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Full-Text Articles in Law
Pacific Islands And The U.S. Military: The Legal Borderlands Of The Environmental Movement, Sonia Lei
Pacific Islands And The U.S. Military: The Legal Borderlands Of The Environmental Movement, Sonia Lei
Seattle University Law Review
Climate change remains an urgent, ongoing global issue that requires critical examination of institutional polluters. This includes the world’s largest institutional consumer of petroleum: the United States military. The Department of Defense (DoD) is a massive institution with little oversight, a carbon footprint spanning the globe, a budget greater than the next ten largest nations combined, and overly generous exemptions to environmental regulations and carbon reduction targets. This Comment examines how this lack of accountability and oversight plays out in the context of three Pacific islands that have hosted U.S. military bases for decades. By considering the environmental impact of …
Conceptualizing Climate Justice In Kivalina, Marissa Knodel
Conceptualizing Climate Justice In Kivalina, Marissa Knodel
Seattle University Law Review
Due to climate change, indigenous communities in Alaska are forced to develop in ways that adversely affect their livelihoods and culture. For example, decreases in sea ice, increases in the frequency of sea storms, and melting permafrost have so accelerated the erosion of one barrier island that an entire village faces relocation. These indigenous communities, which have contributed little to causing climate change, are limited in their ability to adapt. After examining three broad questions about the effects of climate change on indigenous communities, this Article reaches four preliminary conclusion about relocation as a climate adaptation strategy and its relations …
Sue And Settle: Demonizing The Environmental Citizen Suit, Stephen M. Johnson
Sue And Settle: Demonizing The Environmental Citizen Suit, Stephen M. Johnson
Seattle University Law Review
In the spring of 2013, industry groups and states began a concerted lobbying effort to oppose citizen enforcement of the federal environmental laws. The United States Chamber of Commerce and lobbyists for states created a catch-phrase—“sue and settle”—to demonize citizen enforcement and the federal government’s practice of settling lawsuits it is destined to lose in court. The Chamber alleged that the federal government, by settling lawsuits brought by citizens groups rather than defending them in court, was colluding with those non-governmental organizations and excluding other affected parties to reallocate the agencies’ priorities and obligations. Federal environmental laws establish a central …
Sepa: A Proposed Standard For Judicial Review Of Agency Decisions Not To Require Preparation Of A Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, Lori Ann Terry
Sepa: A Proposed Standard For Judicial Review Of Agency Decisions Not To Require Preparation Of A Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, Lori Ann Terry
Seattle University Law Review
To enable citizens opposing projects and proponents defending projects to predict more accurately the results of litigation and to discourage spurious litigation, a more definitive standard of judicial review is necessary. This Article proposes a standard of judicial review that encompasses components of both the adequacy and negative threshold standards of judicial review. The proposed standard of review discourages lawsuits that are brought merely for purposes of delay while ensuring that the agency acted reasonably in making its determination. Before this new standard can be considered, the context in which it will operate must be reviewed. Part II of this …
Miotke V. City Of Spokane: Nuisance Or Inverse Condemnation—Theories For Government Environmental Liability, Gary L. Baker
Miotke V. City Of Spokane: Nuisance Or Inverse Condemnation—Theories For Government Environmental Liability, Gary L. Baker
Seattle University Law Review
A recent decision by the Washington State Supreme Court, Miotke v. City of Spokane, may broadly affect the right to and type of recovery that will be available to persons whose property rights are infringed either by an agent of the state or by private parties. Miotke involved the dumping of untreated sewage into a river, with the sewage flowing into a lake and interfering with lakefront property owners' enjoyment of their property. The court in Miotke faced a set of claims in property, tort, and state environmental law. The court recognized the significance of its decision and the …
The Washington Forest Practices Act: When Is Compliance With Sepa Required?, Christine M. Cordes
The Washington Forest Practices Act: When Is Compliance With Sepa Required?, Christine M. Cordes
Seattle University Law Review
This comment analyzes the problems created by the Forest Practices Act’s scheme for environmental review. First, the comment examines the statutory definitions of the forest practices classes, determining which forest practice classes are within the scope of SEPA review under the FPA. Second, the comment discusses the effect of the 1981 State Environmental Policy Act amendment on the types of forest practices exempt from SEPA. The comment further points out the failure of the existing forest practices regulations to achieve the policy balance required by the FPA. The comment’s conclusion is two-fold: the Classic “U” holding best represents the legislature’s …