Beyond Environmental Law Policy Proposals for a Better Environmental Future

This book offers a vision for the third generation of environmental law designed to enhance its ability to protect our environment. The book presents two core proposals, an Environmental Legacy Act to preserve a defined environmental legacy for future generations and an Environmental Competition Statute to spark movement to new clean technologies. The first proposal would require, for the first time, that the federal government define an environmental legacy that it must preserve for future generations. The second would establish a market competition to maximize environmental protection. The balance of the book provides complementary proposals and analysis. The first generation of environmental law sought broad protection of health and the environment in a fairly fragmented way. The second sought to enhance environmental law's efficiency through cost-benefit analysis and market mechanisms. These proposals seek to create a broader, more creative approach to solving environmental problems.

Introduction David M. Driesen and Alyson C. Flournoy; Part I. National Environmental Legacy Act: 1. The case for a national environmental legacy act Alyson C. Flournoy; 2. The necessity of procedural reform Sidney Shapiro; 3. Shifting baselines and backsliding benchmarks: the need for a national environmental legacy act to address the ecologies of restoration, resilience, and reconciliation Thomas T. Ankersen and Kevin E. Regan; 4. Valuing nature: the challenge of a national environmental legacy act Mary Jane Angelo and Mark T. Brown; 5. Citizen science and the next generation of environmental law Christine Overdevest and Brian Mayer; 6. Creating NELA information: the double standard Walter A. Rosenbaum; 7. The constitution and our debt to the future Rena Steinzor; Part II. Environmental Competition Statute: 8. An environmental competition statute David M. Driesen; 9. Climate change, federalism, and promoting technological change David E. Adelman; 10. The iUtility Joseph P. Tomain; 11. Environmental patriotism Christine A. Klein.

Alyson C. Flournoy is Professor and Alumni Research Scholar at the University of Florida Levin College of Law where she also serves as Director of the Environmental and Land Use Law Program. Her writing focuses on decision-making processes under environmental and natural resource laws, environmental ethics, and the intersection of science and law, and has appeared in leading journals including Columbia Journal of Environmental Law, Harvard Environmental Law Review, Indiana Law Journal, and Texas Law Review. Flournoy is also a member scholar of the Center for Progressive Reform.
David M. Driesen is the 13th professor in Syracuse University's history to hold the title University Professor, the highest honor available to a faculty member at that institution. His research focuses on the law and economics of environmental law. His book, The Economic Dynamics of Environmental Law (2003), won a Lynton Keith Caldwell Award for the best book on environmental and technology policy. His articles have appeared in leading journals, including Cornell Law Review, Ecology Law Quarterly, Harvard Environmental Law Review, and the Virginia Journal of International Law. Driesen is also a member scholar of the Center for Progressive Reform.