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Articles 1 - 30 of 544
Full-Text Articles in Law
Indigenous Influence On The Rights Of Nature Movement, Vanessa Racehorse
Indigenous Influence On The Rights Of Nature Movement, Vanessa Racehorse
Faculty Scholarship
The growing recognition of the rights of nature is a blend of both modern conservation efforts and principles reflected in traditional Indigenous stewardship that should be an essential component of the discourse around environmental justice. This article provides an overview of the laws that invoke the rights of nature that Indigenous perspectives and practices regarding environmental preservation have influenced. This discussion pays particular attention to the White Earth Band of Ojibwe's "Rights of Manoomin" law and Manoomin v. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (White Earth Band of Ojibwe Tribal Ct. 2021), the first rights of nature case filed in a …
State Sequestration: Federal Policy Accelerates Carbon Storage, But Leaves Full Climate, Equity Protections To States, Gabriel Pacyniak
State Sequestration: Federal Policy Accelerates Carbon Storage, But Leaves Full Climate, Equity Protections To States, Gabriel Pacyniak
Faculty Scholarship
Abstract
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—the UN’s expert science panel—has repeatedly found that limiting climate change to prevent catastrophic harms will require at least some use of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), and may entail substantial deployments of this technology. There is significant uncertainty, however, about the level of lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions achievable in practice from varying CCS applications; some applications could even lead to net increases in emissions. In addition, a number of these applications create or maintain other harms, especially those related to fossil fuel extraction and use. For these reasons, many environmental justice advocates …
Climate, Health, And Equity Implications Of Large Facility Pollution Sources In New Mexico, Gabriel Pacyniak, Angélica Ruiz, Shannon Sanchez-Youngman, Elena Krieger
Climate, Health, And Equity Implications Of Large Facility Pollution Sources In New Mexico, Gabriel Pacyniak, Angélica Ruiz, Shannon Sanchez-Youngman, Elena Krieger
Faculty Scholarship
In 2019, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham issued an executive order establishing a goal of cutting New Mexico greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 45 percent by 2030.1 In parallel, the state legislature enacted the 2019 Energy Transition Act (ETA), which requires New Mexico utilities to decarbonize their electricity supply by 2045.2 In keeping with these actions, state agencies issued regulations to reduce GHG emissions from oil and gas and transportation sources and to implement the ETA.
These ambitious policies are essential to address the climate-driven extreme weather events, such as record-breaking wildfires, drought, and heat, which are already impacting New …
Achieving Climate Justice Through Land Back: An Overview Of Tribal Dispossession, Land Return Efforts, And Practical Mechanisms For #Landback, Vanessa Racehorse
Achieving Climate Justice Through Land Back: An Overview Of Tribal Dispossession, Land Return Efforts, And Practical Mechanisms For #Landback, Vanessa Racehorse
Faculty Scholarship
Due to the increasing pressures of the climate change crisis, federal and state governments are beginning to acknowledge that Indigenous-led stewardship and control over Tribal aboriginal homelands is a crucial component of addressing climate change. In the United States, Tribal nations have a long history of responsible land stewardship, with environmental conservation and respect for the world's biodiversity being an inextricable piece of Tribal customs, traditions, and knowledge. This Article strives to pay due respect to traditional land stewardship and its important role in the past, present, and future.
Part I of this Article starts with an overview of the …
Groundwater Law, The San Luis Valley, And Climate Change, Rachel Grabenstein
Groundwater Law, The San Luis Valley, And Climate Change, Rachel Grabenstein
Student Published Scholarship
A vast region of the western United States is in the grips of the first climate change-induced megadrought observed in the past 1,200 years.
This paper explores how climate change and the current groundwater legal regimes interact in Colorado’s San Luis Valley. The Valley was chosen as a case study because it is an example of a community that introduced voluntary measures to address the overuse of groundwater. This paper examines how those measures might have been sufficient if not for the additional challenge of climate change.
This paper will first explain the history of water management in the Valley. …
Beyond Bake Sales: Environmental Justice Through Superfund Removal Actions, Clifford Villa
Beyond Bake Sales: Environmental Justice Through Superfund Removal Actions, Clifford Villa
Faculty Scholarship
Few people outside of EPA seem to be aware of the existence of the Superfund removal program, a program through which millions of dollars are allocated through EPA’s ten regional offices each year for cleaning up contaminated sites that are not designated 'Superfund' sites. This essay will provide a basic introduction to the Superfund removal program and particularly encourage consideration of Superfund removals to address growing concerns for environmental justice. Part II examines the legal authorities and limitations of the Superfund removal program. Part III provides examples of removal actions in environmental justice communities across the country. Part IV considers …
Waste And The Governance Of Private And Public Property, Joseph A. Schremmer, Tara K. Righetti
Waste And The Governance Of Private And Public Property, Joseph A. Schremmer, Tara K. Righetti
Faculty Scholarship
Common law waste doctrine is often overlooked as antiquated and irrelevant. At best, waste doctrine is occasionally examined as a lens through which to evaluate evolutions in modern property theory. We argue here that waste doctrine is more than just a historical artifact. Rather, the principle embedded in waste doctrine underpins a great deal of property law generally, both common law and statutory, as well as the law governing oil and gas, water, and public trust resources. Seen for what it is, waste doctrine provides a fresh perspective on property, natural resources, and environmental law.
