Environmental Law Commons^™

Climate Change, Dead Zones, And Massive Problems In The Administrative State: A Guide For Whittling Away, J.B. Ruhl, James Salzman

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Mandates that agencies solve massive problems such as sprawl and climate change roll easily out of the halls of legislatures, but as a practical matter what can any one agency do about them? Serious policy challenges such as these have dimensions far beyond the capacity of any single agency to manage effectively. Rather, as the Supreme Court recently observed in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, agencies, like legislatures, do not generally resolve massive problems in one fell swoop, but instead whittle away over time, refining their approach as circumstances change and they develop a more nuanced understanding of how best …

The European Union’S Role In The Prevention Of Vessel-Source Pollution And Its Internal Influence, Nengye Liu, Fran Maes

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The EU has the institutions and the comprehensive legal regime to regulate the prevention of vessel-source pollution within the Member States and these are reviewed here together with the international conventions. The EU has been much more proactive since the Erika and Prestige disasters with the adoption of a series of new regulations on the prevention of vessel-source pollution.This legislation also demonstrates an expansion of the competencies of EU institutions towards Member States, and the EU approach, although largely regarded as a success, has also been criticised as tending towards unilateralism.

Does Climate Change Justify Compulsory Licensing Of Green Technology?, Robert Fair

Brigham Young University International Law & Management Review

No abstract provided.

Lake Ice, Richard Hurlburt

UC Law Environmental Journal

No abstract provided.

The Public Trust Doctrine - A Twenty-First Century Concept, Michael C. Blumm

UC Law Environmental Journal

No abstract provided.

Debt-For-Development Exchanges: Using External Debt To Mitigate Environmental Damage In Developing Countries, Steven Freeland, Ross P. Buckley

UC Law Environmental Journal

This article analyzes the conception, evolution and recent development of debt-for-nature exchange techniques. It explores how the lessons of the early, problematic exchanges have been learned and how the highly successful exchanges conducted recently in Madagascar, Egypt, and Kenya have been structured. It assesses the possibility of the Clean Development Mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol being tapped as a source of ongoing funding for projects, and concludes by arguing that, given the various benefits exchanges offer both donors and recipients, these techniques have been underutilized and deserve more careful consideration.

The Illinois Central Public Trust Doctrine And Federal Common Law: An Unconventional View, Crystal S. Chase

UC Law Environmental Journal

No abstract provided.

Rembering Professor Luke W. Cole, 1962-2009, Editor

UC Law Environmental Journal

No abstract provided.

Can The Law Track Scientific Risk And Technological Innovation?: The Problem Of Regulatory Definitions And Nanotechnology, David A. Dana

Faculty Working Papers

The functioning of a regulatory regime often turns on what is defined to be included in the scope of regulation and what is defined to be outside. In constructing the definitions of what is regulated, two key challenges are to align the defintions with the risks that motivated the establishment of the regulatory regime and to build in dynamism into the defintions so that they adapt to changes in scientific understanding and technology. This Chapter of a forthcoming book from Cambridge University Press (David Dana, ed., The Nanotechnology Challenge), explores these challnegs in the context of nanotechnology.

From The Greenhouse To The Poorhouse: Carbon Emissions Control And The Rules Of Legislative Joinder, David A. Super

Faculty Scholarship

Pending legislation to address carbon emissions would include large subsidies for existing emitters. These subsidies make little sense economically or politically. Worse, they divert resources needed to address two crucial issues that the proposed legislation largely ignores: the impact of raising carbon costs on low-income people and the massive structural federal deficit. A carbon tax or cap-and-trade system would increase costs substantially not only for transportation but for food and housing. With poverty rising even before the current economic downturn, these price increases’ consequences could be dire. The structural deficit will require deflationary tax increases or spending cuts. Combining carbon …

Regulatory Blowout: How Regulatory Failures Made The Bp Disaster Possible, And How The System Can Be Fixed To Avoid A Recurrence, Alyson Flournoy, William Andreen, Rebecca Bratspies, Holly Doremus, Victor Flatt, Robert Glicksman, Joel Mintz, Daniel Rohlf, Amy Sinden, Rena I. Steinzor, Joseph Tomain, Sandra Zellmer, James Goodwin

Faculty Scholarship

The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is destined to take its place as one of the greatest environmental disasters in the history of the United States, or for that matter, of the entire planet. Like so many other disasters on that list, it was entirely preventable.

