Land Use Prof Blog

Nolon on Regulatory Takings, Property Rights, and Sea Level Rise

John R. Nolon (Pace) has posted Regulatory Takings and Property Rights Confront Sea Level Rise: How Do They Roll.  The abstract:

Under the Beach and Shore Preservation Act, the State of Florida is authorized to conduct extraordinarily expensive beach renourishment projects to restore damaged coastal properties. The statute advances the State’s interest in repairing the damage to the coastal ecosystem and economy caused by hurricanes, high winds, and storm surges. The effect of a renourishment project conducted under the statute is to fix the legal boundary of the littoral property owner at an Erosion Control Line. Plaintiffs in Walton County v. Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc. claimed that the statute took their common law property rights to their boundary, which would, but for the Act, move gradually landward or seaward, maintaining contact with the water. The Florida Supreme Court disagreed and the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc. v. Florida Department of Environmental Protection to determine whether the state court reinterpreted Florida’s common law as a pretext for upholding the statute against the plaintiffs’ taking claim and, if so, whether that reinterpretation constituted a “judicial taking.” The Court ultimately decided that the Florida court’s interpretation was correct and that there was no regulatory taking. A majority of the Court could not agree as to whether a state court’s interpretation of state common law could constitute a “judicial taking.”

This article discusses greenhouse gas emissions, global warming, sea level rise, and the ferocity of coastal storms associated with climate change. It explores the tension between these movements in nature and the policy of the State of Florida to fix property boundaries, which under common law would move landward as sea level rises. The property rights and title to land of littoral landowners are described and the effect of the Beach and Shore Preservation Act on them discussed. The article contrasts the Florida coastal policy regarding beach and shore protection with the policies and programs of federal, state, and local governments that use other approaches such as accommodating rolling easements, prohibiting shoreline armoring, requiring removal of buildings, purchasing development rights or the land itself, and imposing moratoria on rebuilding after storm events. These may be less expensive and more realistic approaches to long-term coastal erosion and avulsive events and the inevitability of sea level rise as the climate warms and worsens. The article concludes with a recommendation that the framework for federal, state, and local cooperation in coastal management be revisited and strengthened so that the critical resources and knowledge are brought to bear on this critical issue. It suggests that strengthening those ties, rather than radically restructuring the relationship between state and federal courts, is a more productive method of meeting the needs of a changing society.

This is the latest in a series of articles by Prof. Nolon addressing how local land use law can be used to manage climate change, including  The Land Use Stabilization Wedge Strategy: Shifting Ground to Mitigate Climate Change; Land Use for Energy Conservation: A Local Strategy for Climate Change Mitigation; and Managing Climate Change through Biological Sequestration: Open Space Law Redux.  The article also discusses Stop the Beach and our favorite Texas Open Beaches Act "rolling easement" case Severance v. Patterson, and offers some solutions toward an integrated federal-state-local framework for coastal management.

Matt Festa

DuVivier Wins Best Title Contest

How can you pass up a document called "Beware the Dark Side of Trees?"

K.K. DuVivier recently posted a very helpful document about planting trees in a way that does not reduce the potential passive solar heating you can get for your home. It even comes with helpful diagrams. Who knew a law professor could produce something so practical!

Here is DuVivier's abstact:

Everyone loves puppies, and everyone loves trees. But just as we had to learn to curb and clean up after our dogs, we now need to learn to become responsible tree owners. Many of today’s well-intentioned tree-planting programs ignore the dark side of trees that threaten green energy solutions such as urban gardens, buildings with passive solar designs, solar hot water, and solar-generated electricity systems.
This short pamphlet (one 2-sided page with illustrations) is an attempt to alert everyone to be aware of the dark side of any tree you plant — both the planting location and the shade footprint. Otherwise, any carbon-capture gains from the new trees may be offset by the increased fossil-fuel burned to replace the clean solar energy lost.

