Natural Resources Law Commons^™

Take It To The Limit: The Illegal Regulation Prohibiting The Take Of Any Threatened Species Under The Endangered Species Act, Jonathan Wood

Pace Environmental Law Review

Following the introduction, part II of this article will provide a brief background on the adoption of the Endangered Species Act. Part III will explain that the statute does not authorize the agencies to extend the take prohibition to all threatened species. Part IV will argue that returning to the statutory scheme would result in a fairer distribution of the costs of species protection by imposing the costs of prophylactic protection on agencies and the public generally. Burdening individuals would be a last resort, as Congress intended. Finally, Part V will identify how Congress’ policy is a reasonable way to …

A Future For A Forgotten Predator: Assessment Of The Global And Regional Legal Frameworks For Protection And Recovery Of The Caribbean Sawfishes Pristis Pristis And Pristis Pectinata And Recommendations For The Course Forward, Olga Koubrak

LLM Theses

Two species of sawfish, Pristis pristis and Pristis pectinata, used to be common in the coastal waters of the Caribbean Region. However, due to direct and incidental fishing pressures, national and international trade in body parts, and habitat loss, the populations of these ecologically and culturally significant species have drastically declined. This thesis identifies and reviews global and regional, binding and non-binding legal instruments in effect in the Caribbean Region that encourage states to protect biodiversity in general or address identified threats to sawfishes specifically. Despite the presence of obligations that call upon states to adopt sawfish conservation and habitat …

Barriers To Neighborhood Wildlife Habitats: Is Lawn Uniformity Worth Biodiversity Loss?, Sonya Cunningham

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

Local ordinances and covenants, conditions or restrictions (CCRs) usually create barriers to wildlife habitats in neighborhoods. Fortunately, it is possible under limited circumstances for a homeowner to have a wildlife habitat in their lawn. This comment will provide and overview of those limited circumstances, as well as provide steps to challenge the enforcement of ordinances and CCRs. In addition, this define and examine the concept of biodiversity and biodiversity loss.

Uncertainty, Precaution, And Adaptive Management In Wildlife Trade, Annecoos Wiersema

Michigan Journal of International Law

Wildlife trade is big business. Legal international trade in just some of the wild animals and plants traded worldwide is estimated at $350 to $530 million per year. The United States is the primary importer of virtually every major taxon of these species, including mammals, reptiles, fish, and plants. When it comes to illegal trade, estimates of its value range from $7 to $23 billion annually, covering wild animals, fish, and timber. This illegal trade fuels organized crime and militia and terrorist groups. In the face of all this pressure, some wild species appear to be traded in sustainable amounts. …

Interpreting "Enhancement Of Survival" In Granting Section 10 Endangered Species Act Exemptions To Animal Exhibitors, Anne Haas

Pace Environmental Law Review

Managing endangered species in captivity presents a unique set of problems. Despite their enormous potential to preserve species in the wild - through captive breeding programs, conservation initiatives, and environmental advocacy - many facilities are lagging behind. Part II of this note discusses the evolution of zoos from ancient Egyptian displays of wealth to modern day conservation and education centers. Focusing on the Endangered Species Act, Part III introduces various laws protecting captive animals. Part IV discusses the great potential of zoos to preserve species and the ecosystems on which they rely, while acknowledging the diverse nature of animal exhibitors …

A Sitting Duck: Local Government Regulation Of Hunting And Weapons Discharge In The State Of New York, Gary E. Kalbaugh

Pace Environmental Law Review

On March 31, 2014, the New York State Legislature significantly modified New York's Environmental Conservation Law. The Environmental Conservation Law imposes limitations on the discharge of longbows. A longbow is defined by New York's Department of Environmental Conservation as “a longbow, recurve bow or compound bow which is designed to be used by holding the bow at arm's length, with arrow on the string, and which is drawn, pulled and released by hand or with the aid of a hand-held trigger device attached to the bowstring.”

Before the 2014 amendment, longbows could not be discharged in such a way that …

Scuttling Iuu Fishing And Rewarding Sustainable Fishing: Enhancing The Effectiveness Of The Port State Measures Agreement With Trade-Related Measures, Anastasia Telesetsky

Seattle University Law Review

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU fishing) is a substantial threat to global food security and a recurring problem for global fishery managers already facing difficult baseline situations exacerbated by climate change, including warming oceans and increasing acidification. There is nothing historically new about IUU fishing; there have always been poachers who take advantage of operating in the shadows of legal commercial fishing. What is new is the extent to which marine poaching has industrialized. It is estimated that 19% of the worldwide value of marine catches are unlawful. The problem is not limited to developing states. For example, even …

Re-Tooling Marine Food Supply Resilience In A Climate Change Era: Some Needed Reforms, Robin Kundis Craig

Seattle University Law Review

Ocean fisheries and marine aquaculture are an important but often overlooked component of world food security. For example, of the seven billion (and counting) people on the planet, over one billion depend on fish as their primary source of protein, and fish is a primary source of protein (30 percent or more of protein consumed) in many countries around the world, including Japan, Greenland, Taiwan, Indonesia, several countries in Africa, and several South Pacific island nations. Marine fisheries and marine aquaculture have been subject to a number of stressors that can undermine world food security, including overfishing, habitat destruction, and …

Keynote Remarks: Re-Tooling Law And Legal Education For Food System Reform: Food Law And Policy In Practice, Emily M. Broad Leib

Seattle University Law Review

Thank you for the opportunity to be with you today and to take part in this symposium on the important role law schools and lawyers can play in changing our food system. Food preferences and food choices are incredibly personal, but the way we produce and consume food, and its impacts on our environment, public health, and the safety of ourselves and others, make it a pressing societal issue as well.

