Environmental Law Commons^™

Deterring And Compensating Oil-Spill Catastrophes: The Need For Strict And Two-Tier Liability, W. Kip Viscusi, Richard J. Zeckhauser

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 …

The One Percent Problem, Kevin M. Stack, Michael P. Vandenbergh

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Parties frequently seek exemption from regulation on the ground that they contribute only a very small share to a problem. These one percent arguments are not inherently questionable; it can be efficient to exclude relatively small contributors. These arguments for exemption garner broad acceptance in part because they appeal to behavioral biases that induce individuals to discount or ignore small values. But when a regulatory problem can be solved only by regulating small contributors, accepting one percent arguments creates what we call the one percent problem. This Article shows that this general problem for regulation has particularly damaging effects on …

Deterring And Compensating Oil-Spill Catastrophes: The Need For Strict And Two-Tier Liability, W. Kip Viscusi, Richard J. Zeckhauser

Vanderbilt Law Review

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 …

Prevention Of Vessel-Source Marine Pollution: A Note On The Challenges And Prospects For Chinese Practice Under International Law, Nengye Liu, Frank Maes

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article examines China’s domestic legal regime for the prevention of vessel sourcepollution. It pays special attention to the recently adopted Regulation on Preventionand Control of Marine Pollution from Vessels. Potential challenges and emerging issuesthat China has to confront are addressed, including: application of the legislation todisputed sea areas between China and its neighbors, freedom of navigation in theexclusive economic zone, reduction of emission from ships, and prevention of invasivespecies from ballast water.

Back To Basics: An Agenda For The Maryland General Assembly To Protect The Environment, Rena I. Steinzor, Lee Huang

Faculty Scholarship

Maryland has a long-held reputation as a regional and national leader in environmental protection. But in some areas, especially enforcement, that reputation warrants scrutiny. For example, Maryland charges less than Pennsylvania and Virginia for some pollutant discharge permits, and the state does not assess permit fees for municipalities despite the resources required to administer those permits. The penalties for violating the Clean Water Act have remained chronically below the level allowed under federal law. Maryland law does not require MDE to penalize polluters for the full amount of the economic gain they achieved by flouting the law, unlike laws in …

Environmental Law At Maryland, No. 32, Fall 2011

Environmental Law at Maryland

No abstract provided.

Regulations Of Hydraulic Fracturing Under The Safe Drinking Water Act, Keith B. Hall

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

For more than 20 years after the 1974 enactment of the Safe Drinking Water Act ("SD WA ), the US. Environmental Protection Agency interpreted the SDWA as not applying to hydraulic fracturing. The United States Eleventh Circuit ruled in 1997 that the SDWTA applied to fracturing, but the EPA chose not to consent to that interpretation outside the Eleventh Circuit. Further the EPA continued to take the position that its existing SDWTA regulations did not apply to hydraulic fracturing, and it never promulgated new regulations to cover fracturing. In 2005, the Congress passed legislation that generally is read as applying …

Reconsidering The Use Of Forced Pooling For Shale Gas Development, Lindsey Trachtenberg

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

Hydrocarbons can be produced more efficiently ihen neighboring landowners work in cooperation, rather than in competition. Yet market failures often make it difficult for landovners and the well operators iwith whi om they contract to reach agreements for the cooperative development of hy drocarbon reservoirs. Therefore, some states have enacted forced pooling provisions, vhich allow states to compel cooperative development under certain criteria. While forced pooling is generally acceptable for traditional oil and gas resources, state legislatures and regulators should reassess their forced pooling provisions as they are applied to shale gas resources. Based on the unique characteristics of shale …

Global Law And The Environment, Robert V. Percival

Washington Law Review

This Article explores three areas in which globalization is profoundly affecting the development of a global environmental law. First, countries increasingly are borrowing law and regulatory innovations from one another to respond to common environmental problems. Although this is not an entirely new phenomenon, it is occurring at an unprecedented pace. Second, lawsuits seeking to hold companies liable for environmental harm they have caused outside their home countries are raising new questions concerning the appropriate venue for such transnational liability litigation and the standards courts should apply for enforcement of foreign judgments. Third, nongovernmental organizations are playing an increasingly important …

Beyond Absurdity: Climate Regulation And The Case For Restricting The Absurd Results Doctrine, Katherine Kirklin O'Brien

Washington Law Review

The absurd results doctrine of statutory interpretation allows courts to depart from clear legislative text when a literal reading would be “absurd.” Traditionally, courts defined an absurd result as one that offends fundamental social values. Over time, however, courts have expanded the concept of legal absurdity to include outcomes that do not violate moral principles, but instead present regulatory burdens deemed too onerous to reflect congressional intent. In June 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) invoked this expansive reading of the absurd results doctrine to support a regulation known as the “Tailoring Rule,” which the agency promulgated as part …

Protective Tool Or Legal Loophole - Examining The Legal Status Of Environmental Covenants In South Carolina, Kathryn M. Buckner

Southeastern Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Southeastern Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

South Carolina's Energy Landscape, T. Hamilton Davis Iv

Southeastern Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Sustainable Growth & Development On The South Carolina Coastline: Opportunity For Local Governments To Pave The Way, Jessie A. White

Southeastern Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Wind Turbine Wakes, Wake Effect Impacts, And Wind Leases: Using Solar Access Laws As The Model For Capitalizing On Wind Rights During The Evolution Of Wind Policy Standards, Kimberly E. Diamond, Ellen J. Crivella

Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum

No abstract provided.

