Law Commons^™

Protecting Children Attending School Through Effective Regulations Of Harmful Volatile Organic Compounds, Michelle Gregory

Michelle Gregory

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a regulation known as the Federal Clean Air Act Currently, the Federal Clean Air Act only sets the framework for air pollution control as it affects industrial settings.Although industrial facilities are not major sources of ozone depletion per se; they are sources of high emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are the precursors of ozone depletion.The EPA has not established standards for indoor VOCs and nonindustrial settings. As a result, public health is compromised as states and communities are left to determine policies relating to land development and indoor safety standards. …

Archaeological Sites And Mangrove Forest: A Legal Overview Of The Ecologically Critical Areas In The Bangladesh Context, Arpeeta Shams Mizan

Arpeeta Shams Mizan

Ecologically critical area as a concept is practised globally to preserve the natural biodiversity of environmentally endangered areas. These areas also fall under the criteria of natural and cultural heritage. Since the Stockholm Declaration, leading international legal instruments have reiterated their sanctity in consonance with the principles of Intergenerational equity and also of human rights. The environmental law in Bangladesh has incorporated these principles by making provisions for Ecologically Critical Areas (ECAs) in the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act 1995 (as amended in 2010) and the Environment Conservation Rules 1997. Bangladesh is a signatory to the World Heritage Convention, the principal …

Incorporating The Third Party Beneficiary Principle In Natural Resource Contracts, James T. Gathii

James Thuo Gathii

Third world citizens—parties who often have the most to lose in natural resource contracts between their governments and foreign investors—often have no voice in negotiations of the contracts and consequently have no remedy under contract law when harms occur or when the contracts are not properly enforced. The privity doctrine, which permits contract suits only by parties to the contract, bars these citizens from suing because they were not in privity with any of the contracting parties, despite that these contracts are generally made for the benefit of these citizens. However, some countries have adopted—and this Essay argues other countries …

Management Regimes And Its Impact On The Wetland Fisheries Management In Assam, Ganesh Chandra

Ganesh Chandra

Assam is endowed with copious aquatic wealth in the form of beels, swamps, ponds and rivers. The floodplain wetlands (beels) extending over one lakh hectare, constitute the most important fishery resource of the state. The beels are considered as one of the most productive ecosystems owing to their characteristic interactions between land and water system. These wetlands are the common property resource and under different management regimes. These wetlands are under various management regimes, i.e., private management (individuals and groups), fishermen cooperative management, Community-based fisheries management (decentralized management, Government works as facilitator) and open access. Most of the unregistered beels …

Avoiding The Road To Ferc-Dom: The Supreme Court Affirms The Right To Contract In Morgan Stanley V. Snohomish, Jorge A. Mestre

Jorge A Mestre

No abstract provided.

Renewable Energy: Where We Are Now And How Renewable Energy Investment And Development Can Be Expanded, Kevin M. Walsh

Kevin M Walsh

The renewable energy field is currently stifled because many renewable energy developments require tax equity investors to provide additional funds to get the project off the ground and running. The Code provides tax credits to incentivize investors to invest. Currently, the Investment Tax Credit (“ITC”) is the only available credit left for renewable projects placed in service from 2014 on. Tax credits are a step in the right direction to encourage renewable investment; however, the credits are limited in application mostly to large financial institutions. Moreover, investments into one specific renewable energy project can be risky because there is no …

"You Must Remember This:" Nothing Lasts A Hundred Years, David D. Butler

David D. Butler

Much of what any given generation thinks of as "natural," is, in fact, the result of a prevoious generation's civil engineering projects. Medieval French peasants used to say that mythical giants built the Roman acquiducts of Southern France, because the notion that mere humans could have constructed such systems was simply beyond their post Black-Death conception.

An Other History Of Knowledge And Decision In Precautionary Approaches To Sustainability, Saptarishi Bandopadhyay

Saptarishi Bandopadhyay

In this paper, I offer an alternative reading of precaution with the hope of recovering the capacity of this ethic to facilitate legal and political decisions. Despite being a popular instrument of international environmental governance, decision-makers continue to understand this principle as reflecting an immemorial and natural instinct for preserving the environment in cases of scientific uncertainty. Such a reading, however, ignores the history and moral basis underlying this principle and thereby renders it obvious, and automatically adaptable to the politics of Sustainable Development. By offering a thicker history of precautionary governance at exemplary moments of ecological crisis I trace …

Off-Road Torts: The Difficulties Of Representing A Client Injured Due To Defects In Vehicles Modified For Off-Road Use Or Injured Due To A Dangerous Condition Of The Land., Nicholas Morgan

Nicholas Morgan

No abstract provided.

