Law Commons^™

Equity And The Eco-System: Can Injunctions Clear The Air?, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

On April 22, 1970, a number of private groups in the United States sponsored "Earth Day," an attempt to turn the attention of the population to matters of environmental concern. The dramatically favorable response to the idea of "Earth Day" suggests the extent to which more and more persons are becoming worried about ecological destruction. One of the methods of preventing that destruction, the obtaining of injunctions against industrial polluters, is the subject of this Comment. The central focus of this Comment is upon the injunction as a means of preventing air pollution, but most of the substance is equally …

Motor Vehicle Air Pollution: State Authority And Federal Pre-Emption, David P. Currie

Michigan Law Review

The problem of state authority over motor vehicle air pollution was recently highlighted when the Illinois Air Pollution Control Board, for the first time, adopted regulations to deal with vehicle emissions. Those regulations are disappointingly feeble. Except for outlawing visible smoke and for making it unlawful to dismantle pollution control devices, the new rules do nothing but state that the Board may decide to do something in the future about pollution from automobiles.

In attempting to improve upon these regulations, however, one is struck with a sense of considerable futility. Given the present limits of technology and the necessarily legislative …

Foreword: Environmental Quality, The Courts, And The Congress, Henry M. Jackson

Michigan Law Review

In America, we have traditionally equated progress with gross national product, with the accumulation of personal goods, with economic development, and with miles of roads, numbers of kilowatts, and acres of land. We have been easily impressed by quantitative measures of who we are as a people and where we are going as a nation.

In many respects the ways we measure progress reflect our society's traditional emphasis on the accumulation of material goods and the expansion of commerce and technology. Our success in achieving these goals is apparent from the statistics. We produce more than ten million automobiles annually. …

The Evolution Of The Enforcement Provisions Of The Federal Water Pollution Control Act: A Study Of The Difficulty In Developing Effective Legislation, Frank J. Barry

Michigan Law Review

The Federal Water Pollution Control Act,1 which was originally enacted in 1948 and which has been amended five times from 1956 to 1970, has been the primary federal response to the problem of water pollution. The development of that Act in the past twenty-two years has been a story of delayed and inadequate response to the increasing problems of water pollution. The development of the Act's enforcement provisions is particularly representative of those problems. It is the purpose of this Article to examine that development, to point out the shortcomings in the Act, and to analyze the effort that has …

Legal Aspects Of A Federal Water Quality Surveillance System, Jon T. Brown, Wallace L. Duncan

Michigan Law Review

Collection of water quality data is also important for the purpose of determining the present and future needs for water resources and for the purpose of determining the proper allocation of limited financial resources among those needs. In addition, such data are necessary in order to conduct research studies and in order to determine water quality trends for the purposes of long-range planning.

Perhaps the best way to collect such data would be to establish a national surveillance system designed to monitor the quality of the nation's water resources. Such a national system is currently under consideration by the Federal …

Securing, Examining, And Cross-Examining Expert Witnesses In Environmental Cases, David Sive

Michigan Law Review

It is necessary at the outset to define the scope of the problem with which this Article will deal. Environmental cases are litigated in both judicial and administrative tribunals. The judicial proceedings include plenary actions and special proceedings and are heard in both federal and state courts. The administrative proceedings include licensing proceedings before federal agencies such as the Federal Power Commission and Atomic Energy Commission. Whether such administrative proceedings are deemed quasi-judicial or not, they are within the scope of this Article so long as they are adversary and involve testimony under oath, examination and cross-examination of witnesses, a …

Jurisdiction--Atomic Energy--Federal Pre-Emption And State Regulation Of Radioactive Air Pollution: Who Is The Master Of The Atomic Genie?, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Pending litigation between the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and Northern States Power Company presents a potential federal-state conflict over the right of a state to impose upon operators of nuclear power plants more exacting pollution control standards than those required by regulations of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). The AEC issued Northern States Power Company a permit to construct a nuclear power generating plant in Monticello, Minnesota. The regulations under which that permit was issued place a ceiling on the amount of radioactive effluents which can be discharged into the air during the course of the plant's operations. But under …

Love Lust In New Mexico And The Emerging Law Of Obscenity, Leo Kanowitz

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

The Persistent Problem Of The Persistent Pesticides: A Lesson In Environmental Law, William H. Rodgers, Jr.

