Environmental Law Commons^™

Restorative Justice To Supplement Deterrence-Based Punishment: An Empirical Study And Theoretical Reconceptualization Of The Epa's Power Plant Enforcement Initiative, 2000-2011, Michael L. Rustad, Thomas H. Koenig, Erica R. Ferreira

Oklahoma Law Review

From the late 1970s to the end of the 1990s, electricity producers modified and operated coal-fired power plants in violation of the Environment Protection Agency’s (EPA) permitting requirements, creating widespread air quality degradation. The EPA’s policy of lax oversight ended in 1999 when it launched a large, coordinated enforcement effort. The 2012 Republican presidential candidates all denounced this more vigilant EPA as engaging in economic terrorism through “sue and settle” tactics that amount to backdoor regulation. This article evaluates federal environmental enforcement, drawing upon objective data from our empirical study of EPA permitting violation settlements for coal-fired power plants entered …

The Architecture Of Ignorance, Gregg P. Macey

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Insurance And Climate Change, Peter Kochenburger, Joseph Macdougald

Faculty Articles and Papers

Climate change started as a scientific theory, became the subject of environmental policy and international negotiation, and today manifests itself within the courts in a series of boundary testing cases that challenge the settled concepts of risk and redress available under both environmental and insurance law. As our climate becomes increasingly unstable and the causal link between damage from sea-level rise and severe weather events becomes ever more tangible and traceable, courts at all levels wrestle with varying avenues of legal authority, including: the limitations of legal redress through the political question doctrine the appropriateness of traditional federal and state …

The Evolving Role For Transactional Attorneys Responding To Client Needs In Adapting To Climate Change, 47 J. Marshall L. Rev. 543 (2013), Celeste M. Hammond

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Insurance And Climate Change, 47 J. Marshall L. Rev. 719 (2013), Joseph Macdougald, Peter Kochenburger

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Collective Origins Of Toxic Air Pollution: Implications For Greenhouse Gas Trading And Toxic Hotspots, David E. Adelman

Indiana Law Journal

This Article presents the first synthesis of geospatial data on toxic air pollution in the United States. Contrary to conventional views, the data show that vehicles and small stationary sources emit a majority of the air toxics nationally. Industrial sources, by contrast, rarely account for more than ten percent of cumulative cancer risks from all outdoor sources of air toxics. This pattern spans multiple spatial scales, ranging from census tracts to the nation as a whole. However, it is most pronounced in metropolitan areas, which have the lowest air quality and are home to eighty percent of the U.S. population. …

Hydraulic Fracturing And Water Management In The Great Lakes, Nicholas Schroeck, Stephanie Karisny

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Climate Change Geoengineering: Philosophical Perspectives, Legal Issues, And Governance Frameworks, William C. G. Burns, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

The international community is not taking the action necessary to avert dangerous increases in greenhouse gases. Facing a potentially bleak future, the question that confronts humanity is whether the best of bad alternatives may be to counter global warming through human-engineered climate interventions. In this book, eleven prominent authorities on climate change consider the legal, policy, and philosophical issues presented by geoengineering. The book asks: When, if ever, are decisions to embark on potentially risky climate modification projects justified? If such decisions can be justified, in a world without a central governing authority, who should authorize such projects and by …

The Rebirth Of The Neighborhood, J. Peter Byrne

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This essay argues that new urban residents primarily seek a type of community properly called a neighborhood. “Neighborhood” refers to a legible, pedestrian-scale area that has an identity apart from the corporate and bureaucratic structures that dominate the larger society. Such a neighborhood fosters repeated, casual contacts with neighbors and merchants, such as while one pursues Saturday errands or takes children to activities. Dealing with independent local merchants and artisans face-to-face provides a sense of liberation from large power structures, where most such residents work. Having easy access to places of sociability like coffee shops and bars permits spontaneous “meet-ups,” …

The Increasing Privatization Of Environmental Permitting, Jessica Owley

Articles

No abstract provided.