BP must shoulder its share of the blame, of course. Similarly, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) – since reorganized and rebranded – has come under much deserved criticism for its failure to rein in BP’s avaricious approach to drilling even where it was unable to respond to a worst-case scenario in …

Corrective Lenses For Iris: Additional Reforms To Improve Epa's Integrated Risk Information System, Rena I. Steinzor, Wendy E. Wagner, Lena Pons, Matthew Shudtz

Faculty Scholarship

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) is the most important toxicological database in the world. Not only is it the single most comprehensive database of human health information about toxic substances, it also serves as a gateway to regulation, as well as to a range of public and private sector efforts to protect against toxic substances. IRIS “profiles” of individual substances include a number of scientific assessments of the substance’s toxicity to humans by various means of exposure – by inhalation, contact with the skin, and so on. Federal regulators rely on the assessments to do …

Strategies For Promoting Green Energy Innovation, Deployment, & Technology Transfer, Robert V. Percival

Faculty Scholarship

This paper surveys various strategies for promoting the development and deployment of green energy technologies.

Bike Club, Charlie Friedman, Liz Shaner, Greg Simmons, Dan Stringer

Student Environmental Law Films/Golden Tree Films

The film “Bike Club” that extols the environmental virtues of biking to school or work won a Special Judge’s Award in the school’s “Golden Tree” awards for having the best end credits. The film was produced by Charlie Friedman, Liz Shaner, Greg Simmons, and Dan Stringer.

Environmental Awareness, Adam Sharpe, Blake Baron

Student Environmental Law Films/Golden Tree Films

The film "Environmental Awareness" quizzed law students about a variety of environmental issues, demonstrating that their knowledge of current events often is laughably deficient.

Environmental Injustice, Nancy Lineman, Elsa Clausen Michels, Holly Devaser

Student Environmental Law Films/Golden Tree Films

A film about the Cherry Hill neighborhood of Baltimore and the environmental problems facing that community.

Produced by Nancy Lineman, Elsa Clausen Michels and Holly Devaser, the film won “Golden Trees” awards for Best Picture, Most Educational Film, Best Cinematography, and Best Narration.

Red Rocks, Tom Grillo, John Sipple, Ethan Weitzman

Student Environmental Law Films/Golden Tree Films

This film explores the background and issues surrounding Senate bill 799 - A bill to designate as wilderness certain Federal portions of the red rock canyons of the Colorado Plateau and the Great Basin Deserts in the State of Utah for the benefit of present and future generations of people in the United States.

Rats Are Rotten, Irene Hantman, Katie O’Malley, Jessica Rozali

Student Environmental Law Films/Golden Tree Films

The film "Rats Are Rotten” explores pest control techniques in Baltimore.

Scrap Tires, Jacquin Milhouse, Terri Morse

Student Environmental Law Films/Golden Tree Films

This film discusses the problem of how to dispose of used tires.

Somebody Call 911: Windmills Are Killing Our Birds, Jessica Raba, Bryan Ebert

Student Environmental Law Films/Golden Tree Films

The film "Somebody Call 911: Windmills Are Killing Our Birds” examines the impact of wind power on birds.

Just A Reminder, Paul Huntington

Student Environmental Law Films/Golden Tree Films

A musical exploration of the challenges of being a law student. Original music by Paul Huntington.