Articles

This article will present an interpretation and criticism of the Commission on Pesticides and Their Relationship to Environmental Health's conclusions, with a special emphasis on the treatment and relevance of the DDT issue. Each of the fourteen recommendations will be reviewed where relevant to the four major goals set forth above. The crucial and often decisive role of the law as a lever for reform, as a catalyst for transmitting scientific information to the political decision-maker and as a medium for planning to protect against the effects of pesticides pollution on the environment and the population will be emphasized. Obstacles …

Part One: Historical Perspective (Of The Chesapeake Bay), Kenneth Lasson

All Faculty Scholarship

This study analyzes the legal problems in the development and management of Chesapeake Bay resources. There are threshold problems of definition - What is Chesapeake Bay? What are its resources? What role does law play in their development and management?

The "Historical Perspective" traces the political controversies that have involved the Bay since the colonies of Maryland and Virginia were first founded. In a rough sense, it defines the traditional resources of the Bay by isolating occasions when individuals, businesses and governmental bodies found themselves at cross-purposes as to how the Bay was to be used and shared.

More About Oysters Than You Wanted To Know, Garrett Power

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Air Pollution Control In Allegheny County - Will It Be Smothered By Appellate Procedure?, Robert S. Bailey

Duquesne Law Review

One of the many reactions to the recent public uproar over the state of the world's ecology was manifested in a set of strict air pollution control laws promulgated for Allegheny County. In order to understand the character of these county air pollution control laws, a basic acquaintance with the enabling legislation is helpful.

Legislation And The Environment: Individual Rights And Government Accountability, Richard L. Ottinger

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Recent public concern with the pollution threat has generated a rash of suggested solutions. Within the past year councils, agencies, advisory commissions, and billion-dollar programs have been urged upon us. Reorganizations and reorderings of priorities have been called for. The question remains, however, whether this welter of proposals squarely attacks the real problem-the fact that all of our institutions are rooted in the notions of inexhaustible supply and limitless ability to repair. The answer can be found only by examining specific conflicts between technology and environment and analyzing the way our institutions attempt to resolve them.

Michigan Air Pollution Control: A Case Study, William A. Irwin

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The State of Michigan began its fight against air pollution with the passage of two Acts in 1965: the Air Pollution Act and the Tax Exemption for Air Pollution Control Act. In adopting these acts the legislature hoped to solve the state's special needs for immediate air pollution control, created by the heavy concentration of automobile manufacturers and their suppliers in the state. The fight was to be waged through the efforts of a newly-created Air Pollution Control Commission and its staff. To present an evaluation of the success of these efforts, this comment concentrates upon two case studies of …

Effluent Charges: Water Polution Control, Giovanna M. Longo

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Various schemes to abate pollution have been proposed as the answer to the problem: expansion of existing treatment facilities; imposition of heavy penalties on individual polluters; granting tax incentives to reduce pollution; an absolute prohibition on dumping of certain or all pollutants; and the imposition of effluent charges. The particular remedy that is pursued should be selected on the basis of its ability to eliminate the root causes of pollution. Therefore, before an effective solution may be formulated, it is necessary to consider the reasons for the existence of the water pollution problem.

