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Full-Text Articles in Law
Solar Rights In The United States, Sara Bronin
Solar Rights In The United States, Sara Bronin
Sara C. Bronin
Solar rights are legal rights needed to ensure that a piece of land has access to sunlight. These rights may be of interest to property owners seeking to undertake a variety of activities: farming, lighting, and clothes drying, to name a few. But perhaps the most economically significant purpose for which solar rights may be utilized is for the purpose of solar collectors. Such devices are used to harness the rays of the sun and transform them into thermal, chemical, or electrical energy. In an era of increasing deployment of solar collectors across the globe, the fair and efficient allocation …
How Local Is Local?: A Response To Professor David B. Spence's The Political Economy Of Local Vetoes, Joshua P. Fershee
How Local Is Local?: A Response To Professor David B. Spence's The Political Economy Of Local Vetoes, Joshua P. Fershee
Joshua P Fershee
Professor Fershee responds to Professor David B. Spence’s article about local hydraulic fracturing bans: The Political Economy of Local Vetoes, 93 Texas L. Rev. 351 (2015). Professor Spence notes that the shale oil and gas debate provides an example of “an age-old political problem that the law is called upon to solve: the conflict between an intensely held minority viewpoint and a less intense, contrary view held by the majority.” In resolving such conflicts, Spence suggests that courts should resolve such “conflicts in ways that encourage states and local governments to regulate in ways that weigh both the costs and …
Economics-Based Environmentalism In The Fourth Generation Of Environmental Law, Donald J. Kochan
Economics-Based Environmentalism In The Fourth Generation Of Environmental Law, Donald J. Kochan
Donald J. Kochan
Environmental protection and economic concerns are not mutually exclusive. This article explores some of the issues of economic analysis that might arise as we approach the fourth generation of environmental law. It explains ways that economic analysis can be employed to generate the best environmental rules, including measures under what this article terms as "economics-based environmentalism." Economics-based environmentalism contends that the advantages of using economic principles within a “polycentric toolbox” of environmental law come from the benefits available in private ordering, markets, property rights, liability regimes and incentives structures that will better protect the environment than alternatives like state-based interventionist, …
Demanding Supply: The Bioenergy Farm Lease’S Critical Role In Biomass Supply Chain Optimization, A. Bryan Endres, Elise C. Scott
Demanding Supply: The Bioenergy Farm Lease’S Critical Role In Biomass Supply Chain Optimization, A. Bryan Endres, Elise C. Scott
A. Bryan Endres
As the bioenergy industry in the U.S. expands to meet increased demands for transportation fuel under the Renewable Fuel Standard and electrical power under state Renewable Portfolio Standards, farmers will seek the ability to grow dedicated, high-yielding energy crops of a perennial nature on leased property. Given the large amount of farmland in the U.S. that is leased, such contributions will represent a significant, though currently not well understood, portion of the biofuel industry supply chain. Through the use of contracts as governance schemes, the parties to a bioenergy farm lease can navigate three key areas of such a lease: …
The Key To Unlocking The Power Of Small Scale Renewable Energy: Local Land Use Regulation, Patricia Salkin
The Key To Unlocking The Power Of Small Scale Renewable Energy: Local Land Use Regulation, Patricia Salkin
Patricia E. Salkin
Myriad federal and state programs have been promoted to incentivize the research and development of renewable energy as a means of achieving sustainability and producing more affordable alternative energy systems, and these programs could potentially have a profound impact on the way that electricity is produced and consumed in the United States. Small-scale renewable energy generation from sources such as solar and wind, that can be used at the consumer level as a source of power for homes and small businesses, is an important part of this paradigm shift. However, regardless of the fiscal incentives offered to clean-tech companies to …
Coal Law From The Old World: A Perspective On Land Use And Environmental Regulation In The Coal Industries Of The United States, Great Britain, And West Germany, Zygmunt J.B. Plater
Coal Law From The Old World: A Perspective On Land Use And Environmental Regulation In The Coal Industries Of The United States, Great Britain, And West Germany, Zygmunt J.B. Plater
Zygmunt J.B. Plater
America’s reentry into the Coal Age has been one of the major consequences of the Mideast oil-producing nations’ discovery of their collective marketing power, and in this new emphasis on coal the United States is not alone. Like the United States, many industrialized nations with domestic coal reserves had allowed their coal industries to languish under the influence of low-priced, petroleum based energy economy and are now hastening to strengthen their coal production. Different nations approach the regulation of their resurgent coal industries in varying ways, however, and these differences can be instructive to American observers, particularly as they relate …
Curbing Energy Sprawl With Microgrids, Sara Bronin
Curbing Energy Sprawl With Microgrids, Sara Bronin
Sara C. Bronin
Energy sprawl - the phenomenon of ever-increasing consumption of land, particularly in rural areas, required to site energy generation facilities - is a real and growing problem. Over the next twenty years, at least sixty-seven million acres of land will have been developed for energy projects, destroying wildlife habitats and fragmenting landscapes. According to one influential report, even renewable energy projects - especially large-scale projects that require large-scale transmission and distribution infrastructure - contribute to energy sprawl. This Article does not aim to stop large-scale renewable energy projects or even argue that policymakers focus solely on land use in determining …