This paper aims to facilitate discussion about specific reform proposals for Ukraine by illustrating the basic components of environmental impact assessment (EIA) with comparative analysis and recent developments from other countries' legislation and international law. Section I introduces EIA, provides a general overview of Ukrainian ecological expertiza law, and describes U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region V's EIA pilot project in Ukraine.

I. Introduction

Introduction

I. Introduction

The Constitution of the United States gives Congress the authority to "regulate Commerce . . . among the several States."¹ From the beginning of judicial review, the U.S. Supreme Court has struggled over defining how far that power extends.² Until recently, it seemed established that the Commerce Clause provided an extremely broad and expansive grant of power to Congress.³ However, with the 1995 decision of United States v.

Since the introduction of the toxic release inventory (TRI) in 1988, there has been considerable interest in environmental information disclosure as a possible complement or substitute for traditional forms of regulation.

This Article examines the relationship between legal constructions of equity and rules of international environmental law, with particular emphasis on the emerging concept of intragenerational equity as a significant element in the debate on the international attainment of sustainable development. On one level, the concept of equity has always been an integral part of human experience. At its core is the notion that human beings, both as individuals and as members of civil society, should "pay more attention to justice . . .

Throughout the 20th century, the United States dedicated enormous resources to the construction of a staggering array of dams. Those structures are monuments to an era now past—a time during which free-flowing rivers were deemed "wasted," a period when the nation embarked upon a frenzied attempt to "reclaim" the landscape from its natural condition at all costs. Rivers were converted into elaborate plumbing systems as tens of thousands of dams, both public and private, impeded some 600,000 miles of flowing streams.¹

Reflecting on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) arrival at its 30th birthday, it is difficult not to anthropomorphize. This idealistic love child born of a strange affair between populist zeal and political ambition¹ has developed into a commanding agency whose decisions reverberate through the economy and significantly affect individual lives.

"When the trees are made of plastic and there's no more oil to drill; when Africa is empty and the zoos are finally filled; we'll sacrifice our children at the altar to the God of fossil fuel."¹

I. Introduction