VNF Articles
Listed below are articles by Van Ness Feldman's professionals that have appeared in outside publications.
To search for VNF Issue Alerts, click here.
To sign up to receive notice of Issue Alerts, Articles and events via email, visit our sign up page.
Colorado River Management Plan Update
Jonathan SimonThe Grand Canyon River Runner
May 2008
On January 11, 2008, nearly a month and a half after the federal district court in Arizona wholly rejected their challenge to the new Colorado River Management Plan issued by the National Park Service (NPS) in February 2006, the plaintiffs in that lawsuit appealed that court's ruling to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. While the NPS and other stakeholders hoped that the court's decision would provide a basis for the agency to move forward and work with all user groups in continuing to implement the new plan, the appeal ensures that the underlying issues will remain mired in controversy before the courts for some time to come.
Railroad Transportation of Nuclear Waste and Other Hazardous Materials
Michael McBrideThe Electricity Journal
April 2008
Railroads continue to have duties to shippers and the public, and they may not take the law into their own hands. Except for emergencies – and then only for the duration of the emergency – they must carry all commodities without regard to whether they are dangerous, unless the proper agency of the federal government has relieved them of that obligation.
U.S. Climate Change Policy Will Drive Significant Investment Opportunities in Traditional and Alternative Energy
Ben McMakin and Janet AndersonManaged Funds Association Reporter
April 2008
A new President and the likelihood of more Democrats in the House and Senate may tip the balance of power in energy debates from traditional oil and gas interests to proponents of new energy sources and cleantech goods and services. While we watch the election unfold, and as the rhetorical battles over energy policy continue in Washington, D.C., climate change legislation looms largest of all the energy debates.
Energy's Next Step
Curt RichLos Angeles Daily Journal
December 7, 2007
Once heralded as the lynchpin to America’s energy independence, ethanol is increasingly under attack as a flawed energy resource. The livestock and food industries criticize ethanol for the impact it has on the price of corn. Environmentalists point out that corn ethanol takes almost as much energy to make as it produces. Communities in more arid regions of the country worry about corn ethanol’s high demand for water.
Clean tech depends on federal policy
This guest column first appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on November 14, 2007.Curt Rich, Ben McMakin
November 14, 2007
Curt Rich and Ben McMakin offer insight on why local leaders, companies with promising technologies, and venture capital and financial sectors must engage in both Washingtons if they want the promising clean-tech sector to thrive.
Colorado River Management Plan Update
Colorado River Management PlanJonathan Simon
The Grand Canyon River Runner
November 1, 2007
In February 2006, the NPS issued a new CRMP that revised and updated the previous river management plan developed in 1980 and revised in 1981 and 1989.
New Wine Into Old Bottles: The Feasibility of Greenhouse Gas Regulation Under the Clean Air Act
Robert NordhausNew York University: Environmental Law Journal
March 15, 2007
On November 29, 2006, Massachusetts v. EPA was argued before the United States Supreme Court. This essay, written before the decision was issued, presumes that the Court has decided that EPA was authorized or required to regulate CO2 under the CAA and explores the issues of 1) whether EPA could construct a domestic program to regulate CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the statute in its present form and 2) would such a program be a comprehensive and cost-effective means of controlling such emissions?
An Overview of the International Regime Addressing Climate Change
Sustainable Development Law and Policy Vol. VII, Issue 2Kyle Danish
American University Washington College of Law
2007
The current international climate change regime comprises a network of agreements and mechanisms. A high water mark in the evolution of this regime was the entry into force in February 2005 of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. However, the Kyoto Protocol will not be the final word on the issue. Its emission limits cover only a fraction of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and those limits expire in 2012. Kyle Danish contributed a chapter in the American University Washington College of Law, Sustainable Development Law and Policy Journal (Kelly Rain, Maria Vanko, eds.)