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Full-Text Articles in Law
New Adventures Of The Old Bureau: Modern-Day Reclamation Statutes And Congress Unfinished Environmental Business, Reed D. Benson
New Adventures Of The Old Bureau: Modern-Day Reclamation Statutes And Congress Unfinished Environmental Business, Reed D. Benson
Faculty Scholarship
Congress established the reclamation program in 1902, and the hundreds of federal water projects built in the 20th century helped shape the West. Today, the Bureau of Reclamation plays an enormously important role in managing these projects. But with no big new dams to build, the Bureau has been forced to revise its mission to address todays water management challenges, such as stretching finite water supplies and restoring aquatic ecosystems. Through both site-specific enactments and programmatic statutes, Congress in recent years has given the Bureau new authority and direction to address these modern challenges. But Congress has left a significant …
The Due Diligence Process And Its Impact On The Deal: A Primer On Bayoneting The Wounded, Alex Ritchie, A. John Davis
The Due Diligence Process And Its Impact On The Deal: A Primer On Bayoneting The Wounded, Alex Ritchie, A. John Davis
Faculty Scholarship
In earlier times of more rationale schedules, reasonable billing rates, and less client scrutiny over bills and efficiency, an associate could learn due diligence with a partner looking over her shoulder, offering wisdom and encouragement. In the modern age of instantaneous information, excessive billing rates, and unrealistic expectations, transactional firms devote too little attention to due diligence processes and training. The stresses, tensions and risks associated with due diligence only multiply in the context of the big deal – the high-stakes, all-asset, equity and merger transactions. This article seeks to provide insight into the due diligence process, particularly the big …
Groundwater Policy In The Western United States, Denise D. Fort, Summer Mckean
Groundwater Policy In The Western United States, Denise D. Fort, Summer Mckean
Faculty Scholarship
Groundwater mining is inadequately addressed by state and federal policies in the United States. New Mexico's failure to manage groundwater aquifers has resulted in costly federal rescue projects. Better information and involvement of communities in groundwater policy would provide for more sustainable use of this resource.
Too Hot To Handle: Climate Change And Agricultural Water Use, Denise D. Fort
Too Hot To Handle: Climate Change And Agricultural Water Use, Denise D. Fort
Faculty Scholarship
The world faces enormous challenges in responding to looming crises in food and water. Responding to this challenge will require flexibility; such flexibility may be impeded by legal institutions. This paper looks at the western United States and discusses the role of irrigated agriculture in that region. Because of climate change, a growing population, declining groundwater, the need to protect ecosystems and other conflicts, the author suggests that all water uses, including long-standing agricultural water rights, need to be examined in light of these changes. Legal systems have tended to serve the status quo, but perhaps the law can help …
Environmental Review Of Western Water Project Operations: Where Nepa Has Not Applied, Will It Now Protect Farmers From Fish?, Reed D. Benson
Environmental Review Of Western Water Project Operations: Where Nepa Has Not Applied, Will It Now Protect Farmers From Fish?, Reed D. Benson
Faculty Scholarship
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation operates hundreds of dams in seventeen western states, and storage and release of water at these dams often causes serious environmental impacts. In operating these dams, however, the Bureau has largely been excused from complying with the environmental review requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act. This article explains and analyzes relevant NEPA cases involving these Bureau projects, and argues that the Bureau may want to conduct NEPA reviews for project operations even if they are not legally required. It also describes and critiques District Judge Oliver Wangers recent decisions applying NEPA to the Bureau's …
Public On Paper: The Failure Of Law To Protect Public Water Uses In The Western United States, Reed D. Benson
Public On Paper: The Failure Of Law To Protect Public Water Uses In The Western United States, Reed D. Benson
Faculty Scholarship
Water conflicts in the western United States increasingly arise from competition between traditional economic uses (especially irrigation, municipal supply and hydropower) and public uses (especially environmental protection and water-based recreation). Western United States water law, based on the prior appropriation doctrine, has always promoted maximizing ‘beneficial use’ of the resource and has effectively protected water allocations for traditional purposes. Public water uses also enjoy some legal protection, but it exists mostly on paper; in practice, neither statutory public interest provisions nor the non-statutory public trust doctrine has been widely effective. This paper identifies the relevant legal principles and briefly explains …