Environmental Law Commons^™

Conservative Principles For Environmental Reform, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

The nation’s environmental regulatory architecture may not have changed significantly over the past few decades, but the range of environmental problems has. Regulatory measures designed to address the industrial pollution of the twentieth century are poorly suited to address the more complex and difficult challenges of the twenty-first.

There is an urgent need to debate the future of environmental protection in this country. If the debate is to be productive, it needs to span the political spectrum. Therein lies a problem: It is unclear whether many on the political right are prepared to engage in serious policy discussion about the …

Do You Know What's On Your Plate?: The Importance Of Regulating The Processes Of Food Production, Martha Dragich

Faculty Publications

This article argues that the current regulatory approach-focusing on the supposed equivalence of new foods to traditional ones-is unduly narrow, particularly given the characteristics of the modem food system. To achieve the broad objectives of the FDCA in the context of the industrialized, highly processed, and global food supply of the twenty-first century requires adopting a broader understanding of consumer protection needs with respect to food. The FDCA itself is written in very broad terms and provides much of the authority needed today. The FDA's enforcement capacity, however, already is severely strained.52 Moreover, the scientific basis for some process- oriented …

Conservative Principles For Environmental Reform,, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

Major environmental policy reform is long overdue. The current regulatory architecture was erected in the 1970s. Since then meaningful reforms have been few and far between. A few reforms and regulatory expansions were adopted in the 1980s, and Congress enacted significant reforms to the Clean Air Act in 1990. Only the most minor environmental bills have been enacted since then.

The Dynamics And Global Implications Of Subglobal Carbon-Restricting Regimes, Juscelino F. Colares

Faculty Publications

The European Union and Australia have enacted comprehensive carbon-restricting reforms that will affect both domestic and foreign industries. After describing these reforms in detail, the article develops a microeconomic analytical model that explains the impact these regimes have on the dynamics of inter-firm competition in carbon-restricting nations and how they will also influence technology choices by certain industries in carbon-friendly nations. Specifically, exporters and producers operating in vertically-integrated industries in carbon-friendly nations will increasingly elect carbon-efficient technologies to minimize costs as they adjust to a changing international regulatory environment. The article hypothesizes that this shift in the carbon intensity of …

Learning How To Fish: Catch Shares And The Future Of Fishery Conservation, Jonathan H. Adler, Nathaniel Stewart

Faculty Publications

The hard choices being made in an effort to save the Atlantic cod fishery today are all too common, as policymakers continue to employ and rely upon failed conservation policies, leaving fisheries the world over poorly managed and under stress. By some measures, a majority of exploited fisheries are depleted or in decline. Even more troubling, new research suggests that those fisheries about which scientists know the least may be in the worst shape. Yet all is not lost—perhaps not even for the great Atlantic cod. These same assessments conclude that, with proper management, fishery yields could double while remaining …

Complex And Murky Spatial Planning, Josh Eagle

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Federal Constraints: Possible Constitutional Hurdles To Cross-Border Cap-And-Trade,, Shelley Welton

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Playing Without Aces: Offset And The Limits Of Flexibility Under Clean Air Act Climate Policy, Nathan D. Richardson

Faculty Publications

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to move ahead with regulation of greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act (CAA). Previous work has indicated that basic forms of compliance flexibility—trading—appear to be legally permissible under section III of the CAA. This Article takes a close look at more expansive and ambitious types of flexibility: trading between different kinds of sources, biomass co-firing, and above all, offsets. It concludes that most types of such extended flexibility are either legally incompatible with the CAA, or so legally problematic that EPA is unlikely to adopt them. This has important implications …

Tradable Standards For Clean Air Act Carbon Policy, Nathan D. Richardson, Dallas Butraw, Arthur G. Fraas

Faculty Publications

EPA is in the process of regulating U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions using its powers under the Clean Air Act. The likely next phase of this regulatory program is performance standards under Section 111 of the act for coal plants and petroleum refineries, which the agency has committed to finalize by the end of 2012. Section 111 appears to allow use of flexible, market-based regulatory tools. In this paper, we discuss one such tool, tradable standards. Tradable standards appear to be a legally and politically viable choice for the agency, and evidence suggests they are substantially more cost-effective than traditional …

Private Policing Of Environmental Performance: Does It Further Public Goals?, Sarah L. Stafford

Faculty Publications

Over the past two decades the role of private parties in the policing of environmental regulation has grown dramatically. In some cases the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has led this effort. In other situations, private parties have provided the impetus for new policing activities that are conducted independently from the EPA. Private policing can be beneficial when the increased involvement of the private sector either decreases the costs of achieving a particular level of environmental performance or increases environmental performance in a cost-effective manner. Private parties, however, could also divert regulated entities away from regulatory objectives. This Article explores the …

