Beyond Environmental Law: Policy Proposals for a Better Environmental Future

Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
List of Figure and Tables......Page 11
About the Contributors......Page 13
Preface......Page 21
Acknowledgments......Page 29
Part I: NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LEGACY ACT......Page 31
1 The Case for the National Environmental Legacy Act......Page 33
The Contours of the National Environmental Legacy Act......Page 37
1. Interplay of the Proposed National Environmental Legacy Act and the National Environmental Policy Act......Page 40
2. An Enforceable Substantive Mandate (Sections 1 and 3)......Page 43
3. Baseline Information and Metrics (Section 5)......Page 45
4. Ecosystem Resilience: The Bottom Line......Page 47
5. The Role of Stewardship Agencies (Sections 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9)......Page 49
6. Coping with Uncertainty (Sections 3, 7, 8, and 10)......Page 50
7. Exceptions......Page 51
8. Monitoring and Adaptive Learning......Page 52
Potential Objections to the Legacy Act Concept......Page 53
NOTES......Page 56
Procedure and Substance......Page 67
Ripeness and Planning Documents......Page 69
Lack of Action and Judicial Review......Page 71
Standing and Judicial Review......Page 74
Conclusion......Page 78
NOTES......Page 79
3 Shifting Baselines and Backsliding Benchmarks: The Need for the National Environmental Legacy Act to Address the Ecologies of Restoration, Resilience, and Reconciliation......Page 83
1. The Shifting-Baselines Phenomenon......Page 85
2. Baseline Considerations: Restoration, Resilience, and Reconciliation......Page 90
A. Lessons from Restoration Ecology......Page 93
B. Considerations of Ecological Resilience......Page 95
C. The Potential for Biodiversity to Serve as a Baseline and Benchmark Despite Uncertainty......Page 96
D. Reconciliation Ecology and the Potential to Restore Ecological Knowledge......Page 98
3. A Modest Proposal for the Legacy Act......Page 100
4. Conclusion......Page 102
NOTES......Page 103
4 Valuing Nature: The Challenge of the National Environmental Legacy Act......Page 111
Emergy Synthesis: An Overview......Page 112
Emergy Accounting......Page 113
Step 3: Emergy Synthesis Tables of Storages......Page 115
How Emergy Synthesis Supports Implementation of the Legacy Act......Page 117
Emergy Synthesis: Energy Quality a Key Concept......Page 122
Use of Transformities in Emergy Accounting......Page 124
Benefits of Emergy Synthesis......Page 127
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Method......Page 133
Conclusion......Page 134
NOTES......Page 135
5 Citizen Science and the Next Generation of Environmental Law......Page 139
Active versus Passive Citizenship and Environmental Law......Page 140
The Alternative of Active Citizenship......Page 141
Active Participation and the Legacy Act......Page 143
Citizen Science: Creatively Empowering Civil Society......Page 144
The Power and Limitations of Citizen Science: The Case of Bucket Brigades......Page 145
The Power of Citizen Data......Page 146
Deconstructing Citizen Science......Page 151
Resources, Training, and Rewards......Page 152
Defining Permissible Uses of Citizen-Collected Data and Setting Data Standards......Page 153
Integrating Citizen Science into the Legacy Act......Page 154
Conclusion......Page 156
REFERENCES......Page 157
6 Creating National Environmental Legacy Act Information: The Double Standard......Page 159
A. The Importance of Process in Developing a Modest Standard of Sustainability and Appropriate Metrics......Page 160
B. Coping with Uncertainty: The Precautionary Principle......Page 163
C. Creating Environmental Indicators, Baselines, and Monitoring......Page 164
II. The Policy Relevance Test......Page 165
III. The Open Public Window......Page 167
IV. The Diffusion of Legacy Act Innovation......Page 168
Conclusion: Meeting the Double Standard......Page 170
NOTES......Page 171
I. A New Breed of Public Law......Page 175
II. The Narrowing Future of the Commerce Clause......Page 179
III. Safeguarding the General Welfare......Page 183
A. The States’ Police Power......Page 184
B. The Federal Police Power......Page 187
C. Taxing and Spending......Page 189
A. Negative versus Affirmative Rights......Page 191
B. The Aspirational Constitution......Page 194
Conclusion......Page 195
NOTES......Page 196
Part II: ENVIRONMENTAL COMPETITION STATUTE......Page 201
Value of an Environmental Competition Statute......Page 203
Problems with the Existing Law......Page 204
The Basics......Page 208
Scope......Page 211
Metrics......Page 212
Definition of Competitors......Page 215
Minimizing Litigation......Page 216
Jobs......Page 217
Risk-Risk Trade-offs......Page 218
Geographic Scope......Page 219
Takings......Page 222
NOTES......Page 223
9 Climate Change, Federalism, and Promoting Technological Change......Page 229
Climate Change Market Failures......Page 231
Traditional Environmental Externalities......Page 232
Technological Change as a Primary Objective of Climate-Change Policies......Page 235
Sources of Technology Market Failure......Page 237
Research and Development: The Temporal Schism in Technology Forcing......Page 239
Adoption of Existing Technologies: A More Promising Role for the States......Page 241
A Hybrid Approach to Climate Change Policy......Page 243
Recommendations: Environmental Federalism in an Era of Climate Change......Page 245
State and Regional Cap-and-Trade Programs Should Be Retained but Should Not Be the Focus of State Climate Efforts......Page 246
NOTES......Page 247
10 The iUtility......Page 253
U.S. Energy Policy and Profile......Page 254
Regulatory History......Page 256
Deregulating Electricity......Page 258
Natural Monopoly......Page 259
The Regulatory Compact......Page 260
Rate Level......Page 261
Consequences of Traditional Rate Making......Page 262
Electricity and the Next Generation of Environmental Law......Page 263
The New Regulatory Compact......Page 264
Rate Level......Page 265
Rate Design and the Environmental Competition Statute......Page 266
Renewable Portfolio Standards......Page 267
Technology Investments......Page 268
Disclosure......Page 269
Green Electricity......Page 270
The Efficiency Utility......Page 271
Energy Hedging......Page 272
Conclusion......Page 273
NOTES......Page 275
11 Environmental Patriotism......Page 279
Patriotism and the Land......Page 280
The First Generation of Environmental Law (c. 1960–80)......Page 281
Optimism......Page 282
Strength......Page 283
Thrift......Page 284
The Second Generation of Environmental Law (c. 1981–2008)......Page 285
Strength......Page 286
Thrift......Page 287
The Next Generation of Environmental Law (c. 2009–?)......Page 289
Green Is the New Red, White, and Blue......Page 290
An Environmental Competition Statute......Page 293
NOTES......Page 294
Index......Page 299