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Full-Text Articles in Law
Beyond The Spotted Owl Problem: Learning From The Old-Growth Controversy, Alyson C. Flournoy
Beyond The Spotted Owl Problem: Learning From The Old-Growth Controversy, Alyson C. Flournoy
Alyson Flournoy
This Article is a case study of a single controversy that has been raging in the Pacific Northwest: the now infamous dispute over logging in publicly owned old-growth forests and the attendant threat to the northern spotted owl. The spotted owl, confronting extinction, sits at the center of the controversy, but the debate extends far beyond the fate of the owl, raising issues about the intrinsic value of unique and native ecosystems and the long-term consequences of logging practices on our public lands on the one hand, and about the costs of environmental protection and economic transition on the other.
Panel: Ethical Dilemmas: Finding Common Ground On Controversial Issues, Lesley Blackner, Richard C. Foltz, Brion Blackwelder, Lisa C. Schiavinato, Alyson C. Flournoy
Panel: Ethical Dilemmas: Finding Common Ground On Controversial Issues, Lesley Blackner, Richard C. Foltz, Brion Blackwelder, Lisa C. Schiavinato, Alyson C. Flournoy
Alyson Flournoy
This panel discussion applied ethics to the theme of the 8th Annual Public Interest Environmental Conference. Panelists examined ways ethics may help reconcile industry (such as business and development) with environmentalism.
Preserving Dynamic Systems: Wetlands, Ecology And Law, Alyson C. Flournoy
Preserving Dynamic Systems: Wetlands, Ecology And Law, Alyson C. Flournoy
Alyson Flournoy
Ecology has advanced human understanding of natural systems considerably over the course of this century. Wetlands law and policy have evolved in response to our increased understanding of wetlands and the many benefits we derive from them. Notwithstanding this shift in policy and law, roughly 50% of the wetlands that existed in the continental United States in colonial times have been lost or degraded largely as a result of recent human activity. Current policies struggle to reconcile the goal of preventing further loss with the pervasive concern for making our laws more efficient. This essay explores the lessons ecology offers …
Wetlands Regulation In An Era Of Climate Change: Can Section 404 Meet The Challenge?, Alyson Flournoy, Allison Fischman
Wetlands Regulation In An Era Of Climate Change: Can Section 404 Meet The Challenge?, Alyson Flournoy, Allison Fischman
Alyson Flournoy
This Article raises the question of how we should assess the potential threat to wetlands posed by the impacts of a changing climate and considers the role that section 404 of the Clean Water Act can play both in assessing and responding to that threat. Our inquiry is two-fold. First, should we be concerned about climate impacts on wetlands? And if so, how can section 404 help us to assess and respond to this threat? Part I surveys the scientific literature on the projected impacts of climate change of particular relevance to wetlands and the impacts anticipated for particular types …
Restoration Rx: An Evaluation And Prescription, Alyson C. Flournoy
Restoration Rx: An Evaluation And Prescription, Alyson C. Flournoy
Alyson Flournoy
In this introductory article, I explore what ethics, science, economics, and law suggest about the value of restoration. These themes -- the questions and challenges posed by ethics, science, economics, and law -- resonate throughout the Articles in this Symposium. Drawing on the presentations given at the Symposium and the literature on environmental restoration, this article reviews some of the major questions that science and ethics pose for restoration, as well as the challenges posed by the economic and legal contexts within which environmental restoration occurs. After a brief comment on the definition of restoration, this article addresses the challenges …
Section 404 At Thirty-Something: A Program In Search Of A Policy, Alyson C. Flournoy
Section 404 At Thirty-Something: A Program In Search Of A Policy, Alyson C. Flournoy
Alyson Flournoy
This article focuses on three controversies that have dominated debate over wetlands -- jurisdiction, delineation, and the scope of activities regulated by section 404 -- and shows how the limitations inherent in section 404 have contributed to endless conflict over these issues, with little long-term benefit to policy development. This article examines why wetlands policy has failed to mature in its first thirty years.
Protecting A Natural Resource Legacy While Promoting Reslience: Can It Be Done?, Alyson C. Flournoy
Protecting A Natural Resource Legacy While Promoting Reslience: Can It Be Done?, Alyson C. Flournoy
Alyson Flournoy
Our stock of natural resources, and the values and services they provide, are diminishing steadily over time. We have dozens of laws, enacted over a period of almost forty years that express the objective of stemming this tide. Yet, the inexorable, incremental loss continues. Scholars concerned with conservation of our natural capital have long wrestled with how best to improve the laws we have in place and to supplement the framework of existing law with newer approaches. One common theme in efforts to design progressive conservation law is how to better incorporate scientific insights into our legal regimes. This effort …
Harnessing The Power Of Information To Protect Our Public Natural Resource Legacy, Alyson Flournoy, Heather Halter, Christina Storz
Harnessing The Power Of Information To Protect Our Public Natural Resource Legacy, Alyson Flournoy, Heather Halter, Christina Storz
Alyson Flournoy
In practice, our laws have proven unequal to the lofty objectives of preserving a legacy of public natural resources for our children or achieving sustainable use of these resources. There are many factors that contribute to this shortfall, but inherent inadequacies in the design of these statutes cannot be overlooked as an important determinant. Despite the statutes' broadly stated aspirations toward sustainability and protection of the interests of future generations, only a handful of these statutes include strong and enforceable mandates for sustainable resource use. Many of these statutes accord natural resource-management agencies broad discretion to balance and permit a …
Building An Environmental Ethic From The Ground Up, Alyson Flournoy
Building An Environmental Ethic From The Ground Up, Alyson Flournoy
Alyson Flournoy
Over the last twenty years there has been a remarkable theoretical flourishing in the field of environmental philosophy, with the development of biocentric ethics, animal rights theories, deep ecology, ecofeminism, modified utilitarianism, moral pluralism and theories drawing on numerous religious and cultural traditions. These theories explore the intellectual and moral causes for the environmentally destructive practices of the dominant western industrial and economic culture, and propose alternatives that might avoid these consequences. This symposium raises a worthy question: to what extent have these theories had practical impact on environmental law and policy. I come to this question as a lawyer …
In Search Of An Environmental Ethic, Alyson C. Flournoy
In Search Of An Environmental Ethic, Alyson C. Flournoy
Alyson Flournoy
A preliminary analysis of several core environmental provisions suggests that the mix of values embedded in our environmental statutes is substantially similar to the values found in the common law and non-environmental statutes. That is, the environmental statutes tend to reflect human concerns that predate any dawning of environmental awareness -- with only a modest introduction of new values or reasons for caring that are uniquely attributable to concern for the human relationship to the environment. If this is true, it seems to undermine a tenet of the public debate. It may call into question the very naming of these …