Environmental Law Commons^™

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Environmental Law, Kelley A. Kinney, Andrea West Wortzel

University of Richmond Law Review

This article reviews the key environmental developments at the federal and state levels during the period from June 1996 to June 1998. Legislation and judicial decisions are presented topically. Certain issues, such as public participation and environmental justice, are playing an increasing role and will likely impact all media.

From Stockholm To Kyoto And Back To The United States: International Environmental Law's Effect On Domestic Law, Joel B. Eisen

University of Richmond Law Review

We Americans think we're so darned smart. We invented modern environmental law, developed its sophisticated "command-and-control" structure, got the public involved as never before in fighting corporate polluters, and achieved measurable successes by getting lead out of our air and bald eagles back from near extinction. We've even tried "second generation" tools such as emissions trading systems' and incentive-based regulatory flexibility approaches when we discovered our system's limitations. Not that we've got it all figured out, mind you, but we're inclined to think of ourselves as world leaders when it comes to environmental protection.

Ozone Transport And The Clean Air Act: The Answers Are Blowin' In The Wind, Shari R. Desalvo

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note addresses the major provisions of the Clean Air Act that deal with the transport of ozone from one state to another. After an overview of the Act and specific sections dealing with ozone transport, the Note discusses the Environmental Protection Agency's (the "EPA") inconsistent interpretation and application of the Act, as exposed through the limited case law addressing this issue to date. Next, using the illustrative cases of Pennsylvania and Ohio, the Note discusses how Northeastern states are suffering economically and physically due to Midwestern pollution. This Note concludes that it is time for the EPA to stop …

The Future Of Western Water Developments, John Keys

Dams: Water and Power in the New West (Summer Conference, June 2-4)

9 pages.

Book Review Of Joel A. Mintz, Enforcement At The Epa: High Stakes And Hard Choices (1995), Michael P. Healy

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In this book review, Michael P. Healy discusses Enforcement at the EPA: High Stakes and Hard Choices by Joel A. Mintz.

Cleaning Up Superfund, W. Kip Viscusi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The cleanup of hazardous wastes is the number one environmental concern of the American people. The government's response: the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched its Superfund program, which was established by Congress in 1980 and reformed in 1986. But, though not even two decades old, the Superfund effort is now a major target of Congress in its regulatory reform efforts. There are two main sources of dissatisfaction: First, cleanups of hazardous wastes are expensive, averaging $25.7 million per site. Superfund expenditures increased from under $400 million in 1985 to over $1.4 billion in 1995 and continue to be above the …

Regulatory Reinvention And Project Xl: Does The Emperor Have Any Clothes?, Rena I. Steinzor

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Protecting The Environment For Future Generations: A Proposal For A Republican Superagency, Bradford Mank

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

Part I of this Article introduces the principle that the present generation owes duties to future generations. Part II argues that current environmental laws fail future generations. Part III argues that neither Congress nor the executive branch can protect future generations from environmental harms due to short-term political pressures. Part IV evaluates the current capabilities of agencies to plan for long-term environmental problems. Part V evaluates whether agencies may be capable of better long-term planning by creating a dialogue with the public. Part VI proposes a Superagency to protect the environmental interests of future generations. The Superagency would be independent …

Environmental Law: The Clean Water Act--Understanding When A Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation Should Obtain An Npdes Permit, Jeff L. Todd

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Environmental Law, Henry R. Pollard V.

University of Richmond Law Review

Federal and Virginia courts and legislatures acted on a wide variety of environmental issues and topics in the June 1995 to June 1996 period. This article reviews the key environmental developments at the federal and state level from that period involving air, water, waste, Superfund, wetlands, and environmentally related constitutional, land use, and property tort law.

Texas Private Real Property Rights Preservation Act: A Political Solution To The Regulatory Takings Problem Comment., George E. Grimes Jr.

St. Mary's Law Journal

Increasing environmental regulation has resulted in an antiregulation backlash and the growth of a property rights movement. Unable to successfully use the courts to protect private property from diminution in value due to government regulations, property rights advocates have looked to the federal and state legislatures for assistance. This has led to some states and the United States Congress to introduce private property rights protection. This protection generally takes one of two forms. The first requires the government to assess the possible effect on property rights before enacting regulations. The second requires the government to compensate property owners for the …

The Debate: Are Water Rights And Sustainable Water Use Compatible?, Stuart L. Somach

Sustainable Use of the West's Water (Summer Conference, June 12-14)

12 pages.