Water Pollution Control In Vermont: A System Of Effluent Charges, Hobart Birmingham

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In the final hours of a three month session, Vermont's legislature adopted a water pollution control law which imposes fees on polluters. Control of water pollution has been a popular issue in Vermont-its first comprehensive laws on the subject were passed in 1949 -and this new legislation is designed to be a major step toward upgrading much of that state's water resources. Increasing industrial and municipal water use has resulted in such widespread pollution that the traditional private law of riparian rights provides an inadequate remedy to the problem of unclean water. Consequently, state intervention has become essential to the …

Water Quality Control: A Modern Approach To State Regulation, Richard C. Ausness, Frank E. Maloney

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The American public of late has shown increasing concern over the quality of the environment. Water pollution has long been recognized as a major threat to a better environment. Municipal, industrial, and agricultural operations all contribute to the pollution problem. Municipalities empty millions of gallons of inadequately-treated sewage into the nation's rivers and streams. Municipal wastes are almost exclusively organic in nature. Currently municipal wastes are estimated to average about ten million tons annually while industrial pollution averages approximately fifteen million tons. Treatment in general is technologically feasible; the primary impediment is financial inability on the part of municipalities to …

Development Of International River Basin: Regulation Of Riparian Competition: Part Ii, Nitza Shapiro-Libia

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Water Law And Administration: The Florida Experience, By Frank E. Maloney, Sheldon J. Plager, And Fletcher N. Baldwin, Jr., A. Dan Tarlock

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Private Legal Action For Air Pollution, James E. Melle

Cleveland State Law Review

The vagueness of the concept of nuisance has resulted from the varying interpretations given it by the courts. It is still debatable whether liability for nuisance exists because of the harm done, or how the harm was created. Though there are many different purpose classifications of nuisances, this paper deals only with the basic ones-i.e., public,private, and public nuisances which are also private nuisances. What can a healthy individual do who does not live in the "neighborhood" of a polluter and yet fears that air pollution has harmful effects on his health? The air transmits the pollution, and it affects …

The Right To A Decent Environment; E =Mc²: Environment Equals Man Times Courts Redoubling Their Efforts, E. F. Roberts

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Recent Legal Developments In Environmental Defense, Richard D. Mccarthy

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Automobile Noise- An Effective Method For Control

University of Richmond Law Review

The automobile as a contributing factor to air pollution has in recent years received widespread attention. Deserving of similar attention is the automobile's contribution to another increasing environmental problem, "noise pollution."

Michigan Environmental Protection Act Of 1970, Susan Pearce

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Widespread public preoccupation with environmental quality is a recent development, and one that has provided the impetus for a thorough examination of existing governmental structures in order to establish a functional system for the environment's protection and improvement. Commenting on this development, a leading environmental lawyer recently noted: "[T]he explosion of concern for the environment, at every private and governmental level, is the great political phenomenon of the last twelve months." As concern has grown about the quality of the environment, so too has skepticism increased about the ability of present institutions to cope with the problem. A constitutional amendment …

Michigan Environmental Protection Act, Roger L. Conner

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Each of the questions discussed in this note revolve around the same basic issue: the propriety of vesting broad power in the courts to prevent environmental destruction, and to develop an environmental common law. The need for the broad standard of the Act derives from the complexity of the problem. The clear authority of the courts to decide cases which have been, or should have been dealt with by an administrative agency is important both for the relationship it establishes between citizens and agencies, and to insure that the policies of the Act will be implemented. In responding to these …

Standards For The Administration Of Criminal Justice, Howard C. Bratton

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

More About Oysters Than You Wanted To Know, Garrett Power

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Maryland's Wetlands: The Legal Quagmire, Stuart Marshall Salsbury

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Jurisdiction--Territorial Waters--Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act, Gilbert T. Davis

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

On June 17, 1970, Canada passed the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act which asserts jurisdiction over Arctic waters 100 miles off her coasts for the purpose of pollution prevention regulation. The Act proscribes any discharge of waste into Arctic waters, and prohibits navigation in certain "shipping safety control zones" in Arctic waters unless regulations pertaining to structural, equipment, navigational aid, cargo, and personnel qualification standards are met. Given the conflict between the traditional freedom of the seas and the seriousness of the ocean pollution problem, the Canadian action is likely to provoke much controversy.

The New Mexico Professional Corporation, Robert J. Desiderio, Hugh J. Ault, James W. Smith

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.