Law & Justice
Environmental Law Archive
TRADE-OFFS IN ALLOCATING ALLOWANCES FOR CO2 EMISSIONS. Terry Dinan. Economic and Budget Issue Brief, Congressional Budget Office, U.S. Congress. April 25, 2007.
Full Text [pdf format, 8 pages]
Congress is considering legislation that would impose a “cap and trade” program to reduce U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases. This legislation could motivate businesses and households to reduce emissions in a cost effective manner. This brief examines the pending legislation and how it would affect the “total cost of the policy to the U.S. economy, as well as the distribution of that cost among households in their various roles as workers, consumers, and investors.”
OCEAN FISHERIES: COMMON HERITAGE OR TRAGIC COMMONS?
H. Sterling Burnett. Brief Analysis, National Center for Policy Analysis. February 27, 2007.
Full Text [pdf format, 2 pages]
American and world fisheries are in rapid and unprecedented decline— over the past 50 years large fish populations have decreased 90 percent worldwide and fish stocks have collapsed in one-third of all ocean fisheries. According to this analysis, the main reasons for this global decline are institutional structure of fisheries and misguided governmental polices.
On January 12, 2007, President Bush signed a law amending the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The amendment states that once a fish stock is found to be depleted, overfishing must end within two-and-a-half years. The author believes that this law did not go far enough, urges Congress to revisit the issue, and recommends some fundamental changes to the Act.