In this Article, we excavate …
No “Box To Be Checked”: Environmental Justice In Modern Legal Practice, Clifford J. Villa
No “Box To Be Checked”: Environmental Justice In Modern Legal Practice, Clifford J. Villa
Faculty Scholarship
For nearly thirty years, environmental justice has been part of our civic conversation and included in the mission of federal agencies. But while public attention to environmental justice has waxed and waned over time, environmental justice principles have endured and developed into rules of law. This development may be expected to continue and accelerate with recent events such as the nationwide outcry after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, the disparate impacts of COVID-19 on people of color, and the express priorities of the Biden administration. This paper seeks to help legal practitioners and other interested parties comprehend …
Adapting To A 4°C World, Clifford Villa
Adapting To A 4°C World, Clifford Villa
Faculty Scholarship
The Paris Agreement’s goal to hold warming to 1.5°-2°C above pre-industrial levels now appears unrealistic. Profs. Robin Kundis Craig and J.B. Ruhl have recently argued that because a 4°C world may be likely, we must recognize the disruptive consequences of such a world and respond by reimagining governance structures to meet the challenges of adapting to it. In this latest in a biannual series of essays, they and other members of the Environmental Law Collaborative explore what 4°C might mean for a variety of current legal doctrines, planning policies, governance structures, and institutions.
Don't Blame The Flint River, Clifford Villa
Don't Blame The Flint River, Clifford Villa
Faculty Scholarship
Since appearing in modern form fifty years ago, the Clean Water Act has proven a powerful force for environmental justice, helping to clean up urban waterways across the country. Through establishment of water quality standards and enforcement of regulatory requirements, the Clean Water Act has compelled public authorities and private companies to upgrade infrastructure and curtail
discharge of sewage and other industrial effluent. At the same time, urban communities have continued to struggle with water pollution beyond the reaches of the Clean Water Act. This Article briefly examines three such communities: the Anacostia area of Washington, D.C.; the neighborhoods along …
Brownfields Cleanup: A Look Back And Ahead Toward Superfund Authority, Clifford Villa
Brownfields Cleanup: A Look Back And Ahead Toward Superfund Authority, Clifford Villa
Faculty Scholarship
Did you know that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, through the Superfund program within each of the ten regional offices across the United States, has millions of dollars to spend each year for cleaning up contaminated sites that are not designated “Superfund” sites? Not many people seem to know that, even lawyers who practice in environmental law, or even law professors who teach it. If these elite folks do not know that, then how would ordinary community members know that, people with busy lives who don’t do Superfund for a living? The short answer is, they probably don’t know either.
Nature’S Personhood And Property’S Virtues, Laura Spitz, Eduardo M. Peñalver
Nature’S Personhood And Property’S Virtues, Laura Spitz, Eduardo M. Peñalver
Faculty Scholarship
This Article evaluates the strategy of claiming personhood for natural objects as a way to advance environmental goals in the United States. Using the Colorado River Ecosystem v. Colorado litigation as the focus, we explore the normative foundation of the claim—elements of nature are legal persons—and the work personhood is being asked to do by the plaintiff and other environmental activists. We identify three possibilities: procedural work, substantive work, and rhetorical work. Of those, we suggest the plaintiff’s strongest case is rhetorical. We say this not only because it will likely be difficult to convince a judge to extend standing …
Environmental Justice: Law, Policy & Regulation, Clifford Villa, Nadia Ahmad, Rebecca Bratspies, Roger Lin, Clifford Rechtschaffen, Eileen Gauna, Catherine O'Neill
Environmental Justice: Law, Policy & Regulation, Clifford Villa, Nadia Ahmad, Rebecca Bratspies, Roger Lin, Clifford Rechtschaffen, Eileen Gauna, Catherine O'Neill
Faculty Book Display Case
Environmental Justice: Law, Policy, & Regulation explores theory and practice in this dynamic subject, which fuses environmental law and civil rights enforcement. From early concerns over toxic waste in minority communities, environmental justice expanded to consider the range of environmental threats facing poor, immigrant, and indigenous communities; women, children, and seniors; and other vulnerable populations. This third edition provides extensively updated materials to address environmental justice concerns today, including oil drilling in the Arctic, the Dakota Access Pipeline, drinking water contamination in Flint, and the devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Featuring new chapters addressing disaster justice and …
Greening The Old New Deal: Strengthening Rural Electric Cooperative Supports And Oversight To Combat Climate Change, Gabriel Pacyniak
Greening The Old New Deal: Strengthening Rural Electric Cooperative Supports And Oversight To Combat Climate Change, Gabriel Pacyniak
Faculty Scholarship
New Deal cooperatives succeeded in electrifying rural America when for-profit utilities would not. Today, however, rural electric cooperatives are lagging behind when it comes to meeting the challenge of climate change. Cooperatives have collectively been slower to embrace the shift to low-carbon electricity than for-profit and municipal utilities and have served as a drag on state and federal clean energy and climate policies. This is partially because of the structural differences between cooperatives and other utilities, but also because of a weak and under-determined federal and state regulatory structure. A few cooperatives in Colorado and New Mexico are seeking to …
