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Full-Text Articles in Law

Getting To The (Non) Point: Private Governance As A Solution To Nonpoint Source Pollution, Kyle W. Robisch Mar 2014

Getting To The (Non) Point: Private Governance As A Solution To Nonpoint Source Pollution, Kyle W. Robisch

Vanderbilt Law Review

Chances are that today you have already unwittingly advanced the slow but steady demise of America's freshwater supply. The sausage and egg biscuit you ate for breakfast, the half-empty bottle of Drano you dumped into your backyard, and the quick trip to the grocery store-these seemingly innocent actions each significantly degrade American watersheds.' In response to this systemic and persistent assault on water quality, Congress enacted the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972. More commonly known as the Clean Water Act ("CWA"), this legislation attempted to take an aggressive and comprehensive approach to improving water quality. To achieve its …


Got A Better Idea?: Promoting Greenhouse Gas Regulations Through Solution-Based Informal Rulemaking, Lorraine J. Baer Jan 2014

Got A Better Idea?: Promoting Greenhouse Gas Regulations Through Solution-Based Informal Rulemaking, Lorraine J. Baer

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

In September 2013, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a rule regulating greenhouse gas emissions from newly constructed, coal-fired power plants. Coal industry lawyers immediately began preparing for litigation. Like many industry-led arbitrary and capricious challenges, their goal is to stop the regulations from moving forward. This Note analyzes the new rule, concluding that although the EPA's rule is legally sound, it does have some potential weaknesses. Rather than merely blocking the regulations through litigation, however, this Note proposes that interest groups should instead submit their own solutions during the notice-and-comment rulemaking process, which would reduce regulatory gridlock and …


Climate Change, Forests, And International Law: Redd's Descent Into Irrelevance, Annecoos Wiersema Jan 2014

Climate Change, Forests, And International Law: Redd's Descent Into Irrelevance, Annecoos Wiersema

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Forestry activities account for over 17 percent of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. Since 2005, parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change have been negotiating a mechanism known as REDD--Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation--to provide an incentive for developing countries to reduce carbon emissions and limit deforestation at the same time. When REDD was first proposed, many commentators argued this mechanism would not only mitigate climate change but also provide biodiversity and forests with the hard international law regime that had so far been missing. These commentators appeared to hope REDD would develop into this kind of …