The Justiciability Of Climate Change: Acomparison Of Us And Canadian Approaches, Hugh Wilkins

Dalhousie Law Journal

Climate change-related disputes, which often include novel, complex,or politically sensitive matters, have experienced a mixed reception by the courts. Defendants both in Canada and the United States have raised the issue of justiciabilitythe question of whether a matter is of the quality or state of being appropriate or suitable for review by a court-with some success in attempts to have these cases summarily dismissed. The author reviews the types ofclimate change cases that have been launched, examines the US and Canadian laws of justiciability analyzes the.paths in which the caselaw regarding justiciability in these countries is headed, and suggests how …

Warmest Climes Nurse Cruelest Fangs: South Carolina's Hurricane Response In An Era Of Global Climate Change, J. Camden Hodge

Southeastern Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Limits Of Liability In Promoting Safe Geologic Sequestration Of Co2, David E. Adelman, Ian J. Duncan

Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum

No abstract provided.

Innovations In Governance: A Functional Typology Of Private Governance Institutions, Tracey M. Roberts

Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum

No abstract provided.

An Ecosystem-Based Approach To Slowing The Synergistic Effects Of Invasive Species And Climate Change, David A. Strifling

Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum

No abstract provided.

Heterogeneity In Values Of Morbidity Risks From Drinking Water, W. Kip Viscusi, Joel Huber, Jason Bell

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This paper reports the stated preference values for reducing the morbidity risks from drinking water estimated using a nationally representative U.S. sample of 3,585 households. Based on the average annual gastrointestinal (GI) illness risk in the U.S. from drinking water of about 5 illnesses per 100 population, eliminating the GI risk has a median annual value per household of $219. The considerable heterogeneity in the values arises largely from differences in attitudes towards risk and price sensitivity. Using interval regressions, we find that valuations are greater for those who perceive a high personal risk, consume a large quantity of tap …

Restoring Restitution: The Role Of Proximate Causation In Child Pornography Possession Cases Where Restitution Is Sought, Dennis F. Dibari

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Earth Jurisprudence And Lockean Theory: Rethinking The American Perception Of Private Property, Traci Lynne Timmons

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

Earth Jurisprudence and Lockean Theory

Abstract by Traci Lynne Timmons

Thomas Berry, father of the Earth Jurisprudence movement, called for re-examining human-Earth relations. Earth Jurisprudence aspires to promote a greater respect for nature and all living things on Earth, aiming to intertwine Earth’s natural law with the body of law that governs humanity. This paper explores Earth Jurisprudence as an alternative to the property regime in the United States. It examines the fundamental principles of property ownership, frequently attributed to the philosophy of John Locke, but digs deeper into these “Lockean” roots to reveal important caveats to Locke’s general principles …

The Wilderness Myth: How The Failure Of The American National Park Model Threatens The Survival Of The Iyaelima Tribe And The Bonobo Chimpanzee, Mark Hopson

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

The Wilderness Myth

Abstract by Mark Hopson

Contrary to popular opinion, and the vast majority of legal scholarship on the subject, the traditional American model for a national park is scientifically and logically unsound. Further, this model has been adopted at a terrible social cost to the indigenous tribes who lived on the land that became national parks. Every government that has chosen to implement the American national park model has done so at the expense of indigenous people.

This article chronicles the creation of the world’s first national parks, Yosemite and Yellowstone, and the legal battles involved. The article …

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 …

Human Rights And Climate Change, Marc A. Schulz

Buffalo Human Rights Law Review

Book review of Human Rights and Climate Change, Stephen Humphreys, ed.

Keeping It Legal: Transboundary Management Challenges Facing Brazil And The Guarani, David N. Cassuto

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This paper examines the legal and ecological problems facing the Guarani Aquifer System. Because the majority of the Guarani Aquifer System underlies Brazil, the Brazilian legal regime forms the paper’s principal focus. The importance of the region makes the need for accurate information crucial. Yet relying on such information to manage a complex resource presents risks. Too often, the role of uncertainty in regulating is underplayed. Increasing knowledge over the resource demands categorizing “hard” and “soft” uncertainties, especially those presented by climate change. In addition, regulators must acknowledge the unitary nature of the aquifer while remaining sensitive to differing national …

Legal Developments Since The Enactment Of The Oil Spill Liability Act Of 1990, Jay Angle, Anna Leonenko, Katelyn Overmiller, Rebecca Ternes, Katie Wagner, Kenneth Stark

Penn State Environmental Law Review (1991 - 2011)

No abstract provided.

Addressing Environmental Injustices: A Capability Approach To Rulemaking, Shannon M. Roesler

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

"Introduction" (Chapter 1) Of Stories About Science In Law: Literary And Historical Images Of Acquired Expertise (Ashgate 2011), David S. Caudill

Working Paper Series

This is the introductory chapter of Stories About Science in Law: Literary and Historical Images of Acquired Expertise (Ashgate, 2011), explaining that the book presents examples of how literary accounts can provide a supplement to our understanding of science in law. Challenging the view that law and science are completely different, I focus on stories that explore the relationship between law and science, and identify cultural images of science that prevail in legal contexts. In contrast to other studies on the transfer and construction of expertise in legal settings, the book considers the intersection of three interdisciplinary projects-- law and …