The dynamic mutual relationship between the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon permit price and energy prices in the U.S. is examined. Results show that the RGGI and electricity markets are not closely linked, although the carbon permit price is usually closely interrelated with energy prices. The loose relationship between the RGGI and electricity markets can be explained by the recent low carbon credit demand which stems from the low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions existent in the particular area covered by the RGGI. The low GHG emissions result from fuel switching due to recent low natural gas prices. Unlike the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, natural gas is the key driver of the RGGI system.

A predicted loss of agricultural rice-wetlands and increasing urbanization and development threatens the remaining freshwater wetlands along the upper Texas coast. To avoid, minimize, and mitigate wetland loss, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) is directed to enforce Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (1975 amendment) by administering permits for development. Furthermore, a 1990 Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Corps and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a national goal of no net wetland loss (NNL). My goals were to identify the frequency of occurrence of freshwater wetland loss due to dredge or fill, assess final plans to mitigate wetland loss, and verify the persistence of the created compensatory wetlands. I created a database of 96 individual, Section 404 permits issued from 1981 to 2001 in the counties of Chambers, Hardin, Jefferson, Liberty, Montgomery, Orange, and San Jacinto (Galveston District Office, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers). Descriptive statistics were calculated for permit characteristics in relation to issue date (pre- or post-NNL). Public comments received from national and state agencies were rank ordered against mitigation plan type to determine Spearman's Rank Order Correlation Coefficient. Visual identification (via site visits and 1996 aerial photos) was used to validate compensatory wetland persistence. Shoreline protection of private property and oil and gas drilling (64% of permit applicants and 59% of impacts) had the greatest effect on wetland loss in the region, particularly Chambers, Jefferson, and Montgomery counties. Overall, 79.3 ha of freshwater wetlands were gained; however, gain was overestimated due to large projects for habitat enhancement. Permits issued post-NNL were more likely to have formal mitigation plans (58% vs. 13% pre-NNL) and allowed no net wetland loss. Although agency comments recommending more formal mitigation plans increased after NNL, only a weak positive correlation was detected (Spearman's r less than or equal to 0.4). Six of seven created wetlands remained in existence through 2006 though they are freshwater ponds replacing more diverse aquatic systems. I recommend the development of a comprehensive method to track wetland loss, mitigation, and changes in watersheds over time.

The aim of this study is to highlight problems regarding the status of children in determining the granting of residence permits. Central to the study are the rules contained in the Swedish Aliens Act (2005:716) about hearing children in the course of proceedings and the child’s best interests. The rules are based on Articles 3 and 12 respectively, in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). They were introduced into the Swedish legislation in 1997, after an intense debate questioning whether Sweden was meeting its obligations under the Convention. The application in aliens matters has, however, continued to be criticized after the revision of 1997, especially in matters concerning children. In 2006 a new Aliens Act came into force, involving a shift in the handling of such matters from administrative authorities and the Government to a system where appeals are tried in administrative courts. The legislation also involves comprehensive changes concerning the material legislation. The question has been raised, however, as to whether these changes have had any vital impact concerning the general construction of the material regulation. The apparent gap between the legislator’s intentions and the application of the law raises questions about the limitations of law and how the spirit and intentions of the CRC have been implemented in the Aliens Act, and, in view of this, the limits of law. The study involves an analysis of the fundamental premises that the legislation and application rest on, the general provisions of the proceedings and the technical formulation and also the material content of these rules. There is also an analysis of the impact and function of the legislation in practical applications. The conclusion is that the legislation allows extensive scope for assessing the circumstances in each case. This is the case, particularly in matters concerning children. Nevertheless, in practical applications, children often become irrelevant; children are simply not the real focus of the laws that affect them. Key words: Children’s rights, residence permit, asylum, immigration, equality, feminist perspectives. Eva Nilsson, Juridiska institutionen, Umeå universitet, 901 87 Umeå.