Remaking Environmental Justice, Clifford Villa
Remaking Environmental Justice, Clifford Villa
Faculty Scholarship
From movements for civil rights in the 1960s and environmental protection in the 1970s, the environmental justice movement emerged in the 1980s and 1990s to highlight the disparate impacts of pollution, principally upon people of color and low-income communities. Over time, the scope of environmental justice expanded to address concerns for other dimensions of diversity. New and continuing challenges tell us that we need to reframe our understanding of environmental justice to ensure better protection for people going forward. One way to reframe this understanding may be to apply the heuristic of vulnerability analysis as proposed by legal theorist Martha …
Front Matter, Natural Resources Journal
Front Matter, Natural Resources Journal
Natural Resources Journal
No abstract provided.
The Long View Of The Water/Energy Nexus: Hydropower’S First Century In The U.S.A., Carl J. Bauer
The Long View Of The Water/Energy Nexus: Hydropower’S First Century In The U.S.A., Carl J. Bauer
Natural Resources Journal
This paper offers a historical overview of the first century of hydropower in the US from today’s perspective of the water/energy nexus. Hydropower emerged as a technology in the 1880s and its development expanded until large dam building ended in the US in the 1970s-1980s. I summarize the century from the two different angles of the water sector and the electric power sector, as the roles and strategic importance of hydropower changed dramatically in the two sectors, in the parallel histories of water development and electric power development. The paper emphasizes the electricity side of the hydropower story because the …
The Hns Convention: Will It Be A Game Changer For China’S Marine Pollution Law?, Ruixuan Zhuo
The Hns Convention: Will It Be A Game Changer For China’S Marine Pollution Law?, Ruixuan Zhuo
Natural Resources Journal
This article analyzes the international convention governing marine pollution caused by the shipment of hazardous and noxious substances (“HNS”). It also discusses China’s domestic laws and regulations of HNS marine pollution liability comparing the Chinese approach with norms under the HNS Convention. The author argues that China faces severe HNS pollution issues and proposes solutions to HNS liability and compensation problems.
Legal Rights For Rivers: Competition, Collaboration And Water Governance By Erin O’Donnell (Routledge, 202 Pages; 2019), Ariel Macmillan-Sanchez
Legal Rights For Rivers: Competition, Collaboration And Water Governance By Erin O’Donnell (Routledge, 202 Pages; 2019), Ariel Macmillan-Sanchez
Natural Resources Journal
No abstract provided.
Symposium Letter, Ariel Macmillan-Sanchez
Acknowledgement, Melanie Mcnett, Julia Shaver
Acknowledgement, Melanie Mcnett, Julia Shaver
Natural Resources Journal
No abstract provided.
Climate Perspectives Across The Generations, Dan Farber
Climate Perspectives Across The Generations, Dan Farber
Natural Resources Journal
Climate change is a multi-generational problem, but it does not impact all generations in the same way. Correspondingly, older Americans and younger ones differ greatly in how they perceive the issue and how they respond. The wave of youth activism epitomized by Greta Thunburg is on one side of this generation gap. Donald Trump’s climate skepticism is on the other. We’re talking about large groups of people, so there is a range of attitudes on both sides, but these two individuals represent the generational differences in dramatic form. My goal today is to explore these generational differences. I want to …
A Road Map To Restoring Rivers: How The Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement Might Influence Future Dam Removal And River Restoration Projects, James C. Ish
Natural Resources Journal
Throughout the United States dams are approaching the terminus of their original licensing periods and are undergoing re-licensing by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. This period of review has prompted extensive studies in these basins to determine the cost-benefits associated with keeping these dams, versus removing and restoring the natural ecosystems that are currently inundated. In situations where a dam is deemed to be no longer economically relevant, and/or a detriment to endangered species or their critical habitat, an agreement for removal and restoration is often proposed as the next step in the management of that basin’s water resources. However, …
Creating Social Change Through Art: The Greater Chaco Art Zines, Jeanette Hart-Mann, Asha Canalos
Creating Social Change Through Art: The Greater Chaco Art Zines, Jeanette Hart-Mann, Asha Canalos
Natural Resources Journal
This interview with Jeanette Hart-Mann and Asha Canalos took place on March 6, 2020 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This interview was conducted in person and edited by Ariel MacMillan-Sanchez.4 Hart-Mann and Canalos explained the importance of the Greater Chaco Art Zines project, how it came to fruition, the issues of censorship that surround it, and their perspectives on generating meaningful change. Some of the art pieces discussed in this interview are published in this article. If you would like to get involved or wish to see more of the art pieces discussed in this interview please visit https://greaterchacoartzines.org/.
