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Full-Text Articles in Law

Complex Value Choices At The Environment-Energy Interface, Hari M. Osofsky Jul 2017

Complex Value Choices At The Environment-Energy Interface, Hari M. Osofsky

Hari Osofsky

During the 2001–02 academic year, I lived in China, teaching U.S. civil rights law and helping to start a labor law clinic. My first day of teaching the fall civil rights course was the day of the September 11 attacks, and that event and reactions to it played a dominant role in my experience of that year. However, it was also a particularly interesting year to be in China from an environmental-energy perspective because the Three Gorges Dam was in the process of being built and brought onlie. At that point, the area was partially flooded and it was one …


Behavioral Public Choice And The Carbon Tax, Gary M. Lucas Jr Mar 2017

Behavioral Public Choice And The Carbon Tax, Gary M. Lucas Jr

Gary M. Lucas Jr.

In response to the historic Paris Agreement on climate change and to the Environmental Protection Agency’s recently finalized Clean Power Plan, economists and other climate policy experts have renewed the call for the United States to adopt a carbon tax. Opposition among the public presents a major obstacle. While a majority of the public supports government action on climate change, most people favor the use of “green” subsidies and command-and-control regulations—a fact that frustrates economists of all political stripes who contend that a carbon tax would be much cheaper and more effective. This Article argues that a cognitive bias known …


Climate Change And Water Transfers, Jesse Reiblich, Christine A. Klein Apr 2016

Climate Change And Water Transfers, Jesse Reiblich, Christine A. Klein

Christine A. Klein

Climate change adaptation is all about water. Although some governments have begun to plan for severe water disruptions, many have not. The consequences of inaction, however, may be dire. As a report of the U.N. Environment Programme warns, “countries that adopt a ‘wait and see’ approach potentially risk the lives of their people, their ecosystems and their economies.” In the United States, according to one study, nearly 60% of the states are unprepared to deal with the impending crisis. Responding to this void, we offer what we believe is the first comprehensive, fifty-state survey of water allocation law and its …


Genetically Engineered Plant Pesticides: Recent Developments In The Epa's Regulation Of Biotechnology, Mary Jane Angelo Mar 2015

Genetically Engineered Plant Pesticides: Recent Developments In The Epa's Regulation Of Biotechnology, Mary Jane Angelo

Mary Jane Angelo

This paper examines the EPA's new policy regulating plant pesticides and presents the legal, scientific and policy issues surrounding the regulation of genetically engineered plants. Part I introduces the concepts covered in this paper. Part II.A. discusses products that have originated from biotechnology. Part II.B. describes the EPA's legal authority for regulating plant pesticides and other biotechnology products. Part II.C. presents the history of federal regulation of biological pesticides and biotechnology products. Part III examines the controversy surrounding the use of genetically engineered plants, including the potential risks and benefits of genetically engineered plants and the public's perception of these …


Small, Slow, And Local, Mary Jane Angelo Mar 2015

Small, Slow, And Local, Mary Jane Angelo

Mary Jane Angelo

The United States is in the middle of a significant cultural shift. Until very recently, United States citizens and policy-makers were willing to accept, or at least tolerate, what has become our food status quo--a highly subsidized, centralized, industrial food system that is environmentally harmful and unsustainable and encourages unhealthy eating habits. Many citizens and policy-makers are now demanding that we re-evaluate our entire agricultural system from farm to table and look for ways to develop a new food paradigm that is environmentally sound, sustainable, socially equitable, and that makes healthy whole foods available to all. During the summer of …


The Bubble Concept In Water Pollution Control, Emily Sherwin Feb 2015

The Bubble Concept In Water Pollution Control, Emily Sherwin

Emily L Sherwin

No abstract provided.


Testimony Before The Committee On Energy And Commerce, Subcommittee On Environment And Economics, U.S. House Of Representatives, Hearing On Constitutional Considerations: States Vs. Federal Environmental Policy Implementation July 11, 2014, Rena I. Steinzor Jul 2014

Testimony Before The Committee On Energy And Commerce, Subcommittee On Environment And Economics, U.S. House Of Representatives, Hearing On Constitutional Considerations: States Vs. Federal Environmental Policy Implementation July 11, 2014, Rena I. Steinzor

Rena I. Steinzor

No abstract provided.


