Environmental Law Commons^™

Disclosure Of Information Concerning Climate Change: Liability Risks And Opportunities, Cynthia A. Williams

Commissioned Reports, Studies and Public Policy Documents

The Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative (CCLI) has published two legal research papers on Canadian fiduciary duties and disclosure obligations in the climate change context. In Obligations in Business and Investment: Implications of Climate Change, legal analysis by Dr Janis Sarra, Presidential Distinguished Professor and Professor of Law University of British Columbia, shows that directors, officers and pension fund trustees must identify and address climate-related financial risk or they may be personally liable for breach of their fiduciary obligation or duty of care. In Disclosure of Information Concerning Climate Change: Liability Risks and Opportunities, Cynthia A. Williams, Osler …

The Fragile Menagerie: Biodiversity Loss, Climate Change, And The Law, James M. Chen

Indiana Law Journal

I. THE HIPPODROME OF THE GODS: RACING AGAINST ECOLOGICAL AND

EVOLUTIONARY APOCALYPSE....................................................................... 304

II. ACROSS THE APOCALYPSE ON HORSEBACK: LEGAL RESPONSES

TO BIODIVERSITY LOSS .................................................................................... 310

A. OVERKILL ........................................................................................... 310

B. ALIEN INVASIVE SPECIES ..................................................................... 316

C. HABITAT DESTRUCTION AND PUBLIC LAND MANAGEMENT .................. 321

1. ISLAND BIOGEOGRAPHY .............................................................. 321

2. PUBLIC LANDS MANAGEMENT..................................................... 325

III. THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT: FROM PRIVATE LANDS TO

GLOBAL COMMONS .......................................................................................... 329

A. ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT MECHANICS .............................................. 330

1. LISTING ENDANGERED AND THREATENED SPECIES....................... 330

2. CRITICAL HABITAT ..................................................................... 333

3. INTERAGENCY CONSULTATION .................................................... 333

B. HABITAT CONSERVATION ON PRIVATE LANDS...................................... 335

C. …

Property Provisions Of The Joint Operating Agreement: An Update For The New 2015 Form Joa, Alex Ritchie, Gary B. Conine

Faculty Scholarship

The joint operating agreement (JOA) in the oil and gas industry helps coordinate joint operation efforts that facilitate exploration and unitization of tracts, and conservation of a depleting resource. Professor Conine’s 1988 article expanded, limited, and defined the property interests of the parties both inside and outside the contract area. This article is an update to those prior works with greater emphasis on the 1989 Form JOA, cases and developments since its publication, and the implications of the revisions to the JOA in the new 2015 Form JOA published by the American Association of Professional Landmen (AAPL).

The purposes of …

Foreword: Private, Environmental, Governance, Joshua Ulan Galperin

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This essay is the invited foreword to the 2017 J.B & Maurice C. Shapiro Environmental Law Symposium issue of the George Washington Journal of Energy and Environmental Law. The 2017 symposium was dedicated to the issue of private environmental governance. This essay recognizes the incredible growth of private environmental governance as an area of study in the legal academy. In addition to introducing the various contributions to the symposium issue, this essay proposes that rather than merely studying "private environmental governance" as an independent concept, scholars should look closely at the individual components, "private," "environmental," and "governance," to better understand …

Unforeseen Land Uses: The Effect Of Marijuana Legalization On Land Conservation Programs, Jessica Owley

Journal Articles

This Article explores the tension between land conservation and marijuana cultivation in the context of legalization. The legalization of marijuana has the potential to shift the locations of marijuana cultivation. Where cultivation need no longer be surreptitious and clandestine, growers may begin to explore sanctioned growing sites and methods. Thus, the shift to legalization may be accompanied by environmental and land-use implications. Investigating commercial-scale marijuana cultivation, this Article details how, in some ways, legalization can reduce environmental impacts of marijuana cultivation while also examining tricky issues regarding tensions between protected lands and marijuana cultivation. If we treat cultivation of marijuana …

Pragmatism, Pragtivism, And Private Environmental Governance, Joshua Ulan Galperin

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This essay is an edited version of a talk presented at the 2017 J.B. & Maurice C. Shapiro Environmental Law Symposium on Private Environmental Governance at the George Washington University. It is adapted from a longer article entitled Trust Me, I’m A Pragmatist: A Partially Pragmatic Critique of Pragmatic Activism, in 42 Colum. J. Envtl. L. 425 (2017).

The Control Of Methane And Voc Emissions From Oil And Gas Operations In The Western United States, Arnold W. Reitze Jr.

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

This article discusses the regulation of hydrocarbon emissions, including the emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from the oil and gas industry in the western United States. It covers the regulations of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Bureau of Land Management, and other Federal agencies. It also discusses the state laws of the major oil and gas producing western states: California, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. It covers operations on public, state, and private lands, but it does not cover oil and gas operations on Indian lands that are the subject of the author’s previous article.

Harvest The Wind, Harvest Your Dinner: Using Law To Encourage An Offshore Energy-Food Multiple-Use Nexus, Robin Kundis Craig

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Most scholars discuss the food-water-energy-climate nexus as it emerges on land. Less attention has been paid to the food-water-energy-climate nexus as it exists in the ocean, but that nexus exists—and it is beginning to be strained. This Article, a companion piece to the forthcoming “It’s Not Just an Offshore Wind Farm,” explores the international drive to combine offshore wind facilities with marine aquaculture, an emerging example of the water-energy-food nexus in the marine environment. Many nations are becoming increasingly interested in both offshore wind farms and open ocean marine aquaculture, but both enterprises take up considerable space in the marine …

Unwise Integration Of The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act Into The Common Reporting Standard - Taking Taiwan As An Example, Yi-Hsin Wu

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The note critically examines the challenges of integrating the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) with the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), using Taiwan as a case study. It argues that integrating FATCA into CRS is unnecessary and could exacerbate compliance burdens for financial institutions, particularly in jurisdictions like Taiwan that have already invested significant resources into FATCA compliance. Instead, the note advocates for revising FATCA to clarify its provisions and reducing withholding tax obligations, while postponing CRS implementation to allow better preparation and avoid unfair competitive disadvantages.

