Showing papers on "Environmental law published in 1974"

Ways Not To Think About Plastic Trees: New Foundations for Environmental Law

Abstract: Baudelaire's Rave Parisien paints what is quite literally a still life -a dreamscape of a metallic city where groves of colonnades stand in the place of trees and, in the place of water, pools of lead.2 More prosaic but no less unnerving was the recent decision by Los Angeles County officials to install more than 900 plastic trees and shrubs in concrete planters along the median strip of a major boulevard.3 The construction of a new box culvert, it seemed, had left only 12 to 18 inches of dirt on the strip, insufficient to sustain natural trees.4 County officials decided to experiment with artificial plants constructed of factory-made leaves and branches wired to plumbing pipes, covered with plastic and \"planted\" in aggregate rock coated with epoxy.' Although a number of the trees were torn down by unknown vandals\" and further plantings were halted, 7 the tale may not be over. For an article in Sciences suggested recently that, just as advertising

On preserving the natural environment

Abstract: Further consider consideration of the new foundations for environmental law is presented here. Except for the limit of our technology, there is no economic or even utilitarian rationale available for preserving the natural environment. It is possible to imagine that the Sequoia National Forest tells the developer that it wants a ski lift by a certain declivity of its hills and snowiness during the winter and that it needs a four lane highway by the appearance of certain valley passages and obvious scenic turnouts on the mountainsides. The connection between our cultural history and our environmental policy is explained. A nonutilitarian rationale, constitutionally based, is proposed for preserving the natural environment.

The Uses of Scientific Information in Environmental Decision Making

Abstract: This Article explores the response of the legal system to the uncertainty which is inherent in the scientific analysis of environmental impact The first principle of due process is that the assignment of responsibility correspond with the actor who did in fact cause the injury We argue that existing concepts of cause-in-fact, the foundation of liability, place potentially severe constraints on the ability of the legal system to respond to the need to minimize the risks of future environmental injury Further, these constraints exist to some degree regardless of whether the prohibitions or restrictions take the form of adjudication, administrative rulemaking or legislation In any of these contexts a court or agency applying a standard or reviewing a regulation may respond to the claim that an activity should not be allowed because of its potential future adverse impact by deciding that it would be speculative to conclude that the activity might cause harm, or that the party seeking to assign responsibility has merely established a possibility rather than a probability of such impact In short, an essential element of responsibility—cause-in-fact—may not have been established

Incentives for Compliance with Environmental Law

Abstract: Much has been written about means of increasing compliance with the standards set in various fields of law (Krislov et al., 1972; Wasby, 1970; Jones, 1969). These studies tend to deal with either traditional criminal law where negative sanctions of jail and fines are emphasized, or civil law where negative sanctions of damage suits are emphasized (Zimring, 1971; Calabresi, 1970). These studies also cover such constitutional law fields as racial discrimination, school prayers, and illegal police practices where injunctions backed by threats of negative sanctions are frequent (Rodgers and Bullock, 1972; Johnson, 1967; Nagel, 1972). Some studies have also been made of the compliance problems of economic regulatory agencies, such as the NLRB, SEC, and ICC, where conference persuasion and

Unfouling the public's nest: Chicago's sanitary diversion of Lake Michigan water.

Abstract: Water pollution, with its latent and manifest effects on public health, is one of the most complex problems faced by technology, society, and government. The high social impact of pollution seems to militate for governmental control or regulation of pollution control systems.' However, several crucial and persistent public policy questions immediately arise. Should the control be local or national? Are existing governmental bodies capable of coping with pollution problems, or are new agencies or environmental law needed? What about the functional disparity arising when agencies are assigned or assume responsibility outside their original purview? How is technology influenced by such extrinsic policy pressures? This paper will examine policy issues, the interaction of governmental units, and economic, geographical, and technological constraints which accompanied the haphazard attempts to resolve the problem of sewage pollution control in the Chicago metropolitan area. The focus will be on the activities of the Sanitary District of Chicago from its creation in 1889 until the issuance of a significant Supreme Court decree in 1930.

Toward an International Standard of Environment

Abstract: This Article examines in depth the work of the first United Nations Conference on the Environment held in 1972 in Stockholm, Sweden, and concludes that the significance of the work of the Conference was monumental and transformative--this, because it alerted the members of the world community, both advanced and developing, to the needs of cooperation in managing and safeguarding the environmental resources of the global commons.