Jessie Owley

Markell on Climate Change and the Roles of Land Use and Energy Law

David L. Markell (Florida State) has posted Climate Change and the Roles of Land Use and Energy Law: An Introduction, Journal of Land Use & Environmental Law, Vol. 27 (2012).  It's the intro to a Symposium issue.  The abstract:

The challenges posed by climate change are daunting and have spawned an enormous literature, indeed many literatures. The legal regimes that govern our use of land and energy have already been and will continue to be integral to the effort to devise effective responses. My aim in this introductory essay is to identify and review six aspects of climate change in an effort to capture some of the ferment that now exists as policy makers, scholars, and others wrestle with the challenges that climate change poses for extant legal regimes. I then briefly summarize the articles in this symposium volume.

Matt Festa

Nolon on Land Use for Energy Conservation and Sustainable Development

John R. Nolon (Pace) has posted Land Use for Energy Conservation and Sustainable Development: A New Path Toward Climate Change Mitigation. The abstract:

Land use tools and techniques have impressive potential to reduce energy consumption, improve the economy, and mitigate climate change. This article explores the little understood influence of local land use decision-making on energy conservation and sustainable development and how it can mitigate climate change if properly assisted by the federal and state governments. The construction and use of buildings combined with extensive vehicular travel throughout the nation’s human settlements consume large amounts of energy, and much of that consumption is highly inefficient. By enforcing and enhancing energy codes, encouraging the use of combined heat and power and district energy systems, properly orienting and commissioning buildings, incorporating renewable energy resources, and promoting transit and other methods of reducing vehicle miles travelled, local land use law’s potential to achieve energy conservation and sustainable development can be unlocked. These techniques can be organized at the neighborhood level and aggregated by adopting local Energy Conservation Zoning Districts in neighborhoods where significant energy conservation can be achieved. The article proposes federal and state policies, combining features of both the Coastal Zone Management Act and the Enterprise Zone initiative, that can facilitate local land use initiatives that will shape human settlements and control the built environment as a new path toward energy efficiency and climate change mitigation.

In the footnotes, Prof. Nolon notes that this is part of a trilogy:

FN.1. This article is one of three that examine how local land use law that can be used as an effective strategy to mitigate climate change. See John R. Nolon, The Land Use Stabilization Wedge Strategy: Shifting Gound to Mitigate Climate Change, 34 WM. & MARY ENVTL. L. & POL’Y REV. 1 (2009) [hereinafter Land Use Stablization Wedge] and John R. Nolon, Mitigating Climate Change through Biological Sequestration: Open Space Law Redux, 31 STAN. ENVTL. L.J. (forthcoming Winter 2011) [hereinafter Open Space Law Redux].

This is a great set of articles for anyone interested in the subject from one of the leaders in land use and local environmental law.

Matt Festa

Georgetown Releases Climate Adaptation Tools

From Vicky Arroyo at the Georgetown Climate Center:

Climate change may be a politically charged topic in Washington, but as we all know, states and communities don't have the luxury of waiting for the federal government to act.  

Facing extreme storms, flooding, drought, and water shortages, those on the front lines are responding now to the impacts of climate change (whether they use the words "climate change" or not) and are being forced to rethink planning for everything from roadway design and location to building standards to development along our nation's coasts.

 

Please join us for an important discussion and webinar on Tuesday, Nov. 1, [1 p.m. Eastern] when the Georgetown Climate Center will release the following tools and reports to help policymakers, reporters, and others locate and pursue policies that enable communities to adapt to climate change:

• The Adaptation Clearinghouse - A new online community and database to help planners find and share policies that address climate change impacts.  Policymakers, reporters, and the public can find adaptation policies and plans created for their communities.    
• Adaptation Case Studies in the Western United States - Two new case studies explore water shortages in the West and the protection of a ground-dwelling bird: the greater sage grouse.  The report looks at the policies and unique approaches being adopted in Colorado and Wyoming, in particular, to tackle the problems - even though the solutions may not be adopted with the sole intent of addressing climate change.    
• Adaptation Tool Kit: Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Land Use - A new report issued by the Georgetown Climate Center looks at 18 existing land use tools that communities can use to prepare for rising sea levels and the flooding that will result from climate change.

Please join me along with Jason Vogel, co-author of "Adaptation Case Studies in the Western United States"; Jessica Grannis, author of "Adaptation Tool Kit: Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Land Use"; and Cristina Rumbaitis Del Rio of the Rockefeller Foundation for this important webinar. 

You can link to the Webinar from this page.

