Risk and Retroactivity in Energy and Environmental Law

This talk begins with the U.S. regulatory response to Japan’s Fukushima disaster, considering the role of risk perception and regulatory structure in prompting U.S. efforts to integrate lessons learned.  The context spotlights particular features of retroactivity in nuclear power regulation, which are commonplace notwithstanding administrative law’s general reluctance to embrace retroactivity.  The talk uses this particular context to develop insights for retroactivity and regulatory disaster response that might be applied to energy and environmental law more broadly.

Emily Hammond, a Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School
Emily Hammond’s expertise centers on administrative law, energy law, and environmental law. A former civil engineer who practiced in the environmental and water resources fields prior to attending law school, her research focuses on two themes: the various responses of legal institutions to scientific uncertainty and the relationship between procedural and substantive legitimacy. Her articles have appeared in the Duke Law Journal, the Columbia Law Review, the Michigan Law Review, and the Harvard Environmental Law Review, among others. She is a co-author of the nation’s leading energy law text, Energy, Economics, and the Environment, and the environmental law text Environmental Protection: Law and Policy, in addition to numerous book chapters and shorter works.

1 CLE. Lunch provided.

Sponsored by Cultural Vision Fund