Law Commons^™

Book Review Of Joel A. Mintz, Enforcement At The Epa: High Stakes And Hard Choices (1995), Michael P. Healy

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In this book review, Michael P. Healy discusses Enforcement at the EPA: High Stakes and Hard Choices by Joel A. Mintz.

Cleaning Up Superfund, W. Kip Viscusi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The cleanup of hazardous wastes is the number one environmental concern of the American people. The government's response: the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched its Superfund program, which was established by Congress in 1980 and reformed in 1986. But, though not even two decades old, the Superfund effort is now a major target of Congress in its regulatory reform efforts. There are two main sources of dissatisfaction: First, cleanups of hazardous wastes are expensive, averaging $25.7 million per site. Superfund expenditures increased from under $400 million in 1985 to over $1.4 billion in 1995 and continue to be above the …

Florida's Troubled Phosphate Companies: Can Bankruptcy Law Be Used To Relieve Their Obligation To Reclaim The Land?, Mary Jane Angelo

UF Law Faculty Publications

The conflict that brings us here arises when the earth is disturbed and the environment in which we live is threatened. . . . On the one hand are the corporations who mine phosphate reserves in Florida—their intentions are based on the argument that an ever-shrinking agrarian base in America must have fertilizer to remain effective and productive. On the other hand are the individuals and groups who oppose that mining and their argument is based upon the contention that such mining is too destructive of a unique and very fragile ecosystem.

By the year 2000, phosphate companies will have …

Book Review, Lakshman D. Guruswamy

Publications

No abstract provided.

Regulating The Regulators, W. Kip Viscusi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Since the 1970s, there has been a tremendous growth in government regulation pertaining to risk and the environment. These efforts have emerged quite legitimately because market processes alone cannot fully address risk-related concerns.' Without some kind of regulation or liability, for example, firms lack appropriate incentives to restrict their pollution. Similarly, when products or activities are extremely risky, if people are not cognizant of the risks they face, the firms generating the hazards may not have adequate incentives to issue warnings. To solve these problems, regulatory agencies have mounted a wide variety of efforts to improve the quality of the …

Malpractice And Environmental Law: Should Environmental Law "Specialists" Be Worried?, J.B. Ruhl

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This article examines the field of environmental law as a potential minefield for malpractice claims given its complex and dynamic nature. The article outlines principles for malpractice law applied to environmental law, based on malpractice principles applied in the tax and patent fields.

The Effectiveness And Fairness Of Superfund's Judicial Review Preclusion Provision, Michael P. Healy

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This article examines the effectiveness and fairness of section 113(h) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund). That broadly-worded provision forecloses judicial review of Superfund cleanups prior to enforcement or cleanup completion by requiring that any review action fall within several narrowly-defined exceptions.

After providing an overview of the statute, its enforcement mechanisms, and a context for considering section 113(h), the article summarizes how courts have applied CERCLA's timing of review provision, focusing principally on recent interpretations of the provision. Finally, the article evaluates the effectiveness and fairness of CERCLA review preclusion and concludes by …

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

Journal Articles

Environmental law and theories of statutory interpretation have developed side by side in the United States during the past twenty-five years. Many of the leading environmental law cases are also statutory interpretation cases. China is different. China has enacted many environmental statutes, often patterned after foreign laws such as those in the United States, but there are no Chinese environmental law statutory interpretation cases.

This article examines why there are no such cases, and what we may learn from that fact. I am indebted to the work of Professor Stewart, whose engaging article in this symposium issue combines three of …

The Fitness Of Law: Using Complexity Theory To Describe The Evolution Of Law And Society And Its Practical Meaning For Democracy, J.B. Ruhl

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This article is the second in my series of articles exploring the application of complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory to legal systems. Building on the model outlined in the first installment (in the Duke Law Journal), this work develops an evolutionary theory of legal systems as CAS. It suggests that long-term fitness of the legal system will require use of innovative, adaptive legal institutions and instruments.