Law Commons^™

Great White Shark Bycatch Reduction Problems In The California/Oregon Drift Gillnet Fishery, Andrew J. Graf

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

Part I of this Comment explores the problems of great white shark bycatch by examining the white shark’s susceptibility to bycatch and the Fishery responsible for a significant portion of white shark bycatch. Part II discusses the federal statutes and regulations applicable to bycatch and the Fishery. Part III provides recommendations for reducing white shark bycatch in the future by modifying current federal statutes, amending existing regulations, and increasing research efforts.

Derailing Powder River Basin Coal Exports: Legal Mechanisms To Regulate Fugitive Coal Dust From Rail Transportation, Tovah R. Trimming

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

Coal trains are known as “black snakes.” The name aptly describes the miles of uncovered rail cars bearing the black cargo as they slither along the tracks. During the journey from coal mines to their final destinations, coal trains shed plumes of coal dust from the tops of the train cars. As the dust spews from the rail cars, it fills the surrounding air with harmful substances like mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, manganese, beryllium, and chromium. When the dust settles, these substances are deposited in soil and water, harming plant, animal, and marine life. Environmental consequences from coal dust are …

A Feasible Alternative: The Legal Implications Of Aquaculture In The United States And The Promise Of Sustainable Urban Aquaculture Systems, Garrett Wheeler

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

The world’s ocean fish stocks are in peril. A 2011 report issued by an international team of marine scientists found that the world’s marine species face threats “unprecedented in human history” with “loss of both large, long-lived and small fish species causing widespread impacts on marine ecosystems.” Nutrient runoff, introductions of non-native species, climate change, over fishing, and physical disturbance are all contributing to the oceans’ decline. Meanwhile, global per capita seafood consumption is at an all-time high, as the Earth’s growing population continues to enjoy healthy, protein-laden nourishment.

The resulting situation is a stark example of what ecologist Garrett …

Lawyers Write Treaties, Engineers Build Dikes, Gods Of Weather Ignore Both: Making Transboundary Waters Agreements Relevant, Flexible, And Resilient In A Time Of Global Climate Chanage, Glen Hearns, Richard Kyle Paisley

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

This Article identifies and critically reviews the importance of adaptability and flexibility in treaties and institutional arrangements by providing resilience in the face of the anticipated impact of climate change on the good governance of international waters. Building greater resilience and adaptability into international waters agreements is essential to address the uncertainties in hydrological and ocean processes associated with climate change. There is also growing consensus that conflict over natural resources can be linked to extreme events and climate change, and this is receiving increased attention in foreign policy development. Surface water resources are especially vulnerable to the anticipated consequences …

Where Will All The Waste Go?: Utilizing Extended Producer Responsibility Framework Laws To Achieve Zero Waste, Anthony A. Austin

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

The United States has a waste problem. It represents only five percent of the world population, yet it generates twenty-five to thirty percent of the world’s waste. In 2008, the United States generated 389.5 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW). As our economy and population continue to grow, our waste will continue to grow as well. The obvious dilemma is that all of this waste, the byproduct of our economic advances, creates significant adverse environmental and public health effects when landfilled or incinerated.

This Article explores the use of extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws to achieve the ultimate waste …

In The Edition, Vadim Sidelnikov, Dawn Withers

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Masthead

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Distributed Generation: How Localized Energy Production Reduces Vulnerability To Outages And Environmental Damage In The Wake Of Climate Change, Allyson Umberger

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

This Comment breaks down the working parts of America’s energy infrastructure, assessing how the current model could be converted into one that is more efficient, cost effective, and environmentally sustainable. It looks beyond general energy legislation, focusing specifically on chartered, proposed, and failed energy legislation in California. Part II of this Comment examines the weaknesses of America’s current energy infrastructure, looking at the history of the energy industry and the nation’s resulting reluctance to adopt renewable technologies despite the shortcomings of the current model. Part III presents DG and expands upon the potential it possesses to empower Americans in a …

Legitimate Protection Or Tactful Abandonment: Can Recent California Legislation Sustain The San Francisco Bay Area's Public Lands?, Cody Nesper

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

This Comment posits that parks that serve urban communities, such as the SF Bay Area state parks, are of particular importance due to the implications of open spaces for the health and well-being city dwellers. The consequences of legislation like AB 42 in urban environments are different from those in rural areas, and an awareness of these differences is necessary to draft effective legislation. For instance, parks serving urban areas frequently give rise to environmental justice concerns of wealth and poverty as reflected by extensive, well-appointed parks in more affluent communities compared to neighboring communities with less social and economic …

Looking For A Home: How Micro-Housing Can Help California, Dawn Withers

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

Humans have long shared small homes and small communal spaces. In the Middle Ages, it was common for many people to share a bed and for many people to share a room. Pilgrims lived in homes of about 165 square feet, and German farmers in nineteenth-century Texas built 200-square-foot homes for use on the weekends when they came to town. After the 1906 earthquake, San Francisco built 140-square-foot homes to shelter survivors.

