Showing papers on "Environmental law published in 1985"

Reforming Environmental Law

Abstract: In 1971, Ezra Mishan brilliantly satirized the views of a Dr. Pangloss, who argued that a world of largely unregulated pollution was "optimal" because cleanup would involve enormous transaction costs.' Less than 15 years later, Professor Latin uses the same Panglossian argument to rationalize the current regulatory status quo.2 He not only accepts but endorses our extraordinarily crude, costly, litigious and counterproductive system of technology-based environmental controls. Like Mishan's Pangloss, he seems to believe that if it were possible to have a better world, it would exist. Since it does not, the transaction costs involved in regulatory improvement must exceed the benefits. Proposals for basic change accordingly are dismissed as naive utopianism. What explains this celebration of the regulatory status quo? As critics of the present system, we believe this question to be of more than academic interest. The present regulatory system wastes tens of billions of dollars every year, misdirects resources, stifles innovation, and spawns massive and often counterproductive litigation. There is a variety of fundamental but practical changes that could be made to improve its environmental and economic performance. Why have such changes not been adopted? Powerful organized interests have a vested stake in the

Toward a Theory of Statutory Evolution: The Federalization of Environmental Law

Abstract: Let us begin by renouncing two of the more ambitious implications of the title. No, we do not believe that any single theory can do justice to all varieties of statutory development. Nor do we believe that everything worth saying about the processes by which statutes change can be captured by analogy to biological evolution. Just as each human being has a unique life history, so too statutes are born, live, and die under circumstances that are unlikely to be duplicated. What we are embarked on is an exercise in statutory biography: by tracing the life histories of statutes in the environmental area, we hope to deepen our understanding of the factors that influence the growth and development of statutory law over time. In this paper, we will not attempt to summarize all our conclusions or provide full documentation. We are presently working on a book which will describe more comprehensively the circumstances which influenced the development of the environmental statutes of the 1970s. Our goal at the moment is more modest. We will describe in general terms what we have in mind when we say that statutes "evolve" and then illustrate by describing a particularly important period in the history of environmental law. During this period, roughly from 1965 through 1970, strong federal environmental legislation was passed, although environmentalists were not yet well-organized as a conventional interest group in Washington. Thus, the period is interesting in its own right because it seems to contradict the usual wisdom that statutes are passed in response to political activity by well-organized pressure groups.

Environmental Protection and Industrial Location

Abstract: The National Environmental Policy Act and the pollution control powers of environmental protection agencies present a potentially significant new influence on the location of economic activity within the United States. This study examines whether traditional factors such as markets, labor, and materials remain predominant in manufacturing-location decision making, despite the recently added dimension of environmental regulations. Personal interviews and mailed questionnaires were used to identify the factors that were most important in the location of 162 new branch plants of large U.S. corporations. For most of the locational decisions investigated, environmental regulations did not rank among the most important factors considered; when such regulations were of some significance, uncertainties about when the necessary permits would be obtained were more important than spatial variations in direct costs. The results indicate that environmental regulations have had no consistent effect on the size...

The Emergence of Environmental Law in the Developing Countries: A Case Study of India

Abstract: India is the second most populous country in the world, with almost 700 million people.' Covering over 3.2 million square kilometers, it is also the seventh largest nation on Earth.2 India's agricultural regions are widely distributed geographically, while its natural resources, such as forests, minerals, and energy resources, are concentrated in certain areas. Thousands of years of cultivation, a century of industrialization, and a phenomenal population increase during the twentieth century have considerably altered the country's natural environment. 3 Population groi'th, urbanization, and industrial and agricultural development underlie the primary environmental problems facing India today.4 Population growth has created water supply, sewage, and waste disposal problems. The concentration of population and industrial activity in large cities has overburdened municipal sanitation facilities. Intensive application of chemical fertilizers, insecticides, and pesticides used to

Managing the environment in China

Abstract: Since the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment great strides have been taken in China to ensure the best use of environmental resources culminating in their law of Environmental Protection in 1979 and the setting-up of a Ministry of Urban and Rural Construction and Environmental Protection in 1982. Presented here are eleven papers on the Chinese response to a variety of environmental issues which emphasize the country's planned approach to the use of natural resources. Also included is the text of the environmental protection legislation.

The world tourism organisation—30 years of commitment to environmental protection

Abstract: The paper traces 30 years of commitment to environmental values of tourism by the intergovernmental World Tourism Organisation. Such commitment was almost unfashionable in the 1950s but gradually what began as an article of faith was vindicated by results of market research showing that the protection, enhancement and improvement of man's physical and human environment were among the fundamental requirements for the harmonious development of tourism. The establishment of the United Nations Environment Programme at last gave WTO a partner with the necessary authority with which the world body could walk towards mutually agreed goals.

