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Putting The Public Back In The Public Trust Doctrine: A Reinterpretation To Advance Native Hawaiian Water Rights, Steven Hindman Dec 2023

Putting The Public Back In The Public Trust Doctrine: A Reinterpretation To Advance Native Hawaiian Water Rights, Steven Hindman

Washington Law Review

The public trust doctrine guarantees that the government will hold natural resources in trust and protect them for the common good. The doctrine has played a key role in the allocation of water rights, particularly for Native American and Native Hawaiian interests in the United States. State and federal courts often consider the doctrine when deciding if certain use rights should be granted. In Hawai‘i, the doctrine has taken on a particularly robust form because the State Constitution expressly provides that all public natural resources are to be held in trust for the benefit of all Hawaiians. Unfortunately, the doctrine’s …


Wading Through Troubled Waters: Inequities & Improprieties Of Stream Access Laws In The American West, Alexander Johnson May 2023

Wading Through Troubled Waters: Inequities & Improprieties Of Stream Access Laws In The American West, Alexander Johnson

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.


Emerging Best Practices In International Atmospheric Trust Case Law, Rachel M. Pemberton, Michael Blumm Nov 2022

Emerging Best Practices In International Atmospheric Trust Case Law, Rachel M. Pemberton, Michael Blumm

Utah Law Review

With climate change litigation proliferating throughout the world, a substantial body of case law is emerging. As part of a project of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law's Climate Change Specialist Group, this Article, a version of which will be included in a “Judicial Handbook on Climate Litigation,” explains the public trust doctrine’s influence on climate change litigation internationally. We select what we view as judicial “best practices” as a kind of restatement of international atmospheric trust law in 2022. International atmospheric trust law is at the forefront of many best practices, as state and federal courts in the …


Held V. State, Alec D. Skuntz Oct 2021

Held V. State, Alec D. Skuntz

Public Land & Resources Law Review

On March 13, 2020, a group of 16 Montana children and teenagers filed a complaint in the First Judicial District, Lewis and Clark County against the State of Montana and several state agencies. These young Plaintiffs sought injunctive and declaratory relief against Defendants for their complicity in continuing to extract and release harmful amounts of greenhouse gases which contribute to climate change. Plaintiffs premised their argument on the Montana Constitution’s robust environmental rights and protections. The Defendants filed a motion to dismiss which the District Court granted in-part and denied in-part. Held provides a roadmap for future litigation by elucidating …


After Juliana: A Proposal For The Next Atmospheric Trust Litigation Strategy, Kacie Couch Jan 2020

After Juliana: A Proposal For The Next Atmospheric Trust Litigation Strategy, Kacie Couch

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

The cliffs of California are dissolving.2 Glaciers in Colorado and Montana are dissolving.3 Islands in Louisiana and Alaska are dissolving.4 America as we know it is dissolving; twenty-one youth plaintiffs that face a future with less liberty and independence than generations before them claim that federal government inaction in the face of climate change is to blame.5 Those plaintiffs, in the landmark case Juliana v. United States, sought judicial declaration of a federal public trust and substantive due process right to a stable climate system.6 In proceedings, Judge Anne Aiken of the District Court of Oregon declared a newly …


Defining Fishing, The Slippery Seaweed Slope, Ross V. Acadian Seaplants Ltd., Rebecca P. Totten Jun 2019

Defining Fishing, The Slippery Seaweed Slope, Ross V. Acadian Seaplants Ltd., Rebecca P. Totten

Ocean and Coastal Law Journal

In Maine, the intertidal zone has seen many disputes over its use, access, and property rights. Recently, in Ross v. Acadian Seaplants, Ltd., the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, held that rockweed seaweed in the intertidal zone is owned by the upland landowner and is not part of a public easement under the public trust doctrine. The Court held harvesting rockweed is not fishing. This case will impact private and public rights and also the balance between the State's environmental and economic interests. This Comment addresses the following points: first, the characteristics of rockweed and the …