Key Change: The Role Of The Creative Industries In Climate Change Action, Tim Hollo

Matthew Rimmer

The role of the creative industries – arts and artists – in helping to drive the changes in laws and behaviours that are necessary to tackle climate change, while not superficially obvious, is a deep one. Arts and artists of all kinds, as cultural practitioners, have been closely entwined with social change and social control since time immemorial, in large part because they help shape our understanding of the world, framing ideas, prefiguring change, and opening hearts and minds to new ways of thinking. They have played a major role in campaigns for law reform on many issues, and climate …

Sb 469 Shouldn't Be Rushed, Robert R.M. Verchick, Christine Klein

Robert R.M. Verchick

No abstract provided.

La Responsabilidad Por Daño Ambiental: Una Mirada A Sus Fundamentos Y A La Especial Tutela Que Merecen, Leonardo Jara Bazan

Leonardo Jara Bazán

No abstract provided.

Gov. Jindal, Don't Sign Away Our Legal Claims Against Bp, Robert R.M. Verchick

Robert R.M. Verchick

No abstract provided.

A Difference Of Significance: How The Supreme Court Clouded Wetlands Jurisdiction., Michael Hasty

Michael D. Hasty

Recent opinions by the Supreme Court have disrupted the scheme envisioned by Congress to regulate wetlands (see § 404 of the Clean Water Act). This article explores this issue by tracing the development of wetlands law. It then assesses current application of the Court’s tests, through the lens of two recent opinions in the Fourth and Sixth Circuits. The paper then summarizes outcomes in the circuits, with emphasis on their lack of uniformity in application. Further, the paper assesses the agencies response to clarify wetland jurisdiction through rulemaking. Finally, the underlying constitutional issues in the Court’s opinions are explored.

Colorado River Governance, David K. Chozick

David K. Chozick

No abstract provided.

International Law And Governance In A Charnging Arctic, Brian R. Israel

Brian R Israel

No abstract provided.

Facts, Fiction, And Perception In Hydraulic Fracturing: Illuminating Act 13 And Robinson Township V. Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania, Joshua P. Fershee

Joshua P Fershee

Hydraulic fracturing for oil and natural gas is perhaps the most polarizing energy issue in the United States and around the world, and Pennsylvania has emerged as an example of passionate views both for and against hydraulic fracturing for shale gas. To limit local government restrictions on gas drilling, the Pennsylvania legislature passed Act 13 in September 2012, and the Act largely eliminated the ability of local governments to restrict oil and gas operations through zoning. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned Act 13 in December 2013.

This Article reviews how Act 13 came to be, highlights the key provisions of …

The Precautionary Principle In The Colombian Constitutional Jurisprudence: Scientific Uncertainty And Selective Omissions [En Español], Daniel A. Monroy, Camilo E. Ossa

Daniel A Monroy C

En el presente artículo se propone hacer una lectura crítica al principio de precaución, buscando profundizar, de manera específica, algunas cuestiones que minan el equilibrio del principio como instrumento guía para la toma decisiones de quien corresponde tomarlas. Así, el artículo está estructurado en dos partes, (i) por un lado se aborda la cuestión teórica, desarrollando la concepción que, en la doctrina, se tiene frente al principio, teniendo en cuenta dos aspectos esenciales como son: las implicaciones que supone afronta la “incertidumbre científica”, elemento fundamental del principio; y, la defensa de la tesis según la cual en muchos casos la …

Curb Your Enthusiasm For Pigouvian Taxes, Victor Fleischer

Victor Fleischer

Pigouvian (or "corrective") taxes have been proposed or enacted on dozens of products and activities that may be harmful in excess: carbon, gasoline, fat, sugar, guns, cigarettes, alcohol, traffic, zoning, executive pay, and financial transactions, among others. Academics of all political stripes are mystified by the public’s inability to see the merits of using Pigouvian taxes more frequently to address serious social harms.