Jamie Baker Roskie

 

Amazing "Vertical Forest"

Inhabit.com has a beautiful slide show and accompanying article about the world's first residential building incorporating a verticle forest.

The Bosco Verticale is a system that optimizes, recuperates, and produces energy. Covered in plant life, the building aids in balancing the microclimate and in filtering the dust particles contained in the urban environment (Milan is one of the most polluted cities in Europe). The diversity of the plants and their characteristics produce humidity, absorb CO2 and dust particles, producing oxygen and protect the building from radiation and acoustic pollution. This not only improves the quality of living spaces, but gives way to dramatic energy savings year round.

Each apartment in the building will have a balcony planted with trees that are able to respond to the city’s weather — shade will be provided within the summer, while also filtering city pollution; and in the winter the bare trees will allow sunlight to permeate through the spaces. Plant irrigation will be supported through the filtering and reuse of the greywater produced by the building. Additionally, Aeolian and photovoltaic energy systems will further promote the tower’s self-sufficiency.

It looks like something out of Tolkein - I highly recommend you take a look.

Jamie Baker Roskie

Ostrow on Land Law Federalism

Ashira Ostrow (Hofstra) has posted Land Law Federalism, 61 Emory L.J. ___ (forthcoming 2012). A must-read, this foundational work explores the theoretical framework for appropriate federal intervention in the state/local-dominated area of land use regulation. Here's the abstract:

In modern society, capital, information and resources pass seamlessly across increasingly porous jurisdictional boundaries; land does not. Perhaps because of its immobility, the dominant descriptive and normative account of land use law is premised upon local control. Yet, land exhibits a unique duality. Each parcel is at once absolutely fixed in location but inextricably linked to a complex array of interconnected systems, natural and man-made. Ecosystems spanning vast geographic areas sustain human life; interstate highways, railways and airports physically connect remote areas; networks of buildings, homes, offices and factories, create communities and provide the physical context in which most human interaction takes place.

Given the traditional commitment to localism, scholars and policymakers often reflexively dismiss the potential for an increased federal role in land use law. Yet, modern land use law already involves a significant federal dimension resulting, in part, from the enactment of federal statutes that have varying degrees of preemptive effect on local authority. Moreover, this Article maintains that federal intervention in land use law is warranted where the cumulative impact of local land use decisions interferes with national regulatory objectives (such as developing nationwide energy or telecommunications infrastructure).

Finally, this Article advances an interjurisdictional framework for federal land law that harnesses (a) the capacity of the federal government, with its distance from local politics and economic pressures, to coordinate land use on a national scale and (b) the capacity of local officials, who have detailed knowledge of the land and are politically accountable to the local community, to implement land use policies.

Jim K.

 

Outka & Feiock on Local Promise for Climate Mitigation

Uma Outka (Kansa) and Richard C. Feiock (Florida State--Public Administration) have posted Local Promise for Climate Mitigation: An Empirical Assessment. The abstract:

This interdisciplinary work contributes empirical grounding to the growing literature in law and public policy on local governments and climate mitigation. Much of the recent scholarship presents an optimistic view of the potential in local climate action. Here, we refine the optimism for local governments’ impact with new performance data that probes local progress and capacity for climate governance. Our analysis – based on a new study measuring policy choice, implementation, and influences – calls into question a number of assumptions undergirding this scholarship. At the same time, it provides direction and support for targeted investment and research.

Matt Festa

Lewis & Clark Clinic Wins Big Victory Against Coal

I'm a bit tardy in getting this out, but over the summer the folks at Lewis & Clark's Pacific Environmental Advocacy Center won a big victory against Portland General Electric, effectively making Oregon a coal free state.  LC law students were integrally involved in this case, making for one of the most fantastic clinical experiences ever (in my opinion).

Read more about it on the LC website. (Full disclosure: If it seems like I'm bursting with price, perhaps it's because I am an LC [undergraduate] alumna.)

Jamie Baker Roskie

2011 Conference on Litigating Regulatory Takings

John Echeverria (Vermont) sends along the announcement for the 14th annual Conference on Litigating Regulatory Takings Claims:

The 14th Edition of the Conference on Litigating Regulatory Takings Claims will be held this year on November 18 on the GULC campus in Washington, D.C. The conference will be co-sponsored by Vermont Law School and Georgetown University Law Center. Additional co-sponsors include: American Planning Association, Planning and Law Division; International Municipal Lawyers Association; Maryland Municipal League; National Association of Counties; National League of Cities; National State Attorneys General Program at Columbia Law School; U.S. Conference of Mayors, and Virginia Municipal League.

