Environmental Law Commons^™

A Complete Property Right Amendment, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

The trend of the eminent domain reform and "Kelo plus" initiatives is toward a comprehensive Constitutional property right incorporating the elements of level of review, nature of government action, and extent of compensation. This article contains a draft amendment which reflects these concerns.

Water Forum 2006, Susan Kelly

Publications

No abstract provided.

Privatizing Eminent Domain: The Delegation Of A Very Public Power To Private, Non-Profit And Charitable Corporations, Asmara Tekle Johnson

ExpressO

In an age of privatization of many governmental functions such as health care, prison management, and warfare, this Article poses the question as to whether eminent domain should be among them. Unlike other privatized functions, eminent domain is a traditionally governmental and highly coercive power, akin to the government’s power to tax, to arrest individuals, and to license. It is, therefore, a very public power.

In particular, the delegation of this very public power to private, non-profit and charitable corporations has escaped the scrutiny that for-profit private actors have attracted in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in …

The Restitutionary Approach To Just Compensation, Tim Kowal

ExpressO

In the wake of the Court’s near-total refusal to impose a check on the legislature through the public use clause, this paper discusses whether any confidence in our property rights be restored through the just compensation clause in the form of restitutionary compensation, rather than the traditional, and myopic, “fair market value” standard. This paper discusses the historical presumption against restitution, elucidated through Bauman v. Ross over a century ago, is founded upon (1) the idea that the public should not be made to pay any more than necessary to effect a public project, and (2) the idea that the …

"Five Myths About Sprawl", Michael E Lewyn

ExpressO

The article reviews a recent book about suburban sprawl (Robert Bruegmann’s “Sprawl: A Compact History”), and shows how the book exemplifies a wide variety of misconceptions about the causes and effects of suburban sprawl. For example, Bruegmann argues that the near-universal existence of some suburban development means that sprawl is inevitable in a free society. My article responds that there is a huge difference between fundamentally pedestrian-friendly cities with some suburban development and regions where an automobile is a necessity even for city-dwellers. The article goes on to show how, by promoting auto-oriented sprawl, government made the latter situation common.

The Social Obligation Of Property Ownership: A Comparison Of German And U.S. Law, Rebecca Lubens

ExpressO

Although both Germany and the United States have strong market-based economies characterized by rigorous protection of private property rights, the two countries have different conceptions of land ownership based on distinct notions of the individual’s place in society. Whereas property protection under the U.S. Constitution emphasizes individual freedom, German law explicitly considers the individual’s place in and relationship to the social order in defining ownership rights. The property clause in the German Grundgesetz (The Basic Law, the German constitution) contains an affirmative social obligation alongside its positive guarantee of ownership rights. The U.S. Constitution, on the other hand, does not …

British National Parks For North Americans: What We Can Learn From A More Crowded Nation Proud Of Its Countryside, Federico Cheever

ExpressO

England and Wales contain twelve national parks coverings more than 10 percent of their landscape. Although these parks are managed as national resources, the vast majority of the land within their borders is privately owned. Although they are managed to preserve their natural qualities, they contain farms, towns and roughly 300,000 people. They contain nothing North Americans would consider wilderness. Although recognized national assets, nationally funded, they are administered by boards made up largely of local representatives. Since passage of the National Parks and Access to Countryside Act of 1949, the British have managed to develop a national park system …

An Economic Assessment Of The Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, Rosalind Bark-Hodgins, Bonnie G. Colby

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

The Commerce Clause, Interstate Compacts, And Marketing Water Across State Boundaries, Olen Paul Matthews, Michael Pease

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

The Rise And Fall Of The Ebro Water Transfer, Jose Albiac, Michael Hanemann, Javier Calatrava, Javier Uche, Javier Tapia

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

A People's History Of Wilderness, Edited By Matt Jenkins, Laura Pritchett

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Bond Repudiation, Tax Codes, The Appropriations Process And Restitution Post-Eminent Domain Reform, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

This brief comment suggests where the anti-eminent domain movement might be heading next.

Agenda: Climate Change And The Future Of The American West: Exploring The Legal And Policy Dimensions, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Climate Change and the Future of the American West: Exploring the Legal and Policy Dimensions (Summer Conference, June 7-9)

Sponsors: The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; BP America; Holland & Hart; Patrick, Miller & Krope, P.C.; The Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, Rocky Mountain Natural Resource Center of the National Wildlife Federation, Western Water Assessment.

Exploring the legal and political dimensions that climate change will bring to the American West will be the focus of the CU-Boulder Natural Resources Law Center's 27th Annual Summer Conference.

Titled "Climate Change and the Future of the American West: Exploring the Legal and Policy Dimensions," the conference will be held June 7-9 at the Fleming Law Building on the University of Colorado at …

Slides: Sea Level Rise: Let The Lawsuits Begin!, John P. Casey

Climate Change and the Future of the American West: Exploring the Legal and Policy Dimensions (Summer Conference, June 7-9)

Presenter: John P. Casey, Land Use Attorney, Robinson & Cole, Hartford, CT.

1 page and 75 slides.

