Environmental Law Commons^™

Protect Our Communities Foundation V. Jewell, Benjamin W. Almy

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Protect Our Communities Foundation v. Jewell, the Ninth Circuit upheld a right-of-way grant issued by the BLM for the development of the Tule Wind energy facility in the McCain Valley in southern California. In its decision to uphold the district court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of the Defendants, the Ninth Circuit reaffirmed National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) standards of compliance for a satisfactory Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”). The specific challenges raised by the Plaintiffs and addressed by the court were to the Statement of Purpose and Need, the Project Alternatives, the Mitigation Measures, and the “Hard Look” …

Kain V. Department Of Environmental Protection, Sarah M. Danno

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Global climate change and its chronic frustrations generated passage of the Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act. The Massachusetts Legislature imposed time-bound implementation mandates on the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection with Massachusetts residents acting as compliance watchdogs. In Kain, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts interpreted the Act in favor of environmental integrity and strict agency compliance standards.

United States Army Corps Of Engineers V. Hawkes Co., Jonah Brown

Public Land & Resources Law Review

When landowners seek to determine if a permit is required from the Army Corps of Engineers to discharge dredged or fill material into waters within their property boundaries, they may first obtain a jurisdictional determination specifying whether “waters of the United States” are present. In an 8-0 judgment, Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes was a victory for landowners, concluding that an approved jurisdictional determination is a final agency action reviewable under the Administrative Procedure Act.

Oregon Natural Desert Association V. Jewell, Jody D. Lowenstein

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Oregon Natural Desert Association v. Jewell, the Ninth Circuit invalidated the BLM’s environmental review, finding that the agency based its approval of a wind-energy development on inaccurate scientific analysis. In negating the BLM’s action, the court held that flawed data and indefensible reasoning were discordant with NEPA’s central tenets. Furthermore, the court did not hold the BLM responsible for addressing a distinct environmental issue that was not brought to its attention during the public comment period.

Passage And Flow Considered Anew: Wild Salmon Restoration Via Hydro Relicensing, Paul Stanton Kibel

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

“Salmon Is Culture, And Culture Is Salmon”: Reexamining The Implied Right To Habitat Protection As A Tool For Cultural And Ecological Preservation, Wesley J. Furlong

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Sacred Responsibility: Governing The Use Of Water And Related Resources In The International Columbia Basin Through The Prism Of Tribes And First Nations, Matthew J. Mckinney, Richard Kyle Paisley, Molly Smith Stenovec

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In the fall of 2012, leaders from Columbia Basin First Nations and tribes participated, along with about 150 other people, in the 4th transboundary symposium convened by the Universities Consortium on Columbia River Governance. Gathered on the shores of Flathead Lake in Polson, Montana, the participants explored the interests, rights, roles, and responsibilities of indigenous people in the international Columbia River Basin. This symposium generated two notable outcomes: first, The Columbia River Basin: A Sense of the Future—a synthesis of interests and concerns with regard to the future of the transboundary river basin as captured by the Universities Consortium during …

Mauna Kea Anaina Hou V. Board Of Land And Natural Resources, Wesley J. Furlong

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Native Hawaiians and the scientific community have been pitted against each other in a decades-long culture war over the construction of observatories and telescopes on sacred landscapes. In Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, the Hawai’i Supreme Court handed a victory to Native Hawaiian culture and rights by halting the construction of a new telescope on Mauna Kea. The decision must be read cautiously, however, as it is firmly rooted in the strict application of procedural due process.

Wildearth Guardians V. United States Office Of Surface Mining, Reclamation And Enforcement, Hallie Bishop

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Wildearth Guardians v. United States Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement sprung from the approval of a modified mining plan for the Spring Creek Mine in Montana. Wildearth Guardians is the adoption of Magistrate Judge Ostby’s Findings and Recommendations by United States District Judge, Susan Watters concluding that the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement violated several provisions of NEPA.

Cascadia Wildlands V. Woodruff, Erick A. Valencia

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Predator management has long been a source of contention among the general public, and few predators have had a more polarizing effect on the public than wolves. Cascadia Wildlands v. Woodruff is yet another example of the tension between conservationists and private interests. In this case, Wildlands opposed the federal government’s FONSI and EA regarding Wildlife Services’s involvement in assisting the WDFW to implement its Wolf Conservation and Management Plan. The district court determined that Wildlife Services had acted arbitrarily and vacated Wildlife Services’s FONSI and EA.

Coastal Conservation Association V. United States Department Of Commerce, Taylor R. Thompson

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Eastern Louisiana District Court upheld Amendment 40 to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council’s Reef Management Plan. The court held that the Gulf Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service’s proposed rule establishing fishing quotas for the red snapper met all of the statutory guidelines imposed under the Magnusson-Stevens Act.

