Law Commons^™

Manure, Methane, And Money: The Anaerobic Digester Disaster In California, Pegga Mosavi

Animal Law Review

The small, idyllic family farms that come to mind at the first mention of farming are all but gone, replaced by enormous factories that churn out animals at record speed, with little regard for their health and welfare. These factory farms produce a host of issues, including pervasive water and air pollution, particularly in vulnerable agricultural communities like those of the San Joaquin Valley in California. While the detriments of the factory farm model are numerous, contribution to climate change in particular has garnered significant attention. Animal agriculture in the U.S. produces 36% of the country’s methane, a greenhouse gas …

Pacific Salmon Law And The Environment: Treaties, Endangered Species, Dam Removal, Climate Change, And Beyond (Tables And Preface), Michael Blumm

Books & Contributions to Books

The law and policy of salmon protection and restoration are complex, and matters surrounding salmon implicate topics as varied as Indian treaty fishing rights, dam management and removal, international treaties, predator con­trol, and climate change. Pacific Salmon Law and the Environment chronicles the diverse issues concerning salmon allocation, management, and restoration in the 21st century, providing the historical understanding necessary for an accurate perspective of the present-day problems salmon face. The book is a must-read for ecologists, biologists, attorneys, educators, activists, students, and others concerned about the fate of salmon in the Pacific Northwest in the climate-challenged 21st century. More …

Sacrificing The Salmon: A Legal History Of The Decline Of Columbia Basin Salmon (Full Text Part 2 Of 2), Michael Blumm

Books & Contributions to Books

Salmon remain the cultural and economic soul of the Pacific Northwest, a species whose very life cycle largely defines the region. At the center of the salmon region lies the Columbia River, which once supported the world's largest salmon runs and which now is home to the world's largest interconnected hydroelectric system. These massive federal and non-federal dams have devastated Columbia Basin salmon runs, some of which are now extinct, others are on life-support.

This book tells the story of the decline of the Columbia Basin salmon in the 20th century. But it begins earlier, with the signing of mid-19th …

Exploring The Role Of Nonhuman Animal Victims In Federal Environmental Crime Prosecutions, Melissa L. Jarrell, Joshua Ozmy

Animal Law Review

While nonhuman animals in the United States are often victimized directly or as a consequence of environmental crimes, little is known about them or the role their victimization plays in federal environmental crime prosecutions. Through content analysis of 2,588 of the Environmental Protection Agency's criminal prosecutions from 1983-2019, we identified cases where identifiable nonhuman animal victims play a central role in the prosecution. We developed a typology of victims and the consequences of their victimization, and we explored the geography, charging statutes, and penalties. Results suggest that victimization is infrequent, acute, and clusters around toxic discharges and pesticide abuse stemming …

Frankly My Dear, I Don’T Want A Dam: Refocusing Dam Removal Priorities To Protect Endangered Salmon Now, Skylar Sumner

Animal Law Review

Dams are a critical threat to salmon habitat and population recovery. While much progress has been made in the past few years with dam removal, the more quickly dams are removed, the greater chance that salmon can be restored to their historic ranges. In the Pacific Northwest, dams are a particular threat to salmon. Many regulatory tools can be used to bring dams into compliance, but there is often much resistance to these efforts. This Essay proposes that by targeting dilapidated private dams opposed to functional ones on public land, compliance or removal will be achieved with less resistance and …

What Can Animal Law Learn From Environmental Law?, Rachel Lamb, Tara Zuardo

Animal Law Review

This Review analyzes and synopsizes What Can Animal Law Learn from Environmental Law?, edited by Professor Randall S. Abate. The book is a compilation of writings by numerous professionals in the fields of animal and environmental law. This Review introduces the background of the book and those sections most relevant to animal law. The book is divided into four distinct units, and this Review addresses each in turn: (1) Introductory Context, (2) U.S. Law Contexts, (3) International and Comparative Law Contexts, and (4) Vision for the Future. This Review ends by illustrating how academic settings can benefit from the use …

America's Invaders: The Nile Monitor And The Ineffectiveness Of The Reactive Response To Invasive Species, William K. Norvell Iii

