Land Use Law Commons^™

The Green Economy: Strategic Planning For A Future?, Irma S. Russell

Faculty Works

While the green economy is uniquely dependent on imagination, it is not imaginary. While it needs ideas to grow, it is not necessarily ideological. The term “green economy” brings to mind for many people wind turbines and solar energy installations, and, perhaps, organic produce and free-range chickens as well. All these usages convey the sense of “sustainability.” The use of the term “green” -- long associated with growth and life -- is in keeping with the term “sustainability” as articulated in the 1987 United Nation Brundtland Report, entitled Our Common Future. The report defines the term “sustainability” as “meeting the …

A Historical Reassessment Of Congress's "Power To Dispose Of" The Public Lands, Jeffrey M. Schmitt

School of Law Faculty Publications

The Property Clause of the Constitution grants Congress the “Power to Dispose” of federal land. Congress uses this Clause to justify permanent federal land ownership of approximately one-third of the land within the United States. Legal scholars, however, are divided as to whether the original understanding of the Clause supports this practice. While many scholars argue that the text and intent of the framers show that Congress has the power to permanently own land within the states, others contend that these sources demonstrate that Congress has a duty to dispose of all federal land not held pursuant to another enumerated …

Climate Change Challenges For Land Conservation: Rethinking Conservation Easements, Strategies, And Tools, Jessica Owley, Federico Cheever, Adena R. Rissman, M. Rebecca Shaw, Barton H. Thompson Jr., W. William Weeks

Journal Articles

Climate change has significant consequences for land conservation. Government agencies and nonprofit land trusts heavily rely on perpetual conservation easements. However, climate change and other dynamic landscape changes raise questions about the effectiveness and adaptability of permanent conservation instruments like conservation easements. Building upon a study of 269 conservation easements and interviews with seventy conservation-easement professionals in six different states, we examine the adaptability of conservation easements to climate change. We outline four potential approaches to enhance conservation outcomes under climate change: (1) shift land-acquisition priorities to account for potential climate change impacts; (2) consider conservation tools other than perpetual …

An Independent Review Of Forest Practices In Nova Scotia: Executive Summary Conclusions And Recommendations, William Lahey Prof.

Reports & Public Policy Documents

My mandate was to make recommendations on forest practices that would, if implemented, balance environmental, social, and economic objectives, which I have interpreted to include values. My conclusion is that environmental, social, and economic values should be balanced by using forest practices that give priority to protecting and enhancing ecosystems and biodiversity.

In other words, I have concluded that protecting ecosystems and biodiversity should not be balanced against other objectives and values as if they were of equal weight or importance to those other objectives or values. Instead, protecting and enhancing ecosystems should be the objective (the outcome) of how …

Rewired Infrastructure Post-Paris, Steven Ferrey

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

The Trump Administration announced in 2017 that it is withdrawing the U.S. from the international Paris Agreement regarding climate change which went into full effect in 2016. More than half the states sued the EPA when it promulgated the Clean Power Plan (CPP) to reduce power sector carbon emissions by 32 percent by 2030; thereafter, the Supreme Court stayed enforcement of the regulation, pending eventual review on the merits. The Trump Administration began efforts to repeal the Obama Administration CPP which was designed to satisfy the U.S. Paris Agreement commitments to curb CO2 emissions from burning coal to generate electric …

Non-Enforcement Takings, Timothy M. Mulvaney

Faculty Scholarship

The non-enforcement of existing property laws is not logically separable from the issue of unfair and unjust state deprivations of property rights at which the Constitution's Takings Clause takes aim. This Article suggests, therefore, that takings law should police allocations resulting from non-enforcement decisions on the same "fairness and justice" grounds that it polices allocations resulting from decisions to enact and enforce new regulations. Rejecting the extant majority position that state decisions not to enforce existing property laws are categorically immune from takings liability is not to advocate that persons impacted by such decisions should be automatically or even regularly …

The Impact Of The Tobacco Buyout On The Commonwealth's Open Spaces: Protecting Open Land By Expanding The Scope Of Use Value Assessment, Mary Atkinson

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Clean Air Council V. Pruitt, Oliver Wood

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia granted a motion for summary vacatur against the Environmental Protection Agency after environmental groups challenged the agency’s reconsideration of the Obama-era methane rule under the Clean Air Act. The court held that the EPA unlawfully issued a stay after it reconsidered the rule without proper authorization. The court vacated the EPA’s stay, one example of the Trump Administration unsuccessfully repealing Obama-era rulemaking.