A Functional Approach To Risks And Uncertainties Under Nepa, Todd S. Aagaard

Faculty Publications

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) mandates that federal agencies evaluate the environmental impacts of their proposed actions. This requires agencies to make ex ante predictions about environmental consequences that often involve a significant degree of factual risk or uncertainty. Considerable controversy exists regarding how agencies should address such risks and uncertainties. Current NEPA law adopts a largely ad hoc approach that lacks coherence and analytical rigor. Some environmentalists and legal scholars have called for a greater emphasis on worst-case analysis in environmental planning, especially after the recent Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the meltdowns …

Paved With Good Intentions: The Fate Of Strict Liability Under The Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Kalyani Robbins

Faculty Publications

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) contains a very broad ban on harming migratory birds, as well as a strict liability standard for misdemeanor violations. Without further limitation, the MBTA would theoretically apply to countless ordinary life activities, such as driving a car or having windows on one’s home. Naturally, there are due process concerns with such a scenario, so Congress expressly left it to the Department of the Interior to draft more detailed implementing regulations. Unfortunately, the existing regulations fail to adequately address the potential overbreadth of the MBTA’s misdemeanor application, forcing the courts to do so on an …

Banking On Allowances: The Epa's Mixed Record In Managing Emissions-Market Transitions, Nathan D. Richardson, Arthur G. Fraas

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Interstate Competition And The Race To The Top, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

This essay, based on remarks at the 211 Federalist Society Student Symposium, discusses some of the benefits of federalism. Many of the benefits of federalism derive from interjurisdictional competition, as competition among jurisdictions is a powerful means to discover and promote welfare-enhancing policies. Decentralizing authority over various policy matters also leaves states free to account for regional variation and can facilitate policy discovery and entrepreneurship and reduce the risks of policy failures. While the arguments for decentralization are strong, there are persuasive justifications for federal intervention in some instances, such as the existence of interstate spillovers. Fears of a “race …

Water Rights, Markets, And Changing Ecological Conditions, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

Conventional environmentalist thought is suspicious of private markets and property rights. The prospect of global climate change, and consequent ecological disruptions, has fueled the call for additional limitations on private markets and property rights. This essay, written for the Environmental Law Symposium on 21st Century Water Law, presents an alternative view. Specifically, this essay briefly explains why environmental problems generally, and the prospect of changing environmental conditions such as those brought about by climate change in particular, do not counsel further restrictions on private property rights and markets. To the contrary, the prospect of significant environmental changes strengthens the case …

Human Security And Military Preparedness, Linda A. Malone

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Water Rights, Markets, And Changing Ecological Conditions, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

Conventional environmentalist thought is suspicious of private markets and property rights. The prospect of global climate change, and consequent ecological disruptions, has fueled the call for additional limitations on private markets and property rights. This Essay presents an alternative view. Specifically, this Essay briefly explains why environmental problems generally, and the prospect of changing environmental conditions such as those brought about by climate change in particular, do not counsel further restrictions on private property rights and markets. To the contrary, the prospect of significant environmental changes strengthens the case for greater reliance on property rights and market institutions to address …

Interstate Competition And The Race To The Top, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

Federalism is an essential part of the Constitution’s design. The division of sovereign power between the States and the federal government helps foster interjurisdictional competition, which, in turn, checks government power. Provided a right of exit is maintained, the excessive imposition of economic burdens in one jurisdiction will cause taxpayers and businesses to flee to other jurisdictions. For this reason, federalism often is seen as a friend of the free market.

Provided states cannot externalize the costs of their own policy choices, robust interjurisdictional competition facilitates the enactment of better public policy at the state level. Rather than inducing a …

A Tale Of Two Climate Cases, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

In July 2004, eight states, the City of New York, and a number of conservation organizations filed suit against several of the nation’s largest electric power producers, alleging that the power companies’ greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions contributed to the public nuisance of global warming under federal common law. Simultaneously, several of the same states sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), alleging that GHG emissions constituted “pollutants” subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act (CAA). Both cases sought to impose GHG emission controls, and both were a reaction to the federal government’s steadfast refusal to adopt such policies on …

Regulatory Overlap, Overlapping Legal Fields, And Statutory Discontinuities, Todd S. Aagaard

Faculty Publications

Lawmakers and scholars alike criticize regulatory overlap on the ground that giving administrative agencies overlapping jurisdiction leads to duplicative or conflicting regulation which is inefficient and unduly burdensome. This Article challenges this orthodox account of regulatory overlap through examination of six case studies in which the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration have managed their jurisdictional overlap so as to create regulatory synergy rather than dysfunction. Although this Article is not the first to argue that regulatory overlap may improve the effectiveness of regulatory programs, the case studies examined here highlight two important aspects of regulatory …

Heat Expands All Things: The Proliferation Of Greenhouse Gas Regulation Under The Obama Administration, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

Although Congress did not put climate change legislation on President Obama’s desk, the Obama Administration still moved ahead with various regulatory measures to control GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions. Using authority under the Clean Air Act and other existing environmental statutes, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other agencies have been expanding existing regulatory programs to cover GHG emissions and address climate change concerns. Several measures are already in place and others are in the regulatory pipeline, although citizen suit litigation could produce still more.

