Environmental Law Commons^™

Virginia's Expanded Nutrient Trading Law: Will It Help Restore The Chesapeake Bay While Allowing For Growth, Margaret L. Sanner

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

On April 18, 2012, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell boosted the Commonwealth's pollution-reduction toolbox with an expanded nutrient trading program when he signed H.B. 176/S.B. 77 into law.' Sparked by the issuance of the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (the "Bay TMDL"), which updated pollution limits for the Chesapeake Bay and tributaries, and the Virginia Chesapeake Bay TMDL Phase I Watershed Implementation Plan (the "Phase I WIP"),2 the expanded nutrient trading program allows myriad new market participants to generate and sell certified "nutrient credits"3 to others to meet existing limits or to offset new pollution from expansion.4 If the program …

Law, Politics, And Cost-Benefit Analysis, Daniel H. Cole

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This Article explores the significant role cost–benefit analysis (CBA) plays in facilitating or impeding legislative and regulatory policy decisions. The Article centers around three case studies of CBAs the EPA prepared under three different presidents: (1) Clinton Administration changes to Clean Air Act air quality standards for ozone and particulate matter; (2) President Obama’s recent decision to suspend the EPA’s reconsideration of the Bush Administration’s air quality standard for ozone; and (3) the George W. Bush Administration’s “Clear Skies” legislative initiative. The first two case studies demonstrate, between them, how well-constructed CBAs can facilitate social-welfare-enhancing and impede welfare-reducing rules, even …

The Landsafe Socioecological Development Model For The Customary Commons Of Zambia: Evolution And Formalization, I.P.A. Manning

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

The Grass Is Always Greener: Keystone Xl, Transboundary Harms, And Guidelines For Cooperative Environmental-Impact Assessment, Wyatt Sassman

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

While general understanding of environmental harms has become more geographically sophisticated, environmental-impact assessment (EIA) law has lagged behind. Although nations now understand complex environmental processes and relationships that extend well beyond their borders, EIA law remains trapped in a domestic structure that is ill-prepared to assess harms outside its jurisdiction. By looking at the U.S. environmental assessment of the Keystone XL pipeline, this Note recasts the problem of transboundary environmental harms in EIA using recent, remarkable events. Key assumptions made in the Keystone XL assessment illustrate that the typical domestic structure of EIA law does not allow adequate assessment of …

Going Rogue: Stop The Beach Renourishment As An Object Of Morbid Fascination, Mary Doyle, Stephen J. Schnably

Articles

Scholarly response to the Supreme Court's decision in Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc. v. Florida Department of Environmental Protection has focused on the plurality's strong advocacy of a judicial takings doctrine. We take a different tack. While the concept of judicial takings is worthy of serious attention, it is wrong to treat the plurality opinion as an ordinary object of analysis. It is, instead, the emanation of a Court going rogue.

Three basic symptoms of the pathology stand out. First, sleight of hand. The plurality opinion purports to be about an institutional issue-can a state court commit a taking? - …

Disparities In Park Availability, Features, And Characteristics By Social Determinants Of Health Within A U.S.-Mexico Border Urban Area, Amir Kamel

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background: Parks have been shown to be a key feature in the built environment that promote physical activity and positively influence health. However, a number of studies have highlighted that park availability, park features (e.g., park facilities, amenities, and aesthetic features), and park characteristics (e.g., quality/safety concerns of the park and surrounding neighborhood) are not equally distributed across neighborhoods in the U.S, specifically areas of low socioeconomic status and diverse racial/ethnic composition. The overall aim of this study was to examine and describe park availability, park features, and park characteristics, and determine their association with two social determinants of health …

Lacking A Connection To A Community Water System: Water Quality And Human Health Impacts In El Paso Colonias, Yolanda Jane Mcdonald

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Water-borne disease and its symptoms, such as stomach cramps and diarrhea, are a serious concern in areas that are not connected to a public water system. To investigate the impacts of not being connected to a community water system, I surveyed households in El Paso County colonias that were not connected to a community water system (household n = 75, individual n= 293) and households that were connected to a community water system (household n = 75, individual n= 320). I conducted 150 door-to-door surveys and tested water samples from each household for free residual chlorine level, turbidity level, presence …

A Study Of International Wastewater Challenges And Policy In The Tijuana River Watershed, Gloria Ann Villaverde

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Since the 1930s, untreated and undertreated sewage from Tijuana, Baja California, México has been released into the Tijuana River Watershed causing contamination of the water supply, crops, the Tijuana Estuary and California beaches. Passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has exacerbated the problem by causing population and industrial growth explosions for which there have been insufficient services to meet the needs of the people. The waters of the Tijuana River flow (from México) north over the International Border, into the Tijuana Estuary, discharge out to the Pacific Ocean and often flow north, up the California Coast; therefore, …

Human Security And Military Preparedness, Linda A. Malone

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Neoliberal Land Conservation And Social Justice, Jessica Owley

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Reading The Standing Tea Leaves In American Electric Power Co. V. Connecticut, Bradford C. Mank

University of Richmond Law Review

The U.S. Supreme Court by an equally divided vote offour to four affirmed the Second Circuit's decision finding standing and jurisdiction in the case in American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut. While not binding as precedent beyond the Second Circuit,the case offers clues to how the Court is likely to rule in future standing cases. This article discusses the likely identities of the four Justices on each side of the standing issue in the case, as well as how Justice Sotomayor might have voted if she had not recused herself. Furthermore, the article examines how the decision expand- ed on …

Toxins Targeted At Minorities: The Racist Undertones Of Environmentally-Friendly Initiatives, Kathleen Bonner

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

The Big Fracking Deal: Marcellus Shale - Pennsylvania's Untapped Resource, Kristen Allen

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

Buyer's Remorse Over Your Pennsylvania Gas Lease - The Pennsylvania Supreme Court Upholds Meager Royalty Payments And Protects The Profitability Of Marcellus Gas Drilling In Kilmer V. Elexco Land Services, Inc., Michael Morris

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

Actually, We Did Start The Fire, And It Keeps On Burning: The Environmental Health Effects Of Military Burn Pits In Afghanistan And Iraq, Michael Riess

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

Food Fight: The Impending Agricultural Crisis And A Reasonable Response To Price Volatility, Aaron Sternick

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

The California Project: Federal Government Continues Trend Of Preempting State Law In The Field Of Nuclear Safety In Boeing Co. V. Robinson, Denis Yanishevskiy

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

A Slick Situation: The First Circuit Creates A Buzz And Turns To Nepa To Strengthen Federal Oil Spill Regulation In United States V. Coalition For Buzzards Bay, Sally Braeuer

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

Providing Another Leg To Stand On - A Question Of The Zone Of Interests In Challenging Agency Decision-Making Under The Air Pollution Control Act, Bill Welkowitz

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

Flooding The Possibility Of Recovery Under A Temporary Takings Analysis: The Drowning Effects Of Arkansas Game & Fish Commission V. United States, Magdalene Carter

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.