Editors' Summary

Editors' Summary:

In 2004, eight states filed suit against five major U.S. electric power companies. Together, these companies contribute 25% of the United States' total carbon dioxide emissions. The states' complaint, based on the common law of public nuisance, alleged that global warming poses threats of severe harm to human health from increased heat and air pollution. With the case now on appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the legal community waits for insight into the effectiveness of using common law public nuisance to combat global warming.

Editor's Summary: While the ESA is lauded as one of the country's most powerful tools of environmental protection, the statute may not be strong enough to protect wildlife and habitat in the face of global warming. In this Article, John Kostyack and Dan Rohlf argue that legislative and administrative changes will be needed if the ESA is going to make a real difference in protecting biodiversity from the dangers of climate change. They describe the effects that climate change will have on wildlife and habitat, and relay a list of potential management responses to these effects.

Editors' Summary

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has recently proposed a bulletin that would supplement existing procedures under the Information Quality Act by requiring peer review of regulatory information and by specifying the procedures under which that review would take place. OMB has also proposed to become intimately involved in the resolution of information quality complaints.

Recent corporate financial scandals involving Enron, Worldcom, Arthur Andersen, and others have led to the passage of significant legislation effecting, inter alia, corporate financial disclosure. These recent financial reporting scandals raise red flags concerning corporate accountability generally. This is an appropriate time to reconsider corporate accountability for environmental protection. Additionally, environmental challenges continue in the form of climate change. Industry and government continue to fail to achieve corporate self-regulation.

Editor's Summary: Resolving environmental disputes through litigation can be time-consuming and expensive, particularly for community groups and nongovernmental organizations. Moreover, the end results are often disappointing for all of the parties involved. Not surprisingly, collaborative problem-solving is becoming an attractive alternative to traditional methods of dispute resolution. After providing background on the regulatory climate that led to the increased use of negotiation techniques, Barry Hill and Nicholas Targ examine the keys to successful collaborative problem-solving.

[E]nforcement is the centerpiece of regulation, the visible hand of the state reaching into society to correct wrongs. . . . Both symbolically and practically, enforcement is a capstone, a final indicator of the state's seriousness of purpose and a key determinant of the barrier between compliance and lawlessness.

Editors' Summary: The protection and management of freshwater resources is one of the greatest environmental challenges of our time. In September 2005, water specialists from Australia, Europe, and the United States met at an international symposium hosted by the Australian National University to debate the challenges of sustainable water management in developed economies and to critique the various strategies and reforms introduced in each region to address them. This special edition of the Environmental Law Reporter contains a collection of articles that grew out of that symposium.

Editor's Summary: Unlike many other parts of the world, the United States enjoys abundant freshwater resources. And while efforts to protect these valuable resources have experienced some success, these efforts are not enough. One of the reasons for this deficiency in U.S. water management policy is the existence of various jurisdictional barriers. EPA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S.