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Full-Text Articles in Law
The National Park System And Nepa: Non-Impairment In An Age Of Disruption, Jamison E. Colburn
The National Park System And Nepa: Non-Impairment In An Age Of Disruption, Jamison E. Colburn
Akron Law Review
We live in an age of disruption. “Disruptive innovations,” typically digital in nature, create new markets and value chains that grow and overthrow market leaders and other incumbents. The founders of our National Park System and National Park Service (NPS) had little sense of such disruption and, judging by how our park ideals have fared in recent decades, too little sense of how disruption works in nature, either. The parks embody a set of ideals and, as one of the most noted inventions of America’s democracy, sit in uneasy tension with the constant disruption of nature’s composition and function. The …
Four Years Of Environmental Impact Statements: A Review Of Agency Administration Of Nepa, Mary Anne Sullivan
Four Years Of Environmental Impact Statements: A Review Of Agency Administration Of Nepa, Mary Anne Sullivan
Akron Law Review
This article will focus on the environmental impact statement process of NEPA functions. It will analyze some of the structural weaknesses of the process, some of the interests private parties are using it to protect and, finally, whether or not it is bringing us closer to a realization of the lofty goals the Act sets forth in Section 4331.
Shall We Be Arbitrary Or Reasonable: Standards Of Review For Agency Threshold Determinations Under Nepa, Janie A. Johns
Shall We Be Arbitrary Or Reasonable: Standards Of Review For Agency Threshold Determinations Under Nepa, Janie A. Johns
Akron Law Review
The National Environmental Protection Act of 1969 (NEPA), went into effect on January 1, 1970. It consists of a declaration of purpose followed by two separate titles. Title I contains both the broad policy statement of Congress "to use all practicable means and measures . . .to create and maintain conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive harmony," and the "action-forcing mechanism" of Section 102(2)(c) that requires all Federal agencies to prepare an environmental impact statement for all "major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment." Title II established the Council on Environmental Quality …
Nepa At 21: Over The Hill Already?, David G. Burleson
Nepa At 21: Over The Hill Already?, David G. Burleson
Akron Law Review
The first part of this Comment will briefly review the somewhat meteoric rise of NEPA including the increase in public awareness which led to federal action, its projected effect, and the manner in which the courts seemed to be heading in their treatment of NEPA. The Comment will then review the decline of NEPA due to subsequent Supreme Court decisions. Finally, the Comment will consider possible remedies for the present anemic condition of this first federal environmental statute.
The Fox Is Guarding The Henhouse: Enhancing The Role Of The Epa In Fonsi Determinations Pursuant To Nepa, Wendy B. Davis
The Fox Is Guarding The Henhouse: Enhancing The Role Of The Epa In Fonsi Determinations Pursuant To Nepa, Wendy B. Davis
Akron Law Review
This article suggests an enhanced role for the EPA and the other agencies that have authority to protect our natural resources, including the FWS, NPS, and others. These agencies should have authority to evaluate the environmental assessments leading to a FONSI and require preparation of an EIS pursuant to NEPA. This paper also suggests that these agencies need more authority in the substantive decision of choice of an alternative action pursuant to the EIS, and the determination of whether the proposed action should proceed based on the conclusions in the EIS. This could be accomplished with an amendment to the …
Aligning Regulation With The Informational Need: Ecosystem Services And The Next Generation Of Environmental Law, Keith H. Hirokawa, Elizabeth J. Porter
Aligning Regulation With The Informational Need: Ecosystem Services And The Next Generation Of Environmental Law, Keith H. Hirokawa, Elizabeth J. Porter
Akron Law Review
This article explores the Clinch Coalition decision to understand why the court would perpetuate a process that systematically rejects the relevance and value of ecosystem processes in the information gathering exercise entailed in these environmental regulations. The discussion begins with an introduction to ecosystem services as a study of human dependency on the services provided by functioning ecosystems. In the second section, the article turns to the Clinch Coalition decision to outline the arguments relied upon by the court to legitimize the Forest Service’s decision to avoid an ecosystem services analysis. The article then presents the Clinch Coalition decision as …