Law Commons^™

A Flaw In California's Cap-And-Trade Plan, Alan Ramo, Janet Redman

Publications

California has made clear its intention to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But is it taking the right steps to do so? The state has set a goal of returning to 1990 emissions levels by 2020. It has adopted renewable energy standards, driven the national trend in controlling automobile emissions and instituted a cap-and-trade program aimed at curbing climate pollution from power plants, refineries and other "stationary sources" of emissions. But a low-profile bill scheduled for consideration by the Legislature next year has exposed that, at least as far as its cap-and-trade program is concerned, California may be off-track. As it …

Joe M Stell Ombudsman Program - Taos Settlement Technical Work, Peggy Barroll

Publications

No abstract provided.

Food Insecurity Impacts On The U.S. Poor As The World Warms, Helen Kang

Publications

Studies exploring the vulnerability of human populations to climate change-induced food insecurity have understandably focused on developing nations, where 98 percent of the world’s hungry are. The threat to food security in those regions is indeed a critical issue as climate change affects every aspect of food security: food availability or amount of food production; food access, which refers to the ability of a person or community to acquire an adequate supply of available food; utilization or the ability to attain necessary nutrition from the acquired food; and stability, which refers to the ability to consistently access food in adequate …

Groundwater Challenges In Spain: Lessons From The Western Mancha Aquifer, Pedro Martinez-Santos

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No abstract provided.

Land Conservation In The Northeastern United States: An Assessment Of Historic Trends And Current Conditions, Robert J. Lilieholm, Spencer R. Meyer, Michelle L. Johnson, Christopher S. Cronan

Publications

This article discusses the evolution of land conservation efforts and outcomes in the Northeast, examine major drivers of landscape change, and review key conservation tools that have been used to protect public values at the local and landscape levels. We then assess the current status of land conservation, and draw lessons for other regions facing conservation challenges across mixed ownership landscapes under varying development and land-use pressures. Finally, we explore new and emerging trends in the factors driving land development and conservation activities in an effort to assess the challenges that lie ahead.

Winter 2013 Utton Center Newsletter, Utton Center, University Of New Mexico - School Of Law

Publications

No abstract provided.

Frameworks For Amending Reservoir Water Management, Ethan Mower, Leandro E. Miranda

Publications

Managing water storage and withdrawals in many reservoirs requires establishing seasonal targets for water levels (i.e., rule curves) that are influenced by regional precipitation and diverse water demands. Rule curves are established as an attempt to balance various water needs such as flood control, irrigation, and environmental benefits such as fish and wildlife management. The processes and challenges associated with amending rule curves to balance multiuse needs are complicated and mostly unfamiliar to non-US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) natural resource managers and to the public. To inform natural resource managers and the public we describe the policies and process …

A Water Rights Manual For Mutual Domestic Water Consumers Associations, Utton Center, University Of New Mexico - School Of Law, Zachary Carpenter, Gregory Chakalian, Darcy S. Bushnell

Publications

The Utton Center prepared this Water Rights Manual to assist Mutual Domestic Water Consumers Associations (MDWCAs) with the development, protection and management of their water rights.

This manual provides an introduction to and defines Water Rights in New Mexico, as well as to acquire and have recognized Water Rights. This document also covers water management and planning, and provides additional resources.

Mapping, Modeling, And The Fragmentation Of Environmental Law., Dave Owen

Publications

In the past forty years, environmental researchers have achieved major advances in electronic mapping and spatially explicit, computer-based simulation modeling. Those advances have turned quantitative spatial analysis — that is, quantitative analysis of data coded to specific geographic locations — into one of the primary modes of environmental research. Researchers now routinely use spatial analysis to explore environmental trends, diagnose problems, discover causal relationships, predict possible futures, and test policy options. At a more fundamental level, these technologies and an associated field of theory are transforming how researchers conceptualize environmental systems. Advances in spatial analysis have had modest impacts upon …

From Dirty To Green: Increasing Energy Efficiency And Renewable Energy In Environmental Justice Communities, Deborah N. Behles

Publications

The stifling summer heat that raged across the nation was difficult for everyone, but one group had a more difficult time than others—those who could not afford to cool their homes. Disparities like these will likely only get worse. Poor communities of color that are already vulnerable and disproportionately impacted by pollution will shoulder a larger burden of climate change impacts. These neighborhoods, often called environmental justice communities, have fewer resources to adapt to the effects of climate change. More measures should be taken to increase the development of renewable energy and energy efficiency in environmental justice communities before the …

Environmental Justice As An Essential Tool In Environmental Review Statutes — A New Look At Federal Policies And Civil Rights Protections And California’S Recent Initiatives, Alan Ramo

Publications

Recent litigation by the California Attorney General has sparked renewed interest in the role of environmental justice under federal and state project environmental review laws. Some say that inserting environmental justice into environmental review marks a “radical expansion” of the role of social justice in environmental review. Environmental justice is now a wellestablished federal legal doctrine addressing communities disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards as a result of their social or economic demographics. The doctrine is supported by President Clinton’s executive order, along with agency guidelines and regulations under the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”), which govern federal project environmental review. …

Empowerment, Fairness, Integration: South African Answers To The Question Of Constitutional Environmental Rights, Eric Christiansen

Publications

This Article will assess the current level of constitutional protection provided by the South African Constitution and its potential to facilitate and influence the uncertain rise of constitutional environmental rights in the modern era. Following this Introduction, Part II recreates and examines the process by which environmental protections became part of the post-apartheid South African Constitution, drawing from original source research. Part III provides a detailed analysis of the textual right that arose from the constitutional process and reviews the core environmental case law of the Constitutional Court so far. And the final section, Part IV, analyzes the viability of …

Order, Progress And Carioca Environments: A Preface To Study Space V, Colin Crawford

Publications

Study Space is on ongoing series of field seminars designed to allow faculty and senior graduate students from multiple disciplines, with the center of gravity in law, to "evaluate human habitats and habits in the 21st century." The fifth iteration of this series, which I started while the co-director of the Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth at Georgia State University College of Law, in Atlanta, took place from July 11-18, 2010. Participants, who included professors and senior graduate students in anthropology, law, philosophy, political science and sociology, came from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala and the United States. …

Drafting Model Laws On Indoor Pollution For Developing And Developed Nations Workshop, July 12-13, 2012, Boulder, Colorado: Introduction, Lakshman Guruswamy

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No abstract provided.

Development And Dissemination Of Clean Cookstoves: A Model Law For Developing Countries, Lakshman Guruswamy

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No abstract provided.

Settler Colonialism And Reclamation: Where American Indian Law And Natural Resources Law Meet, Sarah Krakoff

Publications

Three hours west of Phoenix, Arizona, the Colorado River Indian Tribes (“CRIT”), a federally recognized tribe that includes over 3,700 enrolled members of Mohave, Chemehuevi, Navajo, and Hopi descent, occupies a reservation nearly 300,000 acres in size. The CRIT was one of five tribes to have its water rights confirmed in the landmark case of Arizona v. California, and therefore has senior rights to 719,248 acre-feet of Colorado River water, nearly one-third of Arizona’s allocation. How the CRIT came to be a single federally recognized tribe composed of members from four indigenous peoples located on lands that were a fraction …