The objective of this thesis is to examine the legal procedures and systems concerning granting or possessing mineral rights, and how such rights may be exercised, particularly given the diametric interests of land use, ownership and land tenure. The study, comparative in its nature, aims at highlighting the similarities and differences between the countries and states of comparison, and thereby identify interesting solutions of issues relating to the granting and exercising of mineral rights. The study examines mineral rights and different legal systems regulating mineral exploration and exploitation. The focus is on mining and mineral legislation and its application, including the exercise of mineral rights. The systems chosen are those of Sweden, Finland and the states of Ontario and Western Australia. The main result is generated by the comparison dealing with the application, granting and possession of mineral rights related to the development of a mine. Several processes are thereby identified. In addition, the content and extent of the different rights and obligations related to exploration and exploitation activities are examined, as well as land areas open or closed for the exercise of these rights. The legal processes concerning granting mineral rights are in fact complex as evidenced by this work, particularly when land-use and environmental legislation is taken into account. The perception of a good balance in legislation between diametric interests of land use, ownership and land tenure is heavily linked to the view of sustainable development. The difficulties of achieving this are confirmed by the countries and states compared. The continuous change of mineral legislation during the course of this study is an indication of the complexity of the topic. / QC20100723

The current thesis is on the rule of law and how the principles of the rule of law are met in the new Swedish migration process. The migration process has been subjected to criticism during several years and on different occasions. The migrations process is viewed through a “rights of the child” perspective, foremost to seek if the rights of the child are met. The children are a vulnerable group, not the least in the process of migration. Often tragic and traumatic events force the child to seek protection or settlement in another country. These children, along with all children, have certain rights – through international conventions, national law and ground principles from the rule of law. Such a right is, among others, the best interest of the child, which aims to pervade the process as a whole. The Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket) has been criticized for not fully meeting the standards of the best interest of the child. Investigations taken by the Swedish Migration Board as a part of the application process are often incomplete. The investigations lack child specific matters that can be decisive in the oncoming judgment. Other aspects of the process are the lengthy and time-consuming investigation and administration before judgment as well as the problem with inadequate identification documents regarding children from Somalia. The inadequate documentation makes it impossible for the children of Somalia to reunite with their relatives living in Sweden, due to the legal development. The migration process is compared with fundamental rule of law principles, in order to determine whether the process respects these principles or not. The area of migration has its flaws; no area in the governmental system is perfect. But with the new migration process there are new possibilities to fully comply with the ground principles of the rule of law and for the process to be legally certain.

A predicted loss of agricultural rice-wetlands and increasing urbanization and development threatens the remaining freshwater wetlands along the upper Texas coast. To avoid, minimize, and mitigate wetland loss, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) is directed to enforce Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (1975 amendment) by administering permits for development. Furthermore, a 1990 Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Corps and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a national goal of no net wetland loss (NNL). My goals were to identify the frequency of occurrence of freshwater wetland loss due to dredge or fill, assess final plans to mitigate wetland loss, and verify the persistence of the created compensatory wetlands. I created a database of 96 individual, Section 404 permits issued from 1981 to 2001 in the counties of Chambers, Hardin, Jefferson, Liberty, Montgomery, Orange, and San Jacinto (Galveston District Office, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers). Descriptive statistics were calculated for permit characteristics in relation to issue date (pre- or post-NNL). Public comments received from national and state agencies were rank ordered against mitigation plan type to determine Spearman's Rank Order Correlation Coefficient. Visual identification (via site visits and 1996 aerial photos) was used to validate compensatory wetland persistence. Shoreline protection of private property and oil and gas drilling (64% of permit applicants and 59% of impacts) had the greatest effect on wetland loss in the region, particularly Chambers, Jefferson, and Montgomery counties. Overall, 79.3 ha of freshwater wetlands were gained; however, gain was overestimated due to large projects for habitat enhancement. Permits issued post-NNL were more likely to have formal mitigation plans (58% vs. 13% pre-NNL) and allowed no net wetland loss. Although agency comments recommending more formal mitigation plans increased after NNL, only a weak positive correlation was detected (Spearman's r less than or equal to 0.4). Six of seven created wetlands remained in existence through 2006 though they are freshwater ponds replacing more diverse aquatic systems. I recommend the development of a comprehensive method to track wetland loss, mitigation, and changes in watersheds over time.

