Environmental Law Commons^™

Native Communities And Climate Change: Protecting Tribal Resources As Part Of National Climate Policy: Report, Jonathan M. Hanna, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center, Western Water Assessment (Program)

Books, Reports, and Studies

67 p.

The Animal Question: The Key To Coming To Terms With Nature, Jim Mason

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.

Why "Managing" Biodiversity Will Fail: An Alternative Approach To Sustainable Exploitation For International Law, Kyle Ash

Animal Law Review

The role of humans in mass extinctions necessitates an assessment of the collective human psychology responsible for the degradation of Earth’s life support systems. In this paper, the Author will cite instruments and discourse relevant to international environmental law to illustrate how an antiquated conception of biological hierarchies is condoned whenever other species are mentioned. As reflected in the law, humans do not just believe we are existentially unconnected with the rest of life, but that we have more right to live on the planet. This, ironically, allows us to rationalize activities that destroy the planet, even for ourselves. Nature …

At A Complex Crossroads: Animal Law In Indian Country, Rob Roy Smith

Animal Law Review

Animals play an especially important role in Indian history and culture. The value of animals to the tribes is reflected in every aspect of their culture, from song and dance to land use and treaty terms. Tribes today are still dependent on fish and wildlife for ceremonies and everyday living. The tribes have translated their value for animals into creative ways to protect domestic animals and manage animal populations, including working with state and federal governments to co-manage fish and wildlife populations. This article begins with a discussion of criminal and civil jurisdiction within Indian Country. The article provides a …

Palazzolo, The Public Trust, And The Property Owner's Reasonable Expectations: Takings And The South Carolina Marsh Island Bridge Debate, Erin Ryan

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Crimes Against Nature, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

St. Thomas Law Review

This speech was presented on February 2, 2006, at St. Thomas University School of Law, as part of the Distinguished Speaker Series program.

The Best Scientific Evidence Available: The Whaling Moratorium And Divergent Interpretations Of Science, A. W. Harris

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Justice Scalia's Footprints On The Public Lands, Bret C. Birdsong

Scholarly Works

This article explores Justice Scalia's views of judicial review of administrative action, as revealed in his writings on public land law, as both a scholar and a Supreme Court justice. It examines and explains why Professor Scalia favored judicial review of public land administration while Justice Scalia seems to abhor it. In a sweeping law review article published in 1970, Professor Scalia argued that the doctrine of sovereign immunity historically did not apply in public lands cases. On the Court he has penned two of the most significant decisions addressing judicial review of public lands administration, each of them imposing …

International Animal Rights: Speciesism And Exclusionary Human Dignity, Kyle Ash

Animal Law Review

The primary goal of this paper is to act as a heuristic device, to suggest an unconventional but practical perspective on the evolution of international law. Upon surveying discourse on the history of international law, texts of treaties, and declarations and writings of influential philosophers of law and morality, an antiquated perspective of humanity is apparent. A convention in international law, and a reflection of a common idea which feeds the foreboding trend of how humans relate to the planet, treats humanity as distinctively separate from the Earth’s biodiversity. Though environmental law is beginning to recognize the necessity of conserving …

Maximizing Scientific Integrity In Environmental Regulations: The Need For Congress To Provide Guidance When Scientific Methods Are Inadequate Or When Data Is Inconclusive, Mariyetta Meyers

Animal Law Review

A “best science available” directive appears in a variety of environmental law statutes. Although seemingly clear, this directive has created an abundance of litigation with various plaintiffs challenging agency decisions under the Administrative Procedure Act’s (APA) arbitrary and capricious standard of review. The courts’ review of the agency decisions based on such science largely depends on the various ways in which the “best science available” directive is written in the particular statute. That is, the more specific the congressional mandate, the less latitude the agency has in implementing congressional will; the broader the statutory language, the more breathing space the …

The Right To Trial By Jury In Environmental Cost-Recovery And Contribution Actions: United States V. England, Jonathan L. Mayes

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Developing Internationally Uniform Liability Principles For Harms From Genetically Modified Organisms , Ryan C. Hansen

ExpressO

This paper analyzes the current legal principles regarding liabillity for harms from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the U.S. and E.U., as well as the various international policies and mechanisms affecting GMOs

Conference Summary: Water, Climate And Uncertainty: Implications For Western Water Law, Policy, And Management, Steve Bailey

Water, Climate and Uncertainty: Implications for Western Water Law, Policy, and Management (Summer Conference, June 11-13)

7 pages.

