This article explains why industrial waste that is not legally hazardous must be given greater attention and regulatory oversight. Industrial waste (including coal ash) may represent as much as 94 percent of municipal, hazardous, and industrial wastes combined. The article explores the existing...

The Pennsylvania Constitution contains a unique Environmental Rights Amendment (“ERA”) creating an individual right to “clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment.” The ERA also includes a public trust element...

This article explains why policy makers should seriously consider substantial early reductions in greenhouse gas emissions as a part of any post-Kyoto framework, and sets out suggested elements of a framework for early action in a post-Kyoto agreement. Substantial early reductions are needed...

This article provides a description and analysis of the dozen types of legal tools that are available to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 80% from 1990 levels by 2050. The “80 by 50” target and similarly aggressive carbon abatement goals are often referred to as “deep...

This article explains why states and localities need to be full partners in a national climate change effort based on federal legislation or the existing Clean Air Act. A large share of reductions with the lowest cost and the greatest co-benefits (e.g., job creation, technology development,...

This article argues that a key to sustainability is redirecting the law of economic development. From a historical perspective, sustainable development is an effort to integrate environmental protection and restoration with development. As a result, it is not possible to fully understand...

This article explains why industrial waste that is not legally hazardous must be given greater attention and regulatory oversight. Industrial waste (including coal ash) may represent as much as 96 percent of municipal, hazardous, and industrial wastes combined. The article explores the existing...

This article explains sustainable development as well as the outcomes of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa. It then describes U.S. sustainability activity activities and necessary next steps at the national and state levels. The article concludes that...

This article explains the basic elements of climate change law, with a particular focus on those issues that promise to be important for a considerable time as well as the major factors that are driving the development of this law. The emerging law of climate change is being constructed at the...

The growing prospect of comprehensive national climate change legislation raises many important questions about the role of state efforts in a national climate change program. This article identifies the key state/federal issues that should be addressed in any comprehensive national...