Recovering From The Recovery Narrative: On Globalism, Green Jobs And Cyborg Civilization, Michael Burger

Akron Law Review

In this Essay, I make a preliminary foray into this new narrative terrain, identifying several emerging legal storylines that have arisen in the wake of climate change disruptions and that I predict will prove influential in the coming years. In Part I, I discuss the ways in which new perceptions of scale are re-defining human beings’ attachments to a sense of “place” or “dwelling” and are shaping new attitudes about what constitutes the local, posing potential problems for existing federalism schemes. In Part II, I discuss the ways in which America’s long history of nationalizing nature manifests in the discourse …

Natural Resources Law: Private Rights And The Public Interest, Eric Freyfogle, Michael Blumm, Blake Hudson

Contributions to Books

This casebook offers a view of natural resources law rich in history, yet exposing students to the complexities of practicing natural resources law in the 21st century. Given that the focus of most Natural Resources Law casebooks is public lands and public law (often at the federal level), this casebook is unique in its primary focus on natural resource conflicts on private lands and its significant focus on private law (though public law is also a focus). While we include chapters on federal public lands and areas of federal primacy like wetlands regulation and endangered species protection, our focus is …

Applying The Third Un Convention On The Law Of The Sea To Living Marine Resources: Comparing The Approaches Of The United States And South Africa To Highly Migratory Species Management, Erica Wright

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Turtle Power Down Under The Sea?: Comparative Domestic And International Legal Protection Of Marine Turtles By Australia And The United States, Marjorie Palmer

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Fraud And First Amendment Protections Of False Speech: How United States V. Alvarez Impacts Constitutional Challenges To Ag-Gag Laws, Larissa U. Liebmann

Pace Environmental Law Review

This article first explains the background and functions of undercover investigations of agricultural production facilities, and explains the bases upon which states pass laws intended to prevent these investigations. It then gives a background of research already conducted on the constitutionality of Ag-Gag laws, and examines the relevance of the Supreme Court case Alvarez. Based on the analysis provided in Alvarez, the article demonstrates that Ag-Gag laws would not be exempt from heightened First Amendment scrutiny as fraud statutes. Moreover, it demonstrates that, in particular, the Iowa and Utah Ag-Gag laws would not survive the heightened scrutiny outlined in Alvarez.

Animal Agriculture Laws On The Chopping Block: Comparing United States And Brazil, Elizabeth Bennett

Pace Environmental Law Review

Brazil and the United States are among the largest producers and exporters of livestock in the world. This raises important animal rights and environmental concerns. While many of the impacts of industrial animal agriculture are similar in Brazil and the United States, there are key differences in the effects on animals and the environment. The variations between Brazil and the United States are due to ecological, production method, and regulatory differences between the countries. Despite their dissimilarities, however, Brazil and the United States both largely fail to adequately protect farm animals and the environment from the impacts of large-scale animal …

Origins And Development Of Teaching Animal Law In Brazil, Tagore Trajano De Almeida Silva

Pace Environmental Law Review

This paper examines the strategies utilized on each continent and shows the path made for these scholars to build a framework to discuss animal law within law schools. The conclusion is that this movement produced by such scholars has changed the way law schools are teaching law and is affording new opportunities to solve animal concerns, and likewise, social problems in Brazil and around the world.

Therefore, this article first discusses the philosophical Brazilian background to teach animal law, and how the animal rights movement creates a framework for professors and students working in this field. It then summarily explores …

Using Emerging Pollution Tracking Methods To Address The Downstream Impacts Of Factory Farm Animal Welfare Abuse, Tarah Heinzen, Abel Russ

Pace Environmental Law Review

CAFOs present numerous interconnected ethical, environmental, and public health threats, and this article will discuss opportunities to address the multiple adverse impacts of factory farming through advances in pollution tracking methodologies. The first section will introduce the factory farm issue, and the relationship between its environmental and welfare consequences. We then review approaches to establishing liability for surface and groundwater contamination under existing pollution control laws and describe the unique challenges of using these approaches in the context of CAFO pollution. We then discuss techniques that have been used to more precisely identify sources of pollution, including measurements of a …

Cultural Solipsism, Cultural Lenses, Universal Principles, And Animal Advocacy, Thomas G. Kelch

Pace Environmental Law Review

Given the potpourri of human cultures and the need to take a global view of animal rights advocacy, how can animal rights advocates most efficiently and successfully advocate for animals? This article will address this issue.

