Environmental Law Commons^™

How Do We Deal With This Mess? A Primer For State And Local Governments On Navigating The Legal Complexities Of Debris Issues Following Mass Disasters, Ryan M. Seidemann, Megan K. Terrell, Christopher D. Matchett

ExpressO

The devastation wrought by the 2005 hurricane season brought into bold relief the need for comprehensive debris management plans in the United States. As cleanup efforts commenced following Hurricane Katrina, it became abundantly apparent that the local governments were not prepared to deal with the massive scope of the debris problem.

Disasters will occur. It is not a matter of if, but a matter of when. The entire nation is at risk of being struck by some type of disaster at some time. The best way to deal with the outfall from these disasters is to be prepared for them …

Banning Smoking In Chicago's Social Scene: Protecting Labor And Broadening Public Health Policy, 40 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1063 (2007), Adrienne Detanico

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Environmental Law In The "New" Supreme Court, Robert Abrams

Journal Publications

In the 2006 term the United States Supreme Court issued plenary decisions in four environmental cases. As is usually the case, all four environmental cases that reached the Supreme Court presented nuanced questions of statutory interpretation, most of which were intertwined with administrative law issues. The decisions this term are of unusual importance, as all have significant aspects, either practical, precedential, or attitudinal. Additionally, two of the cases exhibit the 5-4 cleavage, so common in this term's decisions, in which Justice Kennedy is the outcome-determinative swing voter. On unusual occasions there are environmental cases decided by the Supreme Court that …

Chinks In The Armor: Municipal Authority To Enact Shoreline Permit Moratoria After Biggers V. City Of Bainbridge Island, Ryan M. Carson

Seattle University Law Review

Why would a relatively mundane dispute over what amounts to a few cubic yards of concrete warrant the extensive discussion encom passed in this Note? This dispute gives rise to a fundamental question about power: What is the scope of municipal power under one of Washington's most important environmental protection laws? Additionally, questions arise about competing normative values within environmental protection, property rights, and responsible land use and development. Placed against a backdrop of growing contentiousness surrounding these issues in Washington politics, the relevance and timeliness of these questions cannot be doubted.

The Information Quality Act: The Little Statute That Could (Or Couldn't?) Applying The Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments Of 1996 To The Federal Communications Commission, Kellen Ressmeyer

Federal Communications Law Journal

In December 2000, Congress passed the Information Quality Act - a two sentence rider to a 712-page Appropriations Bill. The Information Quality Act, which seeks to ensure the quality of government-disseminated information, places the White House Office of Management and Budget in a supervisory role. The Office of Management and Budget subsequently finalized a set of mandatory Guidelines applicable to all federal agencies. Among other things, the Guidelines require adherence to the scientific standard articulated in the 1996 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act where such agencies engage in risk analysis to human health, safety, and the environment. As …

A Complete Property Right Amendment, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

The trend of the eminent domain reform and "Kelo plus" initiatives is toward a comprehensive Constitutional property right incorporating the elements of level of review, nature of government action, and extent of compensation. This article contains a draft amendment which reflects these concerns.

A New Clean Water Act, Paul Boudreaux

ExpressO

The Supreme Court’s new federalism has struck its strongest blows so far on the Clean Water Act. This summer, in Rapanos v. United States, a sharply divided Court nearly struck down a large chunk of the Act’s protection of wetlands and other small waterways – five years after an earlier decision had narrowed the reach of the Act because of its supposed overreaching into state prerogative. Why has the Clean Water Act been the Court’s favorite target? One reason is that the statute was fatally flawed when enacted. Congress chose to cover “navigable waters,” but its practical definition has never …

Bond Repudiation, Tax Codes, The Appropriations Process And Restitution Post-Eminent Domain Reform, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

This brief comment suggests where the anti-eminent domain movement might be heading next.

