Natural Resources Law Commons^™

The "Stern Review" And Its Critics: Implications For The Theory And Practice Of Benefit-Cost Analysis, Daniel H. Cole

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The UK's Treasury's "Stern Review: The Economics of Climate Change" (Oct. 2006) reached dramatically different conclusions and policy recommendations than most earlier economic analyses of climate change. It found that the costs of climate change, as well as the potential net benefits of greenhouse gas reductions, were much higher that previously estimated, and consequently recommended more rapid and extensive cuts in emissions than other economist analysts. The Stern Review estimated that a 1% annual investment of global GDP in mitigation could prevent a 5% (or more) reduction in annual global GDP from climate change harm, forever. A number of prominent …

Reflections On The Tenth Anniversary Of The Refuge Improvement Act, Robert L. Fischman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

What Is Natural Resources Law?, Robert L. Fischman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

A recent flurry of new natural resources law casebooks, coming a quarter-century since the publication of the last significant new teaching materials, is an occasion to revisit the boundaries that define the field. The similarities among the casebooks are stronger than their differences, and represent a consensus about what composes natural resources law. The published teaching materials as well as an informal poll of natural resources law professors show a substantial overlap between natural resources and environmental law course coverage. Administrative implementation of statutes dominates both subjects. Both courses typically cover environmental impact analysis and endangered species protection. The new …

Savings Clauses And Trends In Natural Resources Federalism, Robert L. Fischman, Angela King

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This article considers recent trends in federalism, with particular attention to natural resource law's statutory savings clauses. It begins with a case study of elk management in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The elk controversy shows how a statutory savings clause can provide a state with traction to advance its interests, and demonstrates how the political winds of change can shift the balance of state-federal relations. The article then focuses on the common statutory savings clauses and their roles in circumscribing federal agency authority and establishing a basis for cooperation between federal and state governments. We analyze the interpretive approaches the judiciary …

Habitat Federalism, Robert L. Fischman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

THE COMMON IMAGE OF COOPERATIVE FEDERALISM INVOLVES the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) inducing states to adopt permit and other pollution abatement programs. States can tailor some standards, but public health benchmarks and end-of-the-pipe technologies are uniform across the nation. Inducements include both carrots, mostly in the form of federal funds and flexibility, and sticks, mostly in the form of penalties and loss of control.

This essay discusses cooperative federalism for habitat conservation. Habitat federalism focuses more on ecology than chemistry, more on cities and counties than states, and more on place-based variation than on uniform standards. It is about how …

The Perils Of Defensive Conservation, Robert L. Fischman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Cooperative Federalism And Natural Resources Law, Robert L. Fischman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Cooperative federalism describes an arrangement under which a national government induces coordination from subordinate jurisdictions, such as states and tribes, through incentives rather than requirements. In environmental law, cooperative federalism highlights the divide between pollution control and resource management. This article examines the divide from both sides.

Even though almost all of the environmental law commentary on cooperative federalism focuses exclusively on the pollution control side, the basic elements of cooperative federalism can be combined in a wider variety of forms than are recognized by most pollution control programs or scholarship. This article reviews the ways in which resource management …

The Significance Of National Wildlife Refuges In The Development Of U.S. Conservation Policy, Robert L. Fischman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

A retrospective of National Wildlife Refuge System conservation shows a promising trajectory. The system has overcome persistent neglect to contribute to conservation policy. Haltingly, it has kept pace with conservation science to remain the chief American contribution to large-scale wildlife protection. Early on, it pioneered the use of habitat acquisition to protect imperiled species. More recently, it has begun to implement the cutting-edge ecological mandate to maintain biological integrity, diversity, and environmental health. Perhaps the most meaningful feature of the history of the refuge system is how closely it mirrors the development of conservation policy in the twentieth century.

This …

Managing Biological Integrity, Diversity, And Environmental Health In The National Wildlife Refuges: An Introduction To The Symposium, Robert L. Fischman, Vicky J. Meretsky

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Meanings Of Biological Integrity, Diversity, And Environmental Health, Robert L. Fischman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This article extracts from the legislative mandate to "ensure that the biological integrity, diversity, and environmental health of the [Refuge] System are maintained," a range of meanings that reflect scientific and legislative trends in conservation. The standard modes of statutory interpretation yield meanings that largely support the 2001 Fish and Wildlife Service policy delineating three distinct yet overlapping categories. The analysis reveals three insights applicable to other areas of environmental law. First, although diversity and health emphasize important aspects of nature protection, integrity is becoming the umbrella concept that encompasses the needs of well functioning landscapes. Second, the effectiveness of …

Predictions And Prescriptions For The Endangered Species Act, Robert L. Fischman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The thirtieth anniversary of the enactment of the modern Endangered Species Act (ESA) offers an irresistible excuse to suggest changes that are needed to set the statute, and the larger project of environmental protection, on course for greater effectiveness. The 1973 ESA is novel in its approach and reach, in that it reflects both the resource management and pollution control traditions in environmental law. Its evolution indicates broader trends in the legal landscape of environmental law.

