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Deterring And Compensating Oil-Spill Catastrophes: The Need For Strict And Two-Tier Liability, W. Kip Viscusi
Deterring And Compensating Oil-Spill Catastrophes: The Need For Strict And Two-Tier Liability, W. Kip Viscusi
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill highlighted the glaring weaknesses in the current liability and regulatory regime for oil spills and for environmental catastrophes more broadly. This Article proposes a new liability structure for deep-sea oil drilling and for catastrophic risks generally. It delineates a two-tier system of liability. The first tier would impose strict liability up to the firm's financial resources, including insurance coverage. The second tier would be an annual tax equal to the expected costs in the coming year beyond this damages amount. Before beginning a risky operation, the proposed liability scheme would identify a single firm-the …
Making Nuisance Ecological, J.B. Ruhl
Making Nuisance Ecological, J.B. Ruhl
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Common law nuisance doctrine has the reputation of having provided much of the strength and content of environmental law prior to the rise of federal statutory regimes in the 1970s, but since then has taken a back seat to regulatory law with respect to the environment. In particular, whereas nuisance doctrine has been criticized - many say too harshly - as being inadequate for dealing with the demands of modern pollution control, it has never been considered as having much at all to do with management of ecological concerns. Yet nuisance law evolves with changed circumstances and new knowledge. This …
Regulation By Adaptive Management--Is It Possible?, J.B. Ruhl
Regulation By Adaptive Management--Is It Possible?, J.B. Ruhl
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Today's voluminous literature on adaptive management traces its roots to Professor C.S. Holling's seminal work, Adaptive Environmental Assessment and Management. Although almost thirty years have passed since he and his colleagues first described the adaptive management methodology, no work on the topic has improved on their core theory. Its essence is an iterative, incremental decisionmaking process built around a continuous process of monitoring the effects of decisions and adjusting decisions accordingly. It is in other words, far more suited to the needs of future regulatory challenges than is prescriptive regulation. My focus, however, is not on what adaptive management should …
The Impact Of Environmental Liabilities On Privatization In Central And Eastern Europe: A Case Study Of Poland, Randall Thomas
The Impact Of Environmental Liabilities On Privatization In Central And Eastern Europe: A Case Study Of Poland, Randall Thomas
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries are breaking up their centrally planned economies at a record pace by selling formerly state-owned industrial enterprises to private sector investors. Privatization is expected to create more profit-oriented and efficient industries, a predicate for sustained long term economic growth. This transformation from public to private ownership presents tremendous challenges to these new democracies as they struggle to create market economies and democratic institutions.
The Plight Of The Passive Past Owner: Defining The Limits Of Superfund Liability, J.B. Ruhl
The Plight Of The Passive Past Owner: Defining The Limits Of Superfund Liability, J.B. Ruhl
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
These days, if you want to stir up high emotions in Congress, statehouses, corporate boardrooms or citizen group meetings, mention the word Superfund. That alias for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) evokes strong reactions from industry, environmentalists, bankers, politicians, and just about everyone else. CERCLA, a relative latecomer to the present-day body of federal environmental law, was enacted in 1980 to fill a gap in then existing law by creating the authority and liability for cleanup of abandoned facilities contaminated with hazardous substances. In the short time it has been with us, CERCLA has …