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The Devil Is In The Details: Articulating Practical Principles For Implementing The Duties In Pennsylvania's Environmental Rights Amendment, Kenneth Kristl Mar 2016

The Devil Is In The Details: Articulating Practical Principles For Implementing The Duties In Pennsylvania's Environmental Rights Amendment, Kenneth Kristl

Kenneth T Kristl

The 1971 Environmental Rights Amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution at Article I, Section 27 created individual rights to clean air, pure water, and other environmental features as well as a public trust in the Commonwealth’s public natural resources. Judicial interpretation significantly narrowed Section 27’s reach until the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Robinson Township decision in 2013 reinvigorated the Amendment. In the aftermath of Robinson Township, government officials and courts will need guidelines for how to comply with Section 27 in making and reviewing government actions and decisions. This article develops a set of concrete, practical principles for applying Section 27. It …


Robinson Township V. Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania: Examination And Implications, John Dernbach, James May, Kenneth Kristl Dec 2014

Robinson Township V. Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania: Examination And Implications, John Dernbach, James May, Kenneth Kristl

Kenneth T Kristl

In Robinson Township v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held unconstitutional major parts of Pennsylvania’s “Act 13”—a 2012 oil and gas law designed to facilitate the development of natural gas from Marcellus Shale. In so doing, the Court breathed new life into Article I, Section 27 of Pennsylvania’s constitution, which creates public rights in certain environmental amenities and requires the state to “conserve and maintain” public resources “for the benefit of all the people.” This paper describes the decision, explains some of its immediate implications in Pennsylvania, and also explains its importance for public environmental rights and environmental …


Assessing The Legal Toolbox For Sea Level Rise Adaptation In Delaware: Options And Challenges For Regulators, Policymakers, Property Owners, And The Public, Kenneth Kristl Apr 2014

Assessing The Legal Toolbox For Sea Level Rise Adaptation In Delaware: Options And Challenges For Regulators, Policymakers, Property Owners, And The Public, Kenneth Kristl

Kenneth T Kristl

Sea level rise is a real and growing issue in the State of Delaware. Over the next 90 years, a significant percentage—between 8 and 11 percent—of Delaware is at risk of being inundated. The threat of inundation has the potential to trigger reactions from some property owners that will seek to protect their interests. Thousands of these resulting individual, ad hoc decisions and non-decisions will make it difficult to carry out a unified strategy to adapt to the massive economic and geographic impacts sea level rise will likely cause in the State. It therefore behooves regulators, policy makers, property owners, …


Rising Sea Levels: A Tidal Wave Of Legal Issues, Kenneth Kristl Dec 2013

Rising Sea Levels: A Tidal Wave Of Legal Issues, Kenneth Kristl

Kenneth T Kristl

No abstract provided.