Making predictions about the future of the ESA is a daunting task. Most predictions made thirty years ago about the statute proved to be …

The National Wildlife Refuge System And The Hallmarks Of Modern Organic Legislation, Robert L. Fischman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This article explores the origins and precise meaning of the term "organic act," which is widely used in public land law. The evolution in the meaning of the term reflects larger shifts in the role of legislation in public resource management. The article illustrates this with an analysis of the 1997 Refuge Improvement Act, a substantial revision of the charter for the Refuge System and the first major statute governing public land management enacted since the 1970s.

The Refuge System's "dominant use" regime is an important model for sustainable resource management. The article describes this regime in the context of …

Stumbling To Johannesburg: The United States' Haphazard Progress Toward Sustainable Forestry Law, Robert L. Fischman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This Article addresses how well forestry law in the United States promotes sustainable development, with special attention to the trends of the past decade. The role of law in shaping forest management decisions has been a contentious issue in this recent period, and forestry has been at the forefront of public concern about sustainability of natural resource management generally. Therefore, the problems and opportunities for forestry law to promote sustainable development are indications of the weaknesses and strengths of the overall U.S. legal regime.

A Lesson For Conservation From Pollution Control Law: Cooperative Federalism For Recovery Under The Endangered Species Act, Robert L. Fischman, Jaelith Hall-Rivera

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Endangered Species Information: Access And Control, Robert L. Fischman, Vicky J. Meretsky

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Epa's Nepa Duties And Ecosystem Services, Robert L. Fischman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Short Changing Short-Term Risk: A Study Of Superfund Remedy Selection, John S. Applegate, Steven M. Wesloh

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Unlike most environmental statutes, CERCLA requires a lengthy period of labor-intensive activity to achieve its clean-up goals. This aspect of the Superfund program does not receive sufficient attention in policy and legal analyses of CERCLA, nor during site-specific remedy selection decision-making. The risks of the remediation period-to workers, to site neighbors, and to the natural environment-are substantial, as this Article illustrates. However, the confusing and sometimes dismissive treatment of remediation risk in the EPA 's detailed guidance for Superfund decision-makers invites the neglect of the short-term effectiveness criterion in the remedy selection process. A study of remedy selection documents in …

Risk Assessment, Redevelopment, And Environmental Justice: Evaluating The Brownfields Bargain, John S. Applegate

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Problem Of Statutory Detail In National Park Establishment Legislation And Its Relationship To Pollution Control Law, Robert L. Fischman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

How To Save The National Priorities List From The D.C. Circuit -- And Itself, John S. Applegate

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Administrative Appeal Reform: The Case Of The Forest Service, Robert L. Fischman, Bradley C. Bobertz

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Biological Diversity And Environmental Protection: Authorities To Reduce Risk, Robert L. Fischman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Endangered Species Conservation: What Should We Expect Of Federal Agencies?, Robert L. Fischman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Corporatisation: Implementing Forest Management Reform In New Zealand, Robert L. Fischman, Richard L. Nagle

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Changing Conceptions Of Property And Sovereignty In Natural Resources: Questioning The Public Trust Doctrine, Richard J. Lazarus

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Intergenerational Condemnation, Donald H. Gjerdingen

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Justice between generations is a growing concern in land use, particularly in the areas of environmental and historic preservation. In this Article, Professor Gerdingen addresses the effect of this development on contemporary takings clause doctrine. He argues that conventional takings doctrine is comprised of four different "causes of action" that merely focus on intragenerational conflicts over the use of resources. As a result, part of the reason why the law generates so many hard cases in the area of environmental and historic preservation is that the conventional takings doctrine is unable to accommodate the justice between generations component of preservation …

Water Supply In The Northeast: A Study In Regulatory Failure, Ann Judith Gellis

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Book Review. For Whom The National Parks?, A. Dan Tarlock

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Western Water Law And Coal Development, A. Dan Tarlock

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

No Water For The Woods: A Critical Analysis Of United States V. New Mexico, A. Dan Tarlock, Sally K. Fairfax

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.