Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The Jurisdictional Anticommons

ORCID (Links to author’s additional scholarship at ORCID.org)

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8946-9133

Abstract

When multiple stakeholders have the right to veto use of a resource, it may go to waste. This is the problem of the anticommons. When the stakeholders with veto-rights are regulators, it is known as the regulatory anticommons. When the multiple regulators come from different jurisdictions, it raises a special problem, which this paper names the jurisdictional anticommons. This jurisdictional anticommons is a common roadblock to linear energy transport infrastructure: oil, gas, and renewable power may be locked in if the pipelines and power-lines that would bring them to market may be vetoed by the jurisdictions they must cross. The jurisdictional anticommons is a thorny, growing problem for resource development around the world. Sovereignty, like private property, admits few exceptions, but this paper suggests how property law might also suggest some solutions.

Publication Title

Getting to Yes on Linear Infrastructure Projects

Document Type

Article

Keywords

anticommons, natural resources, property law, energy law, negotiation, energy law, eminent domain, veto gates, law and economics

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