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Series

Faculty Scholarship

Environmental Law

University of New Mexico

2019

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Law

Let's Talk Protecting Endangered Species, Clifford J. Villa, Ty Bannerman, Will Cavin, Taylor Jones, Ari Biernoff Aug 2019

Let's Talk Protecting Endangered Species, Clifford J. Villa, Ty Bannerman, Will Cavin, Taylor Jones, Ari Biernoff

Faculty Scholarship

The Trump Administration recently changed Endangered Species Act regulations affecting how species are removed from endangered status and streamlining permits for the oil and gas and ranching industries. Environmentalists say the rules weaken protections. How could the new rules change industry and conservation in New Mexico?


Gold King Mine Spill: Environmental Law And Legal Protections For Environmental Responders, Clifford J. Villa Jun 2019

Gold King Mine Spill: Environmental Law And Legal Protections For Environmental Responders, Clifford J. Villa

Faculty Scholarship

On August 5, 2015, EPA contractors working at the Gold King Mine in southwestern Colorado accidently released approximately three million gallons of contaminated mine water into the drainage of the Animas River. The water contained metals which created a bright orange plume that coursed down the Animas River and into the connecting San Juan River for many days, attracting nationwide attention and creating great concern for many local communities. The plume touched at least three states, three tribes, and numerous municipalities. The release fortunately did not prove an environmental catastrophe as many people feared at the time. However, it did …


Can A State's Water Rights Be Damned? Environmental Flows And Federal Dams In The Supreme Court, Reed D. Benson Jan 2019

Can A State's Water Rights Be Damned? Environmental Flows And Federal Dams In The Supreme Court, Reed D. Benson

Faculty Scholarship

Interstate rivers are subject to the doctrine of equitable apportionment, whereby the Supreme Court seeks to ensure that all states that share such rivers get a fair portion of their benefits. The Court has rarely issued an equitable apportionment decree, however, and there is little law on whether the doctrine protects river flows for environmental purposes. The ongoing Florida v. Georgia litigation in the Supreme Court raises this issue, as Florida seeks to limit consumptive uses by upstream Georgia to preserve flows in the Apalachicola River, which provide both economic and environmental benefits. This Article summarizes both the equitable apportionment …


Book Review: Jonathan P. Thompson, River Of Lost Souls: The Science, Politics, And Green Behind The Gold King Mine Disaster (2018), Clifford J. Villa Jan 2019

Book Review: Jonathan P. Thompson, River Of Lost Souls: The Science, Politics, And Green Behind The Gold King Mine Disaster (2018), Clifford J. Villa

Faculty Scholarship

On August 5, 2015, contractors for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) investigating the Gold King Mine in southwestern Colorado accidently released some three million gallons of contaminated water into the Animas River, triggering weeks of front-page headlines, months of congressional hearings, and now years of litigation. River of Lost Souls: The Science, Politics, and Greed Behind the Gold King Mine Disaster, a new book by Jonathan P. Thompson, suggests by its title a human folly behind this “disaster” much broader and deeper than one tragic accident wrought by EPA contractors. On this thesis, Thompson certainly delivers. However, what …