Law Commons^™

Comment: Emerging Epa Regulation Of Pharmaceuticals In The Environment, Gabriel Eckstein

Gabriel Eckstein

The May 25, 2012, report — entitled EPA Inaction in Identifying Hazardous Waste Pharmaceuticals May Result in Unsafe Disposal — disapproved of EPA’s lack of progress in determining whether certain pharmaceuticals found in surface, ground, and drinking water qualify as hazardous waste, as well as in establishing an evaluation and regulatory process for pharmaceutical wastes. As a result of the report, EPA is now considering mechanisms for assessing and regulating the presence of certain pharmaceutical products in the environment as hazardous wastes under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

Drugs On Tap: Managing Pharmaceuticals In Our Nation’S Waters, Gabriel Eckstein

Gabriel Eckstein

Pharmaceuticals in the environment and public water supplies are believed to have serious impacts on human and environmental health. Current research suggests that exposure to certain drugs and their residues may result in a variety of adverse human health effects. Other studies more conclusively show that even minute concentrations of pharmaceuticals in the environment can have detrimental effects on aquatic and terrestrial species. Unfortunately, the cost of removing these pernicious substances is out of the financial reach of most municipalities and wastewater and drinking water treatment operators.Despite the concerns, little effort has been made to develop broad management, mitigatory, or …

Endangered Species In The Oil Patch: Challenges And Opportunities For The Oil And Gas Industry, Gabriel Eckstein, Jesse Snyder

Gabriel Eckstein

Tension among competing interests is nothing new in environmental law. Even among the most tenacious adversaries, the ability to find common ground can serve as an impetus to further the aims of both industry and environmental proponents. Broadly speaking, advocates of the oil and gas industry prefer few restraints, if any, on exploration, development, and production. Comparatively, champions of biological and ecological preservation favor regulatory protections to conserve these interests. Cutting across these often disparate objectives, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) presents a not-so-obvious opportunity for both sides to receive a share of the pie through cooperation and forward planning. …

Buried Treasure Or Buried Hope? The Status Of Mexico-U.S. Transboundary Aquifers Under International Law, Gabriel E. Eckstein

Gabriel Eckstein

Transboundary aquifers found along the 2,000 mile-long border between Mexico and the United States are not governed by any treaty. Yet, these aquifers are the primary source of water for many of the twelve million people who live in this parched region. The region’s groundwater, however, is being over-exploited and contaminated, which is threatening the very life that it currently sustains. As populations continue to expand and current rates of haphazard development persist, the absence of an agreement for the management and allocation of this critical resource could lead to bi-national economic, social and environmental tragedies. This study reviews groundwater …

A Hydrogeological Approach To The Status Of Transboundary Ground Water Resources Under International Law [Abstract], Gabriel Eckstein, Yoram Eckstein

Gabriel Eckstein

2 pages. Contains footnotes.

Alternative Strategies For Addressing The Presence And Effects Of Pharmaceutical And Personal Care Products In Fresh Water Resources, Gabriel Eckstein, George William Sherk

Gabriel Eckstein

In recent years, new information has arisen to challenge this assumption. Chemicals from a wide variety of pharmaceutical and personal care products ("PPCPs"), their byproducts and endocrine disrupting compounds ("EDCs") have received growing attention from the water treatment and wastewater treatment community because of the ability of PPCPs to persist, or only partially degrade, in water and during wastewater treatment.

Several federal agencies, including the EnvironmentAl Protection Agency ("EPA"), the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA"), the U.S. Department of Agriculture ("USDA"), the U.S. Geological Survey ("USGS"), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ("CDC"), have the potential to be …

Water Scarcity, Conflict, And Security In A Climate Change World: Challenges And Opportunities For International Law And Policy, Gabriel Eckstein

Gabriel Eckstein

Although climate change is expected to have major consequences that affect the global environment in its broadest sense, one of the earliest and most direct impacts will be on Earth’s fresh water systems. While some regions will experience increased precipitation, others will suffer serious scarcity. Among others, consequences are likely to include severe flooding, extreme droughts, and meandering border-rivers. This, in turn, will affect human migration patterns, population growths, agricultural activities, economic development, and the environment. This article explores the impact that climate change will have on regional and global freshwater resources and the resulting legal and policy implications that …

Rethinking Transboundary Ground Water Resources Management: A Local Approach Along The Mexico-U.S. Border, Gabriel E. Eckstein

Gabriel Eckstein

Despite more than forty years of promises to the contrary, neither Mexico nor the United States have shown any inclination to pursue a border-wide pact to coordinate management of the border region’s transboundary ground water resources. As a result, these critical resources – which serve as the sole or primary source of fresh water for most border communities on both sides – are being overexploited and polluted, leaving the local population with little recourse. Imminently unsustainable, the situation portends a grim future for the region. In the absence of national governmental interests and involvement on either side of the frontier, …

Application Of International Water Law To Transboundary Groundwater Resources, And The Slovak-Hungarian Dispute Over Gabcikovo-Nagymaros, Gabriel Eckstein

Gabriel Eckstein

The growth in global population and economic development has resulted in tremendous pressures on existing sources of fresh water. Human water use over the past three centuries increased by a factor of thirty-five and is growing by four to eight percent annually. Coupled with recurring international disputes over water resources, poor water management, and the realization that water is an indispensable but finite resource, these trends have propelled the use and management of transboundary groundwater resources to the forefront of legal debate.