The Natural Capital Crisis In Southern U.S. Cities, Blake Hudson

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Detroit Frontier: Urban Agriculture In A Legal Vacuum, Jacqueline Hand, Amanda Gregory

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Small Sustainability Supply: How Small Business And Lean Manufacturing Can Change Supply Chains, Carlos Lopez

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Benefitting From Sustainable Development, Victoria Frappaolo

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Batteries Included: Incentivizing Energy Storage, Lindsay Breslau, Michael Croweak, Alan Witt

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

Distributed Energy Storage (“DES”) technologies that allow households and businesses to store substantial amounts of electricity on site are rapidly advancing and could soon have dramatic impacts on the nation’s electricity generation, transmission, and distribution markets. These technologies could provide numerous benefits, including enhanced energy security, grid stability, and greater support for renewable generation technologies, but several obstacles are slowing their adoption throughout the country. Among these obstacles are stubbornly high manufacturing costs and the potential impacts of DES development on utilities and the traditional energy regulatory framework. Fortunately, policymakers in California, New York, Hawaii, and some other states are …

Appraising The Role Of The Ifc And Its Independent Accountability Mechanism: Community Experiences In Haiti’S Mining Sector, Kate Nancy Taylor

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Green Is Good: How Green Bonds Cultivated Into Wall Street’S Environmental Paradox, Luke Trompeter

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

When the European Investment Bank issued the first green bond in 2007, few imagined this debt instrument would attract mainstream investors. Designed to finance projects ranging from climate change prevention to clean transportation development, green bonds were geared for socially responsible investors concerned with our planet’s sustainability. However, by 2015, green bonds were issued by major corporations like Apple and municipalities like New York City at a record $40 billion. Major players on Wall Street have taken notice and look to cash in on the rapidly growing green bond market. With this new influx of investment and the bonds’ tax-exempt …

About Sdlp

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Editor's Note, Kimberly Reynolds, Ryan Schmidt

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Can The Eu Carbon Tax The U.S. In Retaliation?, Annum Rashedi

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Regional Disputes: It Is Not Just Ground Beef, Nicholas W. Laneville

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Fighting The Wrong Fight: Why The Mlp Parity Act Is A Misguided Attempt At Achieving Renewable Energy Capital Raising Parity, David Powers

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

The Paris Agreement And The International Trade Regime: Considerations For Harmonization, Charles E. Di Leva, Xiaoxin Shi

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Never For-Gatt: What Recent Tbt Decisions Reveal About The Appellate Body’S Analysis Of Environmental Regulation Under The Wto Agreements, Ravi Soopramanien

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

Few environmentalists have positive things to say on the impact of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the environment. WTO legal obligations are frequently cited as the most significant impediment to a range of environmental initiatives, including notably meaningful international coordination to combat climate change, particularly through carbon tax initiatives, and imposition of electronic waste disposal export bans. In this vein, adverse findings of WTO dispute panels on environmental conservation measures tend to attract the ire of international civil society. The tensions between liberal trade and environmental protection can be traced back to the days of the General Agreement on …

About Sdlp

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Editor's Note, Ryan Schmidt, Kimberly Reynolds

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

The Law Of The Seas: A Barrier To Implementation Of Sustainable Development Goal 14, Alexi Nathan

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

The Key To Engaging With The Sdgs: Utilizing Rio Principle 10 To Succeessfully Implement The U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, Taís Ludwig

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Lofty Goals In Dire Times: South Sudan's Obstacles To Achieving The New Sdgs, Harjot Dhillon

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Developing An International Carbon Tax Regime, Steven Specht

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

A North-South Struggle: Political And Economic Obstacles To Sustainable Development, Imrana Iqbal, Charles Pierson

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Lodging The Sustainable Development Goals In The International Trade Regime: From Trade Rhetoric To Trade Plethoric, Nasser Alreshaid

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.