ABSTRACT Land resources are the foundation of national development. The land resources in Taiwan in limited, and with the population growing as well as rapid economic development, the demand for land increases, resulting in overload of land uses. In addition, due to lack of appropriate allocation of land resources to development and of comprehensive planning, the current uses of land resources do not appear reasonable. In order to put national policy into practice, enhance efficient use of land resources, and complement national socioeconomic development, under the guideline of equity distribution of land rights (efficient use of land and equity distribution of land benefits, the government crafts land comprehensive plans and encourages private sectors to provide land and capital, to collaboratively participate in public investments to achieve the goals of national policy. In view of the current institution of land use development, development overrides planning in land use systems, focusing on pursuing of efficiency. In the long run, this practice is confined by inflexibility of zoning, failing to fit the need of socioeconomic development. There is a need for a policy of planning leading development to solve various land use problems. In many land use development cases, the government should make choices, i. e., in developing land, alternatives must be considered. The research explores the meaning and use of multi-attribute decision making techniques and decision analysis, explains through several development measures the basic theories and characteristics for comparisons, and establishes development orientations and policies issues for cross-national examinations of land development experiences and practices. Based on the analytic hierarchy process, the research conducts a questionnaire survey of experts and scholars to evaluate land comprehensive development measures. The findings from the research are as follows: 1.National land development should balance among ecology, living, and production. 2.Planning leading development should be the land use policy to achieve the goals of urban planning. 3.The goals of land comprehensive development should be grounded on urban comprehensive development. 4.Factors that affect land development include citizens¡¦ rights, construction effects, financial burden, and market demand, which in turn have significant influence on solving urban and regional development. 5.According to the survey, with respect to achieving the goal of urban comprehensive development, the ranking of the weights of the factors in Item 4 is construction effects, citizens¡¦ rights, market demand, and financial burden. 6.The result of the evaluation suggests that to achieve urban comprehensive development, the ranking is zone expropriation, development permit, urban renewal, and urban land consolidation.

Genom 2011 års plan- och bygglag (PBL) infördes krav på handläggningstiden för lov och förhandsbesked, vilket tidigare inte funnits i svensk lagstiftning. Enligt PBL 9:27 ska en ansökan om lov handläggas skyndsamt och sökanden ska meddelas beslut inom tio veckor från det att en komplett ansökan har kommit in till byggnadsnämnden. Syftet med kravet var att effektivisera handläggningsprocessen och minska skillnader i handläggningen mellan olika kommuner. I samband med införandet valde man att inte koppla någon sanktion till kravet med motivet att målet med en effektivare handläggningsprocess skulle uppfyllas ändå. Efter flera anmälningar till JO kan man konstatera att kommunerna i flera fall inte uppfyller kravet på en handläggningstid inom tio veckor. Eftersom det inte finns några sanktioner kopplade till kravet kan kommunerna utan risk ta den tid de anser sig behöva för handläggning. Därigenom motverkas även syftet med en enhetlig bygglovsprövning i Sverige. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur långa handläggningstiderna är vid bygglov. Genom ett omfattande granskningsarbete av bygglovsärenden hos sju kommuner i Västra Götalands län skulle huvudfrågan om kommunerna handläggningstider uppfyller kravet i PBL 9:27 besvaras. Studien avgränsar sig till ärenden från 2014 med åtgärder gällande nybyggnation av byggnad. Materialet sammanställdes i en datamatris för respektive kommun. Utöver datamatrisen fick respektive kommun besvara ett frågeformulär angående arbetsbelastning. Syftet med formuläret var att koppla resultatet från granskningen till hur arbetssituationen såg ut för de anställda under år 2014. Av de 436 granskade ärendena var det 44 ärenden som inte uppfyllde kravet på en handläggningstid inom tio veckor, vilket motsvarar cirka 10 % av antalet granskade ärenden. Av de ärenden som inte uppfyllde kravet i PBL 9:27 var 32 fastigheter belägna inom detaljplan eller områdesbestämmelser och resterande tolv var belägna utanför detaljplanelagt område. Av de 32 ärendena vars fastigheter var belägna inom detaljplan eller områdesbestämmelse innebar 13 ärenden en liten avvikelse från gällande bestämmelser och resterande 19 överensstämde med detaljplanen eller områdesbestämmelserna. Utifrån resultatet är slutsatsen att kommunerna även fortsättningsvis behöver arbeta med sina handläggningstider. Under granskningen noterades även att det brister i kommunernas dokumentation kring viktiga datum och att kommunerna har olika syn på huruvida en ansökan ska anses vara komplett. Förslagsvis bör tydligare riktlinjer upprättas kring dokumentation och när en ansökan ska anses vara komplett. / With Swedish planning and building act (PBL) of 2011 a new demand was adopted for handling time before permits and advance rule, called PBL 9:27. Following PBL 9:27 an application for permits shall be processed promptly and the applicant shall be informed of the decision within ten weeks from the moment a complete application has been submitted to the local building committee. Previously this demand had not been included into Swedish law. The purpose of this demand was to speed up the handling time and to reduce differences in handling time between municipalities. When this demand was adopted a decision was made not to connect it with any form of sanction, should the demand not be met. The argument being that a more effective handling time would be met even without sanctions. Following several notifications to the legal ombudsman one may conclude that in several cases, municipalities do not meet the demand for a handling time within ten weeks. While there are no sanctions connected to the demand municipalities, may without any risk, take as much time they fell needed for the handling of each case. Thereby one of the key purposes of PBL 9:27, that is, reduced differences in handling time between municipalities is counteracted. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether handling time in building permit cases are in compliance with PBL 9:27. In order to answer this question building permit cases were examined thoroughly in seven municipalities in Västra Götaland County. The study has focused cases from 2014 and cases pertaining to construction of buildings. The collected information was compiled in one data matrix for each municipality. Beside of the information compiled in the data matrix each municipality answered a questionnaire focusing workload. The purpose of the questionnaire was to relate the results from the investigation of handling time to a possible explanation, that is, the workload of employees during 2014. Out of 436 examined cases 44 did not meet the demand of handling tie within ten weeks, or approximately 10 % of the cases. Of these 44 cases that did not meet PLB 9:27, 32 were real estates that were located within areas regulated by detailed municipal plans and twelve were located outside of planned areas. Out of the 32 real estates located within planned areas 13 accounted for a minor deviance from the detailed municipal plan while 19 were in compliance with the detailed plan and regulation areas. The results indicate that municipalities need to speed up their handling time for building permit cases regulated by PBL 9:27. An additional result of this study is that several municipalities have flaws in relation to documentation of significant dates. Also, municipalities tend to make different assessments of when an application is considered complete. This study suggests that clearer guidelines are adopted pertaining to documentation of cases and the demands for how to assess if an application is complete.