Contains footnotes and references.

Using Experience To Improve Superfund Remedy Selection, Robert H. Abrams

University of Richmond Law Review

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Cleanup, and Liability Act (CERCLA, a.k.a. "Superfund")' has earned its share of criticism, most volubly for the expense and unfairness of its cost allocation scheme, but also for its remedy selection process. In deciding how to remediate sites, CERCLA employs a lengthy formal process that, on average, takes over eight years from site awareness to the selection of a remedy. Less damningly, perhaps, only the last fifty-eight months of that time elapses after the site is scored as one serious enough to be placed on the National Priorities List as a site eligible to receive Superfund …

Changes In The Clean Water Act Since Kepone: Would They Have Made A Difference?, Wiliam Goldfarb

University of Richmond Law Review

In the anti-regulatory climate that currently pervades the American political scene, it is important to emphasize the palpable and significant accomplishments of environmental regulation. One measure of the success of environmental law during the past twenty-five years is that long-term, relatively localized environmental contamination-such as the pollution of the lower James River by Kepone between 1966 and 1975-probably can no longer occur in the United States. Major environmental statutes, enacted during the decade between 1976 and 1986, have precluded continuing environmental abuses of this scope and magnitude. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), enacted in 1976, establishes a compre- …

Facing A Time Of Counter-Revolution-- The Kepone Incident And A Review Of First Principles, Zygmunt J.B. Plater

University of Richmond Law Review

The Kepone contamination episode of 1966-75 was a milestone that focused an entire nation's attention on environmental hazards and our need to do better in recognizing and avoiding them. We have learned a great deal from that unfortunate story. The evolution of American environmental law since the Kepone debacle has repeatedly used the incident as a touchstone in identifying environmental pollution's causes, effects, and potential solutions.

From Kepone To Exxon Valdez Oil And Beyond: An Overview Of Natural Resource Damage Assessment, Danielle Marie Stager

University of Richmond Law Review

In July 1975, officials from the Virginia State Department of Health learned that employees of the Life Science Product Company ("Life Science"), in Hopewell, Virginia, had been poisoned by a toxic chemical known as Kepone. Life Science had produced Kepone under contract for Allied Chemical Corporation ("Allied Chemical"), the original developer and manufacturer. Shortly thereafter, state officials discovered that both Life Science and Allied Chemical had unlawfully discharged Kepone into freshwater tributaries of the James River. In addition to poisoning their own employees, Life Science and Allied Chemical had also contaminated Virginia's atmosphere, soil, and wa- terways with Kepone.

The New Gold Rush: Mine Tailings In Southeast Alaska And Perversion Of The Clean Water Act, Beth Leibowitz

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Part I of this Note provides a basic explanation of the mine tailings problem. Part II of this Note discusses the evolution of the agencies' tailings decision and the statutory and regulatory context in which it occurred. Part III outlines briefly the actual decision, which involved the theory that neither the EPA nor the Corps should apply the usual CWA permit requirements to the initial discharge of mine waste. Part IV evaluates the legal basis for that decision and concludes, based on the language of the CWA, the EPA's own prior policy, and judicial precedent, that the decision was without …

Superfund's Second Master: The Uneasy Fit Of Private Cost Recovery Within Cercla, Alfred R. Light

St. Thomas Law Review

No abstract provided.

States As Innovators: It's Time For A New Look To Our "Laboratories Of Democracy" In The Effort To Improve Our Approach To Environmental Regulation, David L. Markell

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

Enforcement Of Tsca And The Federal Five-Year Statute Of Limitations For Penalty Actions, Teresa A. Holderer

Michigan Law Review

Many years prior to TSCA, Congress enacted a general five-year statute of limitations for actions for the enforcement of civil penalties, fines, and forfeitures, which, if applicable, would alleviate these problems. Although the Agency claims that no statute of limitations applies, this Note argues that the general five-year statute of limitations, found in section 2462 of title 28, should apply to EPA's administrative proceedings to assess penalties as well as to later collection actions in federal courts. Part I details TSCA's enforcement procedures, which create special difficulties when applying section 2462's statute of limitations. Part I also examines how EPA, …

