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Full-Text Articles in Law
Guest Commentary—Retain Solar Access In Code, K.K. Duvivier
Guest Commentary—Retain Solar Access In Code, K.K. Duvivier
Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship
Good news: The Denver City Council is poised to enact the first comprehensive update to the Denver zoning code in 53 years. This new code could put Denver in the forefront as a progressive planning city and could serve as a blueprint for communities throughout the nation. Bad news: While the new code’s context- and form-based approach may improve transportation efficiencies in some parts of the city, in other respects it represents a step backward for sustainability, specifically for solar access.
Animal, Vegetable, Mineral—Wind? The Severed Wind Power Rights Conundrum, K.K. Duvivier
Animal, Vegetable, Mineral—Wind? The Severed Wind Power Rights Conundrum, K.K. Duvivier
Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship
U.S. wind power capacity increased fifty percent in 2008, making wind one of the fastest growing energy sources. Wind has several advantages over conventional energy fuels: it is renewable, does not emit pollutants, and does not require scarce water resources to process the raw product or to generate electricity. Yet wind power’s rapid growth is creating its own crisis. Thousands of landowners across the country have severed their “wind rights,” splitting wind ownership apart from surface ownership. However, wind power development requires extensive, and perpetual, surface disturbance. As surface owners are the parties most impacted, taking them out of the …
Following Industry's Leed: Municipal Adoption Of Private Green Building Standards, Sarah Schindler
Following Industry's Leed: Municipal Adoption Of Private Green Building Standards, Sarah Schindler
Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship
Local governments are beginning to require new, privately constructed and funded buildings to be “green” buildings. Instead of creating their own, locally-derived definitions of green buildings, many municipalities are adopting an existing private standard created by members of the building industry: LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). This Article explains and assesses the privately promulgated LEED standards. It argues that the translation of LEED standards, which were intended to be voluntary, into law raises several theoretical and practical problems. Specifically, private green building ordinances that rely on LEED do not ensure a reduction in the negative local environmental impacts …
Jousting At Wind Mills: When Wind Power Development Collides With Oil, Gas, And Mineral Development, K.K. Duvivier, Roderick E. Wetsel
Jousting At Wind Mills: When Wind Power Development Collides With Oil, Gas, And Mineral Development, K.K. Duvivier, Roderick E. Wetsel
Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship
Success for the renewable energy economy rides on wind power. Although wind currently accounts for only one percent of the total electricity generation in the United States, the Obama administration hopes to leverage it to twenty-five percent by 2025. Even before setting the current goals, our government recognized wind power as 'the fastest growing source of new power generation.' As fate would dictate, some of the nation’s most promising wind resources overlap regions of the country rich in oil, gas, and other minerals. The intensive surface footprint of wind farms makes conflict with the development of underlying resources inevitable. This …