Editors' Summary: Fishing stocks in the Gulf of Mexico have been dwindling for years, and in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the fishing industry has found itself in even deeper waters. But while the two hurricanes caused massive damage to fishing fleets and infrastructure, they may have also created an opportunity for reform in the way Gulf fisheries are managed. In this Article, Mike Pappas evaluates the use of a buyback program as a possible solution.

Editors' Summary: The 1996 Sustainable Fisheries Act is arguably the most significant federal environmental legislation enacted in the last two decades. The Act applies sustainability principles and approaches such as biodiversity protection, externality internalization, and precaution to advance fisheries sustainability within the U.S. EEZ. In this Article, Prof. Richard Hildreth details the U.S. attempt at moving toward more sustainable fisheries management.

Editors' Summary: On April 18, 2006, the Environmental Law Institute hosted the first seminar in a series exploring current ocean law and policy issues. After the moderator provided a short overview of the current state of ocean law and policy, the panelists shared their expertise on a variety of topics including: the activities that have resulted from the 2003 and 2004 release of reports from the Pew Oceans Commission and the U.S.

I. Introduction

Editors' Summary: The emergence of nanotechnology in the early part of this century has presented a host of regulatory challenges. Effective governance is complicated by the range of materials and methods implicated in nanotechnology itself, as well as a lack of political will to devise regulatory strategies for this new technology. In this Article, Prof. Jennifer Kuzma explains the particular complications of nanotechnology regulation and suggests that creating new laws and institutions might not be the best solution to nanotechnology regulatory reform.

Editors' Summary: Risk assessment is one tool of legal and policy decisionmaking, and one that may play a large role in establishing nanotechnology policy and regulations. In this Article, Jonathan Gilligan analyzes different methods of risk assessment and applies these methods to nanotechnology. Gilligan challenges the notion that people perceive and react to risk in a logical way, postulating that both experts and laypeople are susceptible to irrationality when it comes to risk perception.

Editor's Summary: The rapid growth of the nanotechnology industry that challenges traditional governance structures also calls for new approaches to accountability. Accountability mechanisms would help avoid adverse effects of the evolving technologies, foster public confidence in nanotechnology, and encourage the development of new, beneficial technologies. In this Article, Prof. Lee Paddock illustrates some of the tools of environmental accountability that may be employed in the context of nanotechnology.

Editor's Summary: Toxic torts are among the most complex legal cases, often requiring extensive discovery and the use of expert witnesses. In this Article, authors Gary Mason, Nicholas Migliaccio, Dennis Reich, and Michael Howell provide a comprehensive overview of the toxic tort property damage litigation process. They begin with case evaluation, explaining how to identify potential plaintiffs, defendants, and causes of action. They cover class certification, discovery, and expert witnesses, concluding with sections on damages and settlement.

Editors' Summary: An array of regulatory and planning tools for protecting biodiversity is available to federal, state, and local governments. In this Article, Robert McKinstry Jr., James McElfish, Michael Jacobson, and Derald Hay examine these tools along with their strengths and limitations. The authors provide examples by way of several case studies of state laws and programs, exposing gaps that these state regulations leave in biodiversity protection.

Editor's Summary: The United States saw a phenomenal period of wind installation in 2006, with over 3, megawatts of installed capacity added. Is this just another upswing in the boom-bust cycle of wind power in the United States? Alex Bandza offers an answer based on the histories of wind power and energy policy in three different countries. In this Article, he compares wind policies in Denmark, Germany, and the United States. Pulling from lessons learned from successes in the European countries, he suggests how future U.S.