In September 2023, the Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law hosted an interdisciplinary workshop on “Permitting the Future,” examining the legal and economic aspects of permitting and review requirements for new technologies and environmentally desirable infrastructure and development. This summer, the Case Western Reserve Law Review published the papers presented at the workshop in a symposium issue of the journal.
The papers examined a range of issues and topics related to the debate over permitting reform, including energy infrastructure, clean energy development, nuclear power, the National Environmental Policy Act, federal land management and urban redevelopment. Authors included scholars from multiple disciplines and perspectives.
The papers included in the symposium are:
- Introduction - Permitting the Future by Jonathan H. Adler (PDF)
- Infrastructure for the Energy Transition by Timothy Fitzgerald (PDF)
- Permitting the Energy Transition by James W. Coleman (PDF)
- The New NEPA? – A Case Study in Congressional Frustration by Victor Flatt (PDF)
- Overcoming Unreasonably Burdensome Restrictions on the Use of Farmland for Solar Generation by Matthew Eisenson (PDF)
- If We Fail to Solve Global Climate Change, Blame the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by Jeremy Kidd (PDF)
- The National Environmental Policy Act and Climate Change Adaptation Within Federal Natural Resource Management Agencies by Sara Sutherland (PDF)
- Plain-Bagel Streamlining? Notes from the California Housing Wars by Christopher S. Elmendorf and Clayton Nall (PDF)
- Regulating Entities, Not Activities: Reforming the Environmental Permit Raj by Andrew P. Morriss and Roger E. Meiners (PDF)
All of the papers are available online in their printed form. Hard copies of the issue will also be published.
The papers were prepared for a workshop co-sponsored by the Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law and the Property and Environment Research Center.