Environmental Law Commons^™

A Three-Legged Stool On Two Legs: Recent Federal Law Related To Local Climate Resilience Planning And Zoning, Sarah Adams-Schoen, Edward Thomas

Scholarly Works

Notwithstanding a critical gap between climate change related risks and preparedness in the United States, congress has yet to pass any federal law expressly addressing climate change hazard mitigation (or any other aspect of climate change) and appears unlikely to do so anytime soon. Despite this, the first half of 2015 has seen a number of actions in the other two branches of the federal government with significant implications for local hazard mitigation planning, zoning, and development. Of particular note, and as discussed in more detail below, the President issued an Executive Order and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) …

Coming Into The Anthropocene, Jedediah Purdy

Faculty Scholarship

This essay reviews Professor Jonathan Cannon’s Environment in the Balance. Cannon’s book admirably analyzes the Supreme Court’s uptake of, or refusal of, the key commitments of the environmental-law revolution of the early 1970s. In some areas the Court has adapted old doctrines, such as Standing and Commerce, to accommodate ecological insights; in other areas, such as Property, it has used older doctrines to restrain the transformative effects of environmental law. After surveying Cannon’s argument, this review diagnoses the historical moment that has made the ideological division that Cannon surveys especially salient: a time of stalled legislation, political deadlock, and …

The Impacts Of Health Status And Exposure To Environmental Toxins On Children's Grade Point Average In El Paso, Texas, Stephanie Elizabeth Clark

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Studies in the US have found that both exposure to environmental toxins and children's general health status negatively impact children's academic achievement. This Thesis will be made of up two papers. The first examines the impact of exposure to residential air toxins from a variety of sources on student's academic achievement and the second paper incorporates a measure of children's general health status into the statistical model from the first paper. This Thesis employs National Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) risk estimates from a variety of sources and individual-level data collected through a mail survey of fourth and fifth grade school …

Latina/O High School Students' Standpoint On Environmental Justice In A Border Community: A Phenomenological Study, Cynthia Christina Ontiveros

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative research is a transcendental phenomenology seeking to understand Latin@ high school students’ perceptions and standpoints as they participated lessons that addressed border environmental justice issues in an underrepresented, marginalized community. Seven students from Borderland High School, enrolled in a senior level course, Environmental Science, participated in the study which focused on their experiences in an environmental justice air quality thematic unit built around the complex issues surrounding a local refinery, American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO). The study analyzed the meaning students made and their standpoints regarding the impact of the factory and its one-hundred year history polluting …

Legal & Scientific Integrity In Advancing A "Land Degradation Neutral World", Shelley Welton, Michela Biasutti, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

It is no secret that the fight against desertification isn't going well. In the two decades since the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification ("UNCCD") came into force, desertification – defined as degradation in the quality of "arid, semi-arid, and dry subhumid" land areas – has worsened considerably. Recent United Nations estimates suggest that fifty-two percent of drylands currently under agricultural cultivation are moderately or severely degraded, and 12 million hectares of productive land become barren each year due to desertification and drought. And while drylands are the focus of the UNCCD, the challenge isn't limited to them: somewhere around …

Review Of Benjamin K. Sovacool And Michael H. Dworkin's Global Energy Justice: Problems, Principles, And Practices, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

Energy powers the world. Having enough energy is essential to maintaining even the most minimal quality of life. But extracting and using energy renders some places uninhabitable, and now threatens the ecological integrity of the planet.

Current energy systems involve profound injustices. These injustices can arise in the ways that energy is produced – including through local and global environmental degradation, human rights abuses, corruption, and social and military conflict. Injustice can also arise in the ways that energy is or is not available – with more than a billion people having far too little for a decent existence, while …

Current Legal Framework On South Africa And Cameroon Relating To Plastic Pollution To The Environment On A Comparative Basis : Case Study : South Africa And Cameroon, Temah Larry Besong Ndi

World Maritime University Dissertations

The objective of these studies is to compare the environmental laws of South Africa and Cameroon with focus on plastic pollution laws on both nations, with a yard stick of that of IMO international conventions. The reason to better the environmental laws of Cameroon, copying that of South Africa which is very much advanced and are signatories to several IMO conventions, in abide to put Cameroon administration on same level. The importance of the marine environment need not be over emphasis as the plastics pollution is now a global concerned and Cameroon at the mouth of Atlantic Ocean, with a …

The Tragicomedy Of The Commons, Brigham Daniels

BYU Law Review

Scholarship on the commons focuses on a diverse set of problems, ranging from crashing fisheries to crowded court dockets. Because we find commons resources throughout our natural and cultural environments, understanding old lessons and learning new ones about the commons gives us leverage to address a wide range of problems. Because the list of resources identified as commons resources continues to grow, the importance of gleaning lessons about the commons will also continue to grow.

