Advancing the Sovereign Trust of Government to Safeguard the Environment for Present and Future Generations (Part I): Ecological Realism and the Need for a Paradigm Shift
Modern environmental law has proved a colossal failure, despite the good intentions and the hard work of many citizens, lawyers, and government officials. Notwithstanding the most extensive and complex set of legal mandates the world has ever known, government is driving runaway greenhouse gas emissions and resource depletion. Agencies use the discretion in their statutes to allow continuing damage to the atmosphere and other natural resources. At a time when society faces catastrophic climate heating and ecological collapse, leading thinkers should be setting their sights on a transformational environmental law principle. This Article is the first of two companion Articles that identify the public trust doctrine as the most fundamental legal mechanism available to ensure governmental protection of natural resources necessary for public welfare and survival. At the core of the doctrine is the principle that every sovereign government holds vital natural resources in “trust” for the public – i.e., present and future generations of citizen beneficiaries. This Article proposes a paradigm shift away from the current system of natural resource management, a system driven by political discretion, to one that is infused with public trust principles and policies across all branches of government and at all jurisdictional levels. Section II of this Article explains the necessity for an emergency response to arrest the hemorrhage of natural systems and stabilize climate by bringing down atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gas pollution. Section III explains the dysfunction of modern environmental law and the role of agencies in promoting natural damage. Section IV explores the depth of legal change needed to secure the resources essential to future survival and prosperity. Section V explains the role of government as trustee of natural resources. Section VI describes states and foreign nations as covenant trustees with respect to shared or transitory resources. Part II of this work presents the trust framework as it relates to the modern regime of statutory and administrative law.
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980
For the protection of human health and the environment through safe operations, the Hanford Site has compliance programs designed to meet federal, state, and local environmental laws, regulations, and requirements and comply with DOE orders, notices, directives, policies, and guidance. These measures include specific requirements, actions, plans, and schedules identified in the TPA and other compliance or consent agreements. RL and ORP recognize the importance of maintaining a proactive program of selfassessment and regulatory reporting to ensure that environmental compliance is achieved and maintained at the Hanford Site. This report fulfills reporting requirements for the annual compliance status under the environmental standards specified in DOE O 231.1B, Environmental, Safety and Health Reporting.
Within and Inter-Institutional Differences Between Death Certifiers on Autopsy Conclusions
This study seeks to establish whether medico-legal practitioners differ in their autopsy conclusions within and across medico-legal institutions. Data include 459 violent deaths (homicides, suicides, and accidents) autopsy reports written by more than 20 death certifiers from four medico-legal institutions in two countries (France and the United States). Multinomial models show that compared with accidental deaths, weapon use and decedents’ characteristics both influence a homicide verdict, but not a suicide one. In addition, French practitioners are more likely than Americans to reach a conclusion of homicide or suicide compared with accident, and homicides are more likely to be certified by male practitioners.