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Full-Text Articles in Environmental Law

America's (Second) Best Idea: A Proposal For A Major Expansion Of The National Park System, Claire Gaposchkin Jan 2023

America's (Second) Best Idea: A Proposal For A Major Expansion Of The National Park System, Claire Gaposchkin

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

This Note will argue for a major expansion of the National Park Service and provide a framework for the implementation of such an expansion. Part I provides an overview of the National Park Service’s holdings and fundamental purpose and discusses how overcrowding negatively affects visitors, the resource, and the NPS mission, and argues for a stricter enforcement of the “impairment standard.” Part II outlines the way in which Congress and the president can create national parks. Part III proposes a major expansion of the national parks—both the expansion of existing park units and the creation of new ones—as the solution …


The Carbon Storage Future Of Public Lands, Tara Righetti, Jesse Richardson, Kris Koski, Sam Taylor Jun 2021

The Carbon Storage Future Of Public Lands, Tara Righetti, Jesse Richardson, Kris Koski, Sam Taylor

Pace Environmental Law Review

To meet the climate and energy goals set forth by the Biden Administration and the Paris Agreement, the United States must dramatically reduce carbon emissions. Use of public lands for carbon dioxide removal activities, including carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), has the potential to advance carbon reduction goals and concurrently provide economic revitalization opportunities to communities dependent on fossil industries. Current federal law presents numerous challenges and opportunities associated with utilization of federal pore space for CCUS. Although federal grant programs and tax incentives encourage deployment of CCUS technologies, legal and land-management issues related to public lands have received …


U.S. Forest Service V. Cowpasture River Preservation Ass'n., Taylor A. Simpson Sep 2020

U.S. Forest Service V. Cowpasture River Preservation Ass'n., Taylor A. Simpson

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of the United States Forest Service and Atlantic Coast Pipeline, LLC, a company who planned to construct a natural gas pipeline under a section of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail within the George Washington National Forest. The legal battle sought to clarify whether the United States Forest Service had the authority to grant the pipeline builder a right-of-way across the Appalachian Trail. The Court ruled that the National Park Service holds an easement for administering the Appalachian Trail, but the land over which the trail crosses remains under the jurisdiction of the …


Ecosystem Services And Federal Public Lands: A Quiet Revolution In Natural Resources Management, J.B. Ruhl, James Salzman Jan 2020

Ecosystem Services And Federal Public Lands: A Quiet Revolution In Natural Resources Management, J.B. Ruhl, James Salzman

University of Colorado Law Review

The major federal public land management agencies (the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Park Service, Fish & Wildlife Service, and Department of Defense) have increasingly adopted a language that did not exist twentyfive years ago-the language of ecosystem services. Ecosystem services are the range of benefits that ecological resources provide to humans, from water purification and pollination to carbon sequestration and wildlife habitat. The scientific discipline advancing the ecosystem services framework arose in the mid-1990s and quickly became a central strategy for fusing ecology and economics research. Despite its ascendance in research communities, the recognition and conservation of ecosystem …


This Land Is Your Land, This Land Is Mined Land: Expanding Governmental Ownership Liability Under Cercla, Kiersten E. Holms Jun 2019

This Land Is Your Land, This Land Is Mined Land: Expanding Governmental Ownership Liability Under Cercla, Kiersten E. Holms

Washington and Lee Law Review

Part II of this Note begins by providing a brief overview of the background and goals of CERCLA. Part II also provides an examination of the issue of ownership liability under CERCLA and recounts the federal courts’ difficulty in applying ownership liability. Part II then describes how the federal government’s “bare legal title” argument arose out of the confusion surrounding ownership liability in CERCLA litigation. Part III moves on to examine the recent trend in CERCLA litigation rejecting the federal government’s bare legal title argument, thus holding the federal government liable as an owner based on its possession of legal …


Highway Culverts, Salmon Runs, And The Stevens Treaties: A Century Of Litigating Pacific Northwest Tribal Fishing Rights, Ryan Hickey Oct 2018

Highway Culverts, Salmon Runs, And The Stevens Treaties: A Century Of Litigating Pacific Northwest Tribal Fishing Rights, Ryan Hickey

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Isaac Stevens, then Superintendent of Indian Affairs and Governor of Washington Territory, negotiated a series of treaties with Indian tribes in the Pacific Northwest during 1854 and 1855. A century and a half later in 2001, the United States joined 21 Indian tribes in filing a Request for Determination in the United States District Court for the District of Washington. Plaintiffs alleged the State of Washington had violated those 150-year-old treaties, which remained in effect, by building and maintaining culverts under roads that prevented salmon passage. This litigation eventually reached the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which held in favor …


Collaboration Through Nepa: Achieving A Social License To Operate On Federal Public Lands, Temple Stoellinger, L. Steven Smutko, Jessica M. Western Oct 2018

Collaboration Through Nepa: Achieving A Social License To Operate On Federal Public Lands, Temple Stoellinger, L. Steven Smutko, Jessica M. Western