Six Stages In The History Of Environmental Law, Nat Keller, Sasha Millard, Emily Rohm

Student Environmental Law Films/Golden Tree Films

The film “Six Stages in the History of Environmental Law” won the University of Maryland School of Law's “Golden Tree” award for Best Use of Special Effects. Nat Keller, Sasha Millard, and Emily Rohm used moving stick figures against a backdrop of historic photos to illustrate the history of environmental law as described in Professor Percival’s casebook.

Baltimore Urban Gardening, April Morton, Betty Franky, Emily Fisher, Erin Doran, Heather Sites

Student Environmental Law Films/Golden Tree Films

The student film “Baltimore Urban Gardening” highlights the benefits of creating spaces for and using locally grown produce.

Believe, Taggart Hutchinson, Shauna Stringham, Beth Grasso, Will Tilburg

Student Environmental Law Films/Golden Tree Films

The student created film “Believe,” a parody of the notion of clean coal, won the “Golden Tree” for Best Use of Humor. Produced by Taggart Hutchinson, Shauna Stringham, Beth Grasso and Will Tilburg, the film featured Tagg showering with coal-based soap, using a coal lightbulb, and cooking with coal.

The Evolution Of Natural Resources Law And Policy, Lawrence J. Macdonnell, Sarah F. Bates

Books, Reports, and Studies

This digital resource contains only an abstract, cover image and table of contents information from the published book.

Print copy of book is available in the University of Colorado’s Wise Law Library: http://lawpac.colorado.edu/record=b444104~S0

Contents: Introduction / Bruce Babbitt -- PART I : REFLECTIONS ON NATURAL RESOURCES LAW AND POLICY: Historical evolution and future of natural resources law and policy / Sally Fairfax, Helen M. Ingram, Leigh Raymond -- Ethical perspectives on resources law and policy : global warming and our common future / Sarah Krakoff -- Why care about the polar bear? : economic analysis of natural resources law and …

The Roberts Court And The Environment, Stephen M. Johnson

Articles

During the October 2008 Term, the Supreme Court decided five cases that raised issues of environmental law and the environment was the loser in each case. While it may be difficult to characterize the decisions of the Roberts Court, generally, as “pro-environment” or “antienvironment,” a couple themes consistently appear in the Court’s decisions. First, in most of the environmental cases, the Court has adopted a position advocated or defended by a federal, state or local government when governmental interests are at issue. Second, in all of the cases that implicate federalism concerns, the Court has rendered decisions that favor States’ …

Summers V. Earth Island Institute Rejects Probabilistic Standing, But A 'Realistic Threat' Of Harm Is A Better Standing Test, Bradford Mank

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

In Summers v. Earth Island Institute, the Supreme Court recently rejected Justice Breyer’s dissenting opinion’s proposed test for organizational standing based upon the statistical probability that some of an organization’s members will likely be harmed in the near future by a defendant’s allegedly illegal actions. Implicitly, however, the Court had recognized some form of probabilistic standing in Friends of the Earth v. Laidlaw, which found standing where plaintiffs avoid recreational activities because of “reasonable concerns” about future health injuries from pollution; Summers did not overrule Laidlaw. There is an inherent tension between the Summers and Laidlaw decisions. This Article applies …

A Fish Tale: A Small Fish, The Esa, And Our Shared Future, Dale Goble

Articles

The objective of the Endangered Species Act is to "recover" imperiled species and thus to render the Act's conservation tools unnecessary To achieve this goal, the drafters of the Act crafted a linear process that begins with an assessment of the threats facing the species and moves through the elimination of those threats to the recovery and delisting of the species. It has become increasingly apparent over the past decade that few species fit this model- most species face threats-altered habitats and competition with invasive species-that cannot be eliminated. These species are "conservation reliant" because they will require ongoing conservation …

'Have We All Gone Bats?' - The Strict Protection Of Wildlife Under The Habitats Directive And Tourism Development: Some Lessons From Ireland, Marc Mcdonald

Articles

This article explores the impact of the legal protection of bats under EU wildilfe legislation on tourism development in Ireland.

Branches, Sierra Nevada, Richard Hurlburt

UC Law Environmental Journal

No abstract provided.