 

Speakers include: Mark Barron, J. Peter Byrne, David Callies, Martin R. Cohen,

Steven J. Eagle, John D. Echeverria, Mark Fenster, Denise G. Fjordbeck,

Alexandra B. Klass, Robert Meltz, Thomas W. Merrill, J. Michael Ponder,

Joseph L. Sax, Christopher Serkin, Daniel L. Siegel, Gregory M. Stein,

A. Daniel Tarlock, and William M. Treanor.

 

Looks like a great lineup once again.  For more information, the conference website is http://www.vermontlaw.edu/Takings2011/.

Matt Festa

Craig on Making Marine Zoning Climate Change Adaptable

Robin Kundis Craig (Florida State) has posted Ocean Governance for the 21st Century: Making Marine Zoning Climate Change Adaptable, which relates to her forthcoming book, COMPARATIVE OCEAN GOVERNANCE: PLACED-BASED PROTECTIONS IN AN ERA OF CLIMATE CHANGE (forthcoming Edward Elgar Press 2012).  The abstract:

The variety of anthropogenic stressors to the marine environment - including, increasingly, climate change - and their complex and synergistic impacts on ocean ecosystems testifies to the failure of existing governance regimes to protect these ecosystems and the services that they provide. Marine spatial planning has been widely hailed as a means of improving ocean governance through holistic ecosystem-based planning. However, that concept arose without reference to climate change, and hence it does not automatically account for the dynamic alterations in marine ecosystems that climate change is bringing.

This Article attempts to adapt marine spatial planning to climate change adaptation. In so doing, it explores three main topics. First, it examines how established marine protected areas can aid climate change adaptation. Second, the Article looks at how nations have incorporated climate change considerations into marine spatial planning to increase marine ecosystem resilience, focusing on the international leader in marine spatial planning: Australia. Finally, the Article explores how marine spatial planning could become flexible enough to adapt to the changes that climate change will bring to the world’s oceans, focusing on anticipatory zoning. Governments, of course, can establish marine zoning governance regimes in anticipation of climate change impacts, as has already occurred in the Arctic. However, drawing on work by Josh Eagle, Barton H. Thompson, and James Sanchirico, this Article argues that governments could also combine anticipatory zoning and closely regulated marine use rights bidding regimes to encourage potential future private users to make informed bets about the future productivity value of different parts of the ocean, potentially improving both our knowledge regarding climate change impacts on particular marine environments and ocean governance regimes for climate-sensitive areas.

Matt Festa

CFP: Connecticut Conference on Legal Solutions to Climate Change Adaptation

From Prof. Sara Bronin, here's an announcement about an opportunity to participate in an upcoming conference.  There is more information at the conference website.

Call for Papers:
“Legal Solutions to Coastal Climate Change Adaptation in Connecticut”

Conference Date: February 10, 2012

Conference Location: University of Connecticut School of Law,  
Hartford, CT

Deadline for paper abstract submissions:  September 30, 2011

Key Issues covered by the conference: The conference presentations and  
discussions aim to enhance understanding and promote discussion of  
cutting-edge policy and legal approaches to climate change adaptation  
in coastal areas, with potential application to Connecticut.

Topics of Interest: We invite practitioners, academics, and students  
in the field of law as well as others with expertise and interest to  
submit a 2 to 3 page paper proposal that focuses on existing or  
proposed innovative legal, policy and related incentive-based options  
for climate change adaptation in coastal environments. We invite  
papers that lay out the existing legal and regulatory structure in  
Connecticut as well as in other states, identify gaps and obstacles in  
these approaches, present innovative and environmentally sound  
approaches to climate change adaptation and stimulate legal thinking  
on legal and policy remedies to this issue of international  
importance. All submitted papers must contain a legal, policy or  
regulatory approach, solution or tool designed to facilitate climate  
change adaptation in Connecticut.