Compulsory Water Fluoridation: Justifiable Public Health Benefit Or Human Experimental Research Without Informed Consent, Rita Barnett Jan 2014

Compulsory Water Fluoridation: Justifiable Public Health Benefit Or Human Experimental Research Without Informed Consent, Rita Barnett

Rita Barnett-Rose

Most Americans are under the impression that compulsory water fluoridation is a safe and effective public health measure to fight tooth decay, and courts have routinely upheld compulsory water fluoridation schemes as legitimate exercises of police power to ensure the dental health of communities. Yet the evidence is steadily mounting against water fluoridation, with recent scientific studies suggesting that not only is fluoridation not effective at achieving the stated public health goal of combating dental caries, but also that excess exposure to fluoride contributes to a host of far more serious health concerns, particularly in the very population the public …


Lead Poisoning In Children: A Proposed Legislative Solution To Municipal Liability For Furnishing Lead-Contaminated Water, Anthony J. Bellia Oct 2013

Lead Poisoning In Children: A Proposed Legislative Solution To Municipal Liability For Furnishing Lead-Contaminated Water, Anthony J. Bellia

Anthony J. Bellia

Lead poisoning has become one of the most widespread and serious environmental diseases facing children in the United States. In response to the problem of childhood lead exposure, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has promulgated expansive regulations to reduce drinking water lead levels. However, the regulations are not without significant gaps and shortfalls. Many improvements that the EPA requires need not be in place for years, and some households at risk of unsafe lead exposure receive no regulatory protection at all. One question that arises amidst these regulatory gaps is whether a plaintiff can hold a public water system liable …


The Viability Of Citizens’ Suits Under The Clean Water Act After Gwaltney Of Smithfield V. Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Bevery Mcqueary Smith Oct 2013

The Viability Of Citizens’ Suits Under The Clean Water Act After Gwaltney Of Smithfield V. Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Bevery Mcqueary Smith

Beverly McQueary Smith

No abstract provided.


Evaluating Rules And How We Measure Their Effects, Rena I. Steinzor, Michael Patoka Nov 2012

Evaluating Rules And How We Measure Their Effects, Rena I. Steinzor, Michael Patoka

Rena I. Steinzor

The Center for Progres­sive Reform undertook an empirical study of the Office of Information of Regulatory Affairs, the White House office that reviews every significant regulation issue by Executive Branch agencies. The study assembled an unprecedented portrait of its behav­ior during the decade from October 16, 2001, when notices of meetings with outside parties were first available on the Internet, until June 1, 2011. OIRA conducted 6,194 separate reviews of regulatory submissions, holding 1,080 meetings that involved 5,759 ap­pearances by outside par­ticipants. Both the final report and the database we assembled are available on the CPR website, at pro­gressivereform.org. OIRA …


Epa's Iris Program: Evaluating The Science And Process Behind Chemical Risk Assessment, Rena I. Steinzor Jul 2011

Epa's Iris Program: Evaluating The Science And Process Behind Chemical Risk Assessment, Rena I. Steinzor

Rena I. Steinzor

No abstract provided.


Testimony Of Rena Steinzor…Before The U.S. House Of Representatives, Energy And Commerce Committee, Subcommittee On Environment And Economics. 112th Congress, 1st Session (2011)., Rena Steinzor Feb 2011

Testimony Of Rena Steinzor…Before The U.S. House Of Representatives, Energy And Commerce Committee, Subcommittee On Environment And Economics. 112th Congress, 1st Session (2011)., Rena Steinzor

Rena I. Steinzor

Environmental regulations have saved millions of lives, preventing chronic respiratory illness and heart attacks in cities across the country. These rules protect children from irreversible neurological damage, save billions of dollars in cleanup costs, and preserve water quality in lakes, rivers, and streams. If anything, our regulatory system is dangerously weak, and Congress should focus on reviving it rather than eroding public protections….


