Academia

Another one bites the dust (RIP Cannon nomination)

Ann touted the nomination of Jon Cannon to be EPA Deputy Administrator here as “a great appointment,” but last week he became the most recent Obama nominee to fall.  Here’s the WSJ coverage.  His withdrawal is being met with real sadness in many quarters.  At a conference of public and private bar environmental lawyers in Los Angeles on Friday, Cecilia Estolano, CEO of the LA Community …

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An Invitation to Explore the Connections Between Constitutional & Environmental Law

These days, more and more of the most important environmental law disputes arise in the crucible of constitutional law.  Preemption, the Dormant Commerce Clause, the foreign powers doctrine, constitutional principles of standing to sue and the separation of powers doctrine are all doctrines of constitutional law that have been invoked in much of the most …

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Ocean Law Developments

If you’re interested in ocean issues, you might want to take a look at the new symposium in Issues in Legal Scholarship: Frontier Issues in Ocean Law: Marine Resources, Maritime Boundaries, and the Law of the Sea. Issues in Legal Scholarship is on on-line, peer-reviewed publiation of Berkeley Law, featuring symposiums organized by Berkeley faculty …

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Don’t Judge a Book By Its Title

Some months ago, the publisher sent me a free copy of a book by Fred Pearce, Confessions of an Eco-Sinner.  I left it sitting around but  didn’t plan to read it — the title sounded unpleasantly self-righteous and simultaneously self-flagellating.  I finally did leaf through it and ended up reading the whole thing. It’s not …

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Is Environmental Law Socialist?

Conservatives might be seeking a spiritual leader, organizing principle and fresh identity, but they at least seem to have settled on a favorite rhetorical ogre: socialism. As in, Democrats are intent on forcing socialism on the “U.S.S.A” (as the bumper sticker says, under the words “Comrade Obama”). This trend, as reported by the New York …

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Jon Cannon To Be EPA Deputy Administrator

President Obama has nominated Jon Cannon, Professor of Law at University of Virginia, to be the EPA’s new Deputy Administrator, subject to Senate confirmation. Cannon has extensive experience in the federal government, including three years as the EPA’s General Counsel from 1995-98. In my view he’s a great appointment. His background gives him enormous experience, …

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Why futures markets won’t save species

Conflict, or perceived conflict, between profits and conservation drives much of the controversy over implementation of the Endangered Species Act. Landowners and resource users resist species listing and protection because it comes at their expense. For years we’ve been talking about whether and to what extent to incorporate compensation or other economic incentives for conservation …

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UCLA Working Conference on Nanotechnology Policy

The2009WorkingConferenceonNanotechRegulatoryPolicywillbeheldattheUniversityofCalifornia,LosAngelescampusonApril17.  TheConferencewillbringtogetheraninterdisciplinarygroupofscholarsandresearchers,policymakers,non-governmentalorganizations,andbusinessesforaction-orientedworkshoppanelsonthescienceandpolicyofnanotechnology.  ThegoaloftheConferenceistocriticallyevaluateseveralspecificpolicyproposalsforrespondingtothepotentialpublichealthandenvironmentalimpactsofnanotechnology.  TheConferencewillexaminethreecategoriesofpolicyresponsesthroughseveralpanels:  ∙          Relianceonexistingregulatoryprograms ∙           Developmentofinnovative“nano-specific”regulatoryprograms ∙           Relianceupon“private”regulation(e.g.,industryinitiatives,insurancemechanisms,etc.)  ThepolicyproposalswillbesetoutinaseriesofsuccinctpaperscommissionedbytheConferencesponsorsanddistributedtoallparticipantsinadvanceoftheConference.  ThesepaperswillbepublishedintheUCLAJournalofEnvironmentalLawandPolicy. Registration is availableonline.  Visit the website at http://www.cnsi.ucla.edu/NanoRegulatoryPolicy/

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New Details on Stimulus Research Funding

This is of more interest to a limited audience than the general public so I’m putting all the details after the “keep reading” tag.  If you’re a researcher, however, you should keep reading.The American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS) has provided a summary of the R&D items of the appropriations. Below are some of …

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Laws as data

Julie Ekstrom, a doctoral student at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at UC Santa Barbara, has put together and made publicly available a searchable dataset of federal and state statutes and regulations dealing with ocean and coastal resources in the California current ecosystem. In a paper in the journal Marine Policy (subscription …

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