Identifying the Source of Mystery Waterborne Oil Spills—A Case for Quantitative Chemical Fingerprinting

Oil spills of unknown origin, so-called “mystery” spills, occur routinely in rivers, open water, and navigable coastal waterways. The natural resources damage (NRD) liability associated with even a small volume of oil released into the environment warrants that a thorough chemical characterization of the spilled oil be conducted by agencies and potentially responsible parties (PRPs). Chemical fingerprinting methods have played an important role in the identification of mystery oil spills. These methods fall into two categories, viz., qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative approach relies upon visual comparison of various chromatographic fingerprints obtained by GC/FID and GC/MS analysis of spill and candidate source oils and are represented ASTM methods. The quantitative approach relies upon measurements of the concentrations (relative or absolute) of dozens of diagnostic chemicals, typically PAHs and biomarkers, and a subsequent statistical or numerical analysis of various diagnostic parameters calculated from these concentrations. The quantitative approach is represented by the revised Nordtest methodology. The quantitative approach is preferable for most oil spill investigations since the means of interpretation are objective, whereas the ASTM methods are subjective. Quantitative fingerprinting data are particularly important when the mystery spill and source oils are qualitatively similar and are required when mystery spills may include mixed sources or prespill oil signatures.     

In Hot Pursuit of NRD Claims

Federal- and state-designated entities' ability to pursue claims for damages to the nation's natural resources have long existed under statutory and common law but, until recently, were placed on the back burner.

Pursuit of Natural Resource Damage (NRD) claims by federal and certain state governments have drastically increased. New Jersey and New Mexico have been among the most aggressive. Issues surrounding NRD claims such as allocation of liability, calculation of damages using formulas and technical factors, and causation are the focus of litigation. New Jersey's groundwater initiative and New Mexico's program are being watched closely to determine future success of NRD claims.     

Natural Resource Damages for Climate Change—An Idea Whose Time Is Not Yet Come,Part II: Climate Change NRD Claims—Get Coverage

Climate change litigation is in its infancy. As it matures, one type of suit that may emerge is a climate change-based natural resource damages (NRD) claim under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). While it is unlikely that climate change-based NRD claims could succeed under current law, a policyholder sued for such claims should be entitled to a defense under its liability insurance policies. Against the backdrop of some recent climate change lawsuits, this article anticipates insurance industry arguments against coverage for climate change NRD claims, and examines counter arguments in favor of coverage for such claims.     

Factors in Estimating Potential Response Costs of Spills and Releases

This article provides a discussion of the categories of response costs associated with releases of hazardous substances or petroleum into the environment and the factors to be considered in developing response cost estimates. To understand and estimate the costs of responding to sudden and accidental releases of hazardous materials or petroleum into the environment, a number of key factors must be considered. Detailed cost estimating approaches developed through the study of catastrophic marine oil spills are discussed for purposes of illustration, and then generalized for application to other types of spills. It is recognized that many practitioners will have access to detailed information on releases based on their own experience and it is anticipated that this article will provide additional insight, ideas, and a framework for estimating response costs.     

Natural Resource Damages for Climate Change—An Idea Whose Time Is Not Yet Come,Part I: NRD Claims Are Not Currently Viable under CERCLA

As the effects of climate change are felt, affected parties will seek redress in the legal system. Numerous suits have already been filed and this may only be the beginning of a trend. One type of suit that has not yet been filed is the natural resource damage (NRD) claim under CERCLA. While it is unlikely that climate change-based NRD claims could succeed under current law, it may only be a matter of time before they are brought. With the present legal landscape in mind, this article examines statutory requirements under CERCLA to bring a climate change related NRD claim.     

浅析国际投资多边立法的不足及其影响

由于资本输入国和资本输出国之间的矛盾，国际投资的多边立法一直进展缓慢。全球性多边投资实体法规则的缺失和有效的投资争议解决机制的缺乏，不利于造就一个稳定的、可预见的国际投资环境。未来的投资法体系的完善，很大程度上取决于国际社会能否尽快找到一个合适的多边投资立法场所，能否确立一套适当平衡南北利益的多边实体法投资规则和有效的投资争议解决机制。多边投资立法的加强，不仅是弥补现有国际投资立法不足的重要手段，也是全球经济一体化和国际投资自由化的必然要求。     

The Science of Natural Resource Damage Assessments

The process for conducting natural resource damage assessments (NRDAs) is supported by important scientific investigation components. The degree to which science forms the basis of NRD settlements varies by case, but all NRDAs depend to varying extents on scientific studies. While some of these investigation components have been discussed in previous papers and agency guidance, many of the scientific components remain anecdotal and poorly supported. This article presents each of several scientific components as an integrated investigation approach and gives recommendations and examples of the methodological features.     