Compartmentalized Thinking And The Clean Water Act, Christine A. Klein

UF Law Faculty Publications

Modern water pollution control traces back to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972 (Clean Water Act or CWA). Like other statutes of its period, the CWA addresses pollution of a single medium, water. Despite its goal of achieving aquatic integrity, the CWA succumbs to what this article refers to as “compartmentalized thinking.” That is, in drafting the CWA, Congress created a series of regulatory boxes that separate water into constituent parts recognized by law, but not by nature. Undertaking a deeper examination of the fragmentation instinct, this article turns to political theory and cognitive psychology for explanations. In …

Introductory Remarks. Arctic Law: The Challenges Of Governance In The Changing Arctic, Austen L. Parrish

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Supreme Court And The Ppl Montana Case: Examining The Relationship Between Navigability And State Ownership Of Submerged Lands, Richard C. Ausness

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The United States Supreme Court held in PPL Montana v. Montana held that the State of Montana did not own the beds beneath certain rivers and, therefore, rejected the State's claim that the power company owed it millions of dollars in "back rent" for the use of the riverbeds as sites for ten of its hydroelectric power plants. The Montana Supreme Court, which had ruled in favor of the State, declared that even if portions of a river were not navigable for commercial purposes because of physical conditions, the entire river would be treated as navigable if commercial traffic could …

Situating Sarnia: Unimagined Communities In The National Energy Debate, Dayna Scott

Articles & Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Activities And Achievements: Progress Report 2011-2013, Center For Governance And Sustainability, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Maria Ivanova, Craig Murphy, James Gustave Speth, Christiana Figueres, Alice Odingo

Center for Governance and Sustainability Publications

We joined the University of Massachusetts Boston in the fall of 2010 to develop a new doctoral program in global governance and human security, the first of its kind in the United States. In the spring of 2011, we launched the Center for Governance and Sustainability in an effort to bring academic rigor to real-world policy challenges in environment, development, and sustainability governance.

The Center is housed at the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, which takes pride in offering a world-class interdisciplinary education and engaging in values-driven research, demonstrating a deep commitment to making a …

The Scopes Monkey Trial Revisited: How The Coal Industry And The Surface Mining States Ignore Science To The Detriment Of The Appalachian Environment, Sarah J. Surber

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Paradise Lost? A Call To Clarify The Public Purpose Requirement In Ohio's Public Trust Doctrine, Maia E. Jerin

Cleveland State Law Review

The State of Ohio holds all land underlying the waters of Lake Erie and navigable rivers, as well as all artificially filled land, in trust for the benefit of the people of Ohio. Traditionally, private use of trust resources was subject to the public rights of navigation, water commerce, and fishing. This principle, known as the public trust doctrine, exists in every state but takes myriad forms and protects widely varying uses and interests. Many states have clarified their public trust doctrines through statutes or judicial review in order to meet the public’s changing needs, but Ohio’s public trust doctrine …

Insurance Law Principles In An International Context: Compensating Losses Caused By Climate Change, Sara Seck, Craig Brown

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This article examines the challenges of paying for loss caused by climate change. It discusses how weather-related harms might become uninsurable by private companies in the future as the adverse effects of climate change increase in severity. Additionally, this article recognizes the difficulty in imposing civil liability on wrongdoers for climate-related harms, and explores options for state-sponsored or state-subsidized insurance. Finally, the authors examine possibilities for an international insurance fund, but eventually conclude that such a fund would unlikely be endorsed at the international level and would not benefit Canadians.

The Icj, Itlos And The Precautionary Approach: Paltry Progressions, Jurisprudential Jousting, David Vanderzwaag

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The precautionary approach, although highly touted as a fundamental principle of international environmental law, has become well-known for the confusion surrounding its interpretation and practical implications. Confusion has emanated from definitional generalities and variations and even debates over appropriate terminology. A spectrum of precautionary measures exist and viewpoints on whether strong versions of precaution or weaker versions should prevail have differed.

Using Strategic Environmental Assessments To Guide Oil And Gas Exploration Decisions: Applying Lessons Learned From Atlantic Canada To The Beaufort Sea, Meinhard Doelle

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Strategic Environmental Assessments have been used on the Atlantic Coast of Canada to inform oil and gas exploration decisions. Both the Newfoundland and Nova Scotia offshore petroleum boards have about a decade of experience with strategic environmental assessments. In the Beaufort Sea, there is no such process currently in place to guide decisions about oil and gas exploration. In the wake of the Deep Horizon spill in the US, this article considers the lessons learned from the Atlantic Canada experience, and makes recommendations for the design of an oil and gas strategic environmental assessment process for exploration in the Beaufort …

The Role Of Ea In Achieving A Sustainable Energy Future In Canada: A Case Study Of The Lower Churchill Panel Review, Meinhard Doelle

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Energy projects have featured prominently in environmental assessment (EA) processes in Canada, particularly with respect to panel reviews conducted under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA). Now, for the first time in decades, there is serious talk in Canada of developing a national energy strategy. In this context, the article considers how the federal EA process could be utilized to support such efforts. The Lower Churchill Hydro Project Review Panel is used as a case study to illustrate how project EAs can support broader energy policy consideration.

