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Is There A Right To Life For The Colorado River?, Reed D. Benson
Is There A Right To Life For The Colorado River?, Reed D. Benson
Faculty Scholarship
A recent lawsuit, declaring the Colorado River has legal rights of its own, received national attention in the New York Times and High Country News. While the lawsuit had no chance of success, it highlighted important issues.
Making The Most Of Cooperative Federalism: What The Clean Power Plan Has Already Achieved, Gabriel Pacyniak
Making The Most Of Cooperative Federalism: What The Clean Power Plan Has Already Achieved, Gabriel Pacyniak
Faculty Scholarship
The fate of the EPA's Clean Power Plan-the signature Obama Administration action to reduce greenhouse gas ("GHG") emissions from existing power plants under the Clean Air Act-is uncertain at best given pending litigation and the opposition of President Donald Trump. Despite this uncertainty, the development of the Clean Power Plan provides an important case study of how rulemaking under a cooperative federalism statutory structure can prompt broad, beneficial policy engagement by states and stakeholders, even in a contentious regulatory action. In the development of the Clean Power Plan, active state and stakeholder engagement and an iterative process of "trying on" …
Reducing Transportation Emissions In The Northeast And Mid-Atlantic: Fuel System Considerations, Gabriel Pacyniak, Drew Veysey, James Bradbury
Reducing Transportation Emissions In The Northeast And Mid-Atlantic: Fuel System Considerations, Gabriel Pacyniak, Drew Veysey, James Bradbury
Faculty Scholarship
In support of states interested in learning more about market-based policy options, the Georgetown Climate Center developed Reducing Transportation Emissions in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic: Fuel System Considerations to explore technical aspects of a possible regional cap-and-invest policy, as an illustrative example of a market-based approach to a multi-state transportation policy. The paper focuses on two subjects: which fuels might be covered under a policy, and which entities in the transportation fuel supply chain might be responsible for reducing emissions.
The recommendations made in this paper are intended to support robust market-based policies that provide flexibility and enable innovation while …
An Examination Of Policy Options For Achieving Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions In New Jersey, Gabriel Pacyniak
An Examination Of Policy Options For Achieving Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions In New Jersey, Gabriel Pacyniak
Faculty Scholarship
An Examination of Policy Options for Achieving Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions in New Jersey surveys emissions and energy trends, describes a “deep decarbonization pathway” for the state, and identifies the types of policies that would be necessary to achieve those reductions. Many of the policies address the power and transportation sectors, which account for more than 60 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions from New Jersey. The report also includes options for improving building efficiency, reducing methane leaks from natural gas infrastructure, restoring natural carbon sinks in forests and wetlands, and incorporating equity considerations to address the needs of frontline …
Is The "Act Of God" Dead?, Clifford J. Villa
Is The "Act Of God" Dead?, Clifford J. Villa
Faculty Scholarship
In more than twenty years with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) before joining the legal academy, I saw many communities affected by fires, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. However, I never saw a case where the act of God defense prevailed against environmental liability. Confirming this personal experience, I later learned that the number of reported cases where the act of God defense had prevailed against environmental liability, under all statutes and all federal circuits, was also exactly zero.
This raises two obvious questions: (1) why does the act of God defense so often fail? and (2) …
Aldo Leopold, Estella Bergere, Mia Casita And Sheepherding In New Mexico And Colorado, Andrew Gulliford
Aldo Leopold, Estella Bergere, Mia Casita And Sheepherding In New Mexico And Colorado, Andrew Gulliford
Natural Resources Journal
Personal and regional history of Peggy Bergon, Aldo Leopold, and sheepherding.
Introduction, Natural Resources Vii Journal
Introduction, Natural Resources Vii Journal
Natural Resources Journal
No abstract provided.