Using the changing nature of coastal shorelines as a basis for his presentation, Mr. Casey will discuss the challenges of protecting a landowner's interest in preserving her land, while at the same time protecting the environment and respecting the natural changes that are bound to occur over time. Mr. Casey will focus on the how the application of laws designed to protect the environment - especially in cases where changes take place over time to alter the physical characteristics of the land - …

A Modern Disaster: Agricultural Land, Urban Growth, And The Need For A Federally Organized Comprehensive Land Use Planning Model, Jess M. Krannich

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Finding New Constitutional Rights Through The Supreme Court’S Evolving “Government Purpose” Test Under Minimum Scrutiny, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

By now we all are familiar with the litany of cases which refused to find elevated scrutiny for so-called “affirmative” or “social” rights such as education, welfare or housing: Lindsey v. Normet, San Antonio School District v. Rodriguez, Dandridge v. Williams, DeShaney v. Winnebago County. There didn’t seem to be anything in minimum scrutiny which could protect such facts as education or housing, from government action. However, unobtrusively and over the years, the Supreme Court has clarified and articulated one aspect of minimum scrutiny which holds promise for vindicating facts. You will recall that under minimum scrutiny government’s action is …

Using Capture Theory And Chronology In Eminent Domain Proceedings, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

Capture theory--in which private purpose is substituted for government purpose--sheds light on a technique which is coming into greater use post-Kelo v. New London. That case affirmed that eminent domain use need only be rationally related to a legitimate government purpose. Capture theory focuses litigators' attention on "government purpose." That is a question of fact for the trier of fact. This article shows how to use civil discovery in order to show the Court that private purpose has been substituted for government purpose. If it has, the eminent domain use fails, because the use does not meet minimum scrutiny. This …

Active Water Resource Management: Tools For Better Water Management, John D'Antonio

Publications

No abstract provided.

Water For Energy In The Southwest: Where Will It Come From?, Marilyn C. O'Leary

Publications

No abstract provided.

Water For Energy In The Southwest: Finding Water For Mohave, Stanley M. Pollack

Publications

No abstract provided.

Amending Perpetual Conservation Easements: A Case Study Of The Myrtle Grove Controversy, Nancy A. Mclaughlin

University of Richmond Law Review

This article explores the issue of amending perpetual conservation easements by examining the Myrtle Grove controversy, in which the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States (the "National Trust")" "conceptually approved" a request made by a successor owner of land encumbered by a perpetual conservation easement to substantially amend the easement. Several months later, as a result of public opposition to the amendments and a reassessment of its position, the National Trust withdrew that approval. The owner of the encumbered land subsequently filed a suit for breach of contract, and the National Trust and the Attorney General of …

The Law Of Sprawl: A Road Map, Michael Lewyn

ExpressO

In the fall of 2004, I taught a seminar on “The Law of Sprawl” at Southern Illinois University (SIU) School of Law. This essay seeks to guide would-be teachers of a course on sprawl by showing how I taught the course.

Specifically, the article asserts that a seminar on sprawl belongs in law school curricula as well as planning school curricula, because a wide variety of legal rules contribute to sprawl. The article then goes on to discuss those legal rules and how I addressed them in my course. For example, the article discusses land use regulations that encourage automobile-dependent …

New Paradigm: Indian Tribes In The Land Of Unintended Consequences, Sam Deloria

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Supreme Guidance For Wet Growth: Lessons From The High Court On The Powers And Responsibilities Of Local Governments, Michael Allan Wolf

UF Law Faculty Publications

Before the merger of water law and land use planning can occur, local and state regulators need strong guidance from experts in the field, not only in extra-legal fields such as planning, hydrology, geology, engineering, biology, and transportation, but also in mainstream legal areas including legislation (local, state, and federal), administrative law, and enforcement. The purpose of this article is to identify a somewhat unorthodox source of guidance - the United States Supreme Court, specifically the Rehnquist Court from October, 1984, through June, 2005, a period of remarkable stability for the nation’s highest tribunal.

Localism's Ecology: Protecting And Restoring Habitat In The Suburban Nation, Jamison E. Colburn

ExpressO

There is wide agreement among conservation activists and scientists alike that loss and alteration of habitat are the leading threats to biodiversity in America. Suburbs and exurbs, though, are only beginning to acknowledge that they are the problem in the struggle to stem the tide of “sprawl” and other economic processes producing ecosystem-wide habitat degradation today. A recent resurgence in academic and activist attention to local governments in America is reconsidering them as viable solutions to this problem. But most of this dialogue is being based upon a mistaken conception of local governance. Much of the legal scholarship on local …

Making Main Street Legal Again: The Smartcode Solution To Sprawl, Chad Emerson

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

A Federal Obligation, Robert R.M. Verchick

Robert R.M. Verchick

No abstract provided.

Why A Conference On Redevelopment, And Why Now, Colin Crawford

Publications

When the Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth proposed the conference that produced the volume of essays you have in your hand, it was our idea to bring together a diverse group of professionals - environmental and land use lawyers, land use planners and city officials, politicians and engineers to discuss the legal and policy issues concerning "redevelopment." That is, we were concerned, living as we do in the rapidly changing and growing metropolitan area of Atlanta, to focus on the frequently exciting but also often tense and controversial area of redeveloping urban and suburban landscapes in ways …

Wood Measurement Rules, Maine Department Of Agriculture, Food & Rural Resources

Maine Collection

Wood Measurement Rules

Maine Department of Agriculture, Food & Rural Resources, Division of Quality Assurance & Regulations, Augusta, Maine, 2006.

Contents: Chapter 380: General Provisions / Chapter 381: General Requirements for Wood Transactions / Chapter 382: Measurement of Wood and Declaration of Quantity / Chapter 383: Measurement and Prompt Furnishing of Measurement Tally Sheets / Chapter 384: Complaints and Investigations / Chapter 385: Licensing of Wood Scalers / Appendix

Hurricane Katrina And The Toxic Torts Implications Of Environmental Injustice In New Orleans, 40 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1 (2006), L. Darnell Weeden

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.