Until recently, matters relating to groundwater resources were relatively ignored in the context of international law applicable to …

Protecting A Hidden Treasure: The U.N. International Law Commission And The International Law Of Transboundary Ground Water Resources, Gabriel E. Eckstein

Gabriel Eckstein

Ground water is the most extracted natural resource in the world. It provides more than half of humanity's freshwater for everyday uses such as drinking, cooking, and hygiene, as well as twenty percent of irrigated agriculture. Given the world's considerable reliance on this precious resource, it is reasonable to assume that international attention to, and especially legal consideration of, ground water would be substantial. Nothing is further from the truth. Despite the growing dependence, legal and regulatory attention to ground water resources have long been secondary to surface water, especially among legislatures and policymakers and above all in the international …

Precious, Worthless, Or Immeasurable: The Value And Ethic Of Water, Gabriel Eckstein

Gabriel Eckstein

This Article introduces and briefly explores some of the topics related to the value and ethics of water that were considered at the symposium, Precious, Worthless, or Immeasurable: The Value and Ethic of Water, which took place November 2-4, 2006, at the Texas Tech University School of Law. The purpose of the Symposium was to consider how this precious liquid is valued, assessed, and perceived with regard to law and regulations, economics and commerce, people and communities, culture and religion, and others aspects of society that are impacted by water. While far from a comprehensive analysis of the subject matter, …

A Hydrogeological Perspective Of The Status Of Ground Water Resources Under The Un Watercourse Convention, Gabriel Eckstein

Gabriel Eckstein

When the U.N. General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses in 1997, it took a decisive step in recognizing the important role that transboundary ground water resources play in human progress and development. In so doing, it also acknowledged the need to establish principles of law governing this "invisible" but valuable natural resource. Transboundary ground water historically has been neglected in treaties, ignored in projects with international implications, and cursorily misunderstood in much of legal discourse. While the Convention provides substantial clarification on the status of ground water under international law, it also leaves considerable …

Common Grounds, Common Waters: Towards A Water Ethic - Roundtable Discussion, Gabriel Eckstein, Irene Klaver

Gabriel Eckstein

The purpose of this roundtable discussion is to continue the dialogue but in a more informal setting, and to allow people to develop some of the ideas and concepts that they started earlier but could not finish because of the time limits.

It is also to get the audience and the panelists to ask questions of each other and to participate in more of a dialogue. To start this discussion I want to raise, at least to the panelists, this issue of wants versus needs, and I am actually going to add one more-versus rights-because I thought that was very …

Commentary On The U.N. International Law Commission's Draft Articles On The Law Of Transboundary Aquifers, Gabriel E. Eckstein

Gabriel Eckstein

Ground water is the most extracted natural resource in the world. It provides more than half of humanity's freshwater for everyday uses such as drinking, cooking, and hygiene, as well as twenty percent of irrigated agriculture. Despite our increasing reliance, ground water resources have long been the neglected stepchild of international water law; regulation and management of and information about ground water resources are sorely lacking, especially in the international context. Presently, there is no international agreement squarely addressing ground water resources that traverse an international boundary. Moreover, there is only one treaty in the entire world pertaining to the …

A Hydrogeological Approach To Transboundary Ground Water Resources And International Law, Gabriel Eckstein, Yoram Eckstein

Gabriel Eckstein

Ground water resources have long been the neglected stepchild of water law. While agreements focusing on transboundary rivers and lakes have been relatively common, there is a paucity of treaties and international norms squarely addressing shared ground water resources. As a result, the rules governing the use, management, and conservation of transboundary ground waters is unclear at best.

This dearth is, in large part, the result of a deficit of scientific understanding among legislators, policymakers, and the judiciary. This is evidenced in many international and domestic laws and policies that have little or no scientific underpinning. Accordingly, there is a …

International Law, Ground Water Resources, And The Danube Dam Case, Gabriel Eckstein, Yoram Eckstein

Gabriel Eckstein

International water law is generally applied to disputes between states concerning surface bodies of water crossing international borders. Disputes and policy-making over transboundary ground water resources, however, have traditionally been determined on an ad hoc basis or based on regional custom. This disparate treatment stems primarily from the misunderstood nature of ground water and its relationship to surface water among government officials, policy-makers, jurists, and others. The result often has been the degradation of subsurface waters on both sides of political boundaries, and unwittingly, of numerous international surface bodies of water.

International concern over regional and global availability and quality …