Continuing the tradition of living in small quarters is no simple task in the modern era. How and where we live is not determined by us alone but …

"Location, Location, Location" Should Be "Environment, Environment, Environment": A Market-Based Tool To Simplify Environmental Considerations In Residential Real Estate, Robert H. Cutting, Lawrence B. Cahoon, Jack C. Hall

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

The most important rule of real estate (location, location, location) should be upgraded to the three E’s: environment, environment, environment. What we value in real estate is the natural and human environment of a site and its structures. A home is typically an American’s most significant asset; thus, environmental issues should be of interest, primarily because the effects of environmental degradation can cause devaluation while simultaneously imposing substantial expenses (such as cleanup, health care, and relocation) on the population. The real costs of ignoring the environment are life-threatening health and safety issues, including lung damage and cancer resulting from radon …

Can A Multi-Species Habitat Conservation Plan Save San Diego's Vulnerable Vernal Pool Species?, John Buse

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

The Endangered Species Act2 (hereinafter “ESA” or “the Act”) protects some of the rarest and most charismatic mammals on earth, including polar bears, wolves, jaguars, and orcas. The ESA also protects less conspicuous species and their habitats. Not all species are equal under the law; for example, plants are afforded substantially less protection, and the Act excludes pest insects if their protection “would present an overwhelming and overriding risk to man.” But the ESA does provide a remarkable degree of taxonomic equality for most covered species, generally treating bears and burying beetles as equals. This equality infuriates opponents of the …

From Post To Pond: How The Public Created The Presidio's Crissy Field Marsh, Deborah Bardwick

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

Brian O’Neill, the late Superintendent of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, said that the unifying theme of the Presidio is that of “humans in the natural environment, understood in its broadest context.” This Article explores the critical role that the public played in creating Crissy Field Marsh, a unique feature of the Presidio in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Public involvement is always critical to the operation of the National Park Service. In nearly every new project, members of the public are involved in every step, including but not limited to lobbying politicians, commenting on environmental documents, raising …

Protecting The Ballona Wetlands In West Los Angeles: A Look Back At Three Decades Of Urban Habitat Advocacy, Carlyle W. Hall, Jr.

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

Surrounded by densely populated West Los Angeles, the Ballona Wetlands are a remnant of a larger, flourishing coastal ecosystem that has been subjected to over a hundred years of urban assault. Ninety-eight percent of Los Angeles County’s historic wetlands have been filled and developed, and more than a century of abuse and neglect have severely degraded the Ballona Wetlands. Nonetheless, the Ballona Wetlands remain “one of the most important pieces of wildlife habitat” in the region, and they constitute the County’s largest remaining coastal wetland.

As might be expected when an important, severely endangered coastal natural resource located in a …

Open Spaces In Tight Places: An Introduction To The Issue, Paul Stanton Kibel, Kathleen E. Nitta

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Masthead

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Epa Shoots Down Lead Shot Regulation: Lead Ammo's Unreasonable Risk To Human Health And The Environment, And The Special Situation Of The California Condor, Rachel Hawkins

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

This Comment argues that the EPA has the authority to ban lead ammunition nationwide under The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), because lead ammunition poses an unreasonable risk to human health and the environment that is not adequately addressed by other laws. Further, the EPA retains the authority to ban lead ammunition nationwide under TSCA because a national ban would not be preempted by other federal laws. Part II of this Comment explores the problematic history of lead regulation as well as the devastating effects of lead poisoning on humans. Part III begins with an in-depth explanation of the harmful …

Farallon Poison Paradox: The U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service's Attempt At Saving One Species While Subjecting Others To Probable Death, Vadim Sidelnikov

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

This Comment examines the failure of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) to adequately protect this country’s unique wildlife from highly toxic rodenticides like brodifacoum, and particularly the EPA’s broad exemption for the FWS’s use of brodifacoum in island conservation. Part II explains the problem of non-native mice at the Farallon National Wildlife Refuge and the FWS’s proposed plan to eradicate the mice. Additionally, this Part describes the federal legal framework that governs pesticide application and use within the United States.

