Digital Commons Network^™

Renewable Energy And The Neighbors, Troy A. Rule

Faculty Publications

Small wind turbines and rooftop solar panels are a highly attractive energy option, capable of generating clean, renewable power without the need for transmission lines across vast stretches of rural land. State and federal incentive programs have made these devices increasingly affordable for landowners in recent years, generating an unprecedented level of interest in “distributed” renewable energy.Unfortunately, small wind turbines and solar panels are often far less attractive in the eyes of neighbors, who fear that the systems will erode neighborhood aesthetics and property values. Despite aggressive state and federal programs aimed at promoting renewable energy systems, land use controls …

A Gulf United: Canada-Us Transboundary Marine Ecosystem-Based Governance In The Gulf Of Maine, Lawrence Hildebrand, Aldo Chircop

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

In 1989, the Northeastern states of Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire in the United States and the neighboring Canadian Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia embarked upon a new form of regional marine environmental cooperation when their governors and premiers adopted the Agreement on Conservation of the Marine Environment of the Gulf of Maine Between the Governments of the Bordering States and Provinces.

Can Urban University Expansion And Sustainable Development Co-Exist?: A Case Study In Progress On Columbia University, Keith H. Hirokawa, Patricia E. Salkin

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article uses the expansion of Columbia University as a case study to demonstrate the difficulty in labeling projects as "sustainable" or "unsustainable" when key stakeholders view the process and outcomes of sustainability differently.

Curbing Energy Sprawl With Microgrids, Sara Bronin

Faculty Articles and Papers

Energy sprawl - the phenomenon of ever-increasing consumption of land, particularly in rural areas, required to site energy generation facilities - is a real and growing problem. Over the next twenty years, at least sixty-seven million acres of land will have been developed for energy projects, destroying wildlife habitats and fragmenting landscapes. According to one influential report, even renewable energy projects - especially large-scale projects that require large-scale transmission and distribution infrastructure - contribute to energy sprawl. This Article does not aim to stop large-scale renewable energy projects or even argue that policymakers focus solely on land use in determining …

Equal Standing With States: Tribal Sovereignty And Standing After Massachusetts V. Epa, Joseph Mead, Nicholas Fromherz

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

In Massachusetts v. EPA, 549 U.S. 497 (2007), the Supreme Court held that Massachusetts was entitled to "special solicitude" in the standing analysis because it was sovereign. As a result, Massachusetts passed the standing threshold in a global warming case where an ordinary litigant may have been stymied. The Supreme Court’s analysis raises an interesting question: Are Indian tribes—which have been considered sovereign entities since before the founding, and which hold lands facing heavy environmental pressure—entitled to "special solicitude" as well? We think they should be.

To make this argument, we begin by discussing standing basics; dissecting Massachusetts v. …

Mapping The Issues: Public Health, Law And Ethics, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The field of public health is typically regarded as a positivistic pursuit and, undoubtedly, our understanding of the etiology and response to disease is heavily influenced by scientific inquiry. Public health policies, however, are shaped not only by science but also by ethical values, legal norms, and political oversight. Public Health Law and Ethics: A Reader (expanded and updated 2nd ed., 2010) probes and seeks to illuminate this complex interplay, through a careful selection of government reports, scholarly articles, and court cases together with discussion and analysis of critical problems at the interface of law, ethics, and public health. The …

Whom Would Jesus Cover - A Biblical, Ethical Lens For The Contemporary American Health Care Debate, Jeffrey R. Baker

Journal of Law and Health

This paper attempts a view of the contemporary health care debate in America through the prism of Biblical scripture and proposes that people of faith should recognize the current state of the American health care system as a moral crisis of justice and charity. First, I provide a survey of the current state of American health care for the uninsured, describing the demographic and economic circumstances of the uninsured and the resources available to them when they need medical care. Second, I ask whether, in light of scripture, this state of affairs presents a moral question that should drive our …

Land Use And Water Supply, Susan Kelly, Joanne Hilton

Water Matters!

As New Mexico grows and develops, there is a continuing increase in water demand and the need to provide additional supplies. Recent studies estimate the current population of the State to be about two million people, and the population is expected to grow to approximately 3,400,000 by 2050. Regional water plans project water demands for 16 regions within New Mexico. The total projected new water use associated with population growth—the public water supply and associated commercial sectors, exclusive of agriculture, mining, or other industries—ranges from 280,000 to 380,000 acre-feet per year of new water supply needed in the next 40 …

Green Buildings, High Performance Buildings, And Sustainable Construction: Does It Really Matter What We Call Them, Darren A. Prum

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

Customary Practice And Community Governance In Implementing The Human Right To Water--The Case Of The Acequia Communities Of Colorado's Rio Culebra Watershed, Gregory A. Hicks, Devon G. Peña

Articles

This paper offers commentary on the appropriateness of viewing, as a human right, the authority to manage water and to participate meaningfully in watershed governance, and it takes as an example the community of Hispano farmers of the Rio Culebra watershed of Southern Colorado in the headwaters of the Upper Rio Grande. In earlier work, the authors have written about the uneasy relationship between the formal system of appropriative water rights under Colorado law and the enduring set of local water norms practiced within acequias—the traditional water governance institutions and irrigation systems of the Culebra's Hispano farmers. The present …

The Moral Politics Of Social Control: Political Culture And Ordinary Crime In Cuba, Deborah M. Weissman, Marsha Weissman

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Above All Else Stop Digging: Local Government Law As A (Partial) Cause Of (And Solution To) The Current Housing Crisis, Darien Shanske

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Solar Energy Policy In Canada: An Overview Of Recent Legislative And Community-Based Trends Toward A Coherent Renewable Energy Sustainability Framework , Kamaal R. Zaida

Journal of Environmental and Sustainability Law

No abstract provided.

