Making Environmental Laws Work

William Wilson is a lawyer with the English Department of the Environment,Transport and the Regions, working on United Kingdom and European Community environmental law.

Part 1 Introduction: why America?; part of the picture; civil litigation - a non-comparison; who gets to sue?; deferential courts; a constitutional mismatch; the changing United Kingdom; the influence of scale; summary of contents. Part 2 Politics and environmental laws: Kyoto and climate change; the 104th Congress and the Republican contract with America; environmental groups' counter attack; Democrats and Republicans - the shaping of an election issue; the nature of the debate - and lobbyists v the public; citizens in action; appointments and enforcement; delegation and devolution; conclusions. Part 3 The consent of the governed 1 - making the laws: the lawmaking process in the United Kingdom; Westminster legislation; the American ballot measure process; secondary legislation in England; negotiating European Community law; better law from Europe?; the national parliament and European Community legislation; the "copy out" debate; conclusions. Part 4 The consent of the governed 2 - the public and science: science and public opinion; problems with risk assessment; dioxins; pesticides; food safety and the Delaney clause; genetically engineered crops; toxic substances and public access to information; conclusions. Part 5 Common problems, common themes?: Russia's beleaguered environment; closer to home - the issue of environmental justice in America; the President's Executive Order on environmental justice of 1994; themes of the environmental justice movement; drinking of the Mississippi; lessons of the Mississippi; three issues for the future - development, traffic and global warming; conclusions. Part 6 Use of the criminal law: the case for the criminal law; spare the rod? investigative capacity; unfamiliar tribunals; penalty lottery and some alternatives, Oregon and a revised approach to the criminal law; conclusions. Part 7 Civil and administrative environmental law enforcement: the principle of enforcement - the European Community; federal enforcement - first principles; federal policy to settle civil cases and limit litigation where possible; federal civil penalties; supplemental environmental projects - "SEP", state enforcement - Oregon's civil enforcement process; conclusions. Part 8 An end to pollution and waste?: deregulation v pollution prevention; pollution prevention in America; four federal programmes; other state pollution prevention initiatives; "zero pollution, zero waste"; the environment and the American computer industry; conclusions. Part 9 Keeping hope alive: the elect - nineteenth century confidence; the damned - late twentieth century doubts; the case for optimism; the need for hope.