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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Public Trust Doctrine And Coastal Zone Management In Washington State, Ralph W. Johnson, Craighton Goeppele, David Jansen, Rachael Paschal
The Public Trust Doctrine And Coastal Zone Management In Washington State, Ralph W. Johnson, Craighton Goeppele, David Jansen, Rachael Paschal
Articles
The public trust doctrine is an ancient doctrine that has recently emerged as a powerful tool to protect the public interest in tidelands and shorelands. Created and developed by the judiciary, the doctrine's principles have found their way into several of Washington's regulatory statutes, such as the Shoreline Management Act and the Aquatic Lands Act. This Article traces the development of the doctrine in Washington, and explains the relation between the state's police power and the public trust doctrine. This Article also sets forth the current contours of the public trust doctrine in Washington, and charts potential future developments of …
Oil And The Public Trust Doctrine In Washington, Ralph W. Johnson
Oil And The Public Trust Doctrine In Washington, Ralph W. Johnson
Articles
The tragic spill of millions of gallons of oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound alerted the people of Washington to the danger of spills in Puget Sound. In Washington, the danger heightens as the amount of oil transported through the Sound increases. Indeed, Coast Guard figures show about 1,500 tanker movements in Puget Sound in 1988, a 50 percent increase over 1974.2 Moreover, the spill from the Exxon Valdez taught us that, because very little can be done after a spill, the only truly effective means of preventing damage from oil spills is to prevent them in the first place. …
Protection Of Biodiversity Under The Public Trust Doctrine, Ralph W. Johnson, William C. Galloway
Protection Of Biodiversity Under The Public Trust Doctrine, Ralph W. Johnson, William C. Galloway
Articles
The public trust doctrine is an ancient Roman legal doctrine that has been applied in both England and the Umted States. The doctrine traditionally addressed questions of public access to and use of commercially navigable waters for navigation, fisheries and various other uses of the underlying seabeds, lake bottoms, and riverbeds. In recent years, the public trust doctrine has been invoked to protect birds and other wildlife, water quality, ecological and environmental values, and different types of recreation. Although no public trust case has applied the doctrine to protect biodiversity per se, it seems clear by analogy to existing case …
Public Trust Protection For Stream Flows And Lake Levels, Ralph W. Johnson
Public Trust Protection For Stream Flows And Lake Levels, Ralph W. Johnson
Articles
The public trust doctrine and the appropriative water rights system are headed on a collision course in the West. Appropriators claim vested property rights to extract water for irrigation, mining, manufacturing and other uses. They further assert that under the appropriation doctrine such extractions can continue in perpetuity regardless of the consequences to navigation, fishery and other public values. The public, however, increasingly insists on more protection for environmental and ecological values, aesthetic quality and recreational opportunities, which on lakes and streams usually means leaving waters in place. As a result, the courts are being asked to apply legal doctrines …
Harbor Lines And The Public Trust Doctrine In Washington Navigable Waters, Ralph W. Johnson, Eileen M. Cooney
Harbor Lines And The Public Trust Doctrine In Washington Navigable Waters, Ralph W. Johnson, Eileen M. Cooney
Articles
Since 1971 the Shoreline Management Act (SMA) has been the dominant legal tool for managing the Washington coastal zone. However, use of state-owned beds of navigable fresh and salt waters below low tide or the low-water line is still controlled largely by the harbor line system established in the 1889 state constitution. Almost no attention has been paid to the harbor line system in the legal literature, or to its relationship to the other laws concerned with coastal zone management. This article briefly analyzes the relationship of the harbor line system to the SMA, to the various federal laws concerned …