Part III evaluates the EPA’s narrow scope in determining to reregister brodifacoum, focusing on the EPA’s decision to allow …

Green Beer: Incentivizing Sustainability In California's Brewing Industry, Timothy R. Sloane

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

Part II of this Article examines the role of alcoholic beverages in human history, paying special attention to alcohol as a motivating factor in large-scale social change. Part III examines the prominence of California’s unique brewing industry and the economic and social ubiquity of Californian beer. As discussed in Parts IV and V, that ubiquity and prominence, as well as California’s historical leadership on environmental issues, make the state an ideal testing ground for sustainable brewing legislation. After an examination of California’s energy use in producing beer, Parts VI and VII break down the brewing process and explain a selection …

A Tale Of Two Water Districts: The Future Of Agriculture In California's San Joaquin Valley Lies In Compromise Over Drainage, Kathleen Nitta

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

This Comment will demonstrate why enforcement of the lower San Joaquin River total maximum daily load (TMDL) for selenium under the Clean Water Act should be postponed by amending the Basin Plan for the lower San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers to extend the selenium compliance schedule for the Grassland Area Farmers (GAF) until it finishes implementing its drainage management plan. This Comment will also discuss why the GAF’s drainage plan should be used as a model for Westlands and should prompt Congress to amend the San Luis Act to require Westlands’ farmers to provide their own drainage.

Part II will …

A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing: The Plastics Industry's "Public Interest" Role In Legislation And Litigation Of Plastic Bag Laws In California, Jennie R. Romer, Shanna Foley

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

In recent years, single-use plastic bag reduction ordinances have emerged as a lasting icon for the environmental movement. Despite fierce resistance from the plastics industry, premised primarily on the argument that such ordinances could potentially have harmful effects on the environment, the momentum to pass these ordinances remains strong. The plastics industry has spent millions lobbying against local ordinances and for statewide preemption of local ordinances, engaged in epic public relations campaigns, and sued or threatened to sue virtually every California municipality that has recently taken steps to adopt a plastic bag ordinance. Plastic bag manufacturers also sued a reusable …

Climate Change Litigation In The Wake Of Aep V. Connecticut And Aes V. Steadfast: Out To Pasture, But Not Out Of Steam, Cecilia O'Connell Miller

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

On April 19, 2011, two courts heard oral arguments in cases that will define the future of climate change litigation for decades to come. In American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut (hereinafter AEP), the United States Supreme Court considered whether environmental advocates can use a federal common-law nuisance claim as a vehicle for seeking redress for climate change accruing from greenhouse gas (hereinafter GHG) emissions. Just a hundred miles south that same day, the Virginia Supreme Court heard oral arguments in AES Corporation v. Steadfast (hereinafter Steadfast), in which Virginia’s highest court considered whether a commercial general liability …

Montana V. Wyoming: An Opportunity To Right The Course For Coalbed Methane Development And Prior Appropriation, Michelle Bryan Mudd

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

Part I of this Article provides a brief background on the Yellowstone River Compact and the Montana v. Wyoming litigation. This part further explains the Special Master’s analysis of the CBM issue, as well as the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on improved irrigation efficiency. When viewed together, these decisions provide an important framework for determining how the parties’ regulation of CBM development should proceed. Part II then describes the magnitude of the CBM groundwater pumping issue and asserts that the posture of the Montana v. Wyoming case provides a unique opportunity not only to set Powder River Basin CBM development …

A Water Story With Original Jurisdiction And A Doctrine For Changing Uses, Melosa Granda

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

This is a story of how two rivers in the remote reaches of Wyoming and Montana, and the underlying water, became a federal case before the United States Supreme Court. It is an account of a local water dispute whose resolution will likely impact the course of water law, and more importantly, water throughout the entire country.

In This Edition, Sofiya Feerer, Luthien L. Niland

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Masthead, Vol. 5 #2

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

How States Can Affect Federal Deepwater Port Lng Licensing Decisions: A Case Study Involving The Deepwater Port Act And The Coastal Zone Management Act, Linda Krop

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

This Article explores the general role of coastal states in permitting offshore LNG terminals, and the specific role that California played in the licensing process for the proposed Cabrillo Port LNG project. There are many facets of state authority, including the approvals required for the portions of LNG projects located within a coastal state’s jurisdiction (primarily within the first three miles offshore), the application of state laws to proposals to construct offshore LNG facilities under the DWPA, the authority of the governor of the adjacent coastal state to approve or “disapprove” deepwater port projects, and the right of a coastal …