Law Commons^™

The Washington Forest Practices Act: When Is Compliance With Sepa Required?, Christine M. Cordes

Seattle University Law Review

This comment analyzes the problems created by the Forest Practices Act’s scheme for environmental review. First, the comment examines the statutory definitions of the forest practices classes, determining which forest practice classes are within the scope of SEPA review under the FPA. Second, the comment discusses the effect of the 1981 State Environmental Policy Act amendment on the types of forest practices exempt from SEPA. The comment further points out the failure of the existing forest practices regulations to achieve the policy balance required by the FPA. The comment’s conclusion is two-fold: the Classic “U” holding best represents the legislature’s …

Kentucky Law Survey: Environmental Law, Carolyn S. Bratt, Carolyn M. Brown

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Under the rubric of environmental law, this Survey addresses three separate topics: air quality control, water conservation and development, and zoning. In the exploration of these three topics, relevant decisions from the Kentucky courts and the Kentucky Department for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, as well as opinions from the Kentucky Attorney General, are analyzed.

Protecting The Built Environment Of Newfoundland And Nova Scotia, Marc C. Denhez

Dalhousie Law Journal

For most Canadians, "environment" is their city or town, where they reside, work, and spend most of their leisure hours. The quality of this urban or semi-urban environment will have a significant impact upon their everyday life, including stress, cultural identity, and sense of historic continuity. Conserving the cultural and aesthetic values represented by the buildings which constitute this environment therefore deserves attention. One way for such buildings to be saved is to be purchased by someone dedicated to their retention; but since it is impossible to thus acquire all valuable buildings, this article looks at alternate approaches. There are …

Water Rights For Western Mineral Development On Public Lands, A. Dan Tarlock

Federal Lands, Laws and Policies and the Development of Natural Resources: A Short Course (Summer Conference, July 28-August 1)

13 pages.

Reclaiming Coal Surface Mines In Central Appalachia: A Case Study Of The Benefits And Costs, Richard C. Ausness, Alan Randall, Oren Grunewald, Sue Johnson, Angelos Pagoulatos

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Regulatory alternatives for the surface mining industry have come under intense public and political scrutiny in recent years. Recent studies have found that the impacts of federal surface mine reclamation regulations' will be noticeable, but perhaps not as substantial as some had expected. Nationwide, coal production from surface mines would be reduced by about five percent, with a similar increase in underground coal production. The federal reclamation legislation, depending on the regulations eventually adopted for its implementation, is unlikely to be a major disruptive influence in the coal industry or a substantial impediment to the long-run national goal of increased …

Water Use Permits In A Riparian State: Problems And Proposals, Richard C. Ausness

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Although adequate supplies of water are generally available in Kentucky, the law governing its use and allocation is much less satisfactory. At present, Kentucky water law is a complex mixture of common law and statutory water rights. The purpose of this article is to evaluate these water rights and suggest a number of improvements. Part I will examine the common law rules as they relate to both surface water and ground water. Part II will focus upon Kentucky's present system of statutory water use regulation and will identify some of its more serious deficiencies. Part III will recommend some short-range …

Environmental Law: A Reevaluation Of Federal Pre-Emption And The Commerce Clause, Mark J. Alonso

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Comment addresses how the concern of state and local governments to regain control over environmental regulation has resulted in a marked increase in conflicts with the commerce and supremacy clauses of the Constitution. Various tests have been used by the courts to determine violations of these Constitutional provisions where environmental objectives are sought through local laws. In the field of environmental litigation, traditional tests are constantly challenged to meet the changing moral climate of the nation. This Comment weighs the desire of local legislatures for more responsive environmental regulation against the federal goal of uniform regulation and unrestrained interstate …

Urban Environmental Law: Emergent Citizens' Rights For The Aesthetic, The Spiritual, And The Spacious, Nicholas A. Robinson

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The issues in environmental law have been largely directed toward the natural environment, however, very recently and with growing force, new law has been channeled into the service of our nation's urban centers. Traditionally, urban environmental law included only broad schemes to redress urban ills, such as zoning laws, public housing programs, and urban renewal. In the past few years, there has been an increase in the development of personally held and asserted citizens rights to a quality urban environment. While articles on the urban environment often deal with statutory and administrative action, this article presents a different perspective, that …

The Use And Legal Significance Of The Mean High Water Line In Coastal Boundary Mapping, Richard C. Ausness, Frank E. Maloney

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The effect of unplanned and ill-conceived land use development on the coastal ecology has been well documented in recent years. Recognizing the need for more effective governmental control in this area, a number of state legislatures have enacted statutes to protect the coastal environment and encourage the orderly development of coastal resources. These efforts have received the support of the federal government as well.

