Law Commons^™

Individual Carbon Emissions: The Low-Hanging Fruit, Michael P. Vandenbergh, Jack Barkenbus, Jonathan Gilligan

Michael Vandenbergh

The individual and household sector generates roughly 30 to 40 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and is a potential source of prompt and large emissions reductions. Yet the assumption that only extensive government regulation will generate substantial reductions from the sector is a barrier to change, particularly in a political environment hostile to regulation. This Article demonstrates that prompt and large reductions can be achieved without relying predominantly on regulatory measures. The Article identifies seven "low-hanging fruit:" actions that have the potential to achieve large reductions at less than half the cost of the leading current federal legislation, require …

Non-Enforcement Takings, Timothy M. Mulvaney

Timothy M. Mulvaney

The non-enforcement of existing property laws is not logically separable from the issue of unfair and unjust state deprivations of property rights at which the Constitution's Takings Clause takes aim. This Article suggests, therefore, that takings law should police allocations resulting from non-enforcement decisions on the same "fairness and justice" grounds that it polices allocations resulting from decisions to enact and enforce new regulations. Rejecting the extant majority position that state decisions not to enforce existing property laws are categorically immune from takings liability is not to advocate that persons impacted by such decisions should be automatically or even regularly …

Constitutional Challenges And Regulatory Opportunities For State Climate Policy Innovation, Felix Mormann

Felix Mormann

This Article explores constitutional limits and regulatory openings for innovative state policies to mitigate climate change by promoting climate-friendly, renewable energy. In the absence of a comprehensive federal policy approach to climate change and clean energy, more and more states are stepping in to fill the policy void. Already, nearly thirty states have adopted renewable portfolio standards that create markets for solar, wind, and other clean electricity. To help populate these markets, a few pioneering states have recently started using feed-in tariffs that offer eligible generators above-market rates for their clean, renewable power.

But renewable portfolio standards, feed-in tariffs, and …

Beyond Tax Credits: Smarter Tax Policy For A Cleaner, More Democratic Energy Future, Felix Mormann

Felix Mormann

Solar, wind, and other renewable energy technologies have the potential to mitigate climate change, secure America’s energy independence, and create millions of green jobs. In the absence of a price on carbon emissions, however, these long-term benefits will not be realized without near-term policy support for renewables. This Article assesses the efficiency of federal tax incentives for renewables and proposes policy reform to more cost-effectively promote renewable energy through capital markets and crowdfunding.

Federal support for renewable energy projects today comes primarily in the form of tax incentives such as accelerated depreciation and, critically, tax credits. Empirical evidence reveals that …

Clean Energy Federalism, Felix Mormann

Felix Mormann

Legal scholarship tends to approach the law and policy of clean energy from an environmental law perspective. As hydraulic fracturing, renewable energy integration, nuclear reactor (re)licensing, transport biofuel mandates, and other energy issues have pushed to the forefront of the environmental law debate, clean energy law has begun to emancipate itself. The emerging literature on clean energy federalism is a symptom of this emancipation. This Article adds to that literature by offering two case studies, a novel model for policy integration, and theoretical insights to elucidate the relationship between environmental federalism and clean energy federalism.

Renewable portfolio standards and feed-in …

Multiscalar Governance And Climate Change: Reflections On The Role Of States And Cities At Copenhagen, Hari M. Osofsky

Hari Osofsky

No abstract provided.

The Idea Of Pollution, John C. Nagle

John Copeland Nagle

Pollution is the primary target of environmental law. During the past forty years, hundreds of federal and state statutes, administrative regulations, and international treaties have established multiple approaches to addressing pollution of the air, water, and land. Yet the law still struggles to identify precisely what constitutes pollution, how much of it is tolerable, and what we should do about it. But environmental pollution is hardly the only type of pollution. Historically, the idea of pollution referred to a host of effects upon human environments. This remains evident in contemporary anthropological literature, which studies the pollution beliefs of cultures throughout …

Adaptive Management And The Future Of Environmental Law, Eric Biber

Eric Biber

Adaptive management is the new paradigm in environmental law. It is omnipresent in scholarship and management documents and is even starting to appear in court opinions. There have been many calls for environmental law to adapt itself to adaptive management by becoming more flexible and dynamic. But does adaptive management really warrant a revolution in environmental law? Or is it adaptive management that might need to adapt to the world of environmental law? There has been an abundance of scholarship on the strengths of adaptive management, making the case for changing environmental law to embrace adaptive management. But answering the …

Billy Joel: The Chronicler Of The Suburbanization In New York, Patricia E. Salkin, Irene Crisci

Patricia E. Salkin

Artists often chronicle historical developments through their chosen medium. In the case of Billy Joel, some of his lyrics can be traced to the early sustainability movements as he wrote about the migration of people from the cities and the attendant problems with rapid suburbanization. Described by Tony Bennett as “a poet, a performer, a philosopher and today’s American songbook,” his lyrics address, among other topics, land use, community development, and environmental issues. Following World War II, there was a major shift in population settlement patterns in the United States. As war heroes returned home, not only did the country …

Panel: Ethical Dilemmas: Finding Common Ground On Controversial Issues, Lesley Blackner, Richard C. Foltz, Brion Blackwelder, Lisa C. Schiavinato, Alyson C. Flournoy

Alyson Flournoy

This panel discussion applied ethics to the theme of the 8th Annual Public Interest Environmental Conference. Panelists examined ways ethics may help reconcile industry (such as business and development) with environmentalism.

