The U.S. Constitution was forged out of a revolution that both rejected and embraced aspects of English legal tradition. The Takings Clause and its subsequent jurisprudential interpretation represents a rejection of what the Framers at the time and constitutional Reframers since that time viewed...

Recent research demonstrates the difficulties that federal systems of government may present for international treaty formation, a prime example being legally binding treaties aimed at harnessing global forests to regulate climate change. Some federal constitutions, such as the U.S. and Canadian...

Scholars analyzing the intersection of federalism and disaster law and policy have primarily focused on the difficulties federalism poses for interjurisdictional coordination of disaster response. Though scholars have highlighted that rising disaster risks and costs are associated with...

The constitutional structure of a federal system of government can undermine effective natural capital management across scales, from local to global. Federal constitutions that grant subnational governments virtually exclusive regulatory authority over certain types of natural capital...

“Woody” or “forest product-derived” biomass is not a major fuel source for electricity generation in the United States. This chapter first discusses the extent of its current use, and details some reasons for its limited use. Second, the chapter analyzes one scientific and policy debate...

Both critics and supporters of federal environmental law have called for its reform. Conservative scholars and policy makers in particular have called for reform due to the size, scope, and cost of the federal environmental bureaucracy. To date, however, conservatives have implemented few...

Climate change will exacerbate disaster events in the U.S. South, and in particular wildfires. This article details the emergent climate-induced wildfire risks facing the U.S. South, describes how addressing those risks is particularly challenging in this region of the U.S., and provides some...

Dense residential and commercial developments have been touted by the environmental community for years. Yet, as demonstrated by recent sprawl studies, without abrupt changes in both population growth and the stringency of land use planning at state and local levels, future sprawl is inevitable...

Important species are increasingly threatened on private lands and remain largely unregulated by federal and state laws. The gopher tortoise, present within six south-eastern states, is one such species. The tortoise is a keystone species, meaning that upon its existence numerous other species...

Government attempts to protect ecosystems on private lands are often thwarted by Fifth Amendment takings claims demanding that “just compensation” be paid to the property owner. In the case of Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, the U.S. Supreme Court found that a state statute could...