This enthusiasm for Pigouvian taxes should be tempered. A Pigouvian tax is easy to design—as a uniform excise tax—if one assumes that each individual causes the same amount of harm with each incremental increase in activity on …

Science-Based Food Labels: Improving Regulations And Preventing Consumer Deception Through Limited Information Disclosure Requirements, Joshua Dhyani

Joshua Dhyani

When it comes to food, consumer choice is motivated by a myriad of factors. Evidence suggests a desire to eat a healthy diet is among the most influential of these factors. To accomplish this goal, consumers often look to food labels. Perhaps they choose the organic option, in lieu of the cheaper alternatives. If so, they could be the unwitting victims of ongoing consumer deception. Information disclosure requirements such as food labels have the potential to help improve consumer choices, be it for health, environment, or other values. However, some of the more recent trends in regulation, such as the …

The Arctic Region, Brian R. Israel, Peter Oppenheimer

Brian R Israel

No abstract provided.

Juridical Protection Of The Right To Aclean And Healthy Environment In Tanzania, Moses Matiko Misiwa

moses matiko misiwa

No abstract provided.

Climate Change And Energy Law: Past, Present, And Future Legislation Efforts, Christopher Henry

Christopher Henry

No abstract provided.

The Rural Environmental Cadastre (Car) As A Tool For Environmental Regularization In Land Reform Settlements, Lucas Abreu Barroso, Guilherme Viana De Alencar

Lucas Abreu Barroso

2014 marks the 50th anniversary of the Land Statute (Law n. 4,504 / 1964). Enacted at the beginning of the military dictatorship, the Land Statute was the formula found to contain the pressure coming from rural areas which demanded a government policy based on Land Reform. Although designed primarily to distribute land in the Northern Region, after the re-democratization in 1985, peasant movements were present in the five regions of the country, showing that the struggle for land happened nationwide. According to the National Institute for Settlement and Agrarian Reform, by 2013, in Brazil 1,288,444 families were settled in the …

Defending The Environment: A Mission For The World's Militaries, Mark P. Nevitt

Mark P Nevitt

Critics often fault the U.S. military for its environmental stewardship, and legal scholarship frequently highlights efforts by the military to seek national security exemptions from various environmental laws and the military’s poor cleanup record. Yet the Department of Defense (“DoD”) is largely subject to and complies with the full array of American environmental laws in the same manner and extent as any agency of the federal government. While the military’s environmental record is far from perfect, a comparative legal survey shows that the U.S. is at the relative forefront of effectively balancing environmental stewardship with national security.

This article surveys …

Coping With Climate: Legal Innovation In The Absence Of Full Reform, Robert R.M. Verchick, Faye Sheets

Robert R.M. Verchick

In the absence of a federal legislation directing government to adapt to the unavoidable effects of climate change, the Obama administration has put its faith in existing environmental laws like the Clean Air Act (“CAA”), the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”), and the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”). But often federal objectives focus only on reducing greenhouse gases—what experts call “mitigation”—and neglect strategies for coping with the climate disruptions that we cannot avoid—otherwise known as “adaptation.” Where the federal policy falls short, states are beginning to experiment on their own with climate adaptation strategies. This essay examines both approaches, mitigation and …

Gandhi’S Nightmare: Bhopal And The Need For A Mindful Jurisprudence, Nehal A. Patel

Nehal A. Patel

No abstract provided.

Will More, Better, Cheaper, And Faster Monitoring Improve Environmental Management?, Ryan P. Kelly

Ryan P Kelly

Two critical problems in environmental management are a lack of primary data and the difficulty of assessing the environmental impacts of human activities. Producing the information necessary to address these twin challenges is often difficult and expensive, which impedes decisionmaking in environmental management. I focus here on the possibility of making data collection more powerful and more cost-effective with a suite of analyses made tractable by emerging technology for genetic analysis. More, better, cheaper, and faster information about the planet’s living resources promises to influence a wide range of legal and policy processes—from Clean Water Act compliance and related public …

Industrial Hemp: Canada Exports, United States Imports, Courtney N. Moran Ll.M.

Courtney N. Moran LL.M.

Industrial hemp, a non-psychoactive variety of Cannabis sativa L., (C. sativa) is the greatest renewable resource available to mankind. Industrial hemp is an environmentally friendly crop that does not require herbicides or pesticides and can clean up toxins in soil. Manufacturers can produce hemp into over 25,000 products.

More than 30 industrialized nations, including Canada, cultivate industrial hemp for commercial purposes. Despite the fact that industrial hemp is a viable agricultural commodity, in the United States hemp is classified as marihuana, a Schedule I controlled substance, under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Therefore, it is illegal under U.S. federal law …

Why Can't A Duck Sign A Contract? The Failure Of Intellectual Property To Protect The Environment, Kirk W. Junker

Kirk W Junker

No abstract provided.