Pure As Running Water: A Constitutional Argument For Utah’S Public Trust Doctrine, Brandon S. Fuller May 2019

Pure As Running Water: A Constitutional Argument For Utah’S Public Trust Doctrine, Brandon S. Fuller

Utah Law Review

Water rights in America, particularly in western states, have been a pervasive source of legal contention. The histories of these water rights, and the public trust doctrine more broadly, have created a tremendously complex area of law. This field of law is very old and draws on policy concerns stretching back to 100 B.C., overlapping federal and state powers and precedents, and what can only be described as one of the longest games of jurisprudential telephone in existence. As a result, anyone seeking to challenge a state statute, court opinion, or regulation, which they believe impermissibly restricts the public’s right …


The Semicommons And Wisconsin Water Quality, David A. Strifling Jan 2018

The Semicommons And Wisconsin Water Quality, David A. Strifling

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

From the Great Lakes to pristine northern streams, Wisconsin boasts a plentiful and valuable array of water resources. Yet water stress analyses show that this natural capital is deeply threatened in a variety of ways. The pressure results primarily from human activity, ranging from general overuse to colonization by anthropogenically introduced non-native species. Some of the greatest water quality problems, however, are caused by land use practices that lead to polluted runoff from farm fields and urban settings. The onset of climate change has the potential to further exacerbate all of this. These issues, coupled with the failure of existing …


Public Resource Ownership And Community Engagement In A Modern Energy Landscape, Samantha Hepburn Jun 2017

Public Resource Ownership And Community Engagement In A Modern Energy Landscape, Samantha Hepburn

Pace Environmental Law Review

The onshore resource conflicts that have erupted in the Eastern states of Australia highlight the deep need for axiomatic structural change in public resource ownership frameworks. Much of the conflict that has arisen stems from the failure of the state, as owner, to give proper regard to the social and environmental concerns relevant to the expansion of onshore resource development. The underlying rationale for vesting resources in the state is to ensure they are managed for the benefit of the community as a whole. The implied sumption is that public benefit obligations are met through state administration because this is …


Public Trust Doctrine Implications Of Electricity Production, Lance Noel, Jeremy Firestone Dec 2015

Public Trust Doctrine Implications Of Electricity Production, Lance Noel, Jeremy Firestone

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

The public trust doctrine is a powerful legal tool in property law that requires the sovereign, as a trustee, to protect and manage natural resources. Historically, the public trust doctrine has been used in relationship to navigable waterways and wildlife management. Despite electricity production’s impact on those two areas and the comparatively smaller impacts of renewable energy, electricity production has garnered very little public trust doctrine attention. This Article examines how electricity production implicates the public trust doctrine, primarily through the lens of four states—California, Wisconsin, Hawaii, and New Jersey—and how it would potentially apply to each state’s electricity planning …


Closing The Regulatory Gap In Michigan's Public Trust Doctrine: Saving Michigan Millions With Statutory Reform, Kelsey Breck Sep 2012

Closing The Regulatory Gap In Michigan's Public Trust Doctrine: Saving Michigan Millions With Statutory Reform, Kelsey Breck

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The Great Lakes are some of Michigan's most valuable and important environmental resources. The public trust doctrine requires Michigan to protect and preserve the lands along the shores of the Great Lakes for the use of future generations. Unfortunately, the public trust doctrine in Michigan is in disarray and as a result, public and private rights to the lands along the Great Lakes are poorly delineated. This Note presents an economic argument for why the public trust doctrine should be reformed to better define public and private rights to the land along Michigan's Great Lakes. It also suggests a statutory …


Looking Beyond The Bang For More Bucks: A Legislative Gift To Fund Wildlife Conservation On Its 75th Anniversary, Katie Spidalieri Jan 2012

Looking Beyond The Bang For More Bucks: A Legislative Gift To Fund Wildlife Conservation On Its 75th Anniversary, Katie Spidalieri

