Tracy, I found your paper comprehensive and informative, and I think it will serve as a valuable resource going forward. I also think it serves as an important reality check for the geoengineering community. There is much discussion about research guidelines, experimental protocols, and even governance arrangements, but to move from modeling to possible deployment requires overcoming many other obstacles--social, cultural, economic, business, ethical. You do a great job of sketching out the legal landscape that any climate engineering project would encounter in the US. Perhaps this will encourage aspiring geoengineers to set up offshore in less restrictive jurisdictions, as with manufacturing, finance, etc.
By the way, you've probably already seen it, but there is a similar though much less thorough discussion of some of these legal issues in the recent CRS report "Geoengineering: Governance and Technology Policy" (pp. 23-28) - http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41371.pdf Josh Horton [email protected] On Feb 7, 5:20 pm, Mike MacCracken <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear Tracy-- > > I look forward to reading the article. My first thought is that it would > certainly be nice if all US environmental laws also applied to the decision > not to take dramatic action to limit greenhouse-induced climate change > through mitigation. Massachusetts vs. EPA is a start (as are a couple of > other lawsuit victories) as it has prompted the EPA Endangerment Finding > (seehttp://www.epa.gov/climatechange/endangerment.html), and the lawsuit > against the Am-Ex Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation did > lead to a requirement for NEPA, but it is interesting that it might require > much more legal consideration for taking action to keep the climate near to > what it is than to decide not to take and let the climate keep changing > without control. Indeed, starting to try to make sense of all this sounds > appropriate. > > Mike MacCracken > > On 2/7/11 4:48 PM, "Tracy" <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > I've lurked in this group for quite a while, but I'm now stepping into > > the light to provide a working paper for your consideration. > > > While this group has usually focused on technical and policy issues, > > you might have an interest in some of the potential legal battles that > > could affect climate engineering projects. This working paper > > discusses how existing U.S. environmental laws can be used to > > challenge geoengineering research or field tests. U.S. environmental > > laws have often served as the first line of legal resistance to new > > technologies (GMOs, nanomaterials), so it struck me as a likely > > scenario for geoengineering as well. > > > You can access the working paper at tinyurl.com/6e7ejtf . I'd welcome > > any comments or suggestions. Thanks! > > > ********** > > Tracy Hester > > Director, Environment, Energy & Natural Resource Center > > Assistant Professor > > University of Houston Law Center > > 100 Law Center > > Houston, Texas 77204 > > 713-743-1152 (office) > > [email protected] > > web bio: www.law.uh.edu/faculty/thester -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en.
