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Full-Text Articles in Law

Wildearth Guardians V. Jewell, 738 F.3d 298 (D.C. Cir. 2013), Ross Keogh Apr 2014

Wildearth Guardians V. Jewell, 738 F.3d 298 (D.C. Cir. 2013), Ross Keogh

Public Land & Resources Law Review

As part of a comprehensive strategy to keep coal “in the ground,” environmental plaintiffs challenged the BLM’s leasing of federally owned coal tracts in the Powder River Basin in 2010 on climate change grounds. WildEarth Guardians was the first suit to reach a federal circuit court, where the District of Columbia Circuit Court affirmed that the BLM’s environmental analysis of the climate change impacts of the leased coal was adequate under NEPA. Notably, in reversing the district court, the circuit court found that the plaintiffs had procedural standing.


Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Of Indians V. Nevada, Dept. Of Wildlife, David A. Bell Apr 2014

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Of Indians V. Nevada, Dept. Of Wildlife, David A. Bell

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of Indians v. Nevada, Dept. of Wildlife, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a Nevada federal district court decision to vacate the Nevada state engineer’s approval of the transfer of three water applications. While the appeals court recognized the state’s re-watering of wetlands as a “salutary” purpose, it could not allow the engineer’s decision to go forward because it did not meet the legal definition of “irrigation.” The Court made the decision pursuant to two federal court decrees, which resulted from prior actions by the United States to quiet title to …


Public Lands Access Association V. Board Of County Commissioners Of Madison County, Graham Coppes Mar 2014

Public Lands Access Association V. Board Of County Commissioners Of Madison County, Graham Coppes

Public Land & Resources Law Review

On January 16, 2014, the Supreme Court of Montana reversed and remanded a district court decision that had foreclosed the public’s right to access the Ruby River. The Court held that the right of way was a public prescriptive easement, which extended beyond the road surface itself to include such area as necessary for the county to maintain the road in the interest of the public. Furthermore, the Court concluded that once a public right-of-way is established by prescriptive use, the scope of current and future use of such an easement is not limited to those historic adversarial practices which …


Bostwick Properties Inc. V. Montana Department Natural Resources And Conservation, Carolyn A. Sime Mar 2014

Bostwick Properties Inc. V. Montana Department Natural Resources And Conservation, Carolyn A. Sime

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Montana Supreme Court upheld the law requiring that applicants for new ground water permits in closed basins show no net surface depletion and that the new appropriation will not adversely affect senior water appropriators. Where the relationship between surface and ground water is uncertain or attenuated, applicants still bear the burden of proof, even if the proposed use constitutes only a de minimis quantity. Once again, the Court acknowledged the hydrologic connection between surface and ground water and the underlying legal framework which seeks to make water available for new appropriation and simultaneously protect the water rights of senior …