Public Land & Resources Law Review

As demand and consumption of natural gas increases, so will drilling operations to extract the natural gas on federal public lands. Fueled by the shale gas revolution, natural gas drilling operations are now frequently taking place, not only in the highly documented urban settings, but also on federal public lands with high conservation value. The phenomenon of increased drilling in sensitive locations, both urban and remote, has sparked increased public opposition, requiring oil and gas producers to reconsider how they engage the public. Oil and gas producers have increasingly deployed the concept of a social license to operate to gain …


Public-Private Conservation Agreements And The Greater Sage-Grouse, Justin R. Pidot Oct 2018

Public-Private Conservation Agreements And The Greater Sage-Grouse, Justin R. Pidot

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In 2015, the Obama Administration announced its conservation plans for the greater sage-grouse, an iconic bird of the intermountain west.Political leadership at the time described those plans as the “largest landscape-level conservation effort in U.S. history,”and they served as the foundation for a decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) that a listing of the bird was not warranted under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”). The Trump Administration appears poised to substantially amend the plans, although an array of interested parties have urged that the plans be left intact. Regardless of the outcome of this debate, conservation of …


Streamlining The Production Of Clean Energy: Proposals To Reform The Hydroelectricity Licensing Process, Travis Kavulla, Laura Farkas Oct 2018

Streamlining The Production Of Clean Energy: Proposals To Reform The Hydroelectricity Licensing Process, Travis Kavulla, Laura Farkas

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Hydroelectric power is an efficient and clean source of power. In an era when air emissions dominate public concern about the environmental effects of the energy sector, it is a paradox that among the most highly regulated energy projects are hydroelectric dams, which do not combust fuel. This is partly due to a failure of successive statutory enactments,which have transformed hydroelectric licensing from a regulatory “one-stop shop” with a single regulator, to a process chained to a bewilderingnumber of often conflicting regulatory agencies, often riven with delay. Hydroelectric licensing has also failed because its capacious standard of review encourages special-interest …


The Practical Effects Of Delegation: Agencies And The Zoning Of Public Lands And Seas, Josh Eagle Mar 2012

The Practical Effects Of Delegation: Agencies And The Zoning Of Public Lands And Seas, Josh Eagle

Pepperdine Law Review

Legislative efforts to delegate zoning power to public land and ocean management agencies have generally proven unsuccessful. When given the power to create uniform-use areas such as parks and wilderness areas within their broader jurisdictions, agencies either have opted not to exercise it or have been extremely hesitant to do so. The tepid administrative response to zoning is not surprising. Zoning decisions are politically charged, are likely to offend powerful, concentrated interest groups, and erode the discretion that is the core of agency power. These aspects of zoning decisions explain why, by contrast, all states require that municipal zoning ordinances …


Ecosystem Services And Federal Public Lands: Start-Up Policy Questions And Research Needs, J. B. Ruhl Jul 2010

Ecosystem Services And Federal Public Lands: Start-Up Policy Questions And Research Needs, J. B. Ruhl

Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum

No abstract provided.


Setting Boundaries For Extraterritorial Applications Of The Property Clause: An Assessment Of An Alternative Source Of Authority For Environmental Regulations, Cyril Robert Emery Apr 2004

Setting Boundaries For Extraterritorial Applications Of The Property Clause: An Assessment Of An Alternative Source Of Authority For Environmental Regulations, Cyril Robert Emery

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Natural Resources Policy Under The Bush Administration: Not What It Says, But What It Has Done In Court, William Perry Pendley Apr 2004

Natural Resources Policy Under The Bush Administration: Not What It Says, But What It Has Done In Court, William Perry Pendley

Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum

No abstract provided.


Scientists, Judges, And Spotted Owls: Policymakers In The Pacific Northwest, Brendon Swedlow Apr 2003

Scientists, Judges, And Spotted Owls: Policymakers In The Pacific Northwest, Brendon Swedlow

Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum

No abstract provided.


Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance V. Norton: The Continuing Battle To Hold The Bureau Of Land Management Accountable For Off-Road Vehicle Damage, Nicholas J. Hilosky Jan 2003

Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance V. Norton: The Continuing Battle To Hold The Bureau Of Land Management Accountable For Off-Road Vehicle Damage, Nicholas J. Hilosky

Villanova Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.


The Ninth Circuit's Decision In Oregon Natural Desert Association V. Dombeck: Discharging Responsibility For Water Pollution On Federal Lands, Christina Marie Frankino Jan 1999

The Ninth Circuit's Decision In Oregon Natural Desert Association V. Dombeck: Discharging Responsibility For Water Pollution On Federal Lands, Christina Marie Frankino

Villanova Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Bones Of Contention: The Regulation Of Paleontological Resources On The Federal Public Lands, David J. Lazerwitz Apr 1994

Bones Of Contention: The Regulation Of Paleontological Resources On The Federal Public Lands, David J. Lazerwitz

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.