Gandhi’S Prophecy: Corporate Violence And A Mindful Law For Bhopal, Nehal A. Patel

Nehal A. Patel

AbstractOver thirty years have passed since the Bhopal chemical disaster began,and in that time scholars of corporate social responsibility (CSR) havediscussed and debated several frameworks for improving corporate responseto social and environmental problems. However, CSR discourse rarelydelves into the fundamental architecture of legal thought that oftenbuttresses corporate dominance in the global economy. Moreover, CSRdiscourse does little to challenge the ontological and epistemologicalassumptions that form the foundation for modern economics and the role ofcorporations in the world.I explore methods of transforming CSR by employing the thought ofMohandas Gandhi. I pay particular attention to Gandhi’s critique ofindustrialization and principle of swadeshi (self-sufficiency) …

Antimonopoly In Public Land Law, Michael Blumm, Kara Tebeau

Michael Blumm

Public land law is often thought to be divided into historical eras like the Disposition Era, the Reservation Era, and the Modern Era. We think an overarching theme throughout all eras is antimonopoly. Since the Founding, and continuing for over two-and-a-quarter centuries into the 21^st century, antimonopoly policy has permeated public land law. In this article we show the persistence of antimonopoly sentiment throughout the public land history, from the Confederation Congress to Jacksonian America to the Progressive Conservation Era and into the modern era.

Antimonopoly policy led to widespread ownership of American land, perhaps America’s chief distinction from …

Finding The Adequate Legal Framework For The Deployment Of Ocean Renewable Energy Through Area-Based Management, Xiao Recio-Blanco

Xiao Recio-Blanco

The world runs on electricity, but its global distribution is uneven and incomplete. The lack of access to electricity denies some people the most basic benefits, from healthcare and sanitation to security and economic development.

To increase access to electricity, most developing nations have relied on traditional sources of energy, namely fossil fuels, and the extension of a central electrical grid. Scholars and specialized International Organizations suggest that the implementation of renewable energy technologies through small-to-mid scale grid projects could be a reliable alternative. However, renewable energy technologies must overcome three formidable hurdles: low reliability, uneven availability, and the high …

An Approach To The Regulation Of Spanish Banking Foundations, Miguel Martínez

Miguel Martínez

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the legal framework governing banking foundations as they have been regulated by Spanish Act 26/2013, of December 27th, on savings banks and banking foundations. Title 2 of this regulation addresses a construct that is groundbreaking for the Spanish legal system, still of paramount importance for the entire financial system insofar as these foundations become the leading players behind certain banking institutions given the high interest that foundations hold in the share capital of such institutions.

Downstream Inundations Caused By Federal Flood Control Dam Operations In A Changing Climate: Getting The Proper Mix Of Takings, Tort, And Compensation, Robert H. Abrams, Jacquiline Bertelsen

Robert H Abrams

The 2012 United States Supreme Court decision in Arkansas Game & Fish Commission v. United States (AG&FC) presented the Court with a claim that the property of a landowner downstream of a flood control dam was taken without compensation as a result of non-permanent inundations of low lying portions of that parcel caused by a change in the dam’s pattern of releases. The Court held that that “government-induced flooding temporary in duration gains no automatic exemption from Takings Clause inspection” and must instead be tested according to the Court’s usual precedents governing temporary physical invasions and regulatory takings.[1] On …

Shared Sovereignty: The Role Of Expert Agencies In Environmental Law, Michael Blumm, Andrea Lang

Michael Blumm

Environmental law usually features statutory interpretation or administrative interpretation by a single agency. Less frequent is a close look at the mechanics of implementing environmental policy across agency lines. In this article, we offer such a look: a comparative analysis of five statutes and their approaches to sharing decision-making authority among more than one federal agency. We call this pluralistic approach to administrative decisionmaking “shared sovereignty.”