漫谈海洋污染的民事责任和刑事责任

简单介绍国际社会关于油轮溢油、燃油溢油及运输有毒有害物质致海洋污染损害的民事责任与赔偿方面的立法努力以及区域性组织等加强船源污染刑事责任方面的立法,认为对海洋污染实行更苛刻的民事责任制度,设立更高的赔偿责任限额或者干脆取消限额,进行更多的刑事立法等是不可取的,指出规制海洋污染必须体现国际性,并最大限度地避免区域性立法。     

Determinants of states' allocations of the master settlement agreement payments

To determine which factors influence states' allocation decisions for the tobacco Master Settlement Agreement and the four individual settlements' annual payments, including the decision to securitize, we analyzed the effects of voter characteristics, political parties, interest groups, prior spending on public tobacco control programs, and state fiscal health on per capita settlement funds allocated to tobacco-control, health, and other programs. Tobacco-producing states and those with high proportions of conservative Democrats or elderly, black, Hispanic, or wealthy people tended to spend less on tobacco control. Education and medical lobbies had strong positive influences on per capita allocations for tobacco-control and health-related programs. State fiscal crises affected amounts spent by states from settlement funds as well as the probability of securitizing future cash flows from the settlements.     

Chemical fingerprinting of adhesive tapes by GCMS detection of petroleum hydrocarbon products

Pressure-sensitive adhesive tapes often represent key evidence of crimes such as assault, rape or homicide; thus, the development of analytical techniques able to contribute to a detailed characterization of these materials is of forensic importance. The gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) analysis of the solvent extractable fractions of a suite of electrical and gaffer adhesive tapes spanning a range of colors and manufacturers identified a number of petroleum-derived hydrocarbons. Molecular and isotopic analyses of hydrocarbon constituents of complex materials have found wide analytical utility including the forensic investigation of oil spills and arson. Here, we investigate the utility of these techniques for characterizing the hydrocarbon composition of pressure-sensitive adhesive tapes for forensic correlation purposes. Subtle distinction of tape samples was evident in the GCMS distribution of several hydrocarbon groups including alkyl-naphthalenes, hopane and sterane biomarkers. Linear discriminant analysis of the abundances of these products provided high level differentiation of tape manufacturer. The distinction of different adhesive tape samples was further extended by measurement of their stable carbon isotopic values. The molecular and isotopic differences of the petroleum content of tapes are consistent with the use of different petroleum materials used in the manufacturing process and demonstrate the benefits of the combined use of complementary oil hydrocarbon characterization approaches. This study reveals the forensic potential of using established petroleum characterization methods for characterizing materials with a petroleum-derived hydrocarbon element.     

Managing Future Liability At Petroleum Impacted Sites Through Proactive Strategic Environmental Baselining

An important consideration of any commercial and industrial property acquisition or divestiture—whether it is a single gasoline station or a suite of oil refineries—is the extant environmental conditions of the property(s) at the time of the transaction. Property sellers and prospective buyers each consider and negotiate how any existing or future liability associated with extant environmental conditions will be handled. In spite of this forethought and the agreed contract terms, future litigation over unanticipated environmental contamination remains a real possibility. Often precipitating future litigation are disagreements surrounding whether “newly realized” contamination is old (pre-sale) or new (post-sale). As a result, environmental forensic investigations are often faced with the issue of “age-dating” this newly discovered contamination in order to determine whether it was released pre- or post-sale. Age-dating contamination can be an inherently difficult task to perform and technically defend. Technical arguments between experts can be short-circuited if there was an irrefutable understanding of the nature of extant contamination that had existed at the time of the sale. Conventional environmental due diligence investigations (Phase I and II site assessments) fall short of providing this understanding. In this paper, we discuss Strategic environmental baselining (SEB), a cost-effective and pro-active form of environmental due diligence that incorporates a key component of environmental forensics, that is, advanced chemical fingerprinting using modified EPA Methods that are tailored for hydrocarbon fingerprinting. Sufficient sampling and advanced chemical fingerprinting performed at the time of a transaction (or, at least, properly archived samples analyzed in the future as needed) provides the evidence that eliminates the need to “age-date” contamination at some future date. Advanced chemical fingerprinting data also provides detailed characteristics of the extant contamination and thereby, helps distinguish “old” from “new” contamination, regardless of alteration of the chemicals of concern by weathering. Armed with this information both buyers and/or sellers can protect themselves in the event of any future claim(s).     

试论鉴定意见的可诉性———兼论鉴定意见争议的解决

司法鉴定意见是司法鉴定人对诉讼涉及的专门性问题的个人认识和判断,不仅受到仪器设备、鉴定方法以及实验室条件等客观因素的制约,也会受到司法鉴定人的知识水平、业务能力和实践经验等主观因素的影响。因而,对于同一专门性问题可能会出现不同的鉴定意见,其可靠性和科学性也无可避免会受到当事人的质疑。通过对司法鉴定的属性、可诉性的审判实践、法理上的分析以及我国现行法律对一些法律行为的可诉性规定等方面进行探讨,以寻找司法鉴定意见是否可诉的答案以及司法鉴定意见争议的解决机制。     