Global Trade Impacts: Addressing The Health, Social And Environmental Consequences Of Moving International Freight Through Our Communities, Martha Matsuoka, Andrea Hricko, Robert Gottlieb, Juan Delara

Martha Matsuoka

As ports and goods movement activity expands throughout the United States, a major challenge is how to make the adverse impacts of freight transportation a more central part of economic development, policy and planning discussions and transportation decision making. In 2009, faculty and staff from the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute of Occidental College and from the environmental health sciences and regional equity programs of the University of Southern California (USC) began a study of this evolving global trade and freight transportation system, focusing on areas in the United States where the system is expanding and where community, labor and …

Strategies For Making Sea-Level Rise Adaptation Tools 'Takings-Proof', Michael Allan Wolf

Michael A Wolf

While the costs of some Sea-Level Rise (SLR) adaptation tools are undeniably daunting, the American legal system poses an additional, potentially budget-busting impediment — the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Officials at all governmental strata and from all three branches should keep the demands made by the Takings Clause, as interpreted by the judiciary, in mind as they choose tools from the diverse SLR-adaptation toolbox, as they justify their choices to the electorate and other constituencies, as they put those tools to use, and as they defend that use from litigants claiming abuse. This …

Features Of Forestry In Bangladesh And Available Legal Protections And Implications, Mahmudul Hasan

Mahmudul Hasan

Due to climate change as well as rise of global temperature Bangladesh is going to face a massive environmental challenge. Being an environmentally vulnerable country Bangladesh needs to step immediately to take all sort of measures to prevent the growing environmental threats. Forestry plays a pivotal role to protect environment as well as biodiversity of a particular region. Being agriculture based country and a coastal region Bangladesh already has been facing the adverse effect of decrease of forest lands. For some decades desertification has been taking place in many arena of the country. And due to the large amount of …

Facts Can Be Stubborn: The Importance Of The Fact Section In Environmental Law, L.A. County Flood Control Dist. V. Natural Res. Def. Council, 133 S. Ct. 710 (2013), Aaron Schaer

Aaron Schaer

L.A. County is a perfect example of a difficulty that underlies many environmental cases. The facts are often incredibly complex, and based on science that even the PhDs among us struggle to comprehend. And if this were not enough, the environmental laws that these facts are siphoned through are no walk in the park themselves. Quite the opposite, as should be expected from political compromises over intricate, ever-evolving science. Environmental laws are rife with jargon and compound terms that are best left to acronyms like NAAQS and NPDES. This itself has become food for fodder, as these laws have been …

Controlling Power Plants: The Co-Pollutant Implications Of Epa's Clean Air Act § 111(D) Options For Greenhouse Gases, Alice Kaswan

Alice Kaswan

Existing power plants are the nation’s largest single source of carbon emissions. In the absence of comprehensive federal climate change, EPA is forging ahead with power plant controls through § 111(d) of the Clean Air Act. This article focuses on one critical consideration: the ancillary impacts of carbon controls on associated co-pollutants, like sulfur oxides, particulates, nitrogen oxides, and mercury. The article focuses on an array of regulatory options, including both “inside-the-fence” reductions at power plants and “outside-the-fence” measures that reduce power sector emissions, like renewable energy and consumer energy efficiency. The article then evaluates the co-pollutant consequences of several …

Facts, Fiction, And Perception In Hydraulic Fracturing: Illuminating Act 13 And Robinson Township V. Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania, Joshua P. Fershee

Joshua P Fershee

Hydraulic fracturing for oil and natural gas is perhaps the most polarizing energy issue in the United States and around the world, and Pennsylvania has emerged as an example of passionate views both for and against hydraulic fracturing for shale gas. To limit local government restrictions on gas drilling, the Pennsylvania legislature passed Act 13 in September 2012, and the Act largely eliminated the ability of local governments to restrict oil and gas operations through zoning. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned Act 13 in December 2013.

This Article reviews how Act 13 came to be, highlights the key provisions of …

Demanding Supply: The Bioenergy Farm Lease’S Critical Role In Biomass Supply Chain Optimization, A. Bryan Endres, Elise C. Scott

A. Bryan Endres

As the bioenergy industry in the U.S. expands to meet increased demands for transportation fuel under the Renewable Fuel Standard and electrical power under state Renewable Portfolio Standards, farmers will seek the ability to grow dedicated, high-yielding energy crops of a perennial nature on leased property. Given the large amount of farmland in the U.S. that is leased, such contributions will represent a significant, though currently not well understood, portion of the biofuel industry supply chain. Through the use of contracts as governance schemes, the parties to a bioenergy farm lease can navigate three key areas of such a lease: …

