Law Commons^™

Lands Council, Karuk Tribe, And The Great Environmental Divide In The Ninth Circuit, Michael Blumm, Maggie Hall

Michael Blumm

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the nation’s largest appellate court, with jurisdiction over fifteen judicial districts and 61 million people—almost 20 percent of the nation’s population—spans from Alaska to Arizona, from Montana to Hawaii. The Ninth Circuit has a reputation for being an environmentally sensitive court, but the court is as diverse as the terrain over which it has jurisdiction. Due to its size, the court’s en banc reviews do not include all twenty-nine judges but instead only panels of eleven. Thus, en banc panels can reflect the kind of diversity of opinion they aim to reduce.

Recently, the …

Wasting Away: America’S Dysfunctional System Of Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal, Jacob Berman

Jacob Berman

This paper argues that the current system for disposing of civilian low-level radioactive waste in the United States is broken, and that large-scale reform is necessary to adequately handle the volume of waste expected from further nuclear decommissioning. Between 1947 and 1980, low-level radioactive waste disposal was the sole responsibility of the federal government. The Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act of 1980 upended this system, devolving responsibility for civilian low-level radioactive waste disposal to the states. Devolution has been a disaster. For the last thirty years, state governments have been beset by Not In My Back Yard syndrome, as project …