Environmental Law: Cases and Materials

Abstract: The Ninth Edition provides up-to-date treatment of climate change issues across different statutes. This classic casebook provides students with a thorough understanding of all major environmental regulatory schemes as well as insight into current policy controversies. The books pays particular attention to the dynamics involved in the creation and implementation of environmental law, focusing on interest group challenges, the proper role of agencies in implementing complex statutes and the involvement of courts in determining how deferential to be to agency implementation. The book covers the latest appellate and Supreme Court cases involving interstate air pollution, climate change, wetlands and takings, as well as major recent regulatory changes.

Environmental Law: Cases and Materials

Abstract: Chapter 1 The Environment and the Courts Chapter 2 Nuisance Chapter 3 Land Use Controls Chapter 4 Protection of Fish and Wildlife Chapter 5 Air Quality Chapter 6 Noise Controls Chapter 7 Water Quality Chapter 8 Energy Conservation Chapter 9 Solid Waste and Toxic Substances Chapter 10 The National Environmental Policy Act Chapter 11 Electric Generation Chapter 12 International Environmental Law Chapter 13 Table of Cases Chapter 14 Table of Authorities Chapter 15 Index

The Future of Transferable Development Rights in the Supreme Court

Abstract: Professor Linda Malone explores the future of transferable development rights (TDRs) in the Supreme Court in this article. The utilization of TDRs to protect land use actions from taking challenges is growing, yet the Supreme Court has hitherto to address whether government regulation that would constitute a taking of personal property sans just compensation could be salvaged with TDRs.

Culture and the environment in France

Abstract: Although the French concern for environmental protection dates back several centuries, a committed movement toward environmental protection did not begin until the second half of the 19th century. The Romantic influence of Rousseau and others led to the formation of various societies aimed at protecting the French landscape.

International Wildlife Law: THE CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ENDANGERED SPECIES OF WILD FAUNA AND FLORA

Abstract: In this article we present a standardized dataset on 6659 songbirds (Passeriformes) highlighting information relevant to species conservation prioritization with a main focus to support the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Data were collected from both scientific and grey literature as well as several online databases. The data are structured into six knowledge categories: Conventions and Treaties, Human Use, Extinction Risk, Management Opportunities, Biological Information, and Intrinsic Values. The Conventions and Treaties category includes the listings for two international conventions, CITES and the Convention 2 on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), as well as EU listings for the EU Wildlife Trade Regulations and the EU Birds Directive. The Human Use category contains information on both regulated trade collected from the CITES Trade Database and the United States’ Law Enforcement Management Information System (LEMIS), and highly aggregated data on seizures which we obtained from TRAFFIC and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). We also present, for the first time, the complete Songbirds in Trade Database (SiTDB), a trade database curated by taxon expert S. Bruslund based on expert knowledge, literature review, market surveys and sale announcements. Data on the types of human use, including traditional medicine are also provided. The knowledge area on Extinction Risk contains data on the species’ IUCN Red List status, the Alliance for Zero Extinction Trigger Species status, site and population at the site, the species’ IUCN Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment, and the listing of priority species at the Asian Songbird Crisis Summit. In the Management Opportunities category, we gathered data on ex-situ management from Species360 zoo holdings as well as species management plans from the European and North American Zoo Associations (EAZA and AZA, respectively). Biological Information includes data on body mass, clutch size, diet, availability of data from the IUCN Red List on habitat systems, extent of occurrence, generation length, migration pattern, distribution, and biological data from the Demographic Species Knowledge Index, number of occurrences recorded by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) as well as genomic data from the Bird 10 000K Genomes (B10K) project, Vertebrate Genome Project (VGP) and GenBank. Information on invasive species is also part of this knowledge area. The Intrinsic Value category refers to two measures of the species’ intrinsic value, namely Ecological and Evolutionary Distinctiveness. In order to make these knowledge areas comparable, we standardized data following the taxonomy of the Handbook of the Birds of the World and Birdlife (Version 4, 2019). The data enable a broad spectrum of analyses and will be useful to scientists for further research and to policymakers, zoos and other conservation stakeholders for future prioritization decisions.

Environmental Management in a North Sea Coastal Zone: Law, Institutions and Policy

Abstract: Whatever the strength of an integrated environmental and resource strategy as a concept or ecological construct, its functional or operational meaning and form remain blurred and ill-defined. Furthermore, the strategy will remain an ecological construct of little utility, unless it can be applied within a framework of law and administration. In this context, three important questions arise for consideration: 1) what meaning and shape will the environmental resource strategy take. 2) Can existing laws and practices by adapted and developed to produce a basis for the application of an environmental resource strategy. 3) If not, what fresh patterns of law and administration are required. This article reports a proposed project which examines these questions for a small specific area of the North Sea. The coastal zone of County Cleveland in the UK were selected, and its sea boundaries were redefined for the purposes of this project.

Private Rights of Action and Judicial Review in Federal Environmental Law

Abstract: Written with William H. Timbers, this Article discusses issues related to private rights of action and judicial review in federal environmental law.