Law Commons^™

Back To Basics: An Agenda For The Maryland General Assembly To Protect The Environment, Rena I. Steinzor, Lee Huang

Faculty Scholarship

Maryland has a long-held reputation as a regional and national leader in environmental protection. But in some areas, especially enforcement, that reputation warrants scrutiny. For example, Maryland charges less than Pennsylvania and Virginia for some pollutant discharge permits, and the state does not assess permit fees for municipalities despite the resources required to administer those permits. The penalties for violating the Clean Water Act have remained chronically below the level allowed under federal law. Maryland law does not require MDE to penalize polluters for the full amount of the economic gain they achieved by flouting the law, unlike laws in …

Environmental Law At Maryland, No. 32, Fall 2011

Environmental Law at Maryland

No abstract provided.

Epa's Iris Program: Evaluating The Science And Process Behind Chemical Risk Assessment, Rena I. Steinzor

Congressional Testimony

No abstract provided.

Opening The Industry Playbook: Myths And Truths In The Debate Over Bpa Regulation, Thomas Mcgarity, Rena I. Steinzor, Matthew Shudtz, Lena Pons

Faculty Scholarship

For the last two decades, scientists have amassed evidence that bisphenol A (BPA) poses a threat to human health. Although scientists have targeted BPA as a public health concern, plastics industry lobbyists have attempted to thwart the efforts of federal, state, and local authorities to reduce exposure to BPA. This paper reviews the major arguments advanced by the plastics industry and debunks them as “myths” that public health officials must reject. The five topics covered include: the myth of scientific consensus on safety; the myth that only studies complying with “Good Laboratory Practices” guidelines are adequate for making regulatory decisions; …

Hearing On The American Energy Initiative Transparency In Regulatory Analysis Of Impacts On The Nation Act Of 2011, Rena I. Steinzor

Congressional Testimony

No abstract provided.

Twelve Crucial Health, Safety, And Environmental Regulations: Will The Obama Administration Finish In Time?, Amy Sinden, Rena I. Steinzor, Matthew Shudtz, James Goodwin, Yee Huang, Lena Pons

Faculty Scholarship

When President Obama came to the White House and put his appointees in place, they faced a long to-do list. For the preceding eight years, the dominant view within the Executive Branch had been that health, safety, and environmental regulation was a nuisance to business, cutting into industry profits in service of objectives that had never been part of President George W. Bush’s agenda.

By the time Bush II left office on January 20, 2009, little had been done and a lot of important safeguards had been rolled back. Crucial rules mandated by Congress were delayed or derailed, and enforcement …

Environmental Law At Maryland, No. 31, Spring 2011

Environmental Law at Maryland

No abstract provided.

Testimony Of Rena Steinzor…Before The U.S. House Of Representatives, Energy And Commerce Committee, Subcommittee On Environment And Economics. 112th Congress, 1st Session (2011)., Rena I. Steinzor

Congressional Testimony

Environmental regulations have saved millions of lives, preventing chronic respiratory illness and heart attacks in cities across the country. These rules protect children from irreversible neurological damage, save billions of dollars in cleanup costs, and preserve water quality in lakes, rivers, and streams. If anything, our regulatory system is dangerously weak, and Congress should focus on reviving it rather than eroding public protections….

Lessons From The North Sea: Should "Safety Cases" Come To America?, Rena I. Steinzor

Faculty Scholarship

The catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last spring and summer has triggered an intense search for more effective regulatory methods that would prevent such disasters. The new Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE) is under pressure to adopt the British “safety case” system, which requires the preparation of a facility-specific plan that is typically several hundred pages long. This system is supposed to inculcate a “safety culture” within companies that operate offshore in the British portion of the North Sea because it overcomes a “box-ticking” mentality and constitutes “bottom up” implementation of safety measures. …

Resolving Conflicts Between Green Technology Transfer And Intellectual Property Law, Robert V. Percival, Alan Miller

Faculty Scholarship

This paper examines claims that intellectual property law, which is designed to create incentives for innovation, actually may inhibit the transfer to developing countries of green energy innovations. Although the paper cannot find significant examples of green energy technologies whose diffusion has been hindered by existing intellectual property protections, it explores strategies, such as compulsory licensing schemes, for responding to such problems if and when they arise in the future. The paper concludes that intellectual property law need not be an obstacle to a global transformation toward a green energy infrastructure that can promote economic development while advancing new levels …