In this analysis, we compare implementation of the National Environmental Policy, the National Historic Preservation Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Federal Power Act. All of these statutes incorporate …

Definitions, Religion, And Free Exercise Guarantees, Mark Strasser

Mark Strasser

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the free exercise of religion. Non-religious practices do not receive those same protections, which makes the ability to distinguish between religious and non-religious practices important. Regrettably, members of the Court have been unable to agree about how to distinguish the religious from the non-religious—sometimes, the implicit criteria focus on the sincerity of the beliefs, sometimes the strength of the beliefs or the role that they play in an individual’s life, and sometimes the kind of beliefs. In short, the Court has virtually guaranteed an incoherent jurisprudence by sending contradictory signals with …

Vetoing Wetland Permits Under Section 404(C) Of The Clean Water Act: A History Of Inter-Federal Agency Controversy And Reform, Michael Blumm, Elisabeth D. Mering

Michael Blumm

For most of its four-decade history, section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act could have been considered to be a sleeper provision of environmental law. The proviso authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) overrule permits for discharges of dredged or fill material issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) where necessary to ensure protection of fish and wildlife habitat, municipal water supplies, and recreational areas against unacceptable adverse effects. This authority of one federal agency to veto the decisions of another federal agency is quite unusual, perhaps unprecedented in environmental law. The exceptional nature of section 404(c) …

The Death Of The Duty To Apply: Limitations To Cafo Oversight Following Waterkeeper & National Pork Producers, William M. Mclaren

Will McLaren

Should regulators have an affirmative burden to show industrial livestock facilities are polluting before imposing permit requirements, or should facility owners have a duty to apply for permits? This article analyzes that question in the context of water quality permitting and the concentrated livestock industry, with an emphasis on permitting regimes under the Clean Water Act (CWA).

Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) have, in the past decade, received a decisive answer to the above inquiry. In Waterkeeper Alliance v. EPA and National Pork Producers v. EPA, two federal appellate courts determined that CAFOs have no duty to apply for a …

The Public Trust Doctrine, Private Water Allocation, And Mono Lake: The Historic Saga Of National Audubon Society V. Superior Ct., Erin Ryan

Erin Ryan

This article tells the epic tale of the fall and rise of Mono Lake—the strange and beautiful Dead Sea of California—which fostered some of the most important environmental law developments of the last century, and which has become a platform for some of the most potentially important developments in the new century. It shares the backstory and legacy of the California Supreme Court’s famous decision in National Audubon Society v. Superior Court, 658 P.2d 709 (Cal. 1983), known more widely as “the Mono Lake case.” Inspired by innovative legal scholarship and advocacy, the decision spawned a quiet legal revolution in …

Management Regimes And Its Impact On The Wetland Fisheries Management In Assam, Ganesh Chandra

Ganesh Chandra

Assam is endowed with copious aquatic wealth in the form of beels, swamps, ponds and rivers. The floodplain wetlands (beels) extending over one lakh hectare, constitute the most important fishery resource of the state. The beels are considered as one of the most productive ecosystems owing to their characteristic interactions between land and water system. These wetlands are the common property resource and under different management regimes. These wetlands are under various management regimes, i.e., private management (individuals and groups), fishermen cooperative management, Community-based fisheries management (decentralized management, Government works as facilitator) and open access. Most of the unregistered beels …

"You Must Remember This:" Nothing Lasts A Hundred Years, David D. Butler

David D. Butler

Much of what any given generation thinks of as "natural," is, in fact, the result of a prevoious generation's civil engineering projects. Medieval French peasants used to say that mythical giants built the Roman acquiducts of Southern France, because the notion that mere humans could have constructed such systems was simply beyond their post Black-Death conception.

