Environmental Law Commons^™

Time-Of-Use Pricing Could Help China Manage Demand, Emmett Pepper

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Urban Development: A Viable Option After Rio 2012?, Andrea Martinez

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Rediscovering The Transportation Frontier: Improving Sustainability In The United States Through Passenger Rail, Benjamin J. Wickizer, Andrew Snow

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Traffic Jam Equality: Evaluating The Constitutionality Of Congestion Pricing, Christopher Hudock

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Sustainable Cities Of The Future: The Behavior Change Driver, Peter Newman

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Enhancing Urban Albedo To Fight Climate Change And Save Energy, Elise Stull, Xiaopu Sun, Durwood Zaelke

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Introduction: Cities And Sustainability

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

About Sdlp

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Volume Xi Issue 1

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Mar. 2, 2011, Tnc Comments On Ifc Performance Standard 6-Version 2, Ifc

IFC E&S Performance Standards

No abstract provided.

Three Stories About Nature: Property, The Environment, And Ecosystem Services, Keith H. Hirokawa

Mercer Law Review

Property is the process of dividing the world into bits that may be subjected to private control. As such, how we understand the world, its characteristics, and its processes is very important. If, for instance, we think of water as an infinite resource that serves growth needs, we might not be concerned with how that resource is acquired, used, or even wasted. On the other hand, if we believe that water is a scarce and essential resource, we may find that an allocation scheme bears the weight of accomplishing many social and economic objectives. Nature matters because our understanding of …

Incentives For Change: China's Cadre System Applied To Water Quality, Wyatt F. Golding

Washington International Law Journal

The Chinese government has struggled to enforce environmental law, due in part to local protectionism. In an attempt to overcome local protectionism, the 2008 Law on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution uses the cadre system to incentivize local officials to enforce national water quality standards. This comment argues that the cadre system presents a pragmatic means of attaining enforcement of quantified environmental standards because it implements the already existing Chinese Communist Party’s system of vertical hierarchy that has proven relatively successful in achieving other social goals. The cadre system, however, will only produce clean water over the long-term …

Unjust Enrichment: An Alternative To Tort Law And Human Rights In The Climate Change Context?, Aura Weinbaum

Washington International Law Journal

It is generally accepted within the scholarly international community that global climate change is occurring and is due at least in part to anthropogenic activity. Strategies to mitigate climate change harms and adapt to inevitable climate change-induced consequences are influencing legal, political, and human rights frameworks. Thus far, international litigation attempts to hold emitters accountable have been unsuccessful: Tuvalu’s threat to sue the United States and Australia at the International Court of Justice, and the Inuit’s petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights were both hampered by procedural and substantive legal issues. Perhaps in response, the United Nations and …

Victoria's Window Dressing: How The Environment Effects Act Of 1978 Failed At Bastion Point, Taylor K. Wonhoff

Washington International Law Journal

In 1978, Victoria’s Parliament enacted the Environment Effects Act 1978 (“EEA”), creating procedures by which the state could call for environmental impact assessments prior to beginning work on proposed construction projects. The EEA, however, is significantly flawed, in that it authorizes the Planning Minister, an elected official, the power not only to promulgate guidelines for the administration of the environmental assessment process, but also the power to determine whether the environmental effects of a project are outweighed by the economic or social benefits of the project’s completion. A case study involving Bastion Point offers a prime example of the effect …

Integrating Sustainable Development Planning And Climate Change Management: A Challenge To Planners And Land Use Attorneys, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This essay is based on our new book, Climate Change and Sustainable Development Law in a Nutshell (West 2011) which describes the close relationship between sustainable development and climate change management. It begins with a discussion of recent discussions and agreements at the international level and it provides a brief history of sustainable development and climate change policy. The article then explores national and local strategies to address sustainable development goals. Local planning and zoning, transit oriented development, energy efficiency and green infrastructure issues are also addressed.

A Game Of Old Maid: The Ninth Circuit Establishes When The Owner-Operator Is Determined For Cercla Liability In California V. Hearthside Residential Corp., Dustin M. Glazier

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Testimony Of Rena Steinzor…Before The U.S. House Of Representatives, Energy And Commerce Committee, Subcommittee On Environment And Economics. 112th Congress, 1st Session (2011)., Rena I. Steinzor

Congressional Testimony

Environmental regulations have saved millions of lives, preventing chronic respiratory illness and heart attacks in cities across the country. These rules protect children from irreversible neurological damage, save billions of dollars in cleanup costs, and preserve water quality in lakes, rivers, and streams. If anything, our regulatory system is dangerously weak, and Congress should focus on reviving it rather than eroding public protections….

