scholarly journals La protection de l'environnement au Canada et aux États-Unis

2005 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 425-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Piette
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Environmental Planning ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Environmental Legislation ◽  
Environmental Laws ◽  
Division Of Powers ◽  
Federal Constitution ◽  
Citizen Suits

This paper explains some of the main differences between the development and the structure of environmental legislation, regulations and programs in Canada and the United States. In Canada, the division of powers under the Federal Constitution between Parliament and Provincial Legislatures explains the structure and scope of Canadian environmental law. Federal laws and regulations have been mostly sectoral while Provincial laws have been broader and have been successful in integrating environmental planning instruments. U.S. environmental laws, regulations and programs are developed under the leadership of Congress. The Environmental Protection Agency and State Governments are called upon to play an important role in the implementation of Federal environmental statutes. Contrary to the Canadian situation, citizen suits and the Judiciary are instrumental in the development of U.S. environmental law.

scholarly journals The Impact of Sustainability Awareness and Moral Values on Environmental Laws

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 5882
Author(s):  
Rita Yi Man Li ◽  
Yi Lut Li ◽  
M. James C. Crabbe ◽  
Otilia Manta ◽  
Muhammad Shoaib
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
Web Pages ◽  
Environmental Legislation ◽  
Environmental Laws ◽  
Academic Publications ◽  
The Impact

We argue that environmental legislation and regulation of more developed countries reflects significantly their moral values, but in less developed countries it differs significantly from their moral values. We examined this topic by using the keywords “sustainability” and “sustainable development”, studying web pages and articles published between 1974 to 2018 in Web of Science, Scopus and Google. Australia, Zimbabwe, and Uganda were ranked as the top three countries in the number of Google searches for sustainability. The top five cities that appeared in sustainability searches through Google are all from Africa. In terms of academic publications, China, India, and Brazil record among the largest numbers of sustainability and sustainable development articles in Scopus. Six out of the ten top productive institutions publishing sustainable development articles indexed in Scopus were located in developing countries, indicating that developing countries are well aware of the issues surrounding sustainable development. Our results show that when environmental law reflects moral values for betterment, legal adoption is more likely to be successful, which usually happens in well-developed regions. In less-developed states, environmental law differs significantly from moral values, such that changes in moral values are necessary for successful legal implementation. Our study has important implications for the development of policies and cultures, together with the enforcement of environmental laws and regulations in all countries.

Comparative Environmental Federalism: Subsidiarity and Central Regulation in the United States and China

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 531-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huiyu Zhao ◽  
Robert Percival
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Conclusive Evidence ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Race To The Bottom ◽  
Environmental Laws ◽  
National Governments ◽  
National Environmental

AbstractThe proper division of responsibility for environmental protection between national and state governments has long been the subject of fierce debate. During the 1970s the United States Congress decided to shift the most important environmental responsibilities from state governments to the federal government. The main reason for this decision was to prevent a ‘race to the bottom’ in that states competing for industries could otherwise be lax in implementing and enforcing federal environmental standards. Yet, some scholars have argued that there could just as easily be a ‘race to the top’ among states as they compete to attract people and businesses concerned with environmental protection. China, in turn, is plagued with severe air and water pollution and soil contamination, which is attributed largely to ineffective enforcement of its national environmental laws. This article investigates whether China’s experience confirms the race-to-the-bottom theory. It demonstrates that devolution of responsibility for environmental protection to lower levels of government tends to result in lax implementation and enforcement of national environmental laws, particularly where national governments also create strong incentives for economic growth. It concludes that China’s highly devolved system of environmental governance is consistent with this theory, even if it does not provide conclusive evidence of its correctness.