The Opportunities For And Hurdles To Combined Heat And Power In New York City, Alexis Saba, Bianca Howard, Michael Gerrard, Vijay Modi

Faculty Scholarship

This paper first seeks to quantify the potential for CHP development in New York City and describe the primary hurdles to optimal deployment in Parts I and II. Part III provides policy solutions for overcoming these hurdles and recommendations for how stakeholders can use information and analysis to maximize the opportunities for CHP.

Multilateral Environmental Agreements In The Wto: Silence Speaks Volumes, Henrik Horn, Petros C. Mavroidis

Faculty Scholarship

This study contributes to the debate concerning the appropriate role of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) in in WTO dispute settlement. Its distinguishing feature is that it seeks to address this relationship in light of the reason why the parties have chosen to separate their obligations into two bodies of law without providing an explicit nexus between them. The basic conclusion is that legislators’ silence concerning this relationship should speak volumes to WTO adjudicating bodies: MEAs should not be automatically understood as imposing legally binding obligations on WTO Members, but could be used as sources of factual information.

Shared-Use Infrastructure: A Prickly Partnership Takes Root, Perrine Toledano

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Only about 30% of Africa has access to electricity, and transport costs in Africa are among the highest in the world. For the World Bank, the annual funding gap for infrastructure investment in Africa is US $31 billion.

This gap however can be filled if the investments of natural resource concessionaires are leveraged and not planned in an enclave model. In resource-rich but infrastructure-poor Africa, natural resource concessionaires have traditionally developed railways, ports and power plants to serve their own needs. Africa has therefore often missed the opportunity of coordinating those large investments with national infrastructure planning and has failed …

Ask The Experts: Mining, Lisa E. Sachs

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

How can governments best ensure mining produces broad-based economic development?

At the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment at Columbia University, we have identified five “pillars” that are necessary for resource-based sustainable development. Each pillar requires the collaboration of governments, companies, donors and communities.At the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment at Columbia University, we have identified five “pillars” that are necessary for resource-based sustainable development. Each pillar requires the collaboration of governments, companies, donors and communities.

Reducing Legal Hurdles To Combined Heat And Power In New York, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

Combined heat and power (CHP or cogeneration) is the simultane­ous production of electricity and thermal energy from a single fuel source. Most CHP systems in New York City use natural-gas fired turbines or reciprocating engines to generate electric­ity and then capture heat from the com­bustion generator’s exhaust stream and cooling systems.

Federal Executive Actions To Combat Climate Change, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

“I urge this Congress to pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change, like the one John McCain and Joe Lieberman worked on together a few years ago. But if Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will. I will direct my cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy.”
—President Barack Obama State-of-the-Union Message Feb. 12, 2013

In the current partisan atmosphere in Washington, there appears to be …

Regulating Electricity Imports Into Rggi: Toward A Legal, Workable Solution, Shelley Welton, Michael Gerrard, Jason Munster

Faculty Scholarship

This white paper evaluates the legal workability and constitutionality of what is frequently considered the most feasible mechanism for RGGI to use in regulating imports: an obligation on RGGI “load serving entities” (LSEs) – those companies responsible for supplying electricity to end-use customers – to purchase allowances to account for the emissions associated with the electricity they sell that is imported. Ultimately, although there are many design complexities yet to be worked out, we find that an LSE-centered approach could present a viable pathway forward for RGGI states’ regulation of imports. It is likely to create long-term price signals about …

The Benefit Corporation: A Questionable Solution To A Non-Existent Problem., Justin Blount, Kwabena Offei-Danso

St. Mary's Law Journal

Throughout American history a continuous call for businesses to wield their power and influence in such a way as to not only create economic value for shareholders, but also to create value in an ethical manner that benefits society as a whole has existed. Currently, many businesses respond to this call by integrating social responsibility into their operations. A recent innovation on this front is the development of the “benefit corporation” by the non-profit organization “B Lab.” The benefit corporation is essentially a hybrid entity. It is designed to have characteristics of both non-profit and for-profit entities. The entity also …

To A Friend: The Honorable Will Garwood., Emilio M. Garza

St. Mary's Law Journal

William Lockhart Garwood died on July 14, 2011. In his thirty years on the court, Will would author numerous notable decisions, but his reputation would be solidified by two extraordinary cases: United States v. Lopez, in which, for the first time in recent judicial history, a court of appeals held that a congressional act was invalid as beyond the power of Congress under the Commerce Clause; and United States v. Emerson, in which, a court of appeals first articulated the Second Amendment protects individual Americans’ right to keep and bear arms. Neither case was without controversy. Not surprisingly, the Supreme …