Lessons From The Wolf Wars: Recovery V. Delisting Under The Endangered Species Act, Martha C. Williams

Faculty Law Review Articles

This article uses the fundamentals of the ESA to remind us why Congress passed the ESA. It applies those fundamentals and their focus on recovery of species in peril, to the wolf wars, the decades long legal battles over the reintroduction, recovery, and delisting of wolves culminating in two cases, Defenders of Wildlife v. Jewell (Wyoming case) and Humane Society of the U.S. v. Jewell (Western Great Lakes case). Applying the ESA’s focus on species recovery to the wolf wars demonstrates where the disconnect between recovery and delisting occurs.

Part 1 of this article sets out the fundamentals of the …

It’S Rooted In The Land: How Managing Natural Resources Leads Native American Tribes To Sovereignty, Nicky Ouellet

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Tribal management of land and natural resources within the boundaries of Native American reservations is often superseded by state and federal policy. But control of land and resources is, ultimately, what makes a nation a nation. The three stories in this portfolio depict tribes establishing control of natural resources to various degrees of success. Chapter one is a narrative outlining the stories, my reportage and plans for publication. Chapter two: Members of the Northern Cheyenne seek to establish a medical marijuana program after the federal government relaxed enforcement of cannabis bans. Chapter three: An activist on the Fort Berthold reservation …

Which Came First, People Or Pollution? A Review Of Theory And Evidence From Longitudinal Environmental Justice Studies, Paul Mohai, Robin Saha

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

A considerable number of quantitative analyses have been conducted in the past several decades that demonstrate the existence of racial and socioeconomic disparities in the distribution of a wide variety of environmental hazards. The vast majority of these have been cross-sectional, snapshot studies employing data on hazardous facilities and population characteristics at only one point in time. Although some limited hypotheses can be tested with cross-sectional data, fully understanding how present-day disparities come about requires longitudinal analyses that examine the demographic characteristics of sites at the time of facility siting and track demographic changes after siting. Relatively few such studies …

Natural Resources Defense Council V. United States Environmental Protection Agency, Erick A. Valencia

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Natural Resources Defense Council v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, the court was asked to review the EPA’s Vessel General Permit that set limits on the discharge of pollutants in a ship’s ballast water. Ballast water discharge has become one of the major contributors to the spread of invasive species, especially in the Great Lakes where short voyages allow organisms to easily survive in ballast water. The EPA’s lack of information was a problem of its own making because it prohibited the Science Advisory Board and National Academy of Sciences from adequately exploring available technology before setting the effluent …

Agdaagux Tribe Of King Cove V. Jewell, Taylor R. Thompson

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In a lengthy opinion by the Alaska District Court, the battle for a proposed medical emergency road through the Izembek National Refuge stalled. The court held that the Department of the Interior’s No Action Alternative blocked the construction of the road was decided in accordance within the Department’s authority. It is not the end of the battle over the road, as the court alluded that Congress may be able to change this decision.

Pit River Tribe V. Bureau Of Land Management, 793 F.3d 1147 (9th Cir. 2015), Kathryn S. Ore

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Pit River Tribe v. Bureau of Land Management, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit explained the correct application of the zone of interests test and further solidified the importance of proper NEPA and NHPA analysis in geothermal leasing. The court reaffirmed that the BLM and the Forest Service must conduct additional cultural and environmental analysis when granting lease extensions under the Geothermal Steam Act. Furthermore, it rejected the BLM’s decision to grant forty-year lease continuations to unproven geothermal leases by treating them as a unit rather than individually.

Sierra Club V. United States Army Corps Of Engineers, 803 F.3d 31 (D.C. Cir. 2015), Ariel E. Overstreet-Adkins

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Despite the majority’s “needlessly circuitous” route, as described by concurring Judge Brown, Sierra Club v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers stands as a limit of the application of NEPA to a private pipeline constructed largely on private land. While the main issue identified by the District of Columbia Circuit Court was the scope of environmental review required under NEPA, the court also addressed issues dealing with the ESA and the CWA relating to the construction and operation of a pipeline in the Midwest. The court held that under these circumstances, NEPA review was mandated only for those small stretches where …