Determination of coastal boundaries is essential to the development of an effective coastal zone management program. In general such boundaries represent the intersection of the shore with a particular tidal elevation. However, the demarcation of coastal …

Environmental Law-Statutory Interpretation-Factors To Be Considered In Making A Threshold Determination That An Environmental Impact Statement Is Necessary Under The Na- Tional Environmental Policy Act Of 1969

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was passed by Congress in 1969 declaring a policy which will promote efforts to protect the environment, to stimulate the health and welfare of man, and to enrich the understanding of the natural resources important to the nation. Under NEPA, all federal agencies must develop decision making procedures that include an evaluation of factors the agency will consider in deciding whether a proposed agency action will significantly affect the "human environment."' Federal agencies, unable to discern the meaning of "human environment," have had difficulty in deciding what factors to consider in making the threshold …

Administrative Law And The Environment: National Fuels Policy (Symposium Preface), Walter J. Hickel

Indiana Law Journal

Administrative Law and the Environment: National Fuels Policy, Symposium

The Legal Control Of Population Growth And Distribution In A Quality Environment: The Land Use Alternatives, Richard D. Lamm, Steven A.G. Davison

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Asphalting Of America: How The Government Subsidizes Highway Pollution In The Boswash Smog Bank, James Sullivan, Kenneth Lasson

All Faculty Scholarship

This article discusses the problem of air and noise pollution caused by motor vehicles circa the time of the article's writing (1972), and the public interest in dealing with these problems, in the light of federal government's conflicting interest in creating more roads. Mentioned is the fact that construction of more highways seems to be the federal government's answer to traffic congestion, while another point of view is that more highways encourages a rise in the number of motor vehicles on those roads. The article ends with some suggestions for how to deal with these problems.

The Effect Of Sovereign Immunity On Environmental Protection Suits Against Government Officials, Richard C. Ausness

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

A number of excellent articles have been published on the general subject of federal sovereign immunity in recent years, but most of them have been substantially concerned with legislative or judicial reform of this and related doctrines. The growing importance of environmental values as significant social and legal interests compels an examination of the relationship between sovereign immunity and the environmental protection suit. This article will trace the past and recent development of the immunity doctrine and consider its present and potential impact on environmental litigation.

Due Process And Pollution: The Right To A Remedy, Ferdinand F. Fernandez

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Environmental Class Actions Seeking Damages: The Need For Environmental Class Action Suits, Richard D. Lamm, Steven A.G. Davison

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

International Environmental Damage Control: Some Proposals For The Second Best Of All Possible Worlds, Stephen J. Vasek Jr.

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Recent meetings of international law experts have produced considerable debate over the type of international regime necessary to effectively control pollution. Divergent views expressed range from the "survival approach" of Professor Falk to the "grocery-list approach" of Christian Herter Jr., Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for Environment. The "grocery-list approach" is an operational approach which involves doing what can be done by the use of available means including discussion to define common interests, international agreements based on those shared interests, unilateral action where appropriate and increased use of the UN for a variety of purposes such as environment …

On Dissent, Violence, And The Intellectual, Page Keeton

Vanderbilt Law Review

If I have properly assessed the meaning of Dean Forrester's comments, he stated that: (1) America is now in the midst of an attempted revolution, an attempt to create a new society by force and violence; (2) war, race relations, poverty, environment, and the other festers in our society, while great problems, are not the real causes of the discontent; (3) the attempted revolution is the product of a generation of university teaching and writing which has created the intellectual atmosphere and the state of mind that sustain the conflict. I respectfully dissent while recognizing at the same time the …

Legislation And The Environment: Individual Rights And Government Accountability, Richard L. Ottinger

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Recent public concern with the pollution threat has generated a rash of suggested solutions. Within the past year councils, agencies, advisory commissions, and billion-dollar programs have been urged upon us. Reorganizations and reorderings of priorities have been called for. The question remains, however, whether this welter of proposals squarely attacks the real problem-the fact that all of our institutions are rooted in the notions of inexhaustible supply and limitless ability to repair. The answer can be found only by examining specific conflicts between technology and environment and analyzing the way our institutions attempt to resolve them.

The West Virginia Law Of Forfeited And Delinquent Lands, George G. Bailey

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.