Allocating pollution

Law can often be used to reduce or even eliminate the harm from pollution by manipulating "exposure allocation," or how pollution is allocated across a target population. Opportunities for exposure allocation arise whenever the relationship between exposure to a pollutant and harm is nonlinear, as is the case for many pollutants. For these pollutants, exposure allocation presents the potential for reducing the harm from pollution even when it is not possible to reduce either the total amount of pollution emitted or the total amount of exposure. After identifying the conditions under which changing exposure allocations can improve health and save lives, this Article identifies legal strategies for managing exposure allocation to minimize the harm caused by pollution.