Animal Law Review

In response to an ever increasing level of environmental devastation caused by invasive species and the resultant concerns for ecological preservation, both the state and federal governments have passed legislation to combat this pressing issue. In this Note, the author evaluates the effectiveness of these reactive and proactive policies in the United States. The author also analyzes the successful, proactive invasive species legislation from Australia, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand, and then contrasts them to the failing, mainly reactive laws found in the United States. Despite these shortcomings, the author concludes that it is entirely possible for the United …

The Public Trust Doctrine In Environmental And Natural Resources Law, Second Edition, Mary C. Wood, Michael Blumm

Contributions to Books

The public trust doctrine (PTD) is an ancient property law doctrine which first surfaced in Roman law in the Justinian Code, was revived in medieval England largely through the efforts of Sir Mathew Hale, and became entrenched in American law in the nineteenth century through the process of statehood. In the twentieth century, the doctrine became a favorite of the law professoriate and the environmental community for its potential to recognize public rights in private property. Thus, the doctrine both promotes public access to trust resources and justifies public regulation of them. It also equips the public with the right …

Vetoing Wetland Permits Under Section 404(C) Of The Clean Water Act: A History Of Inter-Federal Agency Controversy And Reform, Michael Blumm

Faculty Articles

For most of its four-decade history, section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act could have been considered to be a sleeper provision of environmental law. The proviso authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) overrule permits for discharges of dredged or fill material issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) where necessary to ensure protection of fish and wildlife habitat, municipal water supplies, and recreational areas against unacceptable adverse effects. This authority of one federal agency to veto the decisions of another federal agency is quite unusual, perhaps unprecedented in environmental law. The exceptional nature of section 404(c) …

The Underappreciated Role Of The National Environmental Policy Act In Wilderness Designation And Management, Michael Blumm, Lorena Wisehart

Faculty Articles

On its 50th anniversary, the Wilderness Act owes much to the effect of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), both in terms of the number of acres in the national wilderness system and in the management of designated wilderness areas. Courts have closely scrutinized federal land management agency actions that threaten wilderness qualities — and this article maintains that the usual vehicle has been NEPA. Enacted a little over a half-decade after the Wilderness Act, NEPA was instrumental in the doubling of wilderness acres in the 1980s, as Congress added wilderness areas and released other areas to multiple uses in …

The Past As Prologue To The Present: Managing The Oregon And California Forest Lands, Michael Blumm, Tim Wigington

Faculty Articles

This article is a brief review of the convoluted history of what are known as the Oregon and California forest lands, federal lands that were once the subject of a 19th century federal railroad grant, then became the focus of widespread land fraud and official corruption, which led to the Supreme Court halting land sales and Congress taking back the lands, situated in eighteen Oregon counties. Federal management of the lands in the 20th century emphasized timber harvesting, and this dominant use of the lands led to environmental lawsuits and the Endangered Species Act listing of the northern spotted owl …

Endangered Species Act Listings And Climate Change: Avoiding The Elephant In The Room, Michael Blumm, Kya Marienfeld

Faculty Articles

The Endangered Species Act (ESA), with its reputation as the nation’s strongest environmental law, might be expected to impose some limits on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions adversely affecting listed species due to rising global temperatures. Although the federal government recently ended a long period of denial by conceding that some species warrant listing because of climate change, the accompanying listing decisions revealed a federal refusal to apply the ESA to constrain GHG emissions causing the listings. In this article, we explain those decisions — involving the American pika, the polar bear, the wolverine, and the Gunnison sage-grouse — and their …

Hot, Crowded, And Legal: A Look At Industrial Agriculture In The United States And Brazil, David N. Cassuto, Sarah Saville

Animal Law Review

Over the last sixty years, industrial agriculture has expanded in the United States and throughout the world, including in Brazil. Any benefit this expansion has brought comes at significant environmental and social costs. Industrial agriculture is a leading contributor to global climate change, air and water pollution, deforestation, and dangers in the workplace. This Article discusses the impact of industrial animal agriculture in the U.S. and Brazil. It also examines the laws pertaining to industrial agriculture in both countries and provides a comparative analysis of the two legal regimes. Finally, this Article concludes with the observation that although the price …

Shark Laws With Teeth: How Deep Can U.S. Conservation Laws Cut Into Global Trade Regulations, Kaitlin M. Wojnar