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 …

Colorado River Governance, David K. Chozick

David K. Chozick

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Fresh Water In International Law. By Laurence Boisson De Chazournes, ‎Oxford, Oxford University Press (Dec. 2013). ‎, Itzchak Kornfeld

Itzchak E. Kornfeld

This book review of an extremely timely, far-reaching and comprehensive book by Professor Laurence Boisson de Chazournes, titled Fresh Water in International Law, by an expert in the field. Today, in an era of climate change, wide spread droughts across the globe, the fate of fresh water, which is a fixed resource and is the source of life, is an ominous problem in and for international law. Boisson de Chazournes addresses issues related to treaty design and interpretation, case law, UN initiatives, human rights issues and the development of the human right to water. The author also stresses that today …

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 …

International Cooperation Over Water Use In Central Asia, Jaume Saura Estapà

Jaume Saura Estapà

The aim of this paper is to analyse one of the key factors for understanding the region ofCentral Asia: its distinctive relationship to water resources. The first section examines the management of water resources in the region from the viewpoint of the obligation of cooperation established in general international law. Then, we explore the implications of water management in terms of the rights of citizens, regional cooperation in the management, conservation and sustainable development of the inland fisheries of Central Asia, and cooperation in the generation and distribution of hydroelectric power in the region.

Regulating For The Public Health: Perchlorate Regulation Under The Safe Drinking Water Act Exceeds Statutory Authority, Mary Jones

Mary Jones

This paper recommends rethinking the statutory framework of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to provide a more robust rubric, to include a scientific and objective focus, for proper regulation. The SDWA is evaluated through the lens of upcoming perchlorate regulation due in February 2013.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates acceptable contaminant levels and decontamination processes for all public water systems, pursuant to statutory authority granted by the SDWA. Where the policy at work is admirable, the execution falls short.

Perchlorate occurs naturally, but also as a by-product to rocket fuel, firework, and other explosive constructions. Scientific …

Climate Change Adaptation And Coastal Property Rights: A Massachusetts Case Study, Lara D. Guercio

Lara D. Guercio

This Article examines how existing state laws, including coastal property law and public trust doctrines, are likely to create challenges for the implementation of adaptation strategies proposed to address the effects of climate change—specifically, accelerated sea level rise, increased coastal flooding and storm-related erosion—on coastlines and connected natural resource areas, such as beaches, coastal wetlands, and tidelands. The Article uses Massachusetts, with its highly evolved body of coastal property law and public trust doctrine, as a case study. Mindful of U.S. Supreme Court takings doctrine, the Article analyzes the likely legal challenges to climate change adaptation strategies recently proposed for …

Shifting Sands: A Meta-Theory For Public Access And Private Property Along The Coast, Melissa K. Scanlan

Melissa K. Scanlan

Over half the United States population currently lives near a coast. As shorelines are used by more people, developed by private owners, and altered by extreme weather, competition over access to water and beaches will intensify, as will the need for a clearer legal theory capable of accommodating competing private and public interests. One such public interest is to walk along the beach, which seems simple enough. However, beach walking often occurs on this ambulatory shoreline where public rights grounded in the public trust doctrine and private rights grounded in property ownership intersect. To varying degrees, each state has a …

Constraints In Adoption Of Moongbean Production Technology In Sundarban, West Bengal, Ganesh Chandra

Ganesh Chandra

The new agricultural technologies are considered to be the prime mover to the process of agricultural development in India. Understanding farmers’ perceptions of a given technology is crucial in the generation and diffusion of new technologies and farm household information dissemination. Pulses in India have long been considered as the poor man’s only source of protein. Moongbean (green gram) is one of the important pulse crop in India, plays a major role in augmenting the income of small and marginal farmers of Sundarban. Constraints are the circumstances or causes, which prohibit farmer to adopt improved farm technology. This constraint study …

Interstate Water Compact Version 3.0: Missouri River Basin Compact Drafters Should Consider An Inter-Sovereign Approach To Accommodate Federal And Tribal Interests In Water Resources, Jeffrey T. Matson

