Editors' Summary: The international community is intensifying its efforts to combat nitrogen pollution, a threat to human health and the environment. In this Article, Jeremy S. Scholtes examines the nature of this type of pollution and the legal instruments currently in place that deal with it. He begins by explaining the theoretical concerns that negotiators must consider when designing legal instruments, recommending that regional hard law instruments in concert with partnership coordination platforms are the most effective tools for addressing nitrogen pollution.

Editor's Summary: EPA's enforcement effort is starting to recover after a recent ebb in activity. In this Article, Eric Schaeffer examines how appointees under the next Administration can take advantage of the new momentum to build an even stronger enforcement program.

Editors' Summary: In this Article, William W. Wade evaluates the conceptual measurement of economic impact within the Penn Central test for income-producing properties recently adjudicated in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The discussion considers measurement of the denominator of the takings fraction related to Penn Central's parcel as a whole and whether it differs between permanent and temporary takings.

Editors' Summary: Profs. J.B. Ruhl and James Salzman suggest that random peer reviews be conducted of regulatory agencies' reliance on scientific information in order to better inform regulators and the public of the nature of regulatory decisionmaking. Brian Mannix responds that the laws directing regulatory decisions often create distinctions that are too sharp and that the laws should either allow agencies more decisionmaking discretion or that discretion should be retained for Congress once agencies have conducted fact-finding.

In their article, In Defense of Regulatory Peer Review, J.B. Ruhl and James Salzman have made a valuable contribution to the politically charged debate over regulatory peer review. Their proposal for a mechanism to provide empirical data about whether agencies would benefit from peer review helps lift the debate from the realm of arguing over "sound science." They correctly identify the need for information collection to determine the scope of the problem before proposing the notion that regulatory peer review is the solution.

In Defense of Regulatory Peer Review by J.B. Ruhl and James Salzman presents a thoughtful, well researched, and optimistic case for the expanded use of peer review in federal regulation (including both rulemaking and administrative adjudication).

Editors' Summary: In 2007, China continued its environmental development goals outlined in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan passed in 2006. The Seventeenth National Congress convened in Beijing to adopt new policies for 2007-2008 and beyond. This annual review surveys the major developments in Chinese environmental law and policy in the past year. The Article covers national policy shifts, China's activities in the international environmental law arena, zoning and planning regulations, and enforcement mechanisms.

Editor's Summary: In 2003, the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) of California agreed to transfer water from rural Imperial County to urban southern California cities as part of a quantitative settlement agreement (QSA). The Colorado River water that the IID transferred to the wealthy coastal cities was held in trust for the residents of the Imperial Valley, the poorest county in the state.

Tropical deforestation is a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, estimated to contribute as much as 25% of global emissions. In Brazil, which is reported to be the fourth-largest GHG emitter, deforestation causes about 75% of all national emissions. Yet deforestation in Brazil and other countries with tropical forests has proven very difficult to control, in part because of the weakness of national legal and regulatory institutions for environmental protection.

Editors' Summary