Environmental Pollution Control: Regulatory Considerations and a Case in Point

1993 ◽  
Vol 9 (03) ◽  
pp. 159-166
Author(s):  
Jonathan Ross
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Pollution ◽  
Pollution Control ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
The United States ◽  
Environmental Laws ◽  
Environmentally Sensitive ◽  
Dry Dock ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Local Agencies ◽  
Laws And Regulations

During recent years, the United States has paid increasing attention to controlling and minimizing environmental pollution. One result of this attention is the development of new laws and regulations, enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and by state and local agencies. These new environmental laws and regulations are considerably more stringent than those of past years and they directly impact how shipyards must conduct their operations. This paper discusses these laws and regulations at the national, state (including California, Virginia, and Connecticut), and local levels. With the environmental regulatory background in focus, the paper proceeds to explore the effects of the regulatory trend on one particular segment of the shipbuilding and ship repair industry: floating dry docks. Floating dry docks provide an illuminating example, because of the environmentally sensitive industrial activities carried out on board, such as grit blasting and painting with antifouling paints. The operational norms of floating dry dock pollution control are discussed, starting with present day commercial and Navy facilities, and culminating with the Navy's newest floating dry dock design, the AFDB 10.

Part IV Federalism, B Federalism in Context, Ch.23 The Environment, Federalism, and the Charter

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Dayna Nadine
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Law ◽  
Current Trend ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Environmental Laws ◽  
Unequal Distribution ◽  
Division Of Powers ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
Laws And Policies ◽  
Critical Policy ◽  
Change Mitigation

This chapter reviews the key jurisprudential developments in relation to the division of powers in Canada, exploring how the shared jurisdiction over the “environment” created by sections 91 and 92 of the Constitution has historically shaped and continues to shape environmental law and policy. In addition to this federal-provincial struggle, the chapter considers the current trend towards local regulation of environmental matters according to the principle of “subsidiarity”, and the growing recognition of the “inherent jurisdiction” of Indigenous peoples. The contemporary dynamics are explored through two critical policy case studies highlighting barriers to environmental justice: safe drinking water on reserves, and climate change mitigation. The review reveals that Canada’s constitutional framework, although not solely responsible, has contributed to our collective failure to achieve a coordinated and effective set of environmental laws and policies, which translates to unequal distribution of environmental benefits and burdens on the ground.

Energy and Environmental Policy in the European Community and Canada

1991 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-220
Author(s):  
Alastair R. Lucas
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Policy ◽  
European Community ◽  
Environmental Planning ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Energy Sector ◽  
Tradeable Permits ◽  
Environmental Laws ◽  
Environmental Audits

European Community and Canadian federal environmental laws as they affect the energy sector -oil and gas, and non-nuclear electricity generation- are reviewed and comparatively analyzed. The study concludes that it is appropriate to consider the development of both the Canadian and European environmental law in terms of a federal model and that there are legal federalism lessons to be learned from both sides. While from an energy sector perspective EC and Canadian environmental policy and law have developed in a broadly similar manner, the study shows important differences in timing and pace of implementation. Canadian energy industries were required to respond earlier to strengthening and harmonizing of air quality standards, and to the scientific and public review demands of environmental assessment than their European counterparts. EC air pollution measures targeted the energy sector more directly and explicitly than is the case in Canada. The EC has also been more successful in coordinating and integrating environmental and energy policy, and is closer to implementing economic pollution control instruments such as tradeable permits and taxes. Canada has placed greater emphasis on civil and criminal liability, including personal liability ofcorporate officers and directors, and the energy sector hasresponded with environmental audits and improvements in compliance and corporate environmental planning. The Canadian energy sector has, to a greater extent than the European imdustry, been required to deal with increasingly extensive rights of the public to participate in environmental decisions.

Environmental Laws

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Hill
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
The United States ◽  
Environmental Laws ◽  
Legal Decisions ◽  
Environmental Disputes

What is environmental law in the United States? In the United States environmental law consists of laws enacted by Congress and by state legislatures to address environmental issues, and the written legal decisions of judges resolving environmental disputes arising from these laws. Both are now...