Slides: Environmental Water In Australia, Chris Arnott

Conversation with Water Management Reps from Colorado and Australia: "Adapting to Climate Change: Lessons Learned from Australia" (February 14)

Presenter: Chris Arnott, Managing Director, Alluvium Consulting

30 slides

Slides: Adapting To Climate Change: Lessons Learnt From The Australian Water Experience, Will Fargher

Conversation with Water Management Reps from Colorado and Australia: "Adapting to Climate Change: Lessons Learned from Australia" (February 14)

Presenter: Will Fargher, National Water Commission, Australian Government

18 slides [4 have titles only and are missing images]

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill And The Limits Of Civil Liability, Ronen Perry

Washington Law Review

This Article uses the unprecedented disaster in the Gulf of Mexico as an opportunity to critically evaluate the law pertaining to civil liability for oil pollution before and after the enactment of the Oil Pollution Act. This topic is analyzed as a derivative of a more general concern, namely the internal harmony of civil liability regimes. The Article unveils a general incongruity in American land-based and maritime tort law that surfaced through the Exxon Valdez litigation, and examines whether subsequent statutory reform has eliminated the problem in the limited context of marine oil pollution, using the Deepwater Horizon incident as …

Environmental Deliberative Democracy And The Search For Administrative Legitimacy: A Legal, Positivism Approach, Michael Ray Harris

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The failure of regulatory systems over the past two decades to lessen the environment degradation associated with modern human economic output has begun to undermine the legitimacy of environmental lawmaking in the United States and around the world. Recent scholarship suggests that reversal of this trend will require a breach of the environmental administrative apparatus by democratization of a particular kind, namely the inclusion of greater public discourse within the context of regulatory decision-making. This Article examines this claim through the lens of modern legal positivism. Legal positivism provides the tools necessary to test for and identify the specfic structural …

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill And The Limits Of Civil Liability, Ronen Perry

Washington Law Review

This Article uses the unprecedented disaster in the Gulf of Mexico as an opportunity to critically evaluate the law pertaining to civil liability for oil pollution before and after the enactment of the Oil Pollution Act. This topic is analyzed as a derivative of a more general concern, namely the internal harmony of civil liability regimes. The Article unveils a general incongruity in American land-based and maritime tort law that surfaced through the Exxon Valdez litigation, and examines whether subsequent statutory reform has eliminated the problem in the limited context of marine oil pollution, using the Deepwater Horizon incident as …

Decreasing Dirty Dumping? A Reevaluation Of Toxic Waste Colonialism And The Global Management Of Transboundary Hazardous Waste, Laura A. Pratt

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Even though the phrase “toxic waste colonialism” has fallen out
of usage in the past ten years, the effective global management of transboundary
hazardous waste has yet to become an out-of-date topic. Starting
in the early 1980s, the international community sought to develop international
agreements governing the transboundary movement of hazardous
waste in order to protect developing countries from illegal “dirty dumping”
practices. Over twenty years have passed since the adoption of the Basel
Convention formed the foundation for other subsequent global protocols.
However, the ever-increasing global quantities of hazardous waste, including
the growing electronic waste issue, only exacerbate the …

How The Law Mattered To The Mono Lake Ecosystem, Sherry A. Enzler

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

The 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Board reported
unprecedented degradation of ecosystems and the services they provide
to human well-being which, if allowed to continue, would adversely affect
human health, security, and welfare. Our environmental legal authorities,
however, are not designed to protect the health of our nation’s ecosystems,
focusing instead on clean air, clean land, and clean water as a
single medium, often referred to as the silo approach to environmental
protection. Protecting ecosystems requires a systemic approach to the
environment in both policy and law; this in turn requires a change in our
approach to environmental protection. How do …

Encouraging Private Investment In Energy Efficiency, Sarah Schindler

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Combating the negative effects of climate change requires finding ways to increase energy production while reducing energy demand. Many states have programs in place to encourage home and business owners to improve the energy efficiency of their buildings. Despite the clear financial and environmental benefits that result from energy efficiency upgrades, most people have not taken advantage of the programs being offered by their states. This paper begins by addressing the structure of federal and state energy efficiency programs, as well as the existing funding for those programs. It then describes key barriers that prevent energy efficiency programs from motivating …

Jan. 10, 2011, Ifc, Review-Update Policy And Performance Standards, Ifc

IFC E&S Performance Standards

No abstract provided.

The Aftermath Of The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Basil Borisov

Student Works

No abstract provided.

Towards Promises Unfulfilled: Applying Sixteen Years Of Trade And Environmental Lessons To The Pending U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, Travis A. Brooks

Global Business & Development Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Logic And Limits Of Environmental Criminal Law In The Global Setting: Brazil And The United States--Comparisons, Contrasts, And Questions In Search Of A Robust Theory, Robert F. Blomquist

Law Faculty Publications

Strict but arguably unfair and counterproductive systems of criminal environmental law and enforcement exist in both the United States and Brazll in the twenty-first century. In order to create a sovereignty dividend encompassing the rule of law and evenhanded administrative control in the competitive global setting, both countries should rethink and reform their respective systems of environmental criminal law by seeking answers to several questions of legal philosophy in search of a robust theory.

When Business Conduct Turns Violent: Bringing Bp, Massey, And Other Scofflaws To Justice, Jane F. Barrett

Faculty Scholarship

In April 2010, forty-seven people died violently as a result of explosions at an oil refinery, in a coal mine and on an offshore drilling rig. The BP Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, the Massey Mine coal mine disaster and the Tesoro Corporation oil refinery explosion raise questions about the corporate and individual criminal culpability of those responsible for these deaths. Too often cases involving worker deaths are not prosecuted at all or result in simply large fines against a corporate entity. This Article argues that the Department of Justice needs to more aggressively investigate and prosecute not only organizations but, more …