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Articles 1 - 19 of 19
Full-Text Articles in Law
Lamarck Revisited: The Implications Of Epigenetics For Environmental Law, Michael P. Vandenbergh, David J. Vandenbergh, John G. Vandenbergh
Lamarck Revisited: The Implications Of Epigenetics For Environmental Law, Michael P. Vandenbergh, David J. Vandenbergh, John G. Vandenbergh
Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law
For generations, a bedrock concept of biology was that genetic mutations are necessary to pass traits from one generation to the next, but new developments in genetics are challenging this fundamental assumption. A growing body of scientific evidence demonstrates that chemical alteration of the way a gene functions, whether through exposure to chemicals, foods or even traumatic experiences, may not only affect the exposed individual, but also the individual’s offspring for two generations or more. This interaction between genes and the environment, known as epigenetics, has revolutionized the understanding of how genes are expressed within an individual and how they …
Technology-Based? Cost Factoring In U.S. Environmental Standards, Jamison E. Colburn
Technology-Based? Cost Factoring In U.S. Environmental Standards, Jamison E. Colburn
Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law
Environmental controls in the United States are often said to be “technology-based” because the polluter’s duties are determined by the available technology for controlling that pollution rather than by the social costs and benefits of doing so. Indeed, this is much of what distinguishes U.S. environmental law post-1970 from that which preceded it. But technology-based standards have in fact weighed the costs of controlling pollution in unique, often obscure ways, yielding an analysis that defies standardization and basic notions of transparency. Often lumped under an umbrella heading called “feasibility” analysis and justified on the grounds that it avoids many of …
Environmental Law, Big Data, And The Torrent Of Singularities, William Boyd
Environmental Law, Big Data, And The Torrent Of Singularities, William Boyd
Publications
How will big data impact environmental law in the near future? This Essay imagines one possible future for environmental law in 2030 that focuses on the implications of big data for the protection of public health from risks associated with pollution and industrial chemicals. It assumes the perspective of an historian looking back from the end of the twenty-first century at the evolution of environmental law during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The premise of the Essay is that big data will drive a major shift in the underlying knowledge practices of environmental law (along with other areas …
Instrument Choice, Carbon Emissions, And Information, Michael Wara
Instrument Choice, Carbon Emissions, And Information, Michael Wara
Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law
This Article examines the consequences of a previously unrecognized difference between pollutant cap-and-trade schemes and pollution taxes. Implementation of cap-and-trade relies on a forecast of future emissions, while implementation of a pollution tax does not. Realistic policy designs using either regulatory instrument almost always involve a phase-in over time to avoid economic disruption. Cap-and-trade accomplishes this phase-in via a limit on emissions that falls gradually below the forecast of future pollutant emissions. Emissions taxation accomplishes the same via a gradually increasing levy on pollution. Because of the administrative complexity of establishing an emissions trading market, cap-and-trade programs typically require between …
Slides: Hydrofracking: Air Issues And Community Exposure, Debra A. Kaden
Slides: Hydrofracking: Air Issues And Community Exposure, Debra A. Kaden
Air Quality Impacts from Oil and Gas Development (January 27)
Presenter: Debra Kaden, Ph.D., Toxicologist, ENVIRON International Corporation, discusses air concentrations of chemicals of potential health concern surrounding oil and gas development activities, as well as temporal and spatial patterns of these chemicals in the ambient environment. Such information is necessary to evaluate possible health impacts of the drilling process on air in surrounding communities.
19 slides
Past Its Prime: Why The Clean Air Act Is In Need Of Modification, Levi Smith
Past Its Prime: Why The Clean Air Act Is In Need Of Modification, Levi Smith
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Caveat
The Clean Air Act (CAA) is the primary federal statute regulating the emission of air pollutants. First enacted in 1970, the CAA requires, inter alia, the federal government to establish air quality goals and states to develop implementation plans to achieve those goals. The most stringent requirements of the CAA are imposed on “new” or “modified” sources of pollution, such as sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxides, and particulate matter. Sources that were operating when the CAA was enacted are mostly exempt from regulation under the Act. Because of the substantial costs associated with the CAA standards, there is an incentive for …
Smart-Grid: Technology And The Psychology Of Environmental Behavior Change, Stephanie M. Stern
Smart-Grid: Technology And The Psychology Of Environmental Behavior Change, Stephanie M. Stern
Chicago-Kent Law Review
There is a schism in the legal scholarship between scholars who argue that value, norm, and information campaigns can induce pro-environmental behavior and those who contend that structural, psychological, and social forces sharply constrain behavior change. Both sides of this debate have neglected the critical and ever-increasing role of technology in addressing residential pollution. The example of electricity "smart grids" illustrates how technology engineered to override cognitive and behavioral limitations can comprehensively reduce household consumption and emissions. Electricity conservation suffers from multiple barriers to collective action, including large numbers of geographically dispersed polluters, low financial payoffs, and, the contribution of …
Nepa In The Hot Seat: A Proposal For An Office Of Environmental Analysis, Aliza M. Cohen
Nepa In The Hot Seat: A Proposal For An Office Of Environmental Analysis, Aliza M. Cohen
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Judicial deference under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) can be problematic. It is a well-established rule of administrative law that courts will grant a high degree of deference to agency decisions. They do this out of respect for agency expertise and policy judgment. This deference is applied to NEPA lawsuits without acknowledging the special pressures that agencies face while assessing the environmental impacts of their own projects. Though there is a strong argument that these pressures undermine the reasons for deferential review, neither the statute nor the courts have provided plaintiffs with adequate means to remedy this problem. Agency …
Slides: The Peril Of Energy Usage, Mike Tupper
Slides: The Peril Of Energy Usage, Mike Tupper
The Promise and Peril of Oil Shale Development (February 5)
Presenter: Mike Tupper, Executive Vice President, Composite Technology Development, Inc.