The extension of federal regulatory authority to control GHG emissions under existing statutory frameworks is a …

Environmental Harms, Use Conflicts, And Neutral Baselines In Environmental Law, Todd S. Aagaard

Faculty Publications

Accounts of environmental law that rely on concepts of environmental harm and environmental protection oversimplify the tremendous variety of uses of environmental resources and the often complex relationships among those uses. Such approaches are analytically unclear and, more importantly, insert hidden normativity into putatively descriptive claims. Instead of thinking about environmental law in terms of preventing environmental harm, environmental problems can be understood more specifically and more meaningfully as disputes over conflicting uses of environmental resources. This Article proposes a use-conflict framework as a means of acquiring a deeper understanding of environmental problems and lawmaking without favoring any particular normative …

Eyes On A Climate Prize: Rewarding Energy Innovation To Achieve Climate Stabilization, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

Stabilizing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases at double their pre-industrial levels (or lower) will require emission reductions far in excess of what can be achieved with current or projected levels of technology at a politically acceptable cost. Substantial technological innovation is required if the nations of the world are to come anywhere close to proposed emission reduction targets. Neither traditional federal support for research and development of new technologies nor traditional command-and-control regulations are likely to spur sufficient innovation. Technology inducement prizes, on the other hand, have the potential to incentivize and accelerate the rate of technological innovation in the …

Notional Generosity: Explaining Charitable Donors' High Willingness To Part With Conservation Easements, Josh Eagle

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Beyond Profit: Rethinking Corporate Social Responsibility And Greenwashing After The Bp Oil Disaster, Miriam A. Cherry, Judd F. Sneirson

Faculty Publications

The explosion of the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon and subsequent oil spill stand as an indictment not just of our national energy priorities and environmental law enforcement; they equally represent a failure of Anglo-American corporate law and what passes for corporate social responsibility in business today. Using BP and the disaster as a compelling case study, this Article examines green marketing and corporate governance and identifies elements of each that encourage firms to engage only superficially in corporate social responsibility yet trumpet those efforts to eager consumers and investors. This Article then proposes reforms and protections designed to increase corporate social …

Legal Initiatives Driving Clean Up Of Chesapeake Bay, Roy A. Hoagland, Jon Mueller

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Eyes On A Climate Prize: Rewarding Energy Innovation To Achieve Climate Stabilization, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

Stabilizing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases at double their pre-industrial levels (or lower) will require emission reductions far in excess of what can be achieved at a politically acceptable cost with current or projected levels of technology. Substantial technological innovation is required if the nations of the world are to come anywhere close to proposed emission reduction targets. Neither traditional federal support for research and development of new technologies nor traditional command-and-control regulations are likely to spur sufficient innovation. Technology inducement prizes, on the other hand, have the potential to significantly accelerate the rate of technological innovation in the energy …

International Greenhouse Gas Offsets Under The Clean Air Act, Nathan D. Richardson

Faculty Publications

Offsets, and in particular international offsets, have been advanced as an important tool in climate policy, capable of significantly reducing the costs of emissions reductions. As attention turns to the existing CAA as a potential vehicle for general reduction of GHG emissions, an important question is whether regulation under the statute is compatible with international offsets. Certain regulatory programs under the CAA are likely candidates for GHG regulation, but many of them are legally incompatible with international offsets. Those programs that might permit use of international offsets have other problems that make them unpopular choices for GHG regulation. To the …

Greenhouse Gas Regulation Under The Clean Air Act: Structure, Effects, And Implications Of A Knowable Pathway, Nathan D. Richardson, Arthur G. Fraas, Dallas Butraw

Faculty Publications

It appears inevitable, absent legislative intervention, that regulation under the Clean Air Act (CAA) will move beyond mobile sources to the industrial and power facilities that emit most U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We analyze the mechanisms available to the EPA for regulating such sources, and identify one, New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) as the most predictable, likely, and practical, i.e. knowable, pathway. Based on the legal structure of the NSPS and the EPA’s traditional approach, we analyze a hypothetical GHG NSPS for one sector, coal electricity generation. This analysis indicates that efficiency improvements and perhaps biomass cofiring could be …

Greenhouse Gas Regulation Under The Clean Air Act: Does Chevron Set The Epa Free, Nathan D. Richardson

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.