Specific Topics: Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
·         Opportunities for and roadblocks to adaptation in existing  
laws and policies; lessons from other areas:
·         Interplay between the protection of public resources and  
private property rights
·         Using the CZMA and Coastal Management Act for climate change  
adaptation
·         Rolling easements, ambulatory vs. fixed property lines
·         Ecosystem-based adaptation incentives via policy and legal  
approaches
·         Land use planning, growth strategies and regulatory  
approaches to climate change at the municipal and state levels
·         Climate Justice and Adaptation Planning: Who bears the  
burden? Who reaps the benefits?
·         Legal approaches to emergency planning and changing hazards
·         Adaptation Economics: the costs of adapting or not adapting,  
who pays and when?
·         Reactive versus proactive legal approaches to climate change  
adaptation
·         Legal strategies or barriers to financing climate change  
resilience planning/implementation

Publication of Papers: Submitted papers that are accepted for  
presentation will be published in a special issue of the Sea Grant Law  
and Policy Journal. How to Submit: 2 to 3 page paper proposals should be submitted via e-
mail to seagrantresearch@uconn.edu  by September 30th.  Be sure to  
include your affiliation and contact information.

Matt Festa

Craig on Energy System Impacts

Robin Kundis Craig (Florida State) has posted Energy System Impacts, forthcoming in THE LAW OF ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE: U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS, American Bar Association, 2012.  The abstract:

The exact impacts of climate change in the U.S. are still uncertain, so the effects on the energy sector are also highly uncertain, although the uncertainty is greater regarding effects on energy supply and production than regarding energy demand. Overall, climate change is likely to increase energy demand, increase peak demands, and shift energy needs from heating oil and natural gas to electricity, all of which effects will be driven primarily by increased needs for residential, industrial, commercial, and agricultural space cooling as summers grow hotter and heat waves become more frequent. As for production and supply, the greatest overall effects of climate change in the U.S. are likely to be on operators’ abilities to cool power plants and the consequent loss of efficiency and capacity as a result of increased air and water temperatures and reduced water supplies; on hydroelectric generation as a result of reduced and more variable flows; and on energy-related infrastructure of all types as a result of increasingly severe weather events and sea-level rise. Importantly, however, these national or overall projections mask important regional variations in climate change impacts, and hence adaptation strategies should be cognizant of and responsive to those regional differences. Moreover, climate change impacts on the energy sector strongly indicate that adaptation efforts will need to coordinate energy policy and water policy to reflect the likelihood that climate change will have significant impact on the energy-water nexus.

Matt Festa

Comparative Law Conference on Sustainability June 11th in Montréal

Weekend in Montréal anyone? The McGill Faculty of Law and Vermont Law School present a joint cross-border conference on Sustainability: Achieving Environmental Sustainability in the Face of Climate Change. 

Kat Garvey

For the full agenda...

 

 

SUSTAINABILITY:ACHIEVING ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY IN THE FACE OF CLIMATE CHANGE

June 11, 2011

9:00 A.M. until 5:30 P.M.

Room 312, New Chancellor Day Hall, Faculty of Law, McGill University

Montréal, Québec, Canada

 

AGENDA

 

Session 1.  9:00-10:30. Ecology and Policy

 

• Jason J. Czarnezki, Professor of Law, Vermont Law School:  The Information Approach to Creating a Sustainable Food System: Implementation of Environmental Life-Cycle Labeling for Food.
• Raphael Fischler, Associate Professor and Director, McGill School of Urban Planning:  Social Regulation and Land Use Planning Policy.
• Richard Janda, Associate Professor of Law, McGill Faculty of Law: The Justice Foundations of Ecological Economics.
• Patrick Parenteau, Professor of Law, Vermont Law School: Ecosystem Effects of Climate Change.

 

BREAK

 

Session 2.  10:45-12:15.  Domestic Law

 

• Martha L. Judy, Professor of Law, Vermont Law School:  Potentially Socially Responsible CERCLA?
• Hoi Kong, Assistant Professor of Law, McGill Faculty of Law: Sustainable Development and Land Use Regulation in Canada.
• Mark Latham, Professor of Law, Vermont Law School: Climate Change—Just Say No!
• Gregory Mikkleson, Associate Professor, McGill School of the Environment: Ecology and Democracy.