Cleveland State Law Review

The concept of hunter-supported wildlife conservation behind the Pittman-Robertson Act has been termed the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. Since 1937, the Pittman-Robertson Act and this unique Model have been recognized as “the oldest and most successful wildlife management program in the nation’s history."This Note will argue that the government’s historical preoccupation with hunting overlooks the potential to extend the Model’s reach to the great outdoor industry prevalent in America. Specifically, the Model can be resuscitated if additional categories of outdoorsmen, like campers, hikers, and birdwatchers, are included as financial stakeholders in wildlife conservation. To broaden the conservation tax …


The Public Trust In Surface Waterways And Submerged Lands Of The Great Lakes States, Bertram C. Frey, Andrew Mutz Jul 2007

The Public Trust In Surface Waterways And Submerged Lands Of The Great Lakes States, Bertram C. Frey, Andrew Mutz

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The modern public trust doctrine compels each Great Lakes state to protect the sustainable future of the Lakes and to preserve traditional public uses. At the same time, the doctrine constrains the states' powers to allow exploitation of trust resources. This Article provides a brief historical overview of the public trust doctrine in waterways and their submerged lands. It next explores how the eight Great Lakes states have applied the doctrine, discusses the surprising number of differences in the doctrine's development from state to state, and provides comparison charts. After analyzing the variety of approaches used by the eight states …


Walking The Beach To The Core Of Sovereignty: The Historic Basis For The Public Trust Doctrine Applied In Glass V. Goeckel, Robert Haskell Abrams Jul 2007

Walking The Beach To The Core Of Sovereignty: The Historic Basis For The Public Trust Doctrine Applied In Glass V. Goeckel, Robert Haskell Abrams

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In 2004, a split panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals announced its conclusion that Michigan littoral owners of property owned to the water's very edge and could exclude members of the public from walking on the beach. In that instant almost 3300 miles of the Great Lakes foreshore became, in theory and in law, closed to public use. The case became the leading flash point of controversy between the vast public and ardent private property rights groups. A little more than one year later, the Michigan Supreme Court reversed that ruling as errant on public trust grounds and returned …


A Trust For All The People: Rethinking The Management Of Washington's State Forests, Daniel Jack Chasan Jan 2000

A Trust For All The People: Rethinking The Management Of Washington's State Forests, Daniel Jack Chasan

Seattle University Law Review

In this Article, I will first point out that neither the federal Enabling Act nor the Washington Constitution explicitly requires the state to hold its granted lands in trust for the common schools or other named institutions. Next, I will argue that even if the granted lands are trusts, they are not common law trusts and therefore should not be managed under common law trust principles. Third, I will demonstrate that neither Congress nor the framers of the Washington Constitution expected the lands to generate maximum revenue. Fourth, I will show that preventing thefts and giveaways of public land and …


Oil And The Public Trust Doctrine In Washington, Ralph W. Johnson Jan 1991

Oil And The Public Trust Doctrine In Washington, Ralph W. Johnson

Seattle University Law Review

During the past 15 years, in half the United States, more than 100 reported cases involving the public trust doctrine have had a major impact on natural resources protection. In Washington, two key cases decided in 1987 give major support to the public trust doctrine. In Caminiti v. Boyle, the court affirmed that the public trust doctrine is the law of this state and always has been. In Orion Corporation v. State, the court upheld the classification of private tidelands as open space and stated that classification that prohibits fill for residential housing and development raises no constitutional …


The Public Trust Doctrine In Natural Resource Law: Effective Judicial Intervention, Joseph L. Sax Jan 1970

The Public Trust Doctrine In Natural Resource Law: Effective Judicial Intervention, Joseph L. Sax

Michigan Law Review

Public concern about environmental quality is beginning to be felt in the courtroom. Private citizens, no longer willing to accede to the efforts of administrative agencies to protect the public interest, have begun to take the initiative themselves. One dramatic result is a proliferation of lawsuits in which citizens, demanding judicial recognition of their rights as members of the public, sue the very governmental agencies which are supposed to be protecting the public interest. While this Article was being written, several dozen such suits were initiated-to enforce air and water pollution laws in states where public agencies have been created …