Environmental Law Commons^™

Beyond Zero-Sum Environmentalism, Jessica Owley, Shalanda Baker, Robin Kundis Craig, John Dernbach, Keith Hirokawa, Sarah Krakoff, Melissa Powers, Shannon Roesler,, Jonathan Rosenbloom, J. B. Ruhl, Jim Salzman, Inara Scott, David Takacs

Articles

Environmental law and environmental protection are often portrayed as requiring trade offs: "jobs versus environment," "markets versus regulation," "enforcement versus incentives." In the summer of 2016, members of the Environmental Law Collaborative gathered to consider how environmentalism and environmental regulation can advance beyond this framing to include new constituents and offer new pathways to tackle the many significant challenges ahead. Months later, the initial activities of the Trump Administration highlighted the use of zero-sum rhetoric, with the appointment of government officials and the issuance of executive orders that indeed seem to view environmental issues as in a zero-sum relationship with …

Beyond Zero-Sum Environmentalism, Shalanda Baker, Robin Kundis Craig, John C. Dernbach, Keith H. Hirokawa, Sarah Krakoff, Jessica Owley, Melissa Powers, Shannon M. Roesler, Jonathan Rosenbloom, J. B. Ruhl, James Salzman, Inara Scott, David Takacs

Journal Articles

Environmental law and environmental protection are often portrayed as requiring trade offs: “jobs versus environment;” “markets versus regulation;” “enforcement versus incentives.” In the summer of 2016, members of the Environmental Law Collaborative gathered to consider how environmentalism and environmental regulation can advance beyond this framing to include new constituents and offer new pathways to tackle the many significant challenges ahead. Months later, the initial activities of the Trump Administration highlighted the use of zero-sum rhetoric, with the appointment of government officials and the issuance of executive orders that indeed seem to view environmental issues as in a zero-sum relationship with …

Behavioral Science Tools To Strengthen Energy & Environmental Policy, Michael P. Vandenbergh, Erez Yoeli, David V. Budescu, Et Al.

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

To increase consumers’ conservation of energy and other resources,government agencies, utilities, and energy-related businesses can complement regulatory and market-based policies with simple and effective behavioral interventions grounded in extensive behavioral science research. In this article, we review behavioral tools that we find especially promising. Collectively, these tools help meet four behavioral objectives:getting people’s attention; engaging people’s desire to contribute to the social good; making complex information more accessible; and facilitating accurate assessment of risks, costs, and benefits.

Can The Fitzroy River Declaration Ensure The Realisation Of The First Law Of The River And Secure Sustainable And Equitable Futures For The West Kimberley?, Michelle Mei Ling Lim, Anne Poelina, Donna Bagnall

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Threats to the unique cultural and ecological values of the river - events that led to the evolution and conclusion of the Declaration - legal and governance options for realising the objectives of the declaration - establishing a Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) - achieving sustainable and equitable futures in the West Kimberley - importance of harnessing momentum.

After Flint: Environmental Justice As Equal Protection, David A. Dana, Deborah Tuerkheimer

Northwestern University Law Review

This Essay conceptualizes the Flint water crisis as an archetypical case of underenforcement—that is, a denial of the equal protection of laws guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Viewed as such, the inadequacy of environmental regulation can be understood as a failure that extends beyond the confines of Flint; a failure that demands a far more expansive duty to protect vulnerable populations.

Nimby To Nope-Or Yess?, K.K. Duvivier, Thomas Witt

Cardozo Law Review

On December 12, 2015, 195 governments around the world agreed to the COP21 commitments to combat climate change. Pivotal to the success of these goals is a shift from fossil-fuel energy generation to renewable resources. Wind power is one of the largest renewable energy generation sources in the United States and has the greatest potentialfor future development.

While wind energy generation has enjoyed some of the most impressive gains in development of new capacity, reaching future goals will face more challenges. In addition to resource potential, wind development is also confined to locations that meet the sweet spot of being …

Nutrient Water Quality Trading: A Market-Based Solution To Water Pollution In The Natural State*, Nathan R. Finch

Arkansas Law Review

In the decades since the passage of the Clean Water Act (CWA), our nation’s waters remain impaired by dangerous levels of nutrients such as phosphorous and nitrogen, which can cause serious health impacts. Excess nutrients also have a substantial environmental impact on waterbodies, which in turn diminishes the recreational value of these resources. Efforts to control these nutrient levels place a substantial economic burden on local governments in both providing clean drinking water as well as treating wastewater. The CWA’s cooperative federalism approach divides sources of nutrient pollution into two categories: (1) point sources, and (2) nonpoint sources. Point sources …

Combat Losses Of Nuclear-Powered Warships: Contamination, Collateral Damage And The Law, Akira Mayama

International Law Studies

There have been non-combat losses of nuclear-powered warships during sea trials and peacetime patrol missions. Nuclear contamination is spreading from some of these sinking sites. It is also conceivable that combat losses of nuclear-powered warships could cause contamination of civilians, civilian objects and the natural environment. If such combat losses occur at sea, both belligerent and neutral States will have to deal with a difficult question: to what extent and by who can harm resulting from such contamination be compensated for payment of damages. This article examines legal issues stemming from prospective combat losses of nuclear-powered warships from the perspectives …

Great Basin Resource Watch V. Bureau Of Land Management, Jody D. Lowenstein

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Great Basin Resource Watch v. Bureau of Land Management, the Ninth Circuit invalidated the BLM’s environmental review, finding that the agency based its approval of a mining project on unsupported reasoning, inaccurate information, and deficient analysis. In negating the action, the court held that the BLM failed to take the hard look required by the National Environmental Policy Act.

