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Full-Text Articles in Law

Bill Would Encourage Effective Dispute Resolution, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher Oct 2008

Bill Would Encourage Effective Dispute Resolution, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Many of the processes involved in traditional local land use review procedures involve two or more adversarial parties arguing their position with little to no consideration for the other party’s interest, and no regard for mutually beneficial outcome. This article describes a proposed New York law that would promote the use of mediation to supplement the traditional process. The article discusses studies geared towards testing the effectiveness of mediation, gives a review of out of state mediation legislation, as discusses corresponding court decisions. Finally, the article concludes with a review of the traditional roles of lawyers in the process, and …


Shifting Ground To Address Climate Change: The Land Use Law Solution, John R. Nolon Jul 2008

Shifting Ground To Address Climate Change: The Land Use Law Solution, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article conceives and describes a Land Use Stabilization Wedge: a strategy that aggregates these five wedges and further organizes strategic energies. This builds on Socolow’s optimistic assertion that “an excuse for inaction based on the world’s lack of technological readiness does not exist.” I assert that the existing legal authority of state and local governments to regulate and guide land use and building is a powerful “technology already deployed somewhere in the world.” The Land Use Stabilization Wedge aggregates several of Socolow’s initiatives and employs multiple mitigation techniques available to citizens in every locality in the country.


The Externalities Of Nuclear Power: First, Assume We Have A Can Opener . . ., Karl S. Coplan May 2008

The Externalities Of Nuclear Power: First, Assume We Have A Can Opener . . ., Karl S. Coplan

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The nuclear power industry has latched on to global warming as an argument for its renaissance. Although even industry proponents acknowledge that the problem of disposing of spent nuclear fuel remains unsolved, the industry routinely assumes this problem will be solved in the future. Unfortunately, this is the same assumption made by nuclear energy proponents at the beginning of the nuclear industry fifty years ago. We haven’t solved the nuclear waste problem in the past half century, and there is no reason to think we will be more likely to do so in the next one. Like the shipwrecked economist …


Fairness And Equity In Climate Change, Friedrich Soltau Apr 2008

Fairness And Equity In Climate Change, Friedrich Soltau

Dissertations & Theses

Questions of fairness and equity are central to the challenge of tackling global climate change. The complexity of the question arises from the global and long-term nature of the problem. At the same time, the impacts are localized and differentiated, so that states least able to respond are those that will be hardest hit. Policies and measures to abate – mitigate – greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions demand the decision-making under conditions of uncertainty and the commitment of resources beyond the time horizon of politics-as-usual. And while international environmental law has achieved notable successes, it has arguably not confronted a challenge …


The Protection Of The Marine Environment From Land-Based Pollution And Activities: Gauging The Tides Of Global And Regional Governance, Ann Powers Jan 2008

The Protection Of The Marine Environment From Land-Based Pollution And Activities: Gauging The Tides Of Global And Regional Governance, Ann Powers

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

After providing an introductory overview of the major land-based threats to the marine environment, this article focuses upon the specific global and regional efforts to address land-based marine pollution and activities through a four-part survey. The main international initiative is first described, namely, the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA). Progress in GPA implementation is next assessed with an emphasis on the documentation and results from the Second Intergovernmental Review Meeting on Implementation of the GPA held in October 2006. Major challenges constraining GPA implementation are then summarized, including limited national …


The Future Of Our Land: Presidential Leadership, John R. Nolon Jan 2008

The Future Of Our Land: Presidential Leadership, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Open letter to the President.


The Role Of Lawyers In Resolving Environmental Interest Disputes, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher Jan 2008

The Role Of Lawyers In Resolving Environmental Interest Disputes, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article explores the role of lawyers and the tools they can use in the resolution of environmental interest disputes. We draw on the decades-long work of ADR professionals in this area as well as the professional experience of attorneys and the skills they have honed in the context of “rights based” and “rights to process” disputes. By “environmental interest disputes” we include both emerging conflicts and current disputes among multiple parties over the use and abuse of land, air, water, surface, and subsurface resources whose resolution is unlikely to occur in traditional adjudicatory tribunals such as courts and administrative …


Remedying Our Fragmented Governmental Structures To Deal With Our Nation-On-Edge Problems, Jeffrey G. Miller Jan 2008

Remedying Our Fragmented Governmental Structures To Deal With Our Nation-On-Edge Problems, Jeffrey G. Miller

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The argument against crafting federal regulations for problems stemming from development in disaster-prone areas (nation-on-edge problems) assumes that these types of problems are essentially local problems requiring unique local solutions. In this Article, Jeffrey G. Miller challenges this assumption, reasoning that a flexible framework of federal regulations would indeed be effective at remedying these problems. He suggests that such a framework could be modeled after the Clean Water Act's (CWA's) point source pollution control regime. A permitting system similar to that set out in the CWA would promote best management practices while still allowing local entities the freedom to determine …


A Review Of Barriers To Biofuel Market Development In The United States, Karl R. Rábago Jan 2008

A Review Of Barriers To Biofuel Market Development In The United States, Karl R. Rábago

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In recent years, biofuel markets have begun a resurgence. At one time, biofuels were the only way humanity obtained useful energy, but they were almost totally displaced by fossil fuels during the last century. Now, due to a range of drivers, they have begun a small but seemingly solid comeback. This Article reviews the remaining barriers to full commercial success for biofuels in the United States with an emphasis on transportation fuels. While recent success has been impressive, markets for transportation biofuels are hardly “self-sustaining” in the purest sense of the concept. The author does not seek to disparage the …


An Empirical Investigation Of Judicial Decisionmaking, Statutory Interpretation, And The Chevron Doctrine In Environmental Law, Jason J. Czarnezki Jan 2008

An Empirical Investigation Of Judicial Decisionmaking, Statutory Interpretation, And The Chevron Doctrine In Environmental Law, Jason J. Czarnezki

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

How do courts evaluate decisions of statutory interpretation made by government agencies that deal in environmental law? While research on judicial decisionmaking in environmental law has primarily focused on the D.C. Circuit, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the influence of ideology, only recently have legal scholars begun to consider the role of legal factors in judicial decisionmaking in environmental law. With special attention paid to how courts implement the Chevron doctrine, this Article empirically and doctrinally analyzes environmental law cases decided in the United States Courts of Appeals over a three-year period (2003-05) to investigate what factors, including ideological, legal, …


A Climate Of Extremes: Transboundary Conflict Resolution, Elizabeth Burleson Jan 2008

A Climate Of Extremes: Transboundary Conflict Resolution, Elizabeth Burleson

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Losing Ground: Nation On Edge, John R. Nolon Jan 2008

Losing Ground: Nation On Edge, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The primary objective of our book is to refocus attention on the mitigation element of this enduring debate. The chapters in this edited volume grow out of our multiyear program entitled Nation on Edge. The purpose of this program was to draw together leading scholars and practitioners in a collective conversation on the subject of disaster mitigation; that is, on questions of how government can better manage private and public decisionmaking and can more effectively regulate the use of private property in order to curtail damage from inevitable disasters. Our book stands alongside the expanding collection of government reports, essays, …