The Environment

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Heinzerling
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
European Union ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Environmental Laws ◽  
Legal Scholarship ◽  
Made In

This article discusses three strands of environmental law scholarship. First, the nearly simultaneous passage of the major environmental laws meant that legislators often had no time to react to the experience under one law before enacting another; thus several mistakes were made in the early environmental laws, and many of these mistakes were repeated from one statute to the next. A large strand of legal scholarship on the environment has taken critical aim at these early mistakes. To this day, environmental law scholars focus much of their attention on issues of statutory design. Secondly, environmental law came of age during a period of great flux in the relationships between the legislature, the executive, and the courts. Finally, environmental law has come of age during a period in which opinions about ‘vertical’ institutional design — what in the United States comes under the umbrella of ‘federalism’ and what in the European Union comes under the umbrella of ‘subsidiarity’ — have changed quite substantially.

A Reflexive Model of Environmental Regulation

1995 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 779-794 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric W. Orts
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Environmental Regulation ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Current System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Good News ◽  
Rapid Phase

Although contemporary methods of environmental regulation have registered some significant accomplishments, the current system of environmental law is not working well enough. First the good news: Since the first Earth Day in 1970, smog has decreased in the United States by thirty percent. The number of lakes and rivers safe for fishing and swimming has increased by one-third. Recycling has begun to reduce levels of municipal waste. Ocean dumping has been curtailed. Forests have begun to expand. One success story is the virtual elimination of airborne lead in the United States. Another is the rapid phase-out of ozone-layer depleting chemicals worldwide. Nevertheless, prominent commentators of diverse political persuasions agree in an assessment that conventional models of environmental law have “failed.” Many environmental problems remain unsolved: species extinction, global desertification and deforestation, possible global climate change, and continuing severe air and water pollution in urban areas and poor countries. What is more, successful environmental protection has come only at enormous economic cost. By the year 2000, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that the United States will spend approximately two percent of its gross national product on environmental pollution control. Academic economists have pointed out the nonsensical inefficiency of many environmental regulations, but usually to no avail.

United States of America

2019 ◽  
pp. 373-394
Author(s):  
James Salzman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
Environmental Response ◽  
National Environmental Policy Act ◽  
Implementation Framework ◽  
Criminal Sanctions ◽  
Delegation Of Authority ◽  
Citizen Suits

This chapter examines environmental law in the United States. It begins with a discussion of the US approach to environmental law, describing it as a system striving for balance, including balance in terms of the allocation of powers between federal and state legislatures. The chapter provides an overview of the constitutional bases of US environmental law, delegation of authority to regulatory agencies, and environmental regulation in relation to private property. It then considers the structure and substance of environmental law, focusing on five pieces of legislation: Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). The chapter concludes with an analysis of the implementation framework and how it affects environmental law in practice, taking into account the role of agency authorities, administrative enforcement, civil remedies, criminal sanctions, and relevant provisions on citizen suits.

scholarly journals Climate Policy and the United States System of Divided Powers: Dealing with Carbon Leakage and Regulatory Linkage

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel A. Farber
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Executive Branch ◽  
Carbon Leakage ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
State Governments

AbstractClimate change has pushed governmental authorities within the United States (US) into new routes of national and transnational policy-making. The normal route for national policy-making runs from Congress in setting policy, to the President in agency implementation, to judicial oversight and enforcement. When that route is blocked, however, federalism and the separation of powers provide some byways and detours that may still be used to make progress. State governments and the executive branch have moved into the breach left by congressional deadlock. In the absence of federal climate legislation or a formal treaty, however, constitutional challenges will predictably meet efforts to limit carbon leakage or to establish linkages between regulatory systems.These constitutional issues often involve corners of constitutional law such as foreign affairs, where doctrines are particularly murky. Solid arguments can be made in favour of state efforts to avoid leakage and create linkage, despite claims of discrimination against interstate commerce, extraterritoriality, and foreign affairs pre-emption. The Environmental Protection Agency has some statutory authority to deal with leakage, and the President seems to have authority to pursue linkage through executive agreement. Thus, both states and the executive branch should have room to deal with transboundary implications of climate policies. Although the deadlock in Congress regarding climate change may be unusually severe, these modes of response may also be important for other kinds of transnational activity by US state governments and the national executive.

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