"Steve Bailey, National Center for Atmospheric Research"

Billboards And Big Utilities: Borrowing Land-Use Concepts To Regulate "Nonconforming" Sources Under The Clean Air Act, Deepa Varadarajan

Faculty Publications

Part II of this Note provides an overview of how the regulatory framework has developed with regard to federal control technology requirements governing major stationary sources. It focuses on the statutory language of the 1970 Clean Air Act and the 1977 Clean Air Act Amendments and subsequent administrative and judicial interpretations. Part III examines the development of the land-use doctrine governing the regulation of preexisting nonconforming uses and highlights its theoretical similarities to the air pollution context. Part IV looks specifically at the jurisprudence surrounding the use of amortization provisions in the zoning context. By and large, a court's acceptance …

Agenda: A Cartography Of Governance: Exploring The Province Of Environmental Ngos, University Of Colorado Boulder. School Of Law, University Of Colorado Boulder. Environmental Program, University Of Tulsa. National Energy-Environment Law & Policy Institute, University Of Colorado Boulder. United Government Of Graduate Students

A Cartography of Governance: Exploring the Province of Environmental NGOs (April 7-8)

Presented by: the Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law and Policy on April 7 & 8, 2001. Symposium director: Lakshman D. Guruswamy.

Co-sponsored by: University of Colorado School of Law, University of Colorado Environmental Program, University of Tulsa National Energy-Environment Law and Policy Institute, University of Colorado United Government of Graduate Students.

The papers and edited proceedings of the conference will be published in a special symposium issue of the Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law & Policy (CJIELP).

"The first objective of the Symposium was to understand and explore the growing importance of nongovernmental actors, and delineate the manner …

Introduction To Everglades Symposium Special Topic, J. Allison Defoor Ii, Jennifer L. Fitzwater

St. Thomas Law Review

Introduction to Everglades Symposium Special Topic by J. Allison DeFoor, II and Jennifer L. Fitzwater.

This Time For Sure--A Political And Legal History Of Water Control Projects In Lake Okeechobee And The Everglades, David G. Guest

St. Thomas Law Review

For more than a century, efforts have been under way to control water in the Lake Okeechobee/Everglades ecosystem. After years of scheming dating back to the 1840s, drainage projects began in earnest in the 1880s. Although each project was intended to make up for the shortcomings of the last, each was progressively more damaging to the environment, and thus necessitated another more expensive project. Thus, each project had unintended consequences. Throughout this progression of projects, opposing interests repeatedly found themselves in the Florida Legislature and the Florida Supreme Court. In those forums, the zeal for Everglades drainage produced an enlarged …

The Everglades Ecosystem: From Engineering To Litigation To Consensus-Based Restoration, John J. Fumero, Keith W. Rizzardi

St. Thomas Law Review

"The Everglades were dying. The endless acres of saw grass, brown as an enormous shadow where rain and lake water had once flowed, rustled dry." As late as the 1800's, the Everglades consisted of a 60-mile wide shallow river, seldom more than 2 feet deep, flowing from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay. That was before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers erected 1,400 miles of dikes, dams, levees and water control structures in the name of water supply and flood control Now in the year 2000, more than fifty years after Marjory Stoneman Douglas wrote about the demise of the …

Good Science Or Myopia: Will The 1991 Everglades Settlement Lead To An Optimal Restoration Or Will Phosporus Reductions Be Taken Too Far, William H. Green, Gary V. Perko

St. Thomas Law Review

Everglades water quality restoration: What does it mean? How will it be achieved? How much will it cost? Will it promote re-establishment of historical wildlife populations? Despite years of scientific research, these questions remain answered for the control of phosphorus inputs under Florida's landmark Everglades Forever Act. A one-dimensional approach continues to drive Everglades restoration efforts along a narrow path of extreme phosphorus reductions despite mounting scientific evidence that this could harm wildlife and be unduly costly to society However, moderation of that goal may enhance Everglades wildlife habitat by restoring lost ecosystem functionality, and preserving areas where wildlife mercury …

Wildlife -- Our Most Valuable Public Resource, Elizabeth Furse

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.

A House On Fire: Linking The Biological And Linguistic Diversity Crises, Kieran Suckling

Animal Law Review

Although it is a truism among conservation biologists that humanity is in the midst of the Earth's sixth great extinction spasm, overt public awareness of the crisis is dim, and understanding of its implications even dimmer. The house is burning down around us, and even as the beams begin to cave in, we have but the vaguest intuition of the enormity of the danger. How is it possible to ignore the biosphere careening toward an extinction catastrophe unparalleled not only in the brief span of human history, but in the last sixty-five million years of life on Earth? The question …

Tribal Governments And The Protection Of Watersheds And Wetlands In Indian Country, Dean B. Suagee