A Modern Disaster: Agricultural Land, Urban Growth, And The Need For A Federally Organized Comprehensive Land Use Planning Model, Jess M. Krannich

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Rapanos, Carabell, And The Isolated Man, Joel B. Eisen

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Amending Perpetual Conservation Easements: A Case Study Of The Myrtle Grove Controversy, Nancy A. Mclaughlin

University of Richmond Law Review

This article explores the issue of amending perpetual conservation easements by examining the Myrtle Grove controversy, in which the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States (the "National Trust")" "conceptually approved" a request made by a successor owner of land encumbered by a perpetual conservation easement to substantially amend the easement. Several months later, as a result of public opposition to the amendments and a reassessment of its position, the National Trust withdrew that approval. The owner of the encumbered land subsequently filed a suit for breach of contract, and the National Trust and the Attorney General of …

Why Does The Chesapeake Bay Need Litigators?, Jon A. Mueller, Joseph Tannery

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Checking In On The Chesapeake: Some Questions Of Design, Jonathan Cannon

University of Richmond Law Review

The Chesapeake Bay Program ("the CBP" or "Program") has been widely celebrated as a model of collaborative management for large multijurisdictional watersheds and for ecosystem management more generally.' In an article published six years ago, I joined in the celebration.2 But recent events warrant consideration of whether restructuring of the program is called for. In this essay, I consider whether greater centralization of decisionmaking for the Bay would address recent criticisms of the Program and better protect the public interest. After evaluating two alternative forms for the Program involving greater centralization, I conclude that major restructuring is not in order. …

New Orleans, The Chesapeake, And The Future Of Environmental Assessment: Overcoming The Natural Resources Law Of Unintended Consequences, Eric Ryan

University of Richmond Law Review

This article tells the stories of the disappearing wetlands ringing the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and the Chesapeake Bay of Virginia and Maryland, which are vanishing under different circumstances but bear the same message for environmental policy makers: more sophisticated natural resource planning is required to avoid the unanticipated consequences that can cause even wellintended policies to backfire. The stories suggest that a model of environmental assessment that better tracks the complex network characteristics of regional ecosystems would yield better long-term results, and this article proposes a network-based model that expands the lateral, temporal, and causal analysis of conventional environmental …

Making Main Street Legal Again: The Smartcode Solution To Sprawl, Chad Emerson

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Hurricane Katrina And The Toxic Torts Implications Of Environmental Injustice In New Orleans, 40 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1 (2006), L. Darnell Weeden

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Potential Impact Of Aboriginal Title On Aquaculture Policy, Diana Ginn

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This chapter discusses the potential impact of aboriginal property rights on the development of aquaculture policy by considering whether such rights could provide a basis for First Nation peoples to participate in aquaculture or to manage the participation of others in this industry. The purpose of the chapter is to describe the relevant law as it now stands, to identify issues that have not yet been decided and to consider how the courts might approach such issues in the future.

Breaking The Bank: Revisiting Central Bank Of Denver After Enron And Sarbanes-Oxley, Celia Taylor

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Day 3: Friday, 19 August 2005: States And The Esa, Pam Inmann, Tom Norton

Endangered Species Act Congressional Field Tour (August 17-19)

1 page.

Contains references.

Day 2: Thursday, 18 August 2005: Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program, Bob Muth, Tom Pitts, Dan Luecke

Endangered Species Act Congressional Field Tour (August 17-19)

58 pages (includes illustrations and maps).

Contains references.

Agenda: Endangered Species Act Congressional Field Tour, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Endangered Species Act Congressional Field Tour (August 17-19)

The Center sponsored its third annual field tour for staff members of the United States Congress, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the Colorado state legislature.

Day 1: Wednesday, 17 August 2005: Introduction, Mark Squillace

Endangered Species Act Congressional Field Tour (August 17-19)

5 pages.

Contains references.

Day 1: Wednesday, 17 August 2005: Reauthorizing The Esa, Mark Squillace

Endangered Species Act Congressional Field Tour (August 17-19)

1 page.