V.1 No.4

Conservation Law Center Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Use Of Lng As A Marine Fuel: Civil Liability Considerations From An International Perspective, Jingjing Xu, David Testa, Proshanto K. Mukherjee

Plymouth Business School

Recent regulations in the maritime domain have placed increasing pressure on the shipping industry to reduce exhaust emissions from ships. Using LNG, which produces virtually 0% sulphur dioxide emissions, as an alternative fuel has thus become an attractive option to shipowners. However, the absence of a comprehensive legal framework in this regard is noteworthy, particularly in view of the fact that the issue of liability for pollution damage and the corresponding issue of compensation is a lacuna in the domain of international maritime law. This article examines this issue in detail and proposes that there is an urgent need to …

Retail Rate Impacts Of Distributed Solar: Focus On New England, Nick Martin, Karl R. Rábago

Environmental Law Program Publications @ Haub Law

The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) recently issued a study entitled “Putting the Potential Rate Impacts of Distributed Solar into Context,” authored by Galen Barbose. The LBNL study estimates the potential rate impact of distributed solar on national average retail electricity prices, and importantly, compares that impact to the potential impact of other rate drivers such as natural gas prices, renewable portfolio standards, and utility capital expenditures.1

This brief applies a similar style analysis as used by LBNL to regional and state level data to estimate more granular impacts for New England. We estimate rate impacts for various penetration rates …

Of Prairie Dogs And Congressmen: Defining The Regulated Activity And Why It Matters For Rhe Commerce Clause Substantial Effect Test, Bethany Bostron

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Behavioral Public Choice And The Carbon Tax, Gary M. Lucas Jr

Faculty Scholarship

In response to the historic Paris Agreement on climate change and to the Environmental Protection Agency’s recently finalized Clean Power Plan, economists and other climate policy experts have renewed the call for the United States to adopt a carbon tax. Opposition among the public presents a major obstacle. While a majority of the public supports government action on climate change, most people favor the use of “green” subsidies and command-and-control regulations—a fact that frustrates economists of all political stripes who contend that a carbon tax would be much cheaper and more effective. This Article argues that a cognitive bias known …

Constitutional Challenges And Regulatory Opportunities For State Climate Policy Innovation, Felix Mormann

Faculty Scholarship

This Article explores constitutional limits and regulatory openings for innovative state policies to mitigate climate change by promoting climate-friendly, renewable energy. In the absence of a comprehensive federal policy approach to climate change and clean energy, more and more states are stepping in to fill the policy void. Already, nearly thirty states have adopted renewable portfolio standards that create markets for solar, wind, and other clean electricity. To help populate these markets, a few pioneering states have recently started using feed-in tariffs that offer eligible generators above-market rates for their clean, renewable power.

But renewable portfolio standards, feed-in tariffs, and …

Transition Support Mechanisms For Communities Facing Full Or Partial Coal Power Plant Retirement In New York, Lisa Anne Hamilton, Radina Valova, Karl R. Rábago

Environmental Law Program Publications @ Haub Law

New York State is undergoing a rapid and unprecedented energy transformation, particularly in the electricity sector. As new resources and technologies emerge to meet the demands of 21st century life, regulators must balance the need for cost effective and equitable participation in wholesale power markets while maintaining reliability on the grid. Furthermore, it is critical that all New Yorkers participate fully in the promise of a revitalized and equitable energy future. Such a transformation requires that the needs of all communities are factored into the polices and regulations that move New York toward the bold goals set forth under its …

Carbon Tax Rising, Shi-Ling Hsu

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

Mechanisms For Consultation And Free, Prior And Informed Consent In The Negotiation Of Investment Contracts, Sam Szoke-Burke, Kaitlin Y. Cordes

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Investor-state contracts are regularly used in low-and middle-income countries to grant concessions for land-based investments, such as agricultural or forestry projects. These contracts are rarely negotiated in the presence of, or with meaningful input from, the people who risk being adversely affected by the project. This has serious implications for requirements for meaningful consultation, and, where applicable, free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC), and is particularly important in situations in which investor-state contracts grant the investor rights to lands or resources over which the community has legitimate claims.

The paper explores how consultation and FPIC processes can be integrated into …

Too Big To Disclose: Firm Size And Materiality Blindspots In Securities Regulation, George S. Georgiev

Articles

This Article argues that the securities disclosure regime contains previously unexamined structural deficiencies that pertain to the information provided by the largest public companies. These deficiencies arise from the operation of the materiality standard, a core element of the disclosure regime that is used in a number of SEC disclosure rules. The materiality standard is designed to limit firms' disclosure to information that would be of importance to investors, and to prevent the overproduction of information. I suggest, however, that in the case of large firms the materiality standard can also lead to the underdisclosure of information-or to "materiality blindspots." …

Flood And Erosion Control Structures (Climate Adaptation Academy Fact Sheet #4), Audrey Elzerman

Sea Grant Law Fellow Publications

No abstract provided.