When Business Conduct Turns Violent: Bringing Bp, Massey, And Other Scofflaws To Justice, Jane F. Barrett

Faculty Scholarship

In April 2010, forty-seven people died violently as a result of explosions at an oil refinery, in a coal mine and on an offshore drilling rig. The BP Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, the Massey Mine coal mine disaster and the Tesoro Corporation oil refinery explosion raise questions about the corporate and individual criminal culpability of those responsible for these deaths. Too often cases involving worker deaths are not prosecuted at all or result in simply large fines against a corporate entity. This Article argues that the Department of Justice needs to more aggressively investigate and prosecute not only organizations but, more …

Unnatural Resource Law: Situating Desalination In Coastal Resource And Water Law Doctrines, Michael Pappas

Faculty Scholarship

This Article offers the first legal analysis of desalination, the process of converting saltwater into freshwater. Desalination represents a key climate change adaptation measure because the United States has exploited nearly all of its freshwater resources, freshwater demands continue to grow, and climate change threatens to diminish significantly existing freshwater supplies. However, scholarship has yet to address the legal ambiguities that desalination raises in the context of property, water law, and coastal resource doctrines.

This Article addresses these ambiguities and suggests the legal adaptations necessary to accommodate desalination as a climate change adaptation. Under current legal doctrines, the chain of …

B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Bag): A Comprehensive Assessment Of China's Plastic Bag Policy, Mary O'Loughlin

Student Articles and Papers

On June 1, 2008, the Chinese government enacted a nationwide policy prohibiting all stores from freely distributing plastic bags to customers. This new policy requires that, henceforth, all retailers must charge a nominal fee for plastic bags and that those purchasable bags must meet certain quality requirements to improve their potential reusability. These retailers, which include everything from grocery and clothing stores to farmer’s markets and food stalls, individually determine how much to charge for their bags and get to keep all related proceeds. The policy is an effort to mitigate the “white pollution” that is choking China’s landscape, as …

Black Carbon: The Most Important Ignored Contributor To Climate Change, Kate Deangelis

Maryland Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Environmental Law Goes Global: Taking Back Eden: Eight Environmental Cases That Changed The World, By Oliver A. Houck, Robert V. Percival

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Limitations On Land Use Controls, Environmental Regulations And Governmental Exactions (2011 Edition), Garrett Power

Faculty Scholarship

This electronic book is published in a searchable PDF format as a part of the E-scholarship Repository of the University of Maryland School of Law. It is an “open content” casebook intended for classroom use in courses in Land Use Control, Environmental Law and Constitutional Law. It consists of cases carefully selected from the two hundred years of American constitutional history which address the clash between public sovereignty and private property. It considers both the personal right to liberty and the personal right in property. The text consists of non-copyrighted material and readers are free to use it or re-mix …

China's "Green Leap Forward" Toward Global Environmental Leadership, Robert V. Percival

Faculty Scholarship

This article argues that China may be on the verge of a “Green Leap Forward” that could make it a global environmental leader. This article argues that two principal forces have contributed to this development. First, Chinese officials now realize that a global shift away from fossil fuels will create enormous business opportunities on a global scale. Chinese companies are now making enormous strides in the development of green technology, such as solar power, wind energy, and electric cars, with the active assistance of the Chinese government. Second, realizing that climate change severely threatens China, and stung by the criticism …

Global Law And The Environment, Robert V. Percival

Faculty Scholarship

This article explores three areas in which globalization is profoundly affecting the development of a global environmental law. First, countries increasingly are borrowing law and regulatory innovations from one another to respond to common environmental problems. Although this is not an entirely new phenomenon, it is occurring at an unprecedented pace. Second, lawsuits seeking to hold companies liable for environmental harm they have caused outside their home countries are raising new questions concerning the appropriate venue for such transnational liability litigation and the standards courts should apply for enforcement of foreign judgments. Third, nongovernmental organizations are playing an increasingly important …

Too Big To Obey: Why Bp Should Be Debarred, Rena I. Steinzor

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Buyer Beware: An Exploration Of Health Risks And Legal Policies In Favor Of A Labeling Requirement For Genetically Modified Organisms, Rebecca Jesada

The Appendix

No abstract provided.

The Federalism Of Climex Lectularius: What Bed-Bugs Tell Us About Fifra Preemption In Pesticide Applicator Cases, David Beugelmans

The Appendix

No abstract provided.