Corrective Lenses For Iris: Additional Reforms To Improve Epa's Integrated Risk Information System, Rena I. Steinzor, Wendy E. Wagner, Lena Pons, Matthew Shudtz Nov 2010

Corrective Lenses For Iris: Additional Reforms To Improve Epa's Integrated Risk Information System, Rena I. Steinzor, Wendy E. Wagner, Lena Pons, Matthew Shudtz

Rena I. Steinzor

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) is the most important toxicological database in the world. Not only is it the single most comprehensive database of human health information about toxic substances, it also serves as a gateway to regulation, as well as to a range of public and private sector efforts to protect against toxic substances. IRIS “profiles” of individual substances include a number of scientific assessments of the substance’s toxicity to humans by various means of exposure – by inhalation, contact with the skin, and so on. Federal regulators rely on the assessments to do …


Bad Science, Linda Greer, Rena I. Steinzor Nov 2009

Bad Science, Linda Greer, Rena I. Steinzor

Rena I. Steinzor

No abstract provided.


Myths Of The Reinvented State, Rena I. Steinzor Nov 2009

Myths Of The Reinvented State, Rena I. Steinzor

Rena I. Steinzor

No abstract provided.


Reinventing Environmental Regulation Via The Government Performance And Results Act: Where's The Money?, Rena I. Steinzor, William F. Piermattei Nov 2009

Reinventing Environmental Regulation Via The Government Performance And Results Act: Where's The Money?, Rena I. Steinzor, William F. Piermattei

Rena I. Steinzor

No abstract provided.


Reinventing Environmental Regulation Through The Government Performance And Results Act: Are The States Ready For The Devolution?, Rena I. Steinzor Nov 2009

Reinventing Environmental Regulation Through The Government Performance And Results Act: Are The States Ready For The Devolution?, Rena I. Steinzor

Rena I. Steinzor

No abstract provided.


Regulatory Reinvention And Project Xl: Does The Emperor Have Any Clothes?, Rena I. Steinzor Nov 2009

Regulatory Reinvention And Project Xl: Does The Emperor Have Any Clothes?, Rena I. Steinzor

Rena I. Steinzor

No abstract provided.


The Legacy Of John Graham: Strait-Jacketing Risk Assessment, Rena I. Steinzor Nov 2009

The Legacy Of John Graham: Strait-Jacketing Risk Assessment, Rena I. Steinzor

Rena I. Steinzor

No abstract provided.


A Perfect Storm: Mercury And The Bush Administration, Part Ii, Rena I. Steinzor, Lisa Heinzerling Oct 2009

A Perfect Storm: Mercury And The Bush Administration, Part Ii, Rena I. Steinzor, Lisa Heinzerling

Rena I. Steinzor

The Environmental Protection Agency's recent proposal to regulate mercury emissions from power plants, and its final rule on mercury emissions from chlor-alkali facilities, suffer from serious scientific, legal, economic, and distributional flaws. The first installment in this series examined the strong scientific basis for regulating mercury emissions and critiqued the agency's decisions from a legal perspective. This second (and final) installment finds that EPA's decisions also fail from the perspectives of economics and environmental justice. EPA and the Office of Management and Budget's economic analysis of the proposal to regulate mercury from power plants was shoddy and one-sided. EPA and …


Oversight Hearing On The Federal Superfund Program's Activities To Protect Public Health, Rena Steinzor Oct 2009

Oversight Hearing On The Federal Superfund Program's Activities To Protect Public Health, Rena Steinzor

Rena I. Steinzor

No abstract provided.


A Perfect Storm: Mercury And The Bush Administration, Rena Steinzor, Lisa Heinzerling Oct 2009

A Perfect Storm: Mercury And The Bush Administration, Rena Steinzor, Lisa Heinzerling

Rena I. Steinzor

In December 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a rule for mercury emissions from power plants and issued a final rule for mercury emissions from chlor-alkali facilities. Regarding power plants, EPA had previously found that mercury posed the most serious threat among the hazardous air pollutants emitted by power plants, and also that regulation of mercury from power plants was appropriate and necessary under section 112 of the Clean Air Act, which requires stringent technology-based regulation for hazardous air pollutants. Despite section 112's clear rejection of emissions trading as a compliance option, EPA has proposed to allow commercial trading …


Testimony Before The U.S. House Of Representatives, Committee On Science And Technology, Subcommittee On Investigations And Oversight. 111th Congress, 1st Session (2009)., Rena I. Steinzor Oct 2009

Testimony Before The U.S. House Of Representatives, Committee On Science And Technology, Subcommittee On Investigations And Oversight. 111th Congress, 1st Session (2009)., Rena I. Steinzor

Rena I. Steinzor

No abstract provided.