Category «Environmental Law»

Climate Change and Existing Law: A Survey of Legal Issues Past, Present, and Future

CRS – Climate Change and Existing Law: A Survey of Legal Issues Past, Present, and Future. Robert Meltz, Legislative Attorney. August 20, 2014. “This report surveys existing law for legal issues that have arisen, or may arise in the future, on account of climate change and government responses thereto.The reader interested in proposals for new laws to deal with …

Subjects: Climate Change, Congress, Environmental Law, Government Documents, Legal Research

New GAO Reports – Federal Real Property, Regulatory Impact Analysis

FEDERAL REAL PROPERTY: GSA Should Better Target Its Use of Swap-Construct Exchanges, GAO-14-586. Published: Jul 24, 2014. Publicly Released: Aug 25, 2014: “The swap-construct approach can help GSA address the challenges of disposing of unneeded property and modernizing or replacing federal buildings, but various factors could affect future use of the approach. For example, swap-construct can require developers …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law, Government Documents

Ozone-Depleting Compound Persists, NASA Research Shows

“NASA research shows Earth’s atmosphere contains an unexpectedly large amount of an ozone-depleting compound from an unknown source decades after the compound was banned worldwide. Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), which was once used in applications such as dry cleaning and as a fire-extinguishing agent, was regulated in 1987 under the Montreal Protocol along with other chlorofluorocarbons that …

Subjects: E-Government, Environmental Law, Government Documents

NOAA analysis reveals significant land cover changes in U.S. coastal regions

“A new NOAA nationwide analysis shows that between 1996 and 2011, 64,975 square miles in coastal regions — can area larger than the state of Wisconsin — experienced changes in land cover, including a decline in wetlands and forest cover with development a major contributing factor. Overall, 8.2 percent of the nation’s ocean and Great Lakes …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law, Government Documents

Record decline of ice sheets: scientists map elevation changes of Greenlandic and Antarctic glaciers

News release: “Bremerhaven, 20th August 2014. Researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), have for the first time extensively mapped Greenland’s and Antarctica’s ice sheets with the help of the ESA satellite CryoSat-2 and have thus been able to prove that the ice crusts of both regions momentarily decline …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law, Knowledge Management

China’s Dirty Pollution Secret: The Boom Poisoned Its Soil and Crops

He Guangwei is a staff writer and investigative reporter with The Times Weekly, a national Chinese newspaper based in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. Via Yale environment 360: “There are now signs that gravity of the soil pollution problem is belatedly forcing the Chinese government to begin to deal with a problem that has accumulated over many decades, and to reconsider …

Subjects: Environmental Law, Food and Nutrition

The Next Generation of Trade and Environment Conflicts: The Rise of Green Industrial Policy

Wu, Mark and Salzman, James, The Next Generation of Trade and Environment Conflicts: The Rise of Green Industrial Policy (August 15, 2014). Northwestern University Law Review, Vol. 108, No. 2, 2014. Available for download at SSRN:  http://ssrn.com/abstract=2481209 “A major shift is transforming the trade and environment field, triggered by governments’ rising use of industrial policies …

Subjects: Economy, Environmental Law, Government Documents, Legal Research

More Than 30,000 Elephants Are Killed Every Year – HufPo

“More than 30,000 elephants are killed per year for their ivory. The number would probably be higher, if it weren’t for the diligent work of conservation organizations in Africa that are dedicated to protecting and preserving the endangered and threatened species. Just last week, a newborn elephant who had followed a herd of cows became separated from his family and …

Subjects: Environmental Law

Africa’s Vultures Threatened By An Assault on All Fronts

Madeline Bodin – Yale environment360: “Vultures are being killed on an unprecedented scale across Africa, with the latest slaughter perpetrated by elephant poachers who poison the scavenging birds so they won’t give away the location of their activities. In July 2013, roughly 600 vultures died after scavenging a dead elephant that had been poisoned near Namibia’s Bwabwata …

Subjects: Environmental Law

New GAO Reports – Electricity Markets, Environmental Regulation, Health Prevention, New Markets Tax Credit

ELECTRICITY MARKETS: Actions Needed to Expand GSA and DOD Participation in Demand-Response Activities, GAO-14-594: Published: Jul 11, 2014. Publicly Released: Aug 11, 2014. ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION: EPA Should Improve Adherence to Guidance for Selected Elements of Regulatory Impact Analyses, GAO-14-519: Published: Jul 18, 2014. Publicly Released: Aug 11, 2014. HEALTH PREVENTION: Cost-effective Services in Recent Peer-Reviewed Health Care Literature, GAO-14-789R: Published: Aug 11, 2014. Publicly …

Subjects: Energy, Environmental Law, Government Documents, Health Care