Jeffrey T Matson

In the aftermath of the historic 2011 Missouri River flood, Missouri River Basin (MRB) state representatives and governors criticize the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) for operating the Missouri River Mainstem Reservoir System (System) in support of the multiple, often conflicting, purposes outlined in the Flood Control Act of 1944. These officials envision entering into an interstate compact to divest the Corps of some of its operational authority and to broaden their role in managing water resources. Similarly, MRB tribal leaders argue that the Corps fails to operate its System in a manner that respects the interrelated issues of …

The Alternative Forms Of Dispute Settlement And The Essential Difference Between These And Arbitration, Michael Diathesopoulos

Michael Diathesopoulos

The paper examines the characteristics of some common alternative forms of dispute settlement and their key differences from arbitration regarding their nature and scope. Its purpose is to explore each mechanism's suitability for specific types of disputes.

Arctic Justice: Addressing Persistent Organic Pollutants, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

This article recommends enhanced governance of persistent organic pollutants through incentives to develop environmentally sound, climate friendly technologies as well as caution in developing the Arctic. It highlights the toxicity challenges presented by POPs to Arctic people and ecosystems.

Polar Law And Good Governance, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

This chapter will assess the Antarctic Treaty System, ask what polar lessons can be learned regarding common pool resources, and analyze law of the sea and related measures. It will consider such substantive areas as Arctic and Antarctic natural resource management and procedural opportunities as inclusive governance structures. Enhancing good governance can occur through trust building forums that bring together stakeholders, share information, and make environmentally sound decisions regarding sustainable development.

Ownership Unbundling In European Energy Market & Legal Problems Under Eu Law, Michael Diathesopoulos

Michael Diathesopoulos

In this paper we will examine the issue of ownership unbundling and forced divestiture remedies imposed in a series of recent competition law cases of the energy market - examined in other papers - in relation to the possible existence of a series of legal obstacles. These energy market decisions belong to a group of antitrust cases in which a structural divestiture remedy has been imposed under the provisions of Article 9 of Regulation 1/2003. This divestiture refers to transmission networks and to generation capacity and is meant to lead to severe structural changes, which are compatible with the findings …

Competition Law And Sector Regulation In The European Energy Market After The Third Energy Package: Hierarchy And Efficiency, Michael Diathesopoulos

Michael Diathesopoulos

The aim of this research is to provide the basic parameters for a model for the definition of the relation between the general competition and sector specific frameworks and rules regarding the regulation of the Internal Energy Market, especially after the Third Energy Package. The research considers the recent sector specific framework in relation to a series of recent competition law cases of the Energy Market where structural remedies were applied under the commitments procedure. Essential facilities doctrine and generally competition law tools do not seem to provide a suitable framework for effectively addressing the dynamic competition concept, treating the …

Corporate Obligations Under The Human Right To Water, Jernej Letnar Cernic

Jernej Letnar Černič

Almost a billion people do not have access to clean and safe water. Access to safe drinking water and sanitation is increasingly being considered a fundamental human right. Corporations play an important role in the realization of the right to water. For example, they can become violators of the right to water where their activities deny access to clean and safe water or where water prices increase without warning. Corporations can have a positive or negative impact on the human rights of individuals, wider communities and indigenous peoples. This paper argues that corporations bear a certain responsibility for the realization …

El Derecho De Sucesiones Se Debe Atemperar A Los Cambios De La Sociedad Del Siglo Xxi, Edward Ivan Cueva

Edward Ivan Cueva

No abstract provided.

Like Water For Energy: The Water-Energy Nexus Through The Lens Of Tax Policy, Roberta F. Mann

Roberta F Mann

Water is essential for life. Inadequate potable water supplies lead to poverty, disease, starvation, and civil strife. Climate change is likely to put more pressure on the world’s supply of fresh water. Rising sea levels will introduce salt into some fresh water systems. As high mountain snow cover and glaciers decline, they will store less fresh water. As regions heat up, droughts will become more persistent. Producing energy uses water. How much water is used depends on the source of the energy. Yet in the rush to transition to a renewable energy economy, policy makers have paid little heed to …