Regulating Mass Surveillance As Privacy Pollution: Learning From Environmental Impact Statements, A. Michael Froomkin

A. Michael Froomkin

US law has remarkably little to say about mass surveillance in public, a failure which has allowed the surveillance to grow at an alarming rate – a rate that is only set to increase. This article proposes ‘Privacy Impact Notices’ (PINs) — modeled on Environmental Impact Statements — as an initial solution to this problem. Data collection in public (and in the home via public spaces) resembles an externality imposed on the person whose privacy is reduced involuntarily; it can also be seen as a market failure caused by an information asymmetry. Current doctrinal legal tools available to respond to …

C(R)Ap And Trade: The Brave New World Of Non-Point Source Nutrient Trading And Using Lessons From Greenhouse Gas Markets To Make It Work, Victor B. Flatt

Victor B Flatt

After several decades of improvement, water quality in the United States is getting worse, and the problem is primarily caused by run-off from non-point sources, such as farms and urban development. These non-point sources have never had regulatory mandates in the Clean Water Act, and have proven very difficult to control. With little likelihood of comprehensive statutory changes, the EPA and the states that administer the Clean Water Act have looked to other regulatory means to address this problem. One of the most prominent has been the use of markets in pollution (particularly for nutrient pollution from run-off) to provide …

Gandhi’S Nightmare: Bhopal And The Need For A Mindful Jurisprudence, Nehal A. Patel

Nehal A. Patel

No abstract provided.

Using Trade To Enforce International Environmental Law: Implications For United States Law, Mary Ellen O'Connell

Mary Ellen O'Connell

No abstract provided.

Enforcement And The Success Of International Environmental Law, Mary Ellen O'Connell

Mary Ellen O'Connell

Professor O'Connell discusses the traditional methods used for international law "enforcement," and she argues that international law is generally obeyed. Its enforcement is based primarily on compliance, not enforcement. Accordingly, the author argues against using international enforcement mechanisms to enforce international environmental law. Instead, she posits that domestic courts should be used for international environmental law enforcement; however, certain obstacles, such as sovereign immunity, the doctrine of standing, and the principle of forum non conveniens, must be overcome. Professor O'Connell argues that it may be possible to overcome many of these court-made obstacles to enforcing international law through domestic courts. …

Green Harms Of Green Projects, John C. Nagle

John Copeland Nagle

This article describes the recent development of renewable energy to examine environmental law’s three contrasting approaches to the green harms of green projects. Sometimes the law allows the green benefit regardless of the green harm. Sometimes the law prohibits the green harm regardless of the green benefit. And sometimes the law allows a balancing of all of the harms and benefits, green or not. Given these options, I argue that the law should not ignore or understate green harms even if they are caused by green projects. There are some types of green harms that no benefit can justify. But …

The Missing Chinese Environmental Law Statutory Interpretation Cases, John C. Nagle

John Copeland Nagle

No abstract provided.

An Economic Approach To Collective Rights And Their Means Of Supply: The Case Of Right To "The Enjoyment Of A Healthy Environment" And The Right To "Rational Management And Use Of Natural Resources" [En Español], Daniel A. Monroy

Daniel A Monroy C

This paper has two main objectives (i) Demonstrate that the defining characteristic of collective rights related to non-excludable of the benefits derived from the "means" of supply and the material "objects" of rights, is consistent with the microeconomic defining characteristic of so-called "public goods" and "commons " (together we call these as non-excludable resources). On the other hand, (ii) Demonstrate that when we analyze the collective rights as non-excludable resources this aims important omitted challenges by traditional legal doctrine related with the adequate supply of collective rights, this happens because the problems of the -Olsonian- logic of collective action. For …

Introduction: Connecting The Dots Between Two Parallel Worlds, Rena Steinzor

Rena I. Steinzor

No abstract provided.

If You Had A Fundamental Human Right To A Particular Environment, What Would That Look Like?, Carter Dillard

Carter Dillard

Many environmentalists believe that because the earth has in the last several decades become largely a human environment in which pure nature or wild places uninfluenced by humans no longer exist, people ought to abandon the idea of wilderness entirely and do the best they can in a world dominated by humans. That would be a mistake. The idea of nature and wilderness in particular, or of places and things in the world relatively uninfluenced by humans, actually provides the foundation on which to build the international human right to a particular environment that some environmentalists have been looking for. …

Dangers Of Trying To Set Earth's Thermostat, Andrew Strauss, William Burns

Andrew L. Strauss

No abstract provided.

The Quiet Revolution And Federalism: Into The Future, Patricia E. Salkin

Patricia E. Salkin

This Article offers an examination of the federal role in land use planning and regulation set in the context of varying theories of federalism by presenting a historical and modern overview of the increasing federal influence in local land use planning and regulation, specifically highlighting how federal statutes and programs impact local municipal decision making in the area of land use planning. Part II provides a brief introduction into theories of federalism and their application to local land use regulation in the United States. Part III provides a brief overview of federal legislation in the United States which affected local …

The Green Development Movement: Smart Growth With A Green Label, Patricia E. Salkin

Patricia E. Salkin

No abstract provided.