33. Developing nations generally favor
a. Creation of a permanent trade and environment committee in the WTO.
b. An ad valorem tax on all imports to promote environment-friendly development in poorer nations.
c. Transfer of environmentally appropriate technology for little or no charge.
d. A and B.
e. B and C.
34. Which of the following statements are true about current international environmental conventions?
a. The United States has signed the Biodiversity Convention.
b. The United States has agreed to and set timetables for limiting carbon dioxide emissions in the Climate
Change Convention.
c. Third World countries have greater flexibility in complying with the Montreal Protocol on Substances that
Deplete the Ozone Layer.
d. A and B.
e. B and C.
35. In the area of solving international environmental issues, the North American approach has been to use:
a. Arbitration.
b. The World Court.
c. Bilateral treaties.
d. Mediation.
36. Within the European Union, an environmental action program came about because of:
a. The Uruguay Rounds.
b. The United Nations.
c. The Bill of Rights.
d. The Single European Act.
37. Multinational agencies have advanced the environmental effort by applying uniform environmental standards to
projects they finance. For example:
a. The World Health Organization has guidelines for pollution controls.
b. The World Bank has a volume of Environmental Guidelines for industrial projects.
c. The Tokyo Stock Exchange allows no investors who do not adhere to its environmental guidelines.
d. None of the above.
38. The cornerstone of U.S. environmental regulation of exports is the concept of:
a. Receiving the prior informed consent of the foreign countries to which the exports are going.
b. U.S. firms may not export any hazardous materials that they could not sell in the United States.
c. Advance permission to export from the Environmental Protection Agency.
d. Receiving advance permission from the United Nations before exporting hazardous or toxic materials.
39. Before a U.S. firm can export chemical substances subject to the U.S. Toxic Substances Control Act:
a. The firm must notify the EPA of the export.
b. The firm must maintain adequate records.
c. The EPA must notify the foreign country of destination.
d. All of the above.
40. The “circle of poison” refers to:
a. Getting food poisoning when traveling to a country with unsanitary food preparation conditions.
b. Chemicals that are at first banned in the United States, then allowed to be produced, and then banned again.
c. The foreign sale of U.S.-made pesticides that have been banned in the United States and then reimported as a
residue on imported foods.
d. None of the above.
41. Dynatec, Inc. (a U.S. corporation based in New York) engages in oil drilling in Colombia. Indigenous Indian tribes
finds that certain rivers and streams have become polluted as a result and that hunting and fishing are adversely
affected. A U.S. lawyer brings a lawsuit on behalf of the tribe in federal district court in New York. Dynatec wants
the action dismissed, or at least not heard by the federal court in New York. The best bet for the case not to be
heard in the federal court in New York would be for the Dynatec lawyer to:
a. Move to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.
b. Move to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
c. Move for a stay pending arbitration.
d. Move for dismissal based on forum non conveniens.
42. Some of the inadequacies of the traditional international pollution-control system include:
a. Voluntary consent by nations to international litigation or arbitration of environmental disputes is rare.
b. Litigation in the polluting company‘s home country can be circumvented by having all actions and decisions
occur through a subsidiary in the less environmentally conscientious country.
c. A and B.
d. Neither A nor B.
43. Which of the following laws regulate the export of hazardous materials?
a. GATT.
b. TOSCA.
c. FIFRA.
d. A and B.
e. B and C.
44. NAFTA‘s Commission for Environmental Cooperation is committed to improving issues related to greenhouse gas
emissions, which are concentrated gasses in the Earth’s atmosphere derived from:
a. coal mining.
b. strip mining.
c. burning fossil fuels.
d. extracting oil from shale.
45. Under NAFTA, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation‘s Strategic Plan for 2010-2015 states its top
environmental priority is:
a. limiting the expansion of climate change.
b. reducing the effects of greenhouse gas emissions.
c. improving the health of children and other vulnerable communities.
d. placing tighter restrictions on air and water pollution.
46. The EU has generally taken a more aggressive approach to environmental protection than the U.S. has. One
significant example is the EU’s requirement to carefully consider and approve the introduction of:
a. genetically modified organisms.
b. herbicides and pesticides.
c. gasoline-powered vehicles.
d. nuclear power plants.