Michigan V. Environmental Protection Agency, Lindsay Ward

Public Land & Resources Law Review

What’s the price of clean air? The Supreme Court found that the EPA, tasked with setting limits on hazardous pollutants, unreasonably declined to consider cost when regulating power plant emissions under the Clean Air Act. 42 U.S.C. § 7412 gives the EPA the authority to regulate power plants under the Clean Air Act as long as the Agency finds that “regulation is appropriate and necessary.” In the instant case, the EPA concluded that regulation met both these requirements. Finding the agency’s decision unreasonable, the majority struck down the EPA’s rule. The minority, however, asserted that the decision was unsound; it …

Western Watersheds Project V. Jewell, Hannah S. Cail

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Idaho District Court granted WWP’s motion for summary judgment and denied those of the BLM and intervener Cattle Associations. WWP alleged the BLM failed to protect sage grouse in some 600 grazing permit decisions issued by the Burley Field Office. The court found the decisions insufficient under NEPA because the BLM did not consider the cumulative impacts of grazing permit renewals on sage grouse.

Wildearth Guardians V. United States Office Of Surface Mining, Reclamation And Enforcement, Erick A. Valencia

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Colorado District Court in WildEarth Guardians v. United States Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement ordered the United States Office of Surface Mining to reevaluate the environmental impact of an approved mining modification plan for the Colowyo Mine after the Office failed to involve the public in the approval process and did not take a “hard look” at the modification’s effects on the environment as required by NEPA. Even though the Office of Surface Mining also approved the Trapper Mine’s modification plan without fulfilling NEPA’s requirements, WildEarth Guardians was left without a remedy regarding that mine because the …

High Country Conservation Advocates V. United States Forest Service, 52 F. Supp. 3d 1174 (D. Colo. 2014), Kathryn S. Ore

Public Land & Resources Law Review

High Country Conservation Advocates v. United States Forest Service concerns the United States Forest Service’s and the Bureau of Land Management’s authorizations of on-the-ground mining exploration activities in the Sunset Roadless Area of western Colorado. The United States District Court for the District of Colorado’s holding has far-reaching consequences for federal agencies’ analysis and disclosure of impacts on the climate under the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”). In addition to bolstering the Plaintiffs’ recent successes at establishing legal standing to challenge federal agencies’ disclosures and analyses of impacts on the climate under NEPA, High Country is the first case to …

Koontz V. St. Johns River Water Management District: The Constitutionality Of Monetary Exactions In Land Use Planning, John M. Newman

Montana Law Review

No abstract provided.

To Transfer Or Not To Transfer, That Is The Question: An Analysis Of Public Lands Title In The West, Andrea Collins

Montana Law Review

No abstract provided.

Shell Gulf Of Mexico, Inc. V. Center For Biological Diversity, Nick Vandenbos

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In an attempt to stave off what it saw as impending litigation, Shell Gulf of Mexico, Inc. filed suit under the Declaratory Judgment Act against a range of environmental groups opposed to Shell’s oil exploration in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas of Alaska’s Arctic Coast. Shell requested a declaratory judgment that its oil spill response plans, as approved by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, did not violate the Administrative Procedures Act. Although noting the novelty of Shell’s argument, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit concluded the district court had erred in determining a justiciable …

Conserving Habitat Before It Is Too Late, Jack G. Connors

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Returning To A Tribal Self-Governance Partnership At The National Bison Range Complex: Historical, Legal, And Global Perspectives, Brian Upton

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Solution In Search Of A Problem: The Difficulty With State Constitutional "Right To Hunt" Amendments, Stacey Gordon

Public Land & Resources Law Review

This article explores the facets of hunting amendments. Part I traces the legal history of protections for hunting, from early laws to preserve hunting for the people to modern hunter harassment statutes. Part II analyzes the forms of hunting amendments—some guarantee a right, others only recognize a heritage; some are fundamental rights, others are less strong; some are limited by private property rights, others are absolute. Nonetheless, they have a common source. Part III considers the impacts— possibly unintended consequences—of hunting amendments. Finally, Part IV suggests that while there are unrecognized common values between hunters and animal welfare groups that …

Smith V. Parker, Lindsay M. Thane

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals found that an 1882 Act of Congress did not intend to diminish the boundaries of the Omaha Indian Reservation in Nebraska. The district court’s decision was affirmed because reservation land may not be divested from the tribe absent clear congressional intent to alter the reservation’s boundaries. Because the Omaha Reservation land was not diminished, the town of Pender, Nebraska—which currently sits on Reservation land—and residents of Pender, Nebraska who are engaged in the sale of alcoholic beverages must comply with the Omaha Tribal Code’s imposition of a ten percent sales tax on these beverages.

Learning Both Directions: How Better Federal-Local Land Use Collaboration Can Quiet The Call For Federal Lands Transfers, Michelle Bryan

Montana Law Review

No abstract provided.