Law Commons^™

Shockwave: Lender Liability Under Cercla After United States V. Fleet Factors Corporation, Nicholas M. Kublicki

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Distributed Generation: How Localized Energy Production Reduces Vulnerability To Outages And Environmental Damage In The Wake Of Climate Change, Allyson Umberger

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

This Comment breaks down the working parts of America’s energy infrastructure, assessing how the current model could be converted into one that is more efficient, cost effective, and environmentally sustainable. It looks beyond general energy legislation, focusing specifically on chartered, proposed, and failed energy legislation in California. Part II of this Comment examines the weaknesses of America’s current energy infrastructure, looking at the history of the energy industry and the nation’s resulting reluctance to adopt renewable technologies despite the shortcomings of the current model. Part III presents DG and expands upon the potential it possesses to empower Americans in a …

Legitimate Protection Or Tactful Abandonment: Can Recent California Legislation Sustain The San Francisco Bay Area's Public Lands?, Cody Nesper

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

This Comment posits that parks that serve urban communities, such as the SF Bay Area state parks, are of particular importance due to the implications of open spaces for the health and well-being city dwellers. The consequences of legislation like AB 42 in urban environments are different from those in rural areas, and an awareness of these differences is necessary to draft effective legislation. For instance, parks serving urban areas frequently give rise to environmental justice concerns of wealth and poverty as reflected by extensive, well-appointed parks in more affluent communities compared to neighboring communities with less social and economic …

Looking For A Home: How Micro-Housing Can Help California, Dawn Withers

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

Humans have long shared small homes and small communal spaces. In the Middle Ages, it was common for many people to share a bed and for many people to share a room. Pilgrims lived in homes of about 165 square feet, and German farmers in nineteenth-century Texas built 200-square-foot homes for use on the weekends when they came to town. After the 1906 earthquake, San Francisco built 140-square-foot homes to shelter survivors.

Continuing the tradition of living in small quarters is no simple task in the modern era. How and where we live is not determined by us alone but …

"Location, Location, Location" Should Be "Environment, Environment, Environment": A Market-Based Tool To Simplify Environmental Considerations In Residential Real Estate, Robert H. Cutting, Lawrence B. Cahoon, Jack C. Hall

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

The most important rule of real estate (location, location, location) should be upgraded to the three E’s: environment, environment, environment. What we value in real estate is the natural and human environment of a site and its structures. A home is typically an American’s most significant asset; thus, environmental issues should be of interest, primarily because the effects of environmental degradation can cause devaluation while simultaneously imposing substantial expenses (such as cleanup, health care, and relocation) on the population. The real costs of ignoring the environment are life-threatening health and safety issues, including lung damage and cancer resulting from radon …

Can A Multi-Species Habitat Conservation Plan Save San Diego's Vulnerable Vernal Pool Species?, John Buse

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

The Endangered Species Act2 (hereinafter “ESA” or “the Act”) protects some of the rarest and most charismatic mammals on earth, including polar bears, wolves, jaguars, and orcas. The ESA also protects less conspicuous species and their habitats. Not all species are equal under the law; for example, plants are afforded substantially less protection, and the Act excludes pest insects if their protection “would present an overwhelming and overriding risk to man.” But the ESA does provide a remarkable degree of taxonomic equality for most covered species, generally treating bears and burying beetles as equals. This equality infuriates opponents of the …

From Post To Pond: How The Public Created The Presidio's Crissy Field Marsh, Deborah Bardwick

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

Brian O’Neill, the late Superintendent of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, said that the unifying theme of the Presidio is that of “humans in the natural environment, understood in its broadest context.” This Article explores the critical role that the public played in creating Crissy Field Marsh, a unique feature of the Presidio in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Public involvement is always critical to the operation of the National Park Service. In nearly every new project, members of the public are involved in every step, including but not limited to lobbying politicians, commenting on environmental documents, raising …

Protecting The Ballona Wetlands In West Los Angeles: A Look Back At Three Decades Of Urban Habitat Advocacy, Carlyle W. Hall, Jr.

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

Surrounded by densely populated West Los Angeles, the Ballona Wetlands are a remnant of a larger, flourishing coastal ecosystem that has been subjected to over a hundred years of urban assault. Ninety-eight percent of Los Angeles County’s historic wetlands have been filled and developed, and more than a century of abuse and neglect have severely degraded the Ballona Wetlands. Nonetheless, the Ballona Wetlands remain “one of the most important pieces of wildlife habitat” in the region, and they constitute the County’s largest remaining coastal wetland.

