Law Commons^™

Wild Dunes And Serbonian Bogs: The Impact Of The Lucas Decision On Shoreline Protection Programs, Richard C. Ausness

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, the United Supreme Court was forced once again to delve into the law of regulatory takings. This experience is seldom a pleasant one. Echoing the poet John Milton, an exasperated state court judge once described takings law as a “Serbonian Bog.” Unfortunately, the takings doctrine is only slightly more comprehensible after the Lucas decision than it was before. Nevertheless, progress in this area, however modest, deserves praise, and the Court is to be commended for clarifying one aspect of takings jurisprudence. As a result of Lucas a “categorical rule” has been announced …

Water Rights, The Public Trust Doctrine, And The Protection Of Instream Uses, Richard C. Ausness

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Our society uses water for a variety of productive purposes, including domestic, agricultural, mining, manufacturing, and energy development. Most of these uses require physical removal of water from watercourses or ground water aquifers. Water can also serve useful purposes, however, when it remains a lake or stream. Flowing water helps to maintain water quality and furthers other uses such as recreation, aesthetic values, and ecological interests—referred to as “instream uses.”

Large quantities of water must remain in place to safeguard instream uses. At the same time, the increasing demands of consumptive water users are significantly reducing streamflows and lake levels …

A Modern Proposal For State Regulation Of Consumptive Uses Of Water, Richard C. Ausness, Frank E. Maloney

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

As a nation, the United States is in the early stages of a developing water crisis. With an exploding population accompanied by great technological advances in industry and agriculture, America is using progressively more water each day; the increasing use threatens to exceed available supplies in the future unless available resources are properly managed.

As the demand for water grows, problems related to the equitable allocation of this important resource will likewise increase. The need that presently exists for an integrated and balanced approach to the problems of water consumption, pollution, navigation and recreation will become even more acute in …

Water Quality Control: A Modern Approach To State Regulation, Richard C. Ausness, Frank E. Maloney

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The American public of late has shown increasing concern over the quality of the environment. Water pollution has long been recognized as a major threat to a better environment. Municipal, industrial, and agricultural operations all contribute to the pollution problem. Municipalities empty millions of gallons of inadequately-treated sewage into the nation's rivers and streams. Municipal wastes are almost exclusively organic in nature. Currently municipal wastes are estimated to average about ten million tons annually while industrial pollution averages approximately fifteen million tons. Treatment in general is technologically feasible; the primary impediment is financial inability on the part of municipalities to …