9 slides
China In Context: Energy, Water, And Climate Cooperation, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson
China In Context: Energy, Water, And Climate Cooperation, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson
Prof. Elizabeth Burleson
Climate resilient communities can be achieved with the support of global research, development, deployment, and diffusion of environmentally sound low GHG emission technologies and processes. Technology cooperation should lower emissions remaining mindful of biodiversity, ecosystem services and livelihoods. China and the United States need to respond effectively to both economic and climate crises and can do so in part by cooperating on environmentally sound technology that transforms the global use of energy.
Slides: Water Footprints: Consciousness Raising Meets Risk Management, Steve Malloch
Slides: Water Footprints: Consciousness Raising Meets Risk Management, Steve Malloch
Western Water Law, Policy and Management: Ripples, Currents, and New Channels for Inquiry (Martz Summer Conference, June 3-5)
Presenter: Steve Malloch, Senior Western Water Program Manager, National Wildlife Federation, Seattle, WA
38 slides
Permitting Under The Clean Air Act: How Current Standards Impose Obstacles To Achieving Environmental Justice, Annise Katherine Maguire
Permitting Under The Clean Air Act: How Current Standards Impose Obstacles To Achieving Environmental Justice, Annise Katherine Maguire
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
Most studies about the environmental justice movement focus on the disproportionate share of environmental burdens minority and low-income populations bear, the negative effects of an unequal distribution of undesirable land uses, and how industry contributes to the adverse impacts suffered by the communities. Unfortunately, trying to prove that an injury was caused by actions of a nearby facility is difficult, and this approach has yielded few legal victories for environmental justice communities. While it is important to remain focused on how environmental justice communities are disproportionately impacted by undesirable land uses, the analysis must shift if the law is to …
The Growing Influence Of Tort And Property Law On Natural Resources Law: Case Studies Of Coal Bed Methane Development And Geologic Carbon Sequestration, Alexandra B. Klass
The Growing Influence Of Tort And Property Law On Natural Resources Law: Case Studies Of Coal Bed Methane Development And Geologic Carbon Sequestration, Alexandra B. Klass
The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)
19 pages.
"Alexandra B. Klass, Associate Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School"
Is The Clean Air Act Unconstitutional?, Cass R. Sunstein
Is The Clean Air Act Unconstitutional?, Cass R. Sunstein
Michigan Law Review
This Article deals with two linked questions. The first involves the future of the Clean Air Act. The particular concern is how the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") might be encouraged, with help from reviewing courts, to issue better ambient air quality standards, and in the process to shift from some of the anachronisms of 1970s environmentalism to a more fruitful approach to environmental protection. The second question involves the role of the nondelegation doctrine in American public law, a doctrine that shows unmistakable signs of revival. I will suggest that improved performance by EPA and agencies in general, operating in …
Revitalizing Environmental Federalism, Daniel C. Esty
Revitalizing Environmental Federalism, Daniel C. Esty
Michigan Law Review
Politicians from Speaker Newt Gingrich to President Bill Clinton, cheered on by academics such as Richard Revesz, are eagerly seeking to return authority over environmental regulation to the states. In the European Union, localist opponents of environmental decisionmaking in Brussels rally under the banner of "subsidiarity." And in debates over international trade liberalization, demands abound for the protection of "national sovereignty" in environmental regulation. All of these efforts presume that a decentralized approach to environmental policy will yield better results than more centralized programs. This presumption is misguided. While the character of some environmental concerns warrants a preference for local …
Book Review, Lakshman D. Guruswamy
Stratospheric Ozone Depletion: A Challenge For International Environmental Law And Policy, Ved P. Nanda
Stratospheric Ozone Depletion: A Challenge For International Environmental Law And Policy, Ved P. Nanda
Michigan Journal of International Law
The first part of the article addresses the phenomenon of stratospheric ozone depletion, noting significant recent developments, and discussing their ramifications. This is followed by an inquiry into pertinent international and U.S. responses to ozone depletion. Recent developments in international environmental law provide an appropriate context for this inquiry. The adequacy of these responses is assessed in the next section. Recommendations follow in the concluding section.
The Political Economy Of Barry Commoner, James E. Krier
The Political Economy Of Barry Commoner, James E. Krier
Articles
The centerpiece of what follows is an article by Barry Commoner that appeared in The New Yorker magazine in 1987.' The article, although an essentially popular work, is for several reasons worth the attention of a community professionally interested in law and the environment. First, it distills and supplements views that Commoner has advanced with much prominence throughout the life-twenty years to date-of the environmental movement in the United States. Thus it provides an opportunity for the present generation's students of environmental law, many of whom seem to know nothing of Commoner and his ideas, to become familiar with a …
The Legal And Regulatory Framework For Thermal Discharge From Nuclear Power Plants, Michael S. Baram
The Legal And Regulatory Framework For Thermal Discharge From Nuclear Power Plants, Michael S. Baram
Faculty Scholarship
As the rate of electricity generation increases, and as more nuclear power plants-in contrast to fossil fuel and hydro-electric facilities-are built to meet power needs, the use of cooling water and its subsequent discharge in heated states into the environment is expected to rise to massive levels. Estimates of future cooling water use vary and are subject to technical and economic developments, but by 1990, between 640 and 850 billion gallons per day are expected to be required. This range of water use can be roughly equated to one-half to three fourths of the average daily run-off of fresh water …