Rules And Values In Virtual Optimization Of California Hydropower, Sonya F. P. Ziaja
Rules And Values In Virtual Optimization Of California Hydropower, Sonya F. P. Ziaja
Natural Resources Journal
Optimization models for California’s hydropower system are designed to be decision-support tools and aids for climate adaptation decision-making. In practice, they fall short of this goal. One potential explanation is that optimization models are not more successful because they are built on, and depend on, a misrepresentation of law and politics. The legal reality of California’s hydropower system is a web of networked jurisdictions of multiple federal and state agencies, with varying levels of coordination, long periods of legally obligated stability with rigid rules, and prone to conflict, but with multiple procedures for conflict resolution. Barriers to climate adaptation from …
The Domestic Well Exemption In The West: A Case Study Of Santa Fe’S Municipal Ordinance, Maxine N. Paul
The Domestic Well Exemption In The West: A Case Study Of Santa Fe’S Municipal Ordinance, Maxine N. Paul
Natural Resources Journal
In the case of Bounds v. State of New Mexico, the New Mexico Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a statute that allows domestic wells to be permitted with less oversight than other water rights. The statute, known as the domestic well exemption, is common in various forms throughout the Western United States. Currently, there are an estimated 200,000 permitted domestic wells across the State of New Mexico, increasing at a rate of approximately 5,000 per year. Various scholars have argued for amendments to domestic well statutes or local regulations to make exempt well applications as rigorous as other water …
Liability And Compensation For Oil Spill Accidents: International Regime And Its Implementation In China, Yuan Yang
Natural Resources Journal
Marine oil spill accidents have long been caused by ship collisions. However, the proliferation of offshore oil and gas installations portends a marked increase in oil spills from these sources. This presents a unique enforcement challenge for international and Chinese domestic systems for oil pollution liability and compensation that were developed in response to the threat of ship-based oil pollution. This article focuses on how the international liability and compensation regime for oil pollution has been implemented in China, and whether a combination of the international regime and domestic Chinese regulations could provide an adequate mechanism for holding offshore oil …
Nasty Weather And Ugly Produce: Climate Change, Agricultural Adaptation, And Food Waste, Richard Moore
Nasty Weather And Ugly Produce: Climate Change, Agricultural Adaptation, And Food Waste, Richard Moore
Natural Resources Journal
Food systems worldwide are threatened by climate change, as reflected, for example, in the diminished yields of fruits and vegetables and reduced production of global fisheries. This article discusses the threats of climate change on agricultural production and the need for agricultural adaptation. It posits that food insecurity must be considered in terms of climate change and its likely effects on food production. The article argues that agricultural mitigation and adaptation measures should must be pursued and communicated through the mechanisms of the Paris Agreement. In the United States, reducing food waste effectuated by the regulation on the culling of …
Fighting For Environmental Justice: The Life And Work Of Professor Eileen Gauna, Clifford J. Villa
Fighting For Environmental Justice: The Life And Work Of Professor Eileen Gauna, Clifford J. Villa
Natural Resources Journal
No abstract provided.
Hydropower Development In India: The Legal-Economic Design To Fuelgrowth?, Surabhi Karambelkar
Hydropower Development In India: The Legal-Economic Design To Fuelgrowth?, Surabhi Karambelkar
Natural Resources Journal
Economic liberalization beginning in the early 1990s has represented a paradigm shift in policy discourse in India, from social welfare to economic growth. With its potential benefits of generating power for the growing economy and significant revenue through electricity sales and royalty payments, hydropower development has received center-stage in the hydrorich but economically weaker Himalayan states of India. Using an institutional approach to examine the evolution of laws and policies on electricity, land, environment, and water, this article seeks to uncover how prevailing legal and economic systems prioritize hydropower generation over other water uses. It argues that federal and state …
Liquid Power: Contested Hydro-Modernities In Twentieth-Century Spain By Erikswyngedouw, John Morseau
Liquid Power: Contested Hydro-Modernities In Twentieth-Century Spain By Erikswyngedouw, John Morseau
Natural Resources Journal
No abstract provided.
Front Matter, Natural Resources I. Journal
Front Matter, Natural Resources I. Journal
Natural Resources Journal
No abstract provided.