Race(Ial)Matters: The Quest For Environmental Justice Review Essay, Sheila R. Foster

Faculty Scholarship

The essays contained in Race and the Incidence of Environmental Hazards: A Time For Discourse and the recent report by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Environmental Equity: Reducing Risk For All Communities represent what appears to be a remarkable consensus that low-income and minority communities bear a disproportionate share of environmental exposures and health risks. These two works also reflect the synergy of efforts by various elements of both the traditional civil rights and mainstream environmental movements to address issues of "environmental racism." Indeed, the current "environmental justice," or "environmental equity,"' movement is a combined effort of grassroots …

Indian Tribal Sovereignty And The Environment, Sarah P. Campbell

University of Richmond Law Review

States and Indian tribes alike have compelling reasons for demanding regulatory jurisdiction over the Indian reservations' environments. Proponents of state regulation argue that "[a] state's ability to coordinate a successful and comprehensive hazardous waste management plan depends at least in part on state control of all hazardous waste activity within its borders." In some states, the reservations are not isolated from the activities and residents of the state. In Washington state, for example, some Indian reservations have a high percentage of non-Indian residents, and others contain cities, municipalities, and heavily industrialized areas. This "checkerboard" reservation developed from the federal government's …

Opportunities For Innovation: State Strategies For Groundwater Protection, Larry Morandi

Uncovering the Hidden Resource: Groundwater Law, Hydrology, and Policy in the 1990s (Summer Conference, June 15-17)

8 pages.

Contains references.

Setting The Standards: Federal Groundwater Protection Programs, Katharine (Joni) Teter

Uncovering the Hidden Resource: Groundwater Law, Hydrology, and Policy in the 1990s (Summer Conference, June 15-17)

22 pages.

Contains references.

Managing Groundwater Quality And Quantity: Comparative Approaches Of Southern California Water Basins, Susan M. Trager

Uncovering the Hidden Resource: Groundwater Law, Hydrology, and Policy in the 1990s (Summer Conference, June 15-17)

15 pages.

Contains 1 page of references.

Worst Things First: Risk, Information, And Regulatory Structure In Toxic Substances Control, John S. Applegate

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Scientific uncertainty is the characteristic problem of toxic substances control, and regulators lack the resources to resolve or significantly reduce uncertainty across all of the risks they must address. For this reason, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has become intensely interested in setting priorities among its responsibilities. EPA lacks, however, a coherent framework within which to implement its findings. In this Article, Professor Applegate proposes that the current regulatory regime for toxic substances be restructured to emphasize thoughtful priority setting rather than unrealistic risk standards and deadlines. In his view, Congress should provide broad parameters for agency action in particular …

Note, Lead Poisoning In Children: A Proposed Legislative Solution To Municipal Liability For Furnishing Lead-Contaminated Water, Anthony J. Bellia Jr.

Journal Articles

Lead poisoning has become one of the most widespread and serious environmental diseases facing children in the United States. In response to the problem of childhood lead exposure, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has promulgated expansive regulations to reduce drinking water lead levels. However, the regulations are not without significant gaps and shortfalls. Many improvements that the EPA requires need not be in place for years, and some households at risk of unsafe lead exposure receive no regulatory protection at all. One question that arises amidst these regulatory gaps is whether a plaintiff can hold a public water system liable …

Interstate Water Pollution: Must Upstream Permits Comply With Downstream Standards?, Robert H. Abrams

Journal Publications

No abstract provided.

Federal Regulatory Interests In Water, Patricia Sanderson Port

Innovation in Western Water Law and Management (Summer Conference, June 5-7)

39 pages.

Contains references.

The Two-Headed Dragon Of Siting And Cleaning Up Hazardous Waste Dumps: Can Economic Incentives Or Mediation Slay The Monster, Bradford Mank

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

This Article will show that neither economic incentives nor mediation alone has been successful in addressing the issues of siting or remediation, despite good theoretical reasons for the success of both approaches. This Article advocates a two-pronged approach of using economic incentives and mediation together to attack the dilemmas of siting and remediation. A developer could offer to remediate an orphan or MSW landfill site, and thereby improve public safety, in exchange for the opportunity to build a new, less risky hazardous or solid waste disposal facility.15 In conjunction with mediation and negotiated compensation, this proposal may be able to …