Creating Contracts In A Vacuum: Space Mining And The Creation Of Future Contract Law, Kris Turner
Creating Contracts In A Vacuum: Space Mining And The Creation Of Future Contract Law, Kris Turner
Natural Resources Journal
Asteroid mining is set to be one of the most lucrative industries of the near future. With mineral value that dwarfs resources found on Earth, the race to locate and mine these precious minerals will soon begin in earnest. However, asteroid mining raises numerous legal questions, including how to create contracts for private mining companies to exploit the asteroids. Standard mining contracts provide a foundation for earthbound contracts, while mining in extreme environments such as Antarctica and the seabed provides further structure upon which parties interested in asteroid mining can begin building new contracts. These earthbound contracts also serve as …
River Of Lost Souls: The Science, Politics, And Greed Behind The Gold King Mine Disaster By Jonathan P. Thompson (Torrey House Press, 296 Pages; 2018), Sarah Mclain
Natural Resources Journal
“Oh. Shit.” These were the first words spoken when mine sludge carrying heavy metals began spewing out of the side of Level 7 portal of the Gold King Mine. On August 5, 2015, EPA staffers and contractors were working to start clearing out debris from the mine, and instead opened a hole on the side of an old mine tunnel which released three million gallons of water and sludge into the Animas River below. The sludge would travel downstream, passing the old mining community of Silverton, CO, continuing past Durango, CO, and eventually crossing state lines into New Mexico where …
Creative Legal Approaches To Protect Youth’S Constitutional Rights In The Face Of Climate Change, Andrea Rodgers
Creative Legal Approaches To Protect Youth’S Constitutional Rights In The Face Of Climate Change, Andrea Rodgers
Natural Resources Journal
This interview with Andrea Rodgers was produced through written responses to prompts from Ariel MacMillan-Sanchez in April 2020.
Let's Talk Protecting Endangered Species, Clifford J. Villa, Ty Bannerman, Will Cavin, Taylor Jones, Ari Biernoff
Let's Talk Protecting Endangered Species, Clifford J. Villa, Ty Bannerman, Will Cavin, Taylor Jones, Ari Biernoff
Faculty Scholarship
The Trump Administration recently changed Endangered Species Act regulations affecting how species are removed from endangered status and streamlining permits for the oil and gas and ranching industries. Environmentalists say the rules weaken protections. How could the new rules change industry and conservation in New Mexico?
Gold King Mine Spill: Environmental Law And Legal Protections For Environmental Responders, Clifford J. Villa
Gold King Mine Spill: Environmental Law And Legal Protections For Environmental Responders, Clifford J. Villa
Faculty Scholarship
On August 5, 2015, EPA contractors working at the Gold King Mine in southwestern Colorado accidently released approximately three million gallons of contaminated mine water into the drainage of the Animas River. The water contained metals which created a bright orange plume that coursed down the Animas River and into the connecting San Juan River for many days, attracting nationwide attention and creating great concern for many local communities. The plume touched at least three states, three tribes, and numerous municipalities. The release fortunately did not prove an environmental catastrophe as many people feared at the time. However, it did …
Teacher Perceptions Of Environmental Science In Rural Northwestern New Mexico Public Schools, Marie Quiahuitl Julienne
Teacher Perceptions Of Environmental Science In Rural Northwestern New Mexico Public Schools, Marie Quiahuitl Julienne
Organization, Information and Learning Sciences ETDs
In this study, I explored what teachers perceive as the factors that impact their teaching of environmental science in rural secondary level schools in northwestern New Mexico. I adapted Bronfenbrenner’s (1994) ecological systems model, based on four environmental subsystem levels (microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem), as the conceptual framework to address the major research question of this study, and developed 18 interview questions to explore teachers’ perceptions of factors that influence their teaching of environmental science. I investigated the perspectives science teachers have about environmental science topics and the influences they perceive that affect how they teach environmental science, and …