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written a number of book chapters and articles that fall within the domain of traditional environmental law. These book chapters and articles explore issues or aspects of issues that had previously received little attention. Many of the articles can be downloaded by clicking on the title. Natural Resources and the Public Estate, in The Pennsylvania Constitution: A Treatise on Rights and Liberties 683 (Ken Gormley et al., George T. Bisel Co., Inc., 2004). Dernbach's chapter (Chapter 29) explains the drafting history of the environmental amendment of the Pennsylvania Constitution (Article I, Section 27), and shows that the courts have used amendment to confirm and extend the state’s police power, as guidance in statutory interpretation, and as constitutional authority for laws whose constitutionality is challenged on other grounds. Implementation of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act in Pennsylvania: Ten Years Later, in Moving the Earth: Cooperative Federalism and Implementation of the Federal Surface Mining Act (Uday Desai ed., Greenwood Press 1993). While the federal Surface Mining Control Act of 1977 succeeded in its first ten years largely by limiting state discretion, this chapter uses Pennsylvania’s experience to argue the federal government also needs to create conditions conducive to the environmentally responsible use of discretion by states. Taking the Pennsylvania Constitution Seriously When It Protects the Environment: Part I—An Interpretative Framework for Article I, Section 27, 103 Dickinson Law Review 693 (1999). This article suggests an interpretative framework for understanding Article I, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution that is based on its text, legislative history, and purposes. Taking the Pennsylvania Constitution Seriously When It Protects the Environment: Part II—Environmental Rights and Public Trust, 104 Dickinson Law Review 97 (1999). This article outlines ways in which Article I, Section 27 should be applied and argues, among other things, that the public trust and environmental rights provisions of the environmental amendment are self-executing against the government. The Unfocused Regulation of Toxic and Hazardous Pollutants, 21 Harvard Environmental Law Review 1 (1997). The article provides a comparative analysis of the actual pollutants that are regulated as toxic or hazardous under the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Emergency Planning and Community Right- to-Know Act, and the Occupational Safety and Health Act. A total of 1134 pollutants are regulated as toxic or hazardous under at least one of the five statutes, but only 49 are regulated under all five, and nearly 768 are regulated under only one. The article explains that these differences cannot be attributed to differences in risk or exposure, and proposes a solution. Out of Focus, Environmental Forum, Nov.-Dec. 1996, at 24. This essay explains how inconsistencies in the lists of toxic and hazardous pollutants limit the practical effectiveness of environmental protection and occupational health laws, and how the effect of these inconsistencies can be minimized. The Other Ninety-Six Percent, Environmental Forum, Jan.-Feb. 1993, at 10. This essay explains that federal hazardous waste laws regulate only four percent of all the waste generated by industrial facilities, leaving the rest to state regulation or, in many states, little or no regulation. Industrial Waste: Saving the Worst for Last?, 20 Environmental Law Reporter 10,283 (1990). This article argues for federal oversight over industrial waste that is not legally hazardous under federal law, based on the immense volume of such waste as well as its toxicity. Pennsylvania's Implementation of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act: An Assessment of How "Cooperative Federalism” Can Make State Regulatory Programs More Effective, 19 University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform 903 (1986). This article explains the many ways in which the federal Surface Mining and Control Act of 1977 improved the effectiveness of Pennsylvania’s surface mining program—the very program on which the federal law was ostensibly modeled. Metallic Mining and Reclamation in Michigan: Environmental Management as a Gentler View, 10 University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform 323 (1977). This article critiques Michigan’s metallic mine reclamation statute, and makes reform recommendations based on the laws of other states. |
John C. Dernbach, Author on Sustainable Development & Climate Change Law
Agenda for a Sustainable
America edited by John C.
Dernbach Some of the nation's
leading experts report from the
front lines on the quest for
sustainability in the United
States. Published in January
2009.
America edited by John C.
Dernbach Some of the nation's
leading experts report from the
front lines on the quest for
sustainability in the United
States. Published in January
2009.
Buy Agenda for a Sustainable
America on Amazon