Natural Resources Law Commons^™

Case Brief: First Circuit Clarifies Public Vessel Status Under The Oil Pollution Act, Marine Affairs Institute, Roger Williams University School Of Law, Mark Hartmann

Sea Grant Law Fellow Publications

No abstract provided.

Overcoming Impediments To Shellfish Aquaculture: Access To Public Boat Launches, Marine Affairs Institute, Roger Williams University School Of Law, Mitchell Ramic, Read Porter

Sea Grant Law Fellow Publications

No abstract provided.

Evolution Of Water Institutions In The Indus River Basin: Reflections From The Law Of The Colorado River, Erum Sattar, Jason Robison, Daniel Mccool

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Transboundary water institutions in the Indus River Basin can be fairly characterized as broken in key respects. International relations between India and Pakistan over the Indus Waters Treaty, as well as interprovincial relations within Pakistan over the 1991 Water Accord, speak to this sentiment. Stemming from research undertaken by the authors for the Harvard Water Federalism Project and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), this Article seeks to spur the evolution of the Indus River Basin’s water institutions by offering a comparative perspective from North America’s most “institutionally encompassed” basin, the Colorado River Basin. Mindful of the importance …

Financing Green: Reforming Green Bond Regulation In The United States, Echo Kaixi Wang

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

In recent years, green bonds have emerged as a way for the financial industry to contribute to environmentally friendly projects, combat climate change, and provide funds for green infrastructures across the world. While the green bond market has expanded drastically across large nations in Europe and Asia, market growth has stalled in the United States, in part due to a lack of promising regulations in the United States. Existing regulations on green bond issuance in the United States only exists in the form of non-binding international guidelines. This Note reviews the benefits and potentials of green bonds both as an …

Mineral Warfare: The Dark Side Of Technology And International Mediation, Priyanka Basnyat

Master's Theses

Conflict surrounding the extraction and trade of natural resources is not an uncommon phenomenon. Especially in the case of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which has historically suffered from the negative impacts of the resource curse since their mineral wealth was first discovered by their Colonial administrators. The importance of Congo’s minerals has fluctuated over the years but has peaked during recent times, as their use in technological advancements are becoming more vital. The global demand for these mineral ores have sky rocketed and consequentially, the largely informal trade has benefitted certain rebel groups, playing a pivotal role in …

Markle Interest, L.L.C. V. U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Peter B. Taylor

Public Land & Resources Law Review

This action is an appeal of a grant of summary judgment to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service on the designation of critical-habitat for the dusky gopher frog under the ESA. Landowner appellants originally sought declaratory and injunctive relief against the Service, the Department of Interior, and agency officials challenging the designation of their private property as critical-habitat for the dusky gopher frog. The court’s holdings recognize loss of property value as a “particularized injury” for standing under the ESA in addition to addressing the landowners’ three principal arguments: 1) the critical habitat designation violated the ESA and the …

Bait And Switch: Taking Native Species On And Off The List Due To Invasive Species, Connie Mccarthy

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

No abstract provided.

Water Is Life: The Native American Tribal Role In Protecting Natural Resources, Susan M. Larned

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

No abstract provided.

From Land Or From Air: Why A Unified Energy Resource Scheme Is Necessary When The Answer Is Both, J. Brent Marshall

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

No abstract provided.

Rethinking "Imminent Harm" As It Relates To Asian Carp In Lake Michigan And Other Invasive Species, Philip S. Traynor

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

No abstract provided.

Appeal No. 0948: Carolyn Robinson V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Order 2017-255 (PA19B Unit; Gulfport Energy Corporation)

Balancing Marine Mammal Protection Against Commercial Fishing: The Zero Mortality Goal, Quotas And The Gulf Of Maine Harbor Porpoise, Mary M. Sauer

Maine Law Review

Marine mammals and commercial fishermen come into direct conflict when marine mammals become entangled in commercial fishing nets. Since marine mammals must come up to the water surface in order to breathe, they will die if they cannot break free of an underwater net. This conflict is exemplified by the plight of the harbor porpoise in the Gulf of Maine. The federal regulatory framework that attempts to balance the competing interests of commercial fishermen and marine mammals is currently in flux, and its final form may determine the fate of species like the harbor porpoise. This Comment will examine the …

An Argument To The State Of Maine, The Town Of Wells, And Other Maine Towns Similarly Situated: Buy The Foreshore - Now, Orlando E. Delogu