St. Thomas Law Review

This paper will focus on the protection of watersheds and wetlands within Indian country under the federal environmental scheme. In section II, we discuss the authorization of tribal programs under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). In section III, we provide a detailed discussion of the programmatic and legal developments in tribal implementation of the water quality standards programs under the CWA. Section IV discusses EPA's authority to directly implement the CWA and SDWA in Indian country. In Section V, we summarize EPA's strategy to create partnerships with tribes to protect water resources in Indian …

Environmentally Friendly Ranching? An Interview On The High Desert, Lisa Johnson

Animal Law Review

The following is an interview with Doc Hatfield about his views on raising cattle and his association with Oregon Country Beef, a cooperative organization that his wife, Connie, helped start in 1986. Doc was on his cell phone while we talked, as he and Connie were on their way to Portland from their High Desert Ranch in Brothers, Oregon to give a talk to an agricultural group. Connie was driving while Doc and I spoke. They have a rule against driving and talking on the phone at the same time. I agreed that was probably a good policy.

Feedlots -- Rural America's Sewer, Marilyn Lee Nardo

Animal Law Review

Over one billion tons of animal waste is produced each year in the United States by animal feedlot operations (AFOs). In 1995 alone, 63.5 million gallons of manure spilled from AFOs. Manure spills poison rivers, lakes, and ponds, seep into groundwater, causing fishkills, human disease, and death. The United States Environmental Protection Agency, reports that AFOs are a primary factor in the impairment of forty percent of the nation's waterways. Despite these conditions, there are no federal standards for the storage, application, or management of animal waste. This Comment evaluates the existing regulation of AFOs under the Clean Water Act …

Chevron Doctrine In Federal Indian Law And The Agencies' Duty To Interpret Legislation In Favor Of Indians: Did The Epa Reconcile The Two In Interpreting The Tribes As States Section Of The Clean Water Act?, Alex Tallchief Skibine

St. Thomas Law Review

Part II of the Article discusses whether there is an ambiguity in the CWA, and if so, whether the EPA should be given Chevron deference in its interpretation of the Act. After concluding that there is an ambiguity in the statute and that Chevron is applicable, this Article discusses what role, in the Chevron inquiry, should be played by the rule of statutory construction mandating that federal statutes enacted for the benefit of Indians be construed liberally with ambiguities resolved in their favor. This rule will be referred to as the Indian liberal construction rule. This Article takes the position …

Tracking The Adc: Ranchers' Boon, Taxpayers' Burden, Wildlife's Bane, David Hoch, Will Carrington Heath

Animal Law Review

Approximately thirty five million dollars are spent each year by the Animal Damage Control division of the US Department of Agriculture to destroy predator animals that supposedly kill livestock. The methods by which the ADC kills these "predators" are appalling. Mr. Hoch argues that the funding for this program is excessive, irresponsible, and raises serious ethical questions. He concludes that ADC activities should be terminated immediately.

Slamming Shut The Ark Doors: Congress's Attack On The Listing Process Of The Endangered Species Act, Jeffrey S. Kopf

Animal Law Review

The 104th Congress legislated a complete moratorium on the listing of species and critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act. Mr. Kopf explores the motivations behind the moratorium and shows how market forces may further weaken the ESA. This article questions whether the moratorium and its subsequent repeal signal a new era of environmental awareness or a return to industry's discreet manipulation of the legislative process.

State Responsibity And Civil Reparation For Environmental Damage, Leslie C. Green

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.

Air Quality And Transportation On Colorado's Front Range: Taking Responsibility For Difficult Choices, Wade Buchanan, David A. Pampu, Christine Lipaj Shaver, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Air Quality and Transportation on Colorado's Front Range: Taking Responsibility for Difficult Choices (March 12)

15 pages.

Collection of 3 papers presented at the Hot Topics in Natural Resources Law program held on March 12, 1996.

Includes biographical information for Wade Buchanan, David A. Pampu, and Christine Lipaj Shaver.

With communities along Colorado's Front Range continuing to grow at a rapid rate, government, private businesses and citizens are faced with difficult choices concerning air quality and transportation. Can we control the "brown cloud" and increasing congestion on our roads and freeways? What decisions and sacrifices must be made, and who will take responsibility for them? Wade Buchanan, Chairman of the Regional Air Quality Council (RAQC), …

Environmental Rights And Indigenous Wrongs, Mahnoush H. Arsanjani

St. Thomas Law Review

The early writers of international law were environmentally literate. Grotius, for example, in his great novel, The Law of War and Peace, prohibited certain potentially advantageous tactics because of their long-term environmental costs. But, the early writers lived in a preindustrial era, where it was reasonable to design a public order based on maximum access and use, and minimum regulation. After all, no matter how many wind driven ships sailed the ocean surface, the ocean would not "wear out." The industrial revolution irrevocably changed that reality. International concern about the protection of the environment began to take political form and …