State Regulation Of Oil And Gas Pools On State, Federal, Indian And Fee Lands, C. Gene Samberson
State Regulation Of Oil And Gas Pools On State, Federal, Indian And Fee Lands, C. Gene Samberson
Natural Resources Journal
No abstract provided.
Richardson, Elmo R., The Politics Of Conservation: Crusades And Controversies, 1897-1913, Ernest A. Engelbert
Richardson, Elmo R., The Politics Of Conservation: Crusades And Controversies, 1897-1913, Ernest A. Engelbert
Natural Resources Journal
No abstract provided.
Milner, J. B., Community Planning: A Casebook On Law And Administration, Ira Michael Heyman
Milner, J. B., Community Planning: A Casebook On Law And Administration, Ira Michael Heyman
Natural Resources Journal
No abstract provided.
Alternatives For Recovery Of Attorney's Fees In Environmental Litigation, Fritz Ledbetter
Alternatives For Recovery Of Attorney's Fees In Environmental Litigation, Fritz Ledbetter
Natural Resources Journal
No abstract provided.
Res Judicata: Will It Stop Instream Flows From Being The Wave Of The Future?, Harold A. Ranquist
Res Judicata: Will It Stop Instream Flows From Being The Wave Of The Future?, Harold A. Ranquist
Natural Resources Journal
No abstract provided.
Statecraft, Domestic Politics, And Foreign Policymaking: The El Chamizal Dispute, Albert E. Utton
Statecraft, Domestic Politics, And Foreign Policymaking: The El Chamizal Dispute, Albert E. Utton
Natural Resources Journal
No abstract provided.
Public Participation And Natural Resource Decision-Making: The Case Of The Rare Ii Decisions, Paul Mohai
Public Participation And Natural Resource Decision-Making: The Case Of The Rare Ii Decisions, Paul Mohai
Natural Resources Journal
No abstract provided.
Pueblo Indian Water Rights: Charting The Unknown, Richard W. Hughes
Pueblo Indian Water Rights: Charting The Unknown, Richard W. Hughes
Publications
This article examines the so-far-unsuccessful efforts to judicially define and quantify the water rights appurtenant to the core land holdings of the 19 New Mexico Pueblos, many of whose lands straddle the Rio Grande. It explains that the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has squarely held that Pueblo water rights are governed by federal, not state law, and are prior to those of any non-Indian appropriator, but also that the Tenth Circuit acknowledged that it could not say how those rights should be characterized. Part I of the article examines the course of the cases that have sought to achieve …
Reviewing Reservoir Operations: Can Federal Water Projects Adapt To Change?, Reed D. Benson
Reviewing Reservoir Operations: Can Federal Water Projects Adapt To Change?, Reed D. Benson
Faculty Scholarship
This Article begins by reviewing the purposes for federal water projects, and identifies some of the trade-offs involved in operating projects for certain purposes. It then addresses the legal factors that determine or influence project operations, beginning with project authorizing statutes and ending with federal environmental laws. The Article examines Corps and Bureau policies regarding project operating plans, the reasons for agency reluctance to review and revise their plans, and some of the factors that prompt the agencies to proceed with reviews. It then summarizes periodic review requirements in two analogous contexts—federal land management plans, and hydropower project licenses—and considers …
New Strategies For Reducing Transportation Emissions And Preparing For Climate Impacts, Gabriel Pacyniak, Kathryn Zyla, Vicki Arroyo
New Strategies For Reducing Transportation Emissions And Preparing For Climate Impacts, Gabriel Pacyniak, Kathryn Zyla, Vicki Arroyo
Faculty Scholarship
The transportation sector is becoming the largest source of greenhouse gas ("GHG") emissions in the United States. The Obama Administration put in place federal vehicle and fuel standards that are significantly reducing emissions. However, these regulations will be insufficient to put the United States on track to achieve needed reductions needed long-term. This is especially true if the 2025 standards announced by the Obama Administration are rolled back by the new Trump Administration. Because current federal standards alone will not attain ambitious climate goals and may be rolled back, state and local activity is essential to make progress towards meeting …