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Full-Text Articles in Law

Interstate Pollution Control And Resource Development Planning: Outmoded Approaches Or Outmoded Politics?, J.B. Ruhl Jan 1988

Interstate Pollution Control And Resource Development Planning: Outmoded Approaches Or Outmoded Politics?, J.B. Ruhl

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Arbitrary political boundaries are no barrier at all to the physical effects of pollution and resource development. Yet, despite the optimism that ushered in the heightened environmental consciousness of the past several decades, political boundaries have posed a substantial barrier to resolving transboundary pollution control and resource development planning issues. This phenomenon has received considerable attention on the international level; however, because of a stubborn adherence to the idea that the states must serve as the primary jurisdictional units for managing pollution and resource development in the United States, transboundary problems are equally as apparent on the interstate level. After …


The Third-Party Defense To Hazardous Waste Liability: Narrowing The Contractual Relationship Exception, J.B. Ruhl Jan 1987

The Third-Party Defense To Hazardous Waste Liability: Narrowing The Contractual Relationship Exception, J.B. Ruhl

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This article focuses on one of the defenses to CERCLA liability, specifically, the third-party defense set forth in section 107(b)(3) of the Act [CERCLA § 107(b)(3), 42 U.S.C. § 9607(b)(3) (1982)] ... The particular concern of this article is with the meaning of the contractual relationship exception contained within the third-party defense provision. Although a partial definition of the term "contractual relationship" was added by the 1986 CERCLA amendments, this exception, if misapplied, could make the already narrow third-party defense overly narrow. Potential for such misapplication by the courts is present because the contractual relationship exception remains inadequately defined even …


Toxic Tort Remedies: The Case Against The "Superduper Fund" And Other Reform Prososals, J.B. Ruhl Jan 1986

Toxic Tort Remedies: The Case Against The "Superduper Fund" And Other Reform Prososals, J.B. Ruhl

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This Article joins the enormous and growing body of literature examining the need for reform of toxic tort remedies for cases of exposure to hazardous substances released into the environment. It is different from most other treatments of the issue in one important respect--it does not advocate reform of the present tort law system in any fundamental way. Indeed, it is argued that the central feature of the present system--the requirement that the plaintiff alleging injury resulting from defendant's release of hazardous substances establish proof of causation by a preponderance of the evidence--is essential for maintaining a rational public policy …


The Rutabaga That Ate Pittsburgh: Federal Regulation Of Free Release Biotechnology, Michael P. Vandenbergh Jan 1986

The Rutabaga That Ate Pittsburgh: Federal Regulation Of Free Release Biotechnology, Michael P. Vandenbergh

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

When the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) first approved a field test of a bioengineered microbe,' one EPA official remarked: "We're not expecting this to be the rutabaga that eats Pittsburgh.' 2 But regulators cannot afford to be wrong. Bioengineered microbes may serve many useful purposes, but they may also cause harm to the environment and to human health.3 Although the risks of an accident stemming from the deliberate release of bioengineered microbes into the environment may be low, the resulting damage could be substantial. This note examines the possible consequences of two recent trends in biotechnology-the development of bioengineered microbes …


Frameworks For Analyzing The Effects Of Risk And Environmental Regulations On Productivity, W. Kip Viscusi Sep 1983

Frameworks For Analyzing The Effects Of Risk And Environmental Regulations On Productivity, W. Kip Viscusi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The existence of a negative relationship between the regulatory burden and capital investments, and consequently productivity,is not controversial. A conventional model of this type is developed in Section I. If, however, these regulations change over time and firms' investment decisions are irreversible, there will be additional distortions, as shown in Section II. In Section III, I show that uncertainty regarding these regulatory changes exacerbates the adverse productivity effects even for risk-neutral firms.