公益保护、行政处罚与行政公益诉讼——杭州市药监局江干分局“撮合私了”案引发的思考

药监局"撮合私了"行为的实质是放弃处罚权的不作为违法。销售假药之违法行为严重损害了社会公众的用药安全,同时破坏了市场主体的公平竞争秩序。违法行为所侵害的公共利益具有潜在危险性和主体不特定性特点,只有通过行政处罚才能修复违法行为所侵害的公共利益,所以,应当原则上禁止"撮合私了"。《治安管理处罚法》第9条的规定只是这个原则的例外,是在违法行为社会危害不大的前提下,综合考虑受害人补偿、调查成本等因素的制度选择。基于行政执法程序天然的利益对抗不足之缺陷,为了纠正随意"撮合私了"之违法行为,保护社会公众的用药安全与公平竞争权,将来修改《行政诉讼法》时应当确立行政公益诉讼制度。     

中国-东盟自贸区投资争端解决机制的困境与出路

随着"一带一路"建设各项措施的推进,中国与东盟的投资合作有了迅猛发展,然而,投资合作的发展速度与投资冲突的产生成正比。当前中国与东盟签订的一系列协定虽为双方投资争端的解决指明了方向,但这些解决投资争端的方式在实践中存在着制定脱离于实践、适用范围受限等不足,其已不足以充分解决新增投资领域的诸多争端。对此,应立足于中国-东盟自贸区自身的特征,结合投资争端的特殊性,从适用主体、适用范围、解决程序等方面对中国-东盟自贸区投资争端解决规则进行优化,以期适应自贸区的长足发展。     

MEDIATOR STRATEGIES FOR LAWYERS

This article explores the use of a four-way conference by attorneys to effect settlement. The author describes the process, analyzes factors leading to success, and gives a case example.     

Juror decision making

Much of the research on juror decision making is concerned with whether jurors are swayed by irrelevant-or extralegal-issues in their judgments of defendants. Such studies examine whether jurors' attitudes and victims' and defendants' characteristics have a measurable impact on these decisions. Yet, in the typical study, evidential issues are either poorly measured or ignored, hence the effects of extralegal issues may be exaggerated. Moreover, jury simulations are often chosen to study these questions despite critics' concerns about the generalizability of the results. The present study uses data gathered from actual jurors to assess whether the emphasis on juror competence is justified. The results indicate that these jurors' decisions are dominated by evidential issues, particularly evidence concerning the use of force and physical evidence. Jurors were considerably less responsive to characteristics of victims and defendants, although some of these factors significantly affected their decisions.The research reported here was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health under grant No. R01 MH29727 and the National Institute of Justice under grant No. 82-IJ-CX-0015. The author would like to thank Douglas Smith, Barbara Reskin, and Lowell Hargens for helpful comments on earlier drafts.     

Settlement Disputes: Evidence from a Legal Practice Perspective

This paper explores the agency relationship between a lawyer and a client in the context of deciding whether to settle a case. The impact of alternative fee arrangements on settlement disputes is empirically assessed in a discrete dependent variable econometric model utilizing survey data from lawyers in British Columbia. In contrast to the previous research based on traditional single-task principal-agent models, a broader multitask perspective of a lawyer's practice is explored. More frequent settlement disputes are observed where the handling of disbursements is one-sided, and among lawyers who advertise, use lump sum billing and pursue jury trials and punitive damages. Disputes are less frequent among lawyers who employ percentage contingency fees and hourly rate contracts with a bonus for successful results. Disputes are also less frequent among lawyers in larger firms. There is also evidence that legal fee regulation and ex post judicial review of legal fees in British Columbia have affected the frequency of settlement disputes.     

论刑事和解视野中的犯罪客体价值——对误入歧途的刑事和解制度的批判

在目前国内有关刑事和解的理论研究和实务操作中,均存在着过度抬高被害人地位的问题,似乎只要被害人谅解犯罪嫌疑人,案件就可以无条件地适用刑事和解。而从本质上讲,犯罪嫌疑人和被害人之间的和解协议能否得到司法机关的认可并导致量刑上的从宽处理,既取决于被害人有无刑事实体处分权,也受到犯罪嫌疑人的人身危险性等因素的制约。因此,被害人的谅解并不是刑事和解的核心要素,应当重视犯罪客体在刑事和解中的价值,它决定着被害人刑事实体处分权的有无与刑事和解的适用范围。     

Clearing and Settlement of Derivatives: Is a Code of Conduct Advisable?

This article is a first step to assess whether a self‐regulatory ‘Code of Conduct’, which has been in effect for European equities, should also be extended to derivatives. The aim of the code is to increase competition and customer choice in the European transaction process (trading, clearing and settlement). The article examines whether such a code is advisable for derivatives by evaluating potential market failures and inefficiencies in European derivatives markets. More specifically, the article: a) highlights the main differences in the clearing and settlement procedures of derivatives versus equities; b) outlines current and alternative market infrastructures in derivatives post‐trade markets; and c) evaluates the current level of competition among derivatives exchanges and also between the on‐ and off‐exchange trading segments. The article concludes that if imminent initiatives taken to increase the competitiveness of over‐the‐counter (OTC) derivatives markets vis‐à‐vis the incumbent derivatives exchanges—such as increased clearing house usage and new entry of multilateral trading facilities—are not effective in the near future, a code of conduct could be envisaged. This should entail promoting faster automation of OTC post‐trade processes and ensuring price comparability is maintained between derivatives exchanges.