 

LUNCH

 

Session 3.  1:15-2:45. Comparative Coastal Zone Management

 

• Richard O. Brooks, Professor of Law Emeritus, Vermont Law School:

Making the “Mediterranean of the Western Hemisphere” a Sustainable Community: Connecticut’s Coastal Management Program and Long Island Sound.

• Aldo Chircop, Professor of Law, Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University: Legal Frameworks for Integrated Coastal and Ocean Management in Canada and the EU—Some Insights from Comparative Analysis.
• Briana Collier, J.D. 2011, Vermont Law School, Orchestrating our Oceans:  Effectively Implementing Coastal Marine Spatial Planning in the U.S.
• L. Kinvin Wroth, Professor of Law, Vermont Law School:  Six Flags over Champlain Revisited—A Case for Coastal Zone Management or Coastal Marine Spatial Planning?

 

BREAK

 

Session 4.  3:00-4:15. Binational Management and Comparative Law

 

• Robert P. Godin, Adjunct Professor of Law, McGill Faculty of Law, and Martin Mimeault, Québec Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment, and Parks: Transnational Sustainability Regulation: Landfill Expansion in Franklin County, on the New York and Québec Borders.
• Sara Phillips, LL.M. Candidate, McGill Faculty of Law and School of Environment:  Fracturing of Nations: Regulatory Reform and Comparative Analysis of Hydraulic Fracturing in Canada and the United States.
• Jack Tuholske, Visiting Professor of Law, Vermont Law School:  The Management of Transboundary Resources—the North Fork of the Flathead.

 

Session 5.  4:15-5:30. International Law

 

• Betsy Baker, Associate Professor of Law, and Samantha Fow, J.D. 2012, Vermont Law School: Sustainability as a Principle of Resource Exploitation in the Arctic.
• Meredith Cairns, LL.B/B.C.L. Candidate, McGill Faculty of Law:  Challenges to the Sustainability of Container Shipping in the Arctic.
• Konstantia Koutouki, Assistant Professor, University of Montréal Faculty of Law:  How International Law Has Evolved to Address Sustainable Development over the Last Two Decades, from the 1992 Rio Earth Summit towards the Coming 2012 Rio+20 Summit.

 For more information contact Professors Hoi Kong (hoi.kong@mcgill.ca) or Kinvin Wroth (kwroth@vermontlaw.edu)

LaCroix on Urban Green Uses

Catherine LaCroix (Case Western) has posted Urban Green Uses: The New Renewal, published in Planning and Environmental Law, Vol. 65, No. 5, p. 3, May 2011.  The abstract:

As they confront dramatically reduced population and little prospect of significant near-term growth, several cities in the rust belt have turned to innovative tactics to put excess land to beneficial use. These measures include the creation of active land banks, downzoning for "green" uses such as urban agriculture, possible consolidation of population and abandonment of utility and public services, and installation of green infrastructure, such as stormwater retention and renewable power generation facilities, on publicly owned land. In the process, these cities face intriguing legal questions: What steps are needed to form an effective land bank? What is the liability of land banks for cleanup of contaminated properties? Are cities required to provide municipal services to unpopulated areas within their boundaries? In the unlikely event that a city uses eminent domain to relocate owners of sparsely-populated areas, what is “just compensation” for this action? What issues might arise with zoning land for less intensive uses such as urban farms? Some of the answers are emerging. For example, state authorizing legislation has been enacted to establish the type of active land bank successfully implemented in St. Louis, Cleveland, and other cities, and it appears that cities need not provide infrastructure and services throughout their land area, though they are best advised retain any rights of way or easements that may be needed in the event of future development. Other questions – both legal and practical - have yet to be fully answered, as rust belt cities lead the way in what might tentatively be called "The New Renewal" – a form of sustainable development that dovetails well with the policies of cities that seek to combat and adapt to climate change.

