Law Commons^™

Its Time For A State Environmental Policy Act, Denise D. Fort

Faculty Scholarship

What single law should be the first step in protecting New Mexico's environment from the consequences of our cascading population? My nomination would go to a State Environmental Policy Act, commonly called a "state NEPA." These laws are on one level very simple, requiring only that state governments "stop and think" before taking actions with significant environmental costs. After twenty-five years of experience with the federal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), however, we know that a law that allows citizens input into governmental action has a profound effect on governmental action.

Federal Environmental Citizen Provisions: Obstacles And Incentives On The Road To Environmental Justice, Eileen Gauna

Faculty Scholarship

This article attempts to examine the special problems that community-based groups in low income and minority communities might encounter in prosecuting citizen suits under highly technical environmental statutes. To set the context for this inquiry, part II of this article describes the environmental justice movement and investigates the charge that communities of color are disproportionately and unjustly burdened with environmental hazards. Part II also explores the differences in perspective that underlie much of the conflict among environmental justice activists, mainstream environmental organizations, and EPA. Part II concludes with a look at social forces that have contributed to environmental inequities and …

Making A Wrong Thing Right: Ending The "Spread" Of Reclamation Project Water, Reed D. Benson, Kimberley J. Priestley

Faculty Scholarship

In the Pacific Northwest, especially east of the Cascade Range, water is a limited and precious resource. Diversions of water for out-of-stream uses regularly dry up certain reaches of many rivers and streams. Such diversions provide water for municipalities, industrial users, and farmers who irrigate millions of acres in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Diversions also harm fish and wildlife (including threatened and endangered salmon stocks), impair recreational uses of affected waterways, and degrade water quality.

California Dreaming: Water Transfers From The Pacific Northwest, Clifford J. Villa

Faculty Scholarship

A prolonged drought in California has prompted renewed interest in proposals to transfer water from the Pacific Northwest, where rainfall is more plentiful, to the arid Southwest. While recent storms have obviated the need for water transfers at the present time, it is likely these proposals will resurface with the next drought. This Comment will examine past proposals, and discuss less expensive and less drastic means for satisfying the need for water in the Southwest.

Federalism And The Prevention Of Groundwater Contamination, Denise D. Fort

Faculty Scholarship

Pending

Jim Crow, Indian Style: The Disenfranchisement Of Native Americans, Jeanette Wolfley

Faculty Scholarship

This article examines the ongoing struggle of Indians to gain the right to vote and, thus, have a meaningful opportunity to fully participate in the political process. It will discuss historical and modern disenfranchisement and the continued progress toward the goal of political equality envisioned by the fifteenth amendment.

Transboundary Groundwaters: The Bellagio Draft Treaty, Robert D. Hayton, Albert E. Utton

Publications

Increasing populations and industrial and agricultural development worldwide are placing much greater demands on groundwater supplies. Many of these groundwater basins or aquifers underlie two or more countries and are, thus, international or transboundary. Withdrawals from one country can drain life-giving water from a neighboring country and, as a consequence, be the source of severe and protracted conflict. Unfortunately, international law and treaty practice are only at a beginning stage. With the goal of advancing international law and institutions on the matter, a multi-disciplinary group of specialists over an eight-year period have developed a draft international groundwater treaty.

The draft …

Clean Water Act Citizens Suits After Gwaltney: Applying Mootness Principles In Private Enforcement Actions, Reed D. Benson

Faculty Scholarship

The Supreme Court recently held that a citizen plaintiff must make a good-faith allegation of an ongoing violation in order to bring an enforcement action under the Clean Water Act. The decision in Gwaltney of Smithfield, Ltd. v. Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Inc., will prevent citizens from bringing suit for the assessment of civil penalties solely for past violations of the Clean Water Act.

New Role For Nonparties In Tort Actions-The Empty Chair, Reed D. Benson

Faculty Scholarship

In courtroom drama, the spotlight rarely falls on an empty chair. That may change, due to a new Colorado statute allowing factfinders to consider the negligence or fault of nonparties in tort actions. The new statute may not give nonparties starring roles in every trial, but it will certainly thicken the plot.

Development Of The Rio Grande Compact, Raymond A. Hill

Publications

Thirty-six years have elapsed since the Rio Grande Compact of 1938, N.M.S.A. Section 75-34-3 (Repl. 1968), was entered into by Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, and approved by the United States of America. Administration of the Compact since then has been the responsibility of many different persons, few of whom had personal knowledge of the circumstances of the negotiation of this Compact. Consequently, there has been a growing tendency towards interpretation of some of the provisions of the Rio Grande Compact in a manner contrary to the intent of those who participated in its negotiation.

Mr. Hill has intimately connected …