Litigating Global Warming: Likely Legal Challenges to Emerging Greenhouse Gas Cap-and -Trade Programs in the United States

摘要

Regulating greenhouse gas emissions through cap-and-trade programs appears inevitable in the United States and conflicts among stakeholders are likely to result in new litigation. The European Union Emission Trading Scheme and U.S. Acid Rain Program can be examined as exemplars to identify the stakeholders of a cap-and-trade program and the types of conflicts that are likely to emerge. Several categories of litigation are likely to develop following the enactment of federal cap-and-trade legislation, including challenges to the program, challenges to competing state and regional programs, actions enforcing the federal program, and related civil litigation among stakeholders.