Matt Festa

Adler on Climate, Water, Agriculture, and Drought

Robert W. Adler (Utah) has posted Balancing Compassion and Risk in Climate Adaptation: U.S. Water, Drought and Agricultural Law, forthcoming in the Florida Law Review.  The abstract:

This article compares risk spreading and risk reduction approaches to climate adaptation. Because of the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from past practices, the world is "committed" to a significant amount of global average warming. This is likely to lead to significant increases in the frequency, severity and geographic extent of drought. Adaptation to these and other problems caused by climate disruption will be essential even if steps are taken now to mitigate that disruption. Water and drought policy provide an example of the significant policy tension between compassion and risk reduction in climate adaptation, and how those tensions affect broader national economic policies. Because water is essential to lives and livelihoods, the compassionate response to drought is to provide financial and other forms of relief. Guaranteed, unconditional drought relief, however, can encourage unsustainable water uses and practices that increase vulnerability to drought in the long-term. Moreover, the agricultural sector is the largest consumptive user of water in drought-prone regions, but longstanding U.S. agricultural policy encourages excess production and water use. Effective adaptation to climate disruption will have to strike a balance between providing essential short-term relief from hardship and promoting longer-term measures to reduce vulnerability through more sustainable water use and other practices. It will also require fundamental reconsideration of laws and policies that drive key economic sectors that will be affected by climate disruption. Although water, drought and agricultural law provide one good example of this tension, the same lessons are likely to apply to other sectors of the economy vulnerable to climate disruption, such as real estate development and energy production.

A significant paper on drought and the increasingly alarming state of U.S. water resource law.

Matt Festa

Hudson on Federal Constitutions, Global Governance, and Climate Change

Blake Hudson (Stetson) has posted Federal Constitutions and Global Governance: The Case of Climate Change, forthcoming in the Indiana Law Journal, Vol 87 (2012).  The abstract:

Federal systems of government present more difficulties for international treaty formation than perhaps any other form of governance. Federal constitutions that grant subnational governments exclusive regulatory authority over certain subject matters constrain national governments during international negotiations - a national government that cannot constitutionally bind subnational governments to an international agreement cannot freely arrange its international obligations. At the same time, federal nations that grant subnational governments exclusive control over certain subject matters are seeking to maximize the benefits of decentralization in those regulatory areas. The difficulty lies in striking a balance between global governance and constitutional decentralization in federal systems. For example, recent scholarship demonstrates that U.S. federalism may jeopardize international negotiations seeking to utilize global forest management to combat climate change, since subnational forest management is a constitutional regulatory responsibility reserved for state governments. This article expands that scholarship by undertaking a comparative constitutional analysis of five other federal systems - Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, and Russia. These nations, along with the U.S., are crucial to climate negotiations since they account for 54 percent of the world’s total forest cover. This article reviews the constitutional allocation of forest regulatory authority between national and subnational governments in these nations to better understand potential complications that federal systems present for global climate governance aimed at forests. The article concludes that federal systems that maintain three key elements within their constitutional structure are most capable of agreeing to an international climate agreement that includes forests, successfully implementing that treaty on domestic scales, and doing so in a way that maintains the recognized benefits of decentralized forest management at the local level - 1. national constitutional primacy over forest management, 2. national sharing of constitutional forest management authority, and 3. adequate forest policy institutional enforcement capacity. The article also establishes the foundation for further research assessing how the constitutional structures of federal systems lacking key elements may be adjusted to achieve more effective climate and forest governance.

Prof. Hudson is also part of the group--with Lincoln Davies (Utah), Brigham Daniels (BYU), Lesley McAllister (San Diego), and our guest Hannah Wiseman (Tulsa)--who very recently relaunched the Environmental Law Prof Blog on our Law Professor Blogs Network.  Welcome and congrats to them, and check out Prof. Hudson's paper. 

Matt Festa

Columbia Conference on Sea Level Rise

From Michael Gerrard at Columbia Law:

Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia Law School and The Republic of the Marshall Islands
invite you to attend an international academic conference:

THREATENED ISLAND NATIONS:
LEGAL IMPLICATIONS OF RISING SEAS AND A CHANGING CLIMATE

May 23 - 25, 2011
Columbia University
New York, New York

DAY ONE: THE STATUS QUO -- SHIFTING LEGAL OPTIONS IN A CHANGING WORLD

Scientific summary: How much time do we have?
Statehood and statelessness
Preserving marine rights: Fishing and minerals
Legal remedies

DAY TWO: WHAT CAN BE DONE TO HELP, AND HOW TO DO IT

Resettlement and migration issues
Existing legal structures
A new international convention?

