Editors' Summary:

I was told that part of the reason I was invited to speak here was that I had given a warm welcome to participants at a recent "takings" program held at the Vermont Law School. The other reason was my involvement in the recent case from my circuit that my chambers has been in the habit of referring to as the "global warming" case, and which I think the legal community now knows as American Electric Power, or AEP, as I see it referred to in cases from time to time.

This report is intended for use by federal, state, and administrative judges who are confronted with a legal dispute involving a water resource that is alleged to be impacted by climate change. It may be useful as well for attorneys litigating or experts working on water adjudications. The purpose of this document is to summarize the manner in which climate change may impact rights and frameworks established under state and federal law concerning water resources and to anticipate the issues that water-related climate claims will pose to legal decisionmakers.

Virtually anyone with an interest in environmental policy is familiar with the allegations that traditional methods of statistical inference are biased against preventative environmental standards. They surely also know of the Precautionary Principle as the broad theory often cited by environmentalists to support this critique and to argue that regulated industries should bear the burden of proving that their products and activities are safe. This collision between scientific method and environmental principle has had great salience in environmental law and policy for many years.

I. Introduction

International trade is one of the most important pathways for both the intentional and the unintentional introduction of alien species. The intentional introduction of alien species takes place through the importation of exotic plants and animals as commercial products. But alien species may also enter unintentionally, as byproducts of trade, e.g., through cross-breeding of exotics with local populations, as parasites of products, e.g., as an infestation or infection on agricultural products, or as "stowaways" during trade, e.g., in the ships, planes, or vehicles that deliver products.

The disposal of consumer batteries constitutes a significant flow of toxic materials into municipal solid waste (MSW). While there have been efforts to recycle consumer batteries in the United States for the last 15 years, the vast majority of batteries still end up in landfills and incinerators. Efforts to recycle nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd) batteries increased dramatically when they were classified as a "universal waste" and the complicated requirements under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) were removed.

I. Introduction

The fundamental questions in environmental law and policy are: what role should the government play in environmental control; what is the target level of environmental quality and how is it determined; and, if the government is to act as regulator, what policy instrument should be used. Answers to these questions are extremely varied.

The juggernaut of technology-based capitalism will not be stopped . . . . But its direction can be changed by the mandate of a generally shared long-term environmental ethic. The choice is clear: the juggernaut will very soon either chew up what remains of the living world, or it will be redirected to save it. --Edward O. Wilson

Why the Transition to a Natural Economy Should Be a Primary Goal of Environmental Lawyers

Christopher Stone is absolutely right in pointing out that formulations of the precautionary principle are widely varying, often incredibly vague, and all too frequently not "particularly helpful." Despite this (or perhaps, in fact, because of the perceived palatability of vague formulations), the principle has become widespread in domestic and international law and policy.