That being said, while the resources that make up the commons are certainly diverse, so too are the ways scholars depict it and the challenges …

Our Global Commons, Brigham Daniels, James Salzman

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Surprising Commons, Carol M. Rose

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Texas Groundwater And Tragically Stable “Crossovers”, Zachary Bray

BYU Law Review

One recurring question in the academic literature on common-pool resources relates to the persistence of “tragic” commons regimes—systems that encourage, or at least tolerate, the inefficient, wasteful, hazardous, or unfair exploitation of a resource that is easily accessed for and diminished by individual use and consumption. Of course, not all commons are tragic: some common-pool resources invite individual access in efficient, fair, and durable ways. Yet many commonly held resources do lie under systems of governance that are not just tragic but persistently and stubbornly so. Often the tragic aspects of such commons regimes are well known; indeed, for some …

Naming The Tragedy, Eric T. Freyfogle

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Isolated Wetland Commons And The Constitution, Blake Hudson, Mike Hardig

BYU Law Review

Isolated wetlands provide great ecological and economic value to the United States. While some states provide protection for isolated wetlands, a great many do not. These wetlands are also left outside the ambit of federal wetland regulatory protections under the Clean Water Act, with its murky jurisdictional reach. Notwithstanding jurisdictional questions under current federal statutes, the U.S. Supreme Court has gone so far as to call into question the constitutionality of federal isolated wetland regulation. This Article makes a normative argument that, in the absence of state or local programs providing holistic isolated wetland protection, federal action is needed. The …

Local Governments And Global Commons, Jonathan Rosenbloom

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Legal Analysis On The Implementation And Enforcement Of Fishery Laws Of The Coastal State In Its Exclusive Economic Zone : A Philippine Perspective, Fatima Aleli Angeles

World Maritime University Dissertations

This dissertation scrutinizes the extent of the rights that the Philippines as a coastal State has with regards to the implementation and enforcement of fishery laws in its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). By examining how the right to engage in fishing and the concept of EEZ emerged, as well as laying down the fishery rights of the States in the different maritime zones, this research was able to establish the legal regime involving the fishery laws implementation and enforcement in the EEZ. Thereafter, various States practices were probed to determine the trend of implementation and enforcement of fishery laws in …

Pesticides: Problems Facing The Industry In Submitting Proprietary Scientific Data To An International Organization, Alexander R. Nemajovsky

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Environmental Disasters And Human Health Consequences: A Year In Review, Susan Johnson, Blythe Brauer, Samantha Bird, Andrea Abergel, Jon Davey, Mary Strayhorne

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Requiring The Use Of Tracers In Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid To Trace Alleged Contamination, Stephanie Kurose

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

When Big Oil Comes To A Small Town: The Exxonmobil Oil Spill In Mayflower In Context, James D. Hekel Jr.

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

The Gold War Of Romania: Sustainable Development Or Irreversible Damage?, Alexandra Manea

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

The Health Consequence Of Genetically Modified Organisms And Lack Of Regulation: Genetically Engineered Food Linked To Rise In Autism Prevalence, Victoria H. Peters

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Rubber-Stamped Regulation: The Inadequate Oversight Of Genetically Engineered Plants And Animals In The United States, Genna Reed

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

The Minamata Convention On Mercury: Past, Present, And Future Environmental Health, Maggie Coulter

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Driving Innovation: How Stronger Laws Pull Safer Chemicals Into The Market, Baskut Tuncak

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Editor's Note, Veronica Kennedy

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

How The Esa Can Swallow Alaskan Tribal Sovereignty: The Story Of The Iliamna Lake Seals, Charisse Arce

American Indian Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Policy Context Of The Endemic Flora Of The Maltese Islands In A Changing Taxonomic Landscape, Clara Agius

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The degradation of the environment since the Industrial Revolution has been a turning point for legislation, leading to many countries, including EU states, to create legislations that conserve the environment. These legislations are based on scientific facts. This can create a divide between policy and science, as science and scientific methods are constantly changing, while policy has to keep up. Scientific facts of yesterday, may not necessarily be the same as today. This divide between science and policy may have implications on the designation of Protected Areas. One of the criteria of a Protected Area is the protection of an …

Contesting Risk, Precaution And Legitimacy: A Case Study Of Lafarge, Savitri Vasanta Gordian

LLM Theses

This thesis examines debates about the precautionary principle in a tribunal and judicial review proceeding where environmental groups and individuals challenged a proposal to burn tires and other non-traditional fuel sources at a cement plant in Ontario, Canada. Chapter 1 explores scholarship on the precautionary principle and outlines the unique analytical contributions offered by administrative constitutionalism theory. Chapter 2 sets out the case study methodology employed by the author. Chapter 3 explains the legislative context. In chapters 4 through 9, each participant’s arguments are analyzed in relation to the two paradigms of administrative constitutionalism: Rational-Instrumentalist and Deliberative-Constitutive. This thesis establishes …

Courts Cap The "Trade": Regulation Of Competitive Markets When Courts Overturn State And Federal Cap-And-Trade Regulation, Steven Ferrey

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Toward A Patent Exhaustion Regime For Sustainable Development, 32 Berkeley J. Int'l Law. 330 (2014), Benjamin Liu

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

This Article argues that the current exhaustion doctrine, when applied to the refurbishing industry, fails to balance its mandate of promoting technological progress with the broader program of sustainable development and is therefore unsuitable for countries on the modernization path. First, what constitutes an infringing “making” remains underdetermined. Second, the evidentiary hurdle for proving legal refurbishment is too onerous for the low margin and under-resourced refurbishing industry. Finally, the all-or-nothing approach to judging infringement fails to account for the nuanced cost-benefit nexus that exists between patentees, refurbishers, and society at large and discourages private ordering. To recalibrate the balance between …