Law Commons^™

Weed And Water Law: Regulating Legal Marijuana, Ryan Stoa

Faculty Publications

Marijuana is nearing the end of its prohibition in the United States. Arguably the country’s largest cash crop, marijuana is already legal for recreational use in Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Washington DC. Between now and election day 2016, an additional 14 states may place marijuana legalization initiatives on their ballots. In addition, 23 states and Washington DC have legalized medical marijuana, with up to seven states pending legislation. The era of marijuana prohibition is rapidly coming to a close.

At the same time, traditional doctrines of water law are struggling to cope with the modern realities of water scarcity. …

Water Rights, Markets, And Changing Ecological Conditions, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

Conventional environmentalist thought is suspicious of private markets and property rights. The prospect of global climate change, and consequent ecological disruptions, has fueled the call for additional limitations on private markets and property rights. This essay, written for the Environmental Law Symposium on 21st Century Water Law, presents an alternative view. Specifically, this essay briefly explains why environmental problems generally, and the prospect of changing environmental conditions such as those brought about by climate change in particular, do not counsel further restrictions on private property rights and markets. To the contrary, the prospect of significant environmental changes strengthens the case …

Water Marketing As An Adaptive Response To The Threat Of Climate Change, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

Demographic changes and existing water use patterns have placed tremendous pressures upon water supplies, particularly in the West. Global climate change will exacerbate pressures on water resources. The gradual warming of the atmosphere is certain to change the distribution and availability of water supplies, with potentially severe consequences for freshwater supplies. While climate change will have a significant impact on water resources through changes in the timing and volume of precipitation, altered evaporation rates, and the like, the precise nature, magnitude, timing, and distribution of such climate-induced changes are unknown. This uncertainty complicates the task of water managers who are …

'There It Is: Take It' Endangered Species And Water Management In The San Francisco Bay Delta, W. David Ball

Faculty Publications

This paper explores endangered species and water management in the San Francisco Bay Delta. Two endangered species, the Delta Smelt and the Winter-run Chinook Salmon, use the Bay Delta for crucial portions of their life cycle. At the same time, California's agricultural industry, as well as population centers to the South, require substantial outflows of Bay-Delta water. The paper explores the multi-jurisdictional regulation of the Bay-Delta's water, takes a hard look at the purported success of the Environmental Water Account (EWA) program, and reports on the tensions between scientists at regulatory agencies and the political appointees who oversee them. We …

Back To The Future Of Conservation: Changing Perceptions Of Property Rights & Environmental Protection, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

Property rights hold a central place in our Constitutional design and provide the foundation for America's market economy. Admiration of private property has not been universal, however. Some environmental scholars and policymakers have been particularly critical of classical liberal conceptions of private property on both theoretical and practical grounds, suggesting that traditional, classical liberal notions of property rights are incompatible with the demands of environmental protection. These perspectives influenced the development of command-and-control environmental regulation in the 1960s and 1970s. In recent years, however, the perception of private property's role in environmental conservation has begun to change. Disregard for the …