Contains one reference.

Stormwater Utility Fees: Considerations & Options For Interlocal Stormwater Working Group (Iswg), New England Environmental Finance Center

Economics and Finance

Stormwater utilities are a concept whose time seems to have arrived. Established by relatively few communities in the 1970s as a method of funding flood control measures, stormwater utilities now exist in over 400 municipalities and counties throughout the United States. During the next 10 years, their numbers are expected to swell dramatically – by one estimate to over 2,000 by the year 2014.

The reasons for this growth are multifold. Federal stormwater regulations passed in the 1980s (Phase I of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Program, or NPDES), motivated many larger communities to seek alternative funding sources and …

Can Administrative Regulations Interpret Rights Enforceable Under Section 1983?: Why Chevron Deference Survives Sandoval And Gonzaga, Bradford Mank

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

There is a split in the circuits regarding whether and when agency regulations may establish rights enforceable through 42 U.S.C. Section 1983. In 1987, in Wright v. City of Roanoke, the Supreme Court held that a statute and regulations interpreting the statute could create enforceable rights under Section 1983, but left unclear to what extent it had relied on the regulations alone to reach this conclusion. The District of Columbia Circuit and Sixth Circuit have held that at least some valid federal regulations may create rights enforceable through Section 1983. Concluding that only Congress by enacting a statute may create …

On The Role Of Cost-Benefit Analysis In Environmental Law: A Book Review Of Frank Ackerman And Lisa Heinzerling's Priceless: On Knowing The Price Of Everything And The Value Of Nothing, Shi-Ling Hsu

Scholarly Publications

Legal scholarship on the role of cost-benefit analysis in environmental law is often stimulating, but does not seem to be changing anybody's mind. The entrenchment of a camp of detractors and a camp of advocates of cost-benefit analysis parallels the impasse that has stymied environmental law for over a decade. Professors Frank Ackerman and Lisa Heinzerling have coauthored a book that captures most of the arguments from the detractor side, and they have done so skillfully and powerfully. However, this Review criticizes the book's contribution to perpetuating this intellectual stalemate. The book does this by focusing on an environmental theory …

Agenda: Introduction To The Legal Foundation Of Federal Land Management, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Introduction to the Legal Foundation of Federal Land Management (December 1-3)

Materials prepared for the course held at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado on December 1-3, 2004

Course instructors: Charles Wilkinson; Sarah Krakoff; Kathryn Mutz; Ann Morgan; Maggie Fox

Contents:

Introduction -- Agenda -- Summaries of laws -- Case studies. Travel management; Oil and gas development; Timber/fuels reduction -- How to influence agency decision makers -- Natural resource related legal and policy resources for the non-legal professional

Introduction To The Legal Foundation Of Federal Land Management, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Introduction to the Legal Foundation of Federal Land Management (December 1-3)

1 v. (various pagings) : ill., maps ; 28 cm

Materials prepared for the course held at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado on December 1-3, 2004

Course instructors: Charles Wilkinson; Sarah Krakoff; Kathryn Mutz; Ann Morgan; Maggie Fox

Contents:

Introduction -- Agenda -- Summaries of laws -- Case studies. Travel management; Oil and gas development; Timber/fuels reduction -- How to influence agency decision makers -- Natural resource related legal and policy resources for the non-legal professional

Environmental Law, Benjamin A. Thorp Iv, William K. Taggart

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Pops, Pic, And Lrtap: The Role Of The U.S. In Draft Legislation To Implement These International Conventions : Testimony Before The H. Subcomm. On Environment And Hazardous Materials Of The H. Comm. On Energy And Commerce, 108th Cong., Jul. 13, 2004 (Statement Of Lisa Heinzerling, Prof. Of Law, Geo. U. L. Center), Lisa Heinzerling

Testimony Before Congress

No abstract provided.