47. In many cases, nations that share bodies of water have cooperated significantly on environmental issues by:
a. banning fishing in communal waters.
b. prohibiting the dumping of all hazardous wastes into communal waters.
c. signing regional marine treaties that restrict hazardous behaviors.
d. All of the above
48. Not all nations embrace environmental protection laws. For example, and lead the
emerging world‘s resistance to global attempts to outlaw technologies believed to cause climate change.
a. China and Singapore
b. China and India
c. India and Pakistan
d. Bangladesh and India
49. Which of the following is one of the challenges faced by African nations that make it difficult for them to develop
and coordinate policies that maintain and improve the environment?
a. water scarcity and desertification
b. land and coastal degradation
c. political unrest
d. all of the above
50. To minimize the effects and expansion of climate change, many nations, particularly those in Europe, are pushing
hard for a global reduction in the use of:
a. genetically modified organisms.
b. pesticides.
c. solar energy.
d. fossil fuels.
51. Which major industrialized nation has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol, even though nearly 200 countries have now
ratified it?
a. The United States
b. Germany
c. The United Kingdom
d. Japan
52. In an effort to find alternatives to environmentally harmful energy sources, the U.S. Department of Energy
established a Renewable Energy Biomass Program to encourage the development and improvement of technology
for:
a. solar energy.
b. biofuels.
c. wind turbines.
d. None of the above
53. Which country has been considered a pioneer in the use of biofuels, particularly ethanol?
a. Russia
b. The United States
c. Brazil
d. Mexico
Subjective Short Answer
54. Assess the benefits and the detriments of environmental standards (with regard to developed and developing
nations).
55. What is meant by the “polluter pays” principle? How is it consistent with free market economics?
56. Consider the ramifications, both legal and ethical, of a U.S. company building a plant in a former Soviet republic that
has far less stringent laws pertaining to carbon-dioxide emissions.
57. In the past, both the U.S. and Europe have been accused of enacting environmentally disguised trade barriers.
Relying on present issues regarding beef and cattle, assess a U.S. ban on all European meat products. On beef? On
meats from a region in Europe?
58. Address the strengths and weaknesses of the U.S. government’s environmental polices pertaining to pesticides (such
as those addressed by the never-adopted ban on the export of unsafe pesticides).
59. Compare and contrast the environmental standards enacted within the European Union with those of NAFTA
signatories.
60. In what ways are regional environmental treaties superior to global treaties? Inferior to them?
61. Draft a memo enumerating and discussing the “environmental risk” facing companies wishing to invest in foreign
states.
62. Reflecting on the “Circle of Poison,” draft a bill regarding pesticide exports.
63. Craft a treaty, focusing particularly on a mechanism for dispute resolution, between the U.S. and Canada that
addressed the problem of acid rain.
64. Draft a memo outlining the environmental standards with which a country must comply, and/or the method and rate
of phasing in such standards, for a Caribbean or other new country desiring to apply for admission to NAFTA.
Essay
65. Kunming Amusement Company (KAC) is a toy manufacturer located in Yunnan province in southern China. KAC
routinely dumps industrial waste from its manufacturing operations in the nearby Mekong River. The Chinese
government is aware of this practice but has failed to take any action to prevent to occurrence or inform neighboring
states. Two months ago, there was an industrial accident at KAC’s manufacturing facility, which resulted in the
significant discharge of numerous toxins (including lead-based paint) into the Mekong River. KAC informed the
Chinese government of this accident, but the Chinese government failed to inform downstream states of the
accident. As a result, people in Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam unknowingly utilized tainted water for
numerous domestic purposes, including drinking bathing, irrigation and watering of livestock. The accident was only
discovered after numerous downstream users became ill and there were massive fish kills, which resulted in
subsequent testing of the water and discovery of the contamination.
If the United States responded to these events by increasing surveillance of KAC’s toys for lead content, would such
a ban be consistent with its obligations pursuant to GATT? Why or why not? If the United States responded to these
events by banning importation of all Chinese toys manufactured in an environmentally unsound manner, would such a
ban be consistent with its obligations pursuant to GATT? Why or why not?