que expone formas específicas de violencia y criminalización asociadas con los proyectos mineros canadienses en América Latina durante un período de quince años. La exposición de cada incidente se complementa con oportunas notas al pie, y todos los vínculos web mencionados se preservan con el uso del servicio Perma.cc de la Escuela de Derecho de Harvard. El informe critica la ausencia de mecanismos en Canadá para la investigación de cualquier presunta violación de los derechos humanos cometida por las compañías mineras …

The Canada Brand: Violence And Canadian Mining Companies In Latin America, Shin Imai, Leah Gardner, Sarah Weinberger

All Papers

The Canada Brand: Violence and Canadian Mining in Guatemala

This is the first report to profile specific forms of violence and criminalization associated with Canadian mining projects in Latin America over a fifteen-year period. Each incident is carefully footnoted and all web links are preserved using Harvard Law School’s Perma.cc service. The report is critical of the lack of Canadian mechanisms for investigating human rights abuses of Canadian companies operating overseas. It draws on the thinking of former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Ian Binnie and others to argue that the concepts of proximity to violence and complicity of the …

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 …

Volume 90, Issue 5 (2016)

Obiter Dicta

No abstract provided.

Correctional Change Through Neuroscience, Arielle R. Baskin-Sommers, Karelle Fonteneau

Fordham Law Review

Currently, the U.S. criminal justice system is under intense scrutiny. High- profile cases question the appropriateness of specific types of evidence, decision making in sentencing, and the treatment of convicted offenders. Clearly, these issues are not new. And, as has been historically the case, the justice system looks toward science for assistance in addressing and redressing problems with the delivery of justice.

United States Environmental Protection Agency Response To The Office Of Science And Technology Policy Memo, 2013: Public Access Plan (November 2016)

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

EPA response to OSTP memo, 2013: Public Access Plan (November 2016)

How Mature Capitalism Turns Pollution Into Diamonds: Malagnogenesis And The Reverse-Engineering Of Harm Into Risk, Kevin P. Martyn

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, there has been a great deal of debate about the pervasiveness and persistence of neoliberal thinking. In the context of the post-2008 ‘great recession’ the resilience of neoliberalism is particularly confounding. To begin to unravel the ways in which neoliberalism is situated relative to risk, this study identifies an increasingly important neoliberal knowledge practice: malagnogenesis. Malagnogenesis is proposed herein as the production of ignorance that normalizes harm for and amongst marginalized populations. To shed light on the phenomena of malagnogenesis, this study investigated the history of leaded gasoline in the U.S. To that end, I …

Agenda: Flpma Turns 40, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment

FLPMA Turns 40 (October 21)

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) administers approximately 245 million acres of our public lands and yet, for most of our nation's history, these lands seemed largely destined to end up in private hands. Even when the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 ushered in an important era of better managing public grazing districts and "promoting the highest use of the public lands," such use of our public lands still was plainly considered temporary, "pending its final disposal." It was not until 1976 with the passage of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) that congress adopted a policy that …

Getches-Wilkinson Center Newsletter, Fall 2016, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment

Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment Newsletter (2013-)

No abstract provided.

Aboriginal Consultation In Canadian Water Negotiations:The Mackenzie Bilateral Water Management Agreements, Andrea Beck

Dalhousie Law Journal

Due to constitutional protection of Aboriginal water rights, the Canadian government has a duty to consult Aboriginal peoples in water-related decision making. In 2015, Alberta and the Northwest Territories signed an agreement for managing their shared waters in the Mackenzie River Basin. In light of Canada's record, observers have praised the preceding negotiation process as pathbreaking due to its high level of Aboriginal involvement. To evaluate such claims, this paper analyzes Aboriginal consultations in the 2011-2015 NWT-Alberta transboundary water negotiation. The comparative case study reaches the following conclusions. In their bilateral water negotiation, the two jurisdictions differed markedly in terns …

Rules For Radicals: A Politics Of Patent Law, Kali N. Murray

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Communities Of Opportunity: Pursuing A Housing Policy Agenda To Achieve Equity And Opportunity In The Face Of Post-Recession Challenges, Kalima Rose, Teddy Kỳ-Nam Miller

Trotter Review

Where we live directly impacts our ability to achieve our full potential. Access to good schools, quality jobs, reliable transportation, and healthy food is fundamental to achieving communities of opportunity. Unfortunately, communities of color, and urban black communities in particular, are disproportionately residing in neighborhoods locked out of opportunity, or disproportionately burdened by housing costs —spending over half of their income on housing. In 2015, PolicyLink undertook a research project to understand the changing post-recession housing landscape, to characterize the forces that were undermining housing security for communities of color, and to characterize the policy opportunities that could address the …

Un Environment Guide For Energy Efficiency And Renewable Energy Laws, Richard L. Ottinger

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Guide is written as a sequel to the 2007 UN Environment Programme Handbook for Legal Draftsmen on Environmentally Sound Management of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Resources.

This Guide, as the Handbook, is written in response to needs expressed, particularly by energy efficiency and renewable energy project initiators, government officials, energy managers, project developers and particularly developing country energy legal draftsmen, asking for assistance in drafting legislative provisions for promotion and implementation of sound energy efficiency and renewable energy programs.

The Guide describes the key legal issues associated with efficiency and renewable energy resource development, and presents legislative options …

The "Right To Commit Nuisance" In North Carolina: A Historical Analysis Of The Right-To-Farm Act, Cordon M. Smart

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Glass Half Empty - Flint, Environmental Justice, And America's Drinking Water Infrastructure Problem, Travis Parker

Water Law Review

No abstract provided.

Water, Oil, And Tribal Sovereignty: The Fight For The Dakota Access Pipeline, Lindsey Ratcliff

Water Law Review

No abstract provided.

Towards Safer Seafood: What Indonesian Law Should “Say” About Mercury-Contaminated Fish, Margaretha Quina

Indonesia Law Review

Fish is a popular culinary dish in Indonesian culture and a major economic resource on which many people depend their livelihood. However, with severe pollution in Indonesian water, including uncontrolled mercury pollution which persists in the food chain and eventually gets into humans’ body as the top predator, fish safety is particularly worrying – especially taking into account the frequency of average Indonesians’ consumption of fish. In various jurisdictions, the management tool used by lawmakers and regulators with regard to this issue is information disclosure, or known as “fish advisory warning,” to cover the failure of command and control. This …

“People Power” And The Problem Of Sovereignty In International Law, Elizabeth A. Wilson

Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law

No abstract provided.

Casenote Update: The Supreme Court Restricts Plaintiff Options For Climate Change Litigation In American Electric Power Co. V. Connecticut, Matthew R. Weiss

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

Environmental Justice And Community-Based Reparations, Catherine Millas Kaiman

Seattle University Law Review

This Article seeks to illuminate the lack of adequate legal remedies that are available for low-income, predominantly minority communities that have suffered historic environmental injustices. The Article not only discusses the lack of adequate legal remedies, but also proposes the use of local, state, and federal reparations programs for communities that have previously suffered environmental injustices; are still living with the effects of environmental injustices, by way of disease, air, soil, and water pollution; or are suffering current and ongoing environmental injustices. As has been recently illustrated by Michigan’s state action of providing lead-contaminated water for over a year to …