Maine Law Review

This paper has its roots in the finality of what have come to be called the Moody Beach decisions. In the last of these two cases, Maine's Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, held that the public's right to use the intertidal zone was limited to those uses and activities spelled out in the Colonial Ordinance of 16411647: “We agree with the Superior Court's declaration of the state of the legal title to Moody Beach. Long and firmly established rules of property law dictate that the plaintiff oceanfront owners at Moody Beach hold title in fee to the …

Native Ecosystems Council V. Marten, Rebecca A. Newsom

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Native Ecosystems Council v. Marten, the Ninth Circuit found that the United States Forest Service did not violate the Endangered Species Act, National Forest Management Act, or National Environmental Policy Act, when it proposed the Lonesome Wood Vegetation Management 2 Project in the Gallatin National Forest of Montana, even though the decision was inconsistent with the United States Forest Service’s reports. The Ninth Circuit’s holding demonstrated the wide amount of deference the courts will give the Forest Service when determining the best available scientific data.

Muddying The Water: Tiered Water Rates After San Juan Capistrano, Travis Kaya

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

In the face of chronic drought, water utilities across California have turned to tiered water rates to promote conservation and curb consumer demand. However, recent legal challenges have called the constitutionality of tiered- rate schemes into question, threatening to deprive utilities of a critical conservation tool.

A patchwork of recent court decisions—the landmark Capistrano Taxpayers Association v. City of San Juan Capistrano most notable among them—have exposed an unresolved conflict between the California Constitution’s water rights and taxation provisions. Namely, how does Proposition 218’s restrictions on assessments for “property related services” apply to tiered water rates set by public water …

Toward A National Conservation Network Act: Transforming Landscape Conservation On The Public Lands Into Law, Robert B. Keiter

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

The United States has made a remarkable commitment to nature conservation on the federal public lands. The country’s existing array of national parks, wilderness areas, national monuments, wildlife refuges, and other protective designations encompasses roughly 150 million acres, or nearly 40 percent of the “lower 48” federal estate. A robust land trust movement has protected another 56 million acres of privately owned lands. Advances in scientific knowledge reveal that these protected enclaves, standing alone, are insufficient to protect native ecosystems and at-risk wildlife from climate change impacts and unrelenting development pressures. Abetted by existing law, conservation policy is now focusing …

Helpless Giants? The National Park Service’S Ability To Influence And Manage External Threats To Redwood National And State Parks, Jack Mcleod

Notre Dame Law Review Reflection

This Essay analyzes the interactions between federal, state, and private landowners regarding Redwood National and State Parks (RNSP) to determine what power the National Park Service (NPS) has to stop the destruction of its trees resulting from externalities. Part I briefly discusses the historical development of RNSP, focusing on how its boundaries impact inner scenic resources. Part II argues that California state efforts have traditionally hampered redwood protection in RNSP, and Part III examines the limited resources the NPS possesses to protect redwoods. Ultimately, the NPS has few effective tools at its disposal to protect redwoods against external threats, except …

Up For Grabs: The State Of Fossils Protection In (Recently) Unprotected National Monuments, John C. Ruple, Michael Henderson, Caitlin Ceci

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

On December 4, 2017, President Trump removed 2 million acres of land from the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. President Trump justified the reductions in part by claiming that many of the objects contained in the original monuments were already protected by other federal laws, and that the protections previously afforded to sixty-three percent of the land in the two original monuments were “unnecessary for the care and management of the objects to be protected within the monument[s].” This article explains why, contrary to the President’s assertions, plant and invertebrate fossils on the more than two million acres …

Law Professor Amicus Brief In Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association V. Ross Regarding The Legality Of The Northeast Canyons And Seamounts Marine National Monument, Robin Kundis Craig

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

This amicus brief discusses how, under domestic law, the President can establish national monuments, pursuant to the Antiquities Act, in the ocean. It focuses on the seabed's status as "land owned or controlled by the federal government" under U.S. law, as the Antiquities Act requires, and on the President's authority to regulate fishing within marine national monuments.

The Role Of The Courts In Guarding Against Privatization Of Important Public Environmental Resources, Melissa K. Scanlan

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Drinking water, beaches, a livable climate, clean air, forests, fisheries, and parks are all commons, shared by many users with diffuse and overlapping interests. These public natural resources are susceptible to depletion, overuse, erosion, and extinction; and they are under increasing pressures to become privatized. The Public Trust Doctrine provides a legal basis to guard against privatizing important public resources or commons. As such, it is a critical doctrine to counter the ever-increasing enclosure and privatization of the commons as well as ensure government trustees protect current and future generations. This Article considers separation of powers and statutory interpretation in …