As might be expected when an important, severely endangered coastal natural resource located in a …

Open Spaces In Tight Places: An Introduction To The Issue, Paul Stanton Kibel, Kathleen E. Nitta

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Masthead

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Evaluating Rules And How We Measure Their Effects, Rena I. Steinzor, Michael Patoka

Rena I. Steinzor

The Center for Progres­sive Reform undertook an empirical study of the Office of Information of Regulatory Affairs, the White House office that reviews every significant regulation issue by Executive Branch agencies. The study assembled an unprecedented portrait of its behav­ior during the decade from October 16, 2001, when notices of meetings with outside parties were first available on the Internet, until June 1, 2011. OIRA conducted 6,194 separate reviews of regulatory submissions, holding 1,080 meetings that involved 5,759 ap­pearances by outside par­ticipants. Both the final report and the database we assembled are available on the CPR website, at pro­gressivereform.org. OIRA …

The 2012 Environmental Law Symposium: California's Urban Wildlands: Cities As Habitat, Golden Gate University School Of Law

Environmental Law Symposia

Welcome to the 2012 Environmental Law Symposium, held in conjunction with ENVIRONMENTAL LAW JOURNAL the publication of this year's edition of the Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal's Symposium: The City as Habitat: A Place for Urban Wildlands. This edition and our Symposium bring to the stage discussions of California's urban habitats, including the Presidio's Crissy Field in San Francisco, the Ballona Wetlands in Playa Del Ray in Southem California, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, and many others. Today we join many urban planning circles in the discussion on preserving a prominent place for greenspace and wildlife habitat amongst the …

A Legislative Solution To Environmental Protection In Military Action Overseas, Sarah Hilbert

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Naturalness And Biodoversity: Why Natural Conditions Should Be Maintained Within Protected Areas, Gordon Steinhoff

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Virginia's Moratorium: Is Uranium Mining On The Horizon In The Commonwealth?, William Brice Fiske

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

The Duty To Advise The Lorax: Environmental Advocacy And The Risk Of Reform, Keith W. Rizzardi

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Lawyers have an ethical duty to advise their clients on moral, economic, social, and political matters. When applied to the changing field of environmental law, this abstract notion becomes provocative. Lawyers should advise their environmental advocacy clients of the possibility that their efforts to apply statutes or rules might initially succeed, but subsequent legislative reactions might defund, reform, or repeal the laws the client’s case relied upon. As a client’s sophistication decreases, or as the risk of adverse reactions to the client’s environmental advocacy increases, the lawyer’s duty to advise the client of these risks can shift from discretionary to …

Reliable Science: Overcoming Public Doubts In The Climate Change Debate, Michelle S. Simon, William Pentland

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Red, White, And Green: A Federal Sustainability Vision For The National Capital, L. Preston Bryant Jr.

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Monsanto V. Geertson Farms: Congressional Intent, Judicial Infidelity, And The National Environmental Policy Act, Alexander Macdonald

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

The California Environmental Quality Act (Ceqa) After Two Decades: Relevant Problems And Ideas For Necessary Reform, Sean Stuart Varner

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tribal Consultation For Large-Scale Projects: The National Historic Preservation Act And Regulatory Review, S. Rheagan Alexander

Pace Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Real Challenge To The Polish Revolution: Cleaning The Polish Environment Through Privatization And Preventive Market-Based Incentives, G. Nelson Smith Iii

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cooperative Agreements: Government-To-Government Relations To Foster Reservation Business Development, Joel H. Mack, Gwyn Goodson Timms

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reimbursing Hazardous Waste Cleanup Costs Under Cercla: A Move Toward Re-Establishing A Faithful Application Of State Insurance Law, Gary M. Miller

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Natural Resource Damages Under Cercla: The Emerging Champion Of Environmental Enforcement , Patrick Thomas Michael Iii

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Escaping The Sporhase Maze: Protecting State Waters Within The Commerce Clause, Mark S. Davis, Michael Pappas

Michael Pappas

Eastern states, though they have enjoyed a history of relatively abundant water, increasingly face the need to conserve water, particularly to protect water-dependent ecosystems. At the same time, growing water demands, climate change, and an emerging water-oriented economy have intensified pressure for interstate water transfers. Thus, even traditionally wet states are seeking to protect or secure their water supplies. However, restrictions on water sales and exports risk running afoul of the Dormant Commerce Clause. This Article offers guidance for states, partciularly eastern states concerned with maintaining and improving water-dependent ecosystems, in seeking to restrict water exports while staying within the …

Stop Biting The Hand That Feeds Us: Safeguarding Sustainable Development Through The Application Of Nepa's Environmental Impact Statement To International Trade Agreements, Jose A. Egurbide

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Protecting Coastal And Estuarine Resources- Confronting The Gulf Between The Promise And Product Of Environmental Regulation , Robert V. Percival

Robert Percival

No abstract provided.

Human Rights And The Evolution Of Global Environmental Law, Robert V. Percival

Robert Percival

Environmental problems that jeopardize the health of humans increasingly implicate concerns that have played an important role in the development of international human rights. While some have questioned the wisdom or effectiveness of focusing human rights concerns on environmental problems, it seems an inevitable response to the failure of many countries to protect their citizens adequately from harm caused by environmental degradation. This paper reviews efforts to apply human rights concerns to environmental problems. It describes how these developments illustrate the growth of a kind of “global environmental law” that blurs traditional distinctions between domestic and international law and public …