Examining Procedural Justice And Legitimacy In Corporate Offending And Beyond-Compliance Behavior: The Efficacy Of Direct And Indirect Regulatory Interactions, Michael P. Vandenbergh, Melissa Rorie, Sally Simpson, Mark Cohen

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The large-scale physical and financial consequences of corporate environmental violations are undeniable. In 2015, for instance, Volkswagen was found to have installed software on some of its diesel models that allo\xed the cars to pass emissions tests while producing up to forty times more emissions than allowed. Aside from the obvious use of deceptive advertising and the financial harm suffered by Volkswagen investors and car owners (Chevs 2015: Greene and Foley 2015: Shah 2015), it has been estimated that these actions will cause sixy premature deaths, thirty-one cases of' chronic bronchitis, and thirty-four other cases of serious cardiac and respiratory …

The Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act: Proposed Modifications To Improve Resilience To Sea Level Rise, Christopher Antoine

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

There are a number of ways to increase resiliency to sea level rise, and localities should consider all of the potential methods available to them, as not all methods are feasible in every locality. This paper will examine how the CBPA [Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, the "Act"] currently works to protect water quality and its current capability to help localities improve resilience. It will also consider some potential changes to the CBPA and other programs that may increase the Act’s ability to promote community resilience to sea level rise through rational development while maintaining the water quality benefits that the …

Groundwater Injection Projects: Mitigating The Risk Of Emerging Contaminants, Conor Jennings

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

The Hampton Roads region is one of the fastest growing population centers in Virginia, meaning that demand for clean drinking water is only increasing. In response to this growing problem, the Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD), whose mission is to treat the region’s wastewater, has developed and begun to implement the Sustainable Water Initiative for Tomorrow (SWIFT) project to better reclaim treated wastewater by directly injecting it into the aquifer. Currently, HRSD’s treated wastewater is simply released into surface waters but this process does not help replenish the aquifer because the natural replenishment of the underground aquifer through surface water …

Riparian Rights And Public Trust: Enforcement Authority, Reeana Keenen

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

In Virginia, private landowners own the land to the Mean Low Water mark (“MLW”), whereas in many coastal states private landowners only own to the high water mark. The bottomlands channelward of the MLW mark in Virginia are governed by the Public Trust Doctrine, meaning that the state holds this land in trust for use by the public. However, use conflicts can arise where private landowners own property adjacent to publicly owned property or where public easements run through private property adjacent to public beach access points.

This Paper will provide a summary of the law regarding private and public …

Recurrent Flooding, Sea Level Rise, And The Relocation Of At-Risk Communities: Case Studies From The Commonwealth Of Virginia, Jeffrey Moore, Lauren Acker

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

No abstract provided.

Sea Level Rise And Recurrent Flooding: A Toolbox For Local Governments In Virginia, Victor Unnone, Jonathan Lubrano

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

No abstract provided.

Waterfront Property Rights: The Potential Impact Of Government Projects, Emily Messer

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

No abstract provided.

A Fixed Rule For A Changing World: The Legacy Of Lucas V. South Carolina Coastal Council, J. Peter Byrne

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In light of the 25th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Lucas decision, this Article reexamines the actual relevance of the opinion by weighing the framing, reach, and aftermath of Justice Scalia’s majority opinion. This Article argues that Justice Scalia’s opinion consciously framed the regulatory takings doctrine in a more favorable way for private property owners, and by doing so, helped pave the way for subsequent denial that environmental and climate concerns are a valid basis for any government action. Justice Scalia attempted to create a regulatory environment that protects private real estate investments instead of protecting the public environment as …

Will China Build A Green Belt And Road In The Arctic, Nengye Liu

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article aims to shed light on two questions: what are the implications of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for Arctic governance? And what are the environmental implications of the BRI for the Arctic? The article first discusses the interaction between China's BRI and Arctic policy, examining the vision that China would like to use the BRI to shape Arctic governance. The article focuses on the environmental components of the BRI. It explores whether China's current regulatory regimes are sufficient to help ensure a green Belt and Road in the Arctic.

Implikasi Keberlakuan Kontrak Karya Pt Freeport Indonesia Pasca Undang-Undang No 4 Tahun 2009 Tentang Pertambangan Mineral Dan Batubara, Arman Nefi, Irawan Malebra, Dyah Puspitasari Ayuningtyas

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

The most fundamental regulations on mining and coal industries are articulted in the Minerba Act of the previous regulation in Law Number 11 of 1967 concerning the Mining Basic Provisions. This regulation has amendedthe requirements of mining consession namely from Mining Authorization and Coal Contract of Work / Coal Contract of Work (KK / PK2PB) to become Mining Business License (IUP), Special Mining Business License (IUPK), and Mining Permit (IPR).This has had an impact on the existing mining contracts in Indonesia including PT Freeport's contract of work. This study discusses issues related to the concept of Contract of Work in …

V.2 No.3

Conservation Law Center Newsletter

No abstract provided.