DAY THREE: DOMESTIC OPTIONS FOR SMALL ISLAND STATES       

Engineering for the future
Law and policy choices

[Visit this link for] Further information, and registration to attend conference or to view live webcast.

Jamie Baker Roskie

Klass on the Public Trust Doctrine and the Siting of Wind and Solar Projects

Alexandra Klass (Minnesota) has posted Renewable Energy and the Public Trust Doctrine, 44 UC Davis L. Rev. __ (forthcoming 2011).  Here's the abstract:

This Article explores the role of the public trust doctrine in current efforts to site large-scale wind and solar projects on public and private lands. Notably, both proponents and opponents of such renewable energy projects have looked to the public trust doctrine to advance their goals. Proponents of large-scale renewable energy projects point to the environmental and climate change benefits associated with renewable energy development and argue that the use of public lands and large tracts of private lands to facilitate such projects are both in the public interest and consistent with the public trust doctrine. At the same time, parties opposed to particular renewable energy projects have argued that the land-intensive nature of these projects as well as their potential adverse impacts on endangered species, open space, aesthetic values, and pristine landscapes will result in a violation of the public trust doctrine. Which side is right? How do we balance the benefits and harms of large-scale renewable energy projects and what role should the public trust doctrine play in setting that balance? In addressing these questions, this Article discusses the extent to which the public trust doctrine applies to on-shore and off-shore renewable energy projects on private, state, and federal lands and waters. It then discusses the potential role state and federal legislation can play in codifying or expanding the application of the public trust doctrine with regard to state and federal lands and waters. It concludes by suggesting ways in which existing statutes and new, renewable energy-specific statutes can attempt to build on the public trust doctrine to encourage renewable energy development on public lands without compromising competing public trust values.

Jim K.

Osofsky on Diagonal Federalism and Climate Change

Hari M. Osofsky (Minnesota) has posted Diagonal Federalism and Climate Change: Implications for the Obama Administration, Alabama Law Review, vol. 62 (2011).  The abstract:

The Obama Administration’s efforts on climate change continue to face daunting challenges domestically and internationally. This Article makes a novel contribution by exploring how the Obama Administration can meet these challenges more effectively though systematically addressing the multiscalar character of climate change in the areas where it has greater regulatory control. Mitigating and adapting to climate change pose complex choices at individual, community, local, state, national, and international levels. The Article argues that these choices lead to many diagonal regulatory interactions: that is, dynamics among a wide range of public and private actors which simultaneously cut across levels of government (vertical) and involve multiple actors at each level of government that it includes (horizontal).

After assessing the Obama Administration’s progress on climate change and energy issues, this Article develops a theory of diagonal federalism to explore how the Obama Administration might engage in more effective crosscutting regulatory approaches. It proposes a taxonomy for under-standing how these diagonal interactions vary across multiple dimensions over time. Specifically, the taxonomy includes four dimensions: (1) scale (large v. small); (2) axis (vertical v. horizontal); (3) hierarchy (top-down v. bottom-up); and (4) cooperativeness (cooperation v. conflict). The Article then applies this taxonomy to the case example of the Obama Administration’s efforts at reducing motor vehicle greenhouse gas emissions to demonstrate how it can be used as a tool in policy-making.

The Article argues that existing diagonal efforts to regulate what cars we drive tend to be predominantly large-scale, vertical, and top-down, in line with their direct impact on automobile companies. In contrast, approaches targeting how we drive those cars, which affect those companies less directly and are grounded in land use planning, are more likely to be small-scale, horizontal, and bottom-up. This divergence creates an opportunity for normative reflection. The Article argues that the Obama Administration should consider whether these skews are appropriate by taking into account the benefits and limitations of such skews in particular contexts. It then proposes ways in which the Administration could create more balance in the dimensions and argues for the value of that balance. Specifically, the Obama Administration could explore additional opportunities for (1) greater smaller-scale governmental involvement in technology-oriented financial incentives programs; (2) federal-level, top-down, vertical initiatives connecting federal approaches to highways, railroads, and gas prices with smaller-scale efforts to have people drive less in their communities; and (3) litigation, which often has a rescaling effect, by interested individuals, non-govermental organizations, corporations, and government.

Matt Festa