Agenda: World Energy Justice Conference And Appropriate Technology Arcade, University Of Colorado Boulder. Center For Energy & Environmental Security, University Of Colorado Boulder. School Of Law

World Energy Justice Conference (October 23-24)

The 2009 CEES Energy Justice Conference took place at the University of Colorado Law School on October 23rd and 24th, 2009. It featured 11 sessions, more than 40 speakers, and attracted over 200 attendees. The Conference brought together leading international and U.S. decision-makers in politics, engineering, public health, law, business, economics, and innovators in the sciences to explore how best to address the critical needs of the energy-oppressed poor (EOP) through long-term interdisciplinary action, information sharing, and deployment of appropriate sustainable energy technologies (ASETs).

The Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law & Policy (CJIELP) at the University of Colorado Law …

Environmental Law At Maryland, No. 28, Fall 2009

Environmental Law at Maryland

No abstract provided.

Introduction: The Sustainability Principle, Irma S. Russell

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Sustainability And Land Use Planning: Greening State And Local Land Use Plans And Regulations To Address Climate Change Challenges And Preserve Resources For Future Generations, Patricia E. Salkin

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Biophilic Urbanism: Inviting Nature Back To Our Communities And Into Our Lives, Timothy Beatley

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Integration, Reconstructed, Olatunde C. A. Johnson

Duke Forum for Law & Social Change

No abstract provided.

Constitutionalism, Legal Pluralism, And International Regimes, Alec Stone Sweet

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

The international legal order, although pluralist in structure, is in the process of being constitutionalized. This article supports this claim in several different ways. In the Part L I argue that most accepted understandings of "constitution" would readily apply to at least some international regimes. In Part II,I discuss different notions of "constitutional pluralism," and demonstrate that legal pluralism is not necessarily antithetical to constitutionalism. In fact, one finds a great deal of constitutional pluralism within national legal orders in Europe. Part III puts forward an argument that the European Court of Justice, the European Court of Human Rights, and …

Resilience And Renaissance: Efforts To Rebuild A Healthier New Orleans, Michele J. Orza, Jessamyn Taylor

National Health Policy Forum

The National Health Policy Forum sponsored a site visit to New Orleans, Louisiana, in May 2009 to explore the city's health challenges, which are similar to those faced by other cities but were all greatly exacerbated by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. The agenda focused on three themes: primary care and behavioral health services availability and access, public health preparedness, and rebuilding healthier communities. It examined how these themes and others intersect in two distinct communities within New Orleans: the Holy Cross community surrounding the Lower Ninth Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development and the community surrounding the Mary …

Seventy-Eight Percent Of Working Rural Families To Receive Full Making Work Pay Tax Credit, Marybeth J. Mattingly

Carsey Publications

The Making Work Pay Tax Credit provides eligible U.S. workers with additional money in each paycheck throughout the year. The fact sheet shows that 78 percent of rural working families will receive the full amount of the credit, while an additional 10 percent of families will receive a partial credit due to low earnings or high earnings. These tax credits, along with the expansion to the Child Tax Credit, are an important financial boost to families in rural America, particularly low-income working families.

Forty-Three Percent Of Eligible Rural Families Can Claim A Larger Credit With Eitc Expansion, Marybeth J. Mattingly

Carsey Publications

This policy brief on the changes to the Earned Income Tax Credit in the ARRA also shows that families with three or more children and married couples will receive an increased refund under these new EITC rules for tax years 2009 and 2010. Many families in urban and suburban communities will also see increased benefits under these new provisions.

Group-Conflict Resolution: Sources Of Resistance To Reconciliation, Erin O'Hara O'Connor

Scholarly Publications

In the past few years a number of scholars in a variety of intellectual disciplines have contributed to a better understanding of dyadic conflicts and their resolution. In particular, sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists, lawyers, and others have explored the dynamics of apology and its role in deescalating disputes and promoting forgiveness and reconciliation. Furthermore, we have a better understanding today of the benefits to individuals from forgiveness and reconciliation. Victims who are able to forgive their transgressors have better psychological and physical health and lead richer lives.2 Because lawyers tend to focus their attentions on legal disputes, a growing body of …

Truth, Understanding, And Repair, E. Franklin Dukes

Law and Contemporary Problems

Dukes argues that the quest for truth, understanding, and victim-defined repair present more appropriate vehicles for addressing certain cases of severe injustice than might a focus upon apology and forgiveness. In his work, he helps construct conversations among people who often have different and conflicting interests, such that they may gain knowledge--knowledge about one another, about their relationships, and about the issues at stake. He acknowledges that he does focus on helping to build resilient and sustainable communities, but he also insists that productive resolution of some problems can happen in spite of, even because of, the lack of full …

Introduction, Erin Ann O'Hara

Law and Contemporary Problems

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Regulations: Local Laboratories Inventing A Sustainable Idaho, Jerrold A. Long

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Greening Of Community Economic Development: Disputes From New York City, Carmen Huertas-Noble, Jessica Rose, Brian Glick

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Reconsidering Domestic Violence Services And Advocacy, Julie Goldscheid

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Building Livable Places: The Importance Of Landscape In Urban Land Use, Planning, And Development, Adrienne Lyles-Chockley

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.