In this dissertation, I study the effect of environmental regulation on firm behavior. In the first chapter, I use a dynamic model to quantify the effects on exit, entry, investment and welfare of different allocation schemes of a cap-and-trade program. I focus on allocation rules regarding closing plants and new entrants. I calibrate the model with data from the US power plants and perform two policy experiments: first I quantify the effects of the introduction of a cap-and-trade program; second, I do a counterfactual where I switch the allocation rule and study the effect on the new equilibrium and welfare. In the second chapter of this dissertation, I ask whether multinational firms are harmful for a host country environment. I use plant-level data from Chile and find empirical evidence that multinational are cleaner than domestic plants. Based on the trade literature, I build a model where I add environmental regulation and a technology choice. The model proposes a new explanation of why multinationals firms might be cleaner than their domestic peers. I get policy implications from the model and test them with the data. In the third chapter, I study the relation between free permit allocation in a cap-and-trade program and financial constraints. I use the change in the permit prices and the heterogeneity in permit allocation to identify financial constraints for the investor-owned utilities in the electricity sector. / text

Šio baigiamojo darbo esmė yra atlikti ir pateikti visapusišką bei sistemingą krovinių gabenimo transporto priemonėmis atsakomybės ypatumų analizę, kurio tikslas yra atskleisti šio teisinio instituto atitinkamus svarbiausius aspektus reguliuojančių nuostatų sampratą ir pritaikomumą praktikoje, nustatyti problematinius aspektus. Taip pat darbe yra pristatoma išsami atitinkamų teisės norminių aktų analizė ir teisės doktrinoje išreikšta nuomonių įvairovė nagrinėjama tema. Galiausiai, aptariami svarbiausi ir aktualiausi nagrinėjama tema teismų precedentai siekiant atskleisti pagrindines teisinio reguliavimo problemas, su kuriomis yra susiduriama praktikoje bei pateikiami jų sprendimo pasiūlymai. / The essence of this thesis is to conduct and submit a comprehensive and systematic means of road transport analysis of the characteristics of responsibility, whose aim is to institute the appropriate legal provisions governing the main aspects of the applicability of the concept and practical aspects of the suspect. Also at work is presented in detail the relevant legal regulations and legal analysis of the doctrine of diversity of views expressed by the subject. Finally, it covers the most important and topical subject of judicial precedents at issue in order to uncover key regulatory issues that are encountered in practice and present their solution.