Animal Law Review

Controversy surrounding application of the Shark & Fishery Conservation Act of 2010 (Shark Conservation Act) reflects a culmination of competing interests between environmental conservation and international free trade. Non-governmental organizations are pressuring the United States (U.S.) government to use the Shark Conservation Act to impose trade sanctions against countries that do not have specific regulations on shark finning. The implementation of such import bans, however, could negatively impact the nation’s relationships with some of its principal trade partners and violate international obligations under multilateral trade treaties. This Note proposes that the U.S. cannot impose such an embargo on shark products …

A "Fisheye" Lens On The Technological Dilemma: The Specter Of Genetically Engineered Animals, George Kimbrel, Paige Tomaselli

Animal Law Review

One year ago, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed approval of the first genetically engineered (GE or transgenic) animal for food production—a salmon engineered to grow much faster than normal using genetic material from an ocean pout. Faced with concerns from scientists and the public that these “super” salmon will escape into the wild and be the final blow to wild salmon, proponents crafted a scheme that is half Michael Crichton, half Kurt Vonnegut: The engineered salmon eggs will begin life in a lab on a frozen Canadian island, then be airlifted to a guarded Panamanian fortress, …

Saving Lives Or Spreading Fear: The Terroristic Nature Of Eco-Extremism, Kevin R. Grubbs

Animal Law Review

Much debate has surfaced surrounding so-called “eco-terrorism.” Some commentators argue that such activity is not and should not be called terrorism. This Comment analyzes these extremist activities through the lens of federal terrorism laws and argues that, while these activists’ goals are laudable, their methods are often terroristic. Consequently, those activities that go too far are-and should be-classified as terrorism.

The Animal Question: The Key To Coming To Terms With Nature, Jim Mason

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.

Maximizing Scientific Integrity In Environmental Regulations: The Need For Congress To Provide Guidance When Scientific Methods Are Inadequate Or When Data Is Inconclusive, Mariyetta Meyers

Animal Law Review

A “best science available” directive appears in a variety of environmental law statutes. Although seemingly clear, this directive has created an abundance of litigation with various plaintiffs challenging agency decisions under the Administrative Procedure Act’s (APA) arbitrary and capricious standard of review. The courts’ review of the agency decisions based on such science largely depends on the various ways in which the “best science available” directive is written in the particular statute. That is, the more specific the congressional mandate, the less latitude the agency has in implementing congressional will; the broader the statutory language, the more breathing space the …

International Animal Rights: Speciesism And Exclusionary Human Dignity, Kyle Ash

Animal Law Review

The primary goal of this paper is to act as a heuristic device, to suggest an unconventional but practical perspective on the evolution of international law. Upon surveying discourse on the history of international law, texts of treaties, and declarations and writings of influential philosophers of law and morality, an antiquated perspective of humanity is apparent. A convention in international law, and a reflection of a common idea which feeds the foreboding trend of how humans relate to the planet, treats humanity as distinctively separate from the Earth’s biodiversity. Though environmental law is beginning to recognize the necessity of conserving …

False Advertising, Animals, And Ethical Consumption, Carter Dillard

Animal Law Review

In light of the fact that today’s consumers often want their products to be created in the most environmentally-, globally-, and animal-friendly ways possible, unethical sellers sometimes succumb to the incentive to persuade consumers that goods were created more ethically than they actually were. This article investigates the ways that consumers can protect themselves from false advertising through the use of federal and state agencies, independant review, federal and state courts, and private attorneys general actions.

Sacrificing The Salmon: A Legal History Of The Decline Of Columbia Basin Salmon (Full Text Part 1 Of 2), Michael Blumm

Books & Contributions to Books

Salmon remain the cultural and economic soul of the Pacific Northwest, a species whose very life cycle largely defines the region. At the center of the salmon region lies the Columbia River, which once supported the world's largest salmon runs and which now is home to the world's largest interconnected hydroelectric system. These massive federal and non-federal dams have devasted Columbia Basin salmon runs, some of which are now exinct, others are on life-support.

This book tells the story of the decline of the Columbia Basin salmon in the 20th century. But it begins earlier, with the signing of mid-19th …