First, I will describe and analyze views of the human/animal relationship from five example cultural traditions: Western culture, represented generally by Europe and North America, Indian culture, Chinese culture, South African culture, and Islamic culture, exemplified primarily here by Turkey. It is not asserted here that any of these cultures or countries are homogenous; they are not. Although Western culture is primarily constructed on …

Protecting The Pachyderm: The Significance Of Ivory Trade Regulation For African Elephant Conservation, Sharon Montazeri

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The note argues that the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) should have accepted CoP16 Proposal 12 at its 2013 meeting, which sought to prohibit future proposals allowing the trade of elephant ivory for nine years. The proposal aligns with CITES' mission to protect endangered species by eliminating incentives for harmful trade practices. While CITES relies on member states to implement conservation measures, the note contends that a trade ban, coupled with additional protections and public education, is essential to prevent further declines in African elephant populations.

Climate Regulation As If The Planet Matters: The Earth Jurisprudence Approach To Climate Change, Glenn Wright

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

It is now beyond doubt that humans are having an enormously detrimental impact on the natural world. In the face of the incredible environmental challenges we face, new and radical ideas have emerged about how we should regulate human behavior. This paper briefly focuses on the failure of current legal regimes to address climate change, and considers how climate governance would look under the Earth Jurisprudence approach: setting our laws within the context of fundamental principles of ecology and planetary boundaries. Consideration is given to how existing legal concepts could be used to achieve this vision. The paper concludes that …

Land Ethic Under Attack: Keystone Xl And The War Over Domestic S(Oil), Heather Culp

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

The Keystone XL pipeline has caused recent controversy and renewed the debate over the future of fossil fuels in the United States. The project pits largely conservative groups, who argue that the pipeline will create jobs and decrease America’s dependence on foreign oil, against environmental advocates, indigenous tribes, and private landowners, who are attempting to fend off the project because they believe it will displace them of their own lands as well as disrupt the natural ecosystems that lay in the pipeline’s path. In the wake of a presidential veto of the project and renewed sentiment by the pipeline’s …

Permitting Problems: Environmental Justice And The Miccosukee Indian Tribe, Charles Prior

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians is a federally recognized tribe that works and resides in the Everglades region of the State of Florida. The Miccosukee have been battling lax water quality standards through lawsuits since the 1990’s. Recent rulings in federal court held that the State of Florida has failed to comply with the Clean Water Act and ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to set nutrient criteria for the water bodies in the state of Florida until the Florida Department of Environmental Protection complies with the Clean Water Act.

This article uses the principles of environmental justice to analyze ways …

State Conservation As Settler Colonial Governance At Ka‘Ena Point, Hawai‘I, Bianca Isaki

Environmental and Earth Law Journal (EELJ)

This paper argues, by illustrating, that liberal multiculturalism and natural resources are interlinked strategies of settler colonial governance in political debates surrounding the construction of a “predator-proof” fence for conservation purposes across Native Hawaiian lands of deep cultural and historical significance at Ka`ena Point, a state wilderness park in Hawai`i. First, this paper shifts debates framed in terms of the seeming recalcitrance of Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners to recognize the necessity of natural resource management. Second, it considers how these political debates are repeated in the context of legal questions over the forms through which Native Hawaiian cultural claims may …

Problems For Pale Male: An Analysis Of The U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service’S Nest Destruction Policy, Brent Plater, Nicole Lopez-Hagan, Laura Horton

Pace Environmental Law Review

During the 2004 holiday season, Pale Male, New York City’s celebrated and world-renowned red-tailed hawk, had his nest deliberately destroyed. The nest was approximately 400-pounds and was built over several years. Almost immediately, this act of destruction was met with popular uproar among his many fans throughout the world. This tragic story could easily have been avoided if the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) had correctly carried out its duties under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). What happened to Pale Male years ago is still a possibility today because the Service’s policy remains the same. This article …

The Implementation Of The Animal Damage Control Act: A Comment On Wildlife Services's Methods Of Predatory Animal Control, Tiffany Bacon

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

Agenda: A Life Of Contributions For All Time: Symposium In Honor Of David H. Getches, University Of Colorado Boulder. School Of Law, University Of Colorado Law Review

A Life of Contributions for All Time: Symposium in Honor of David H. Getches (April 26-27)

On April 26-27, 2012, Colorado Law honored David H. Getches with a symposium to celebrate his life and legacy of trailblazing scholarship. “A Life of Contributions for All Time” featured a keynote address by Distinguished Professor Charles Wilkinson entitled, “Hero for the People, Hero for the Land and Water: Reflections on the Enduring Contributions of David Getches.” Top scholars in the fields of natural resources, water, and American Indian law reflected on Dean Getches’ contributions and their own insights into these fields, including Professor John Leshy, John Echohawk, Professor Carole Goldberg, Professor Joe Sax, Professor Rebecca Tsosie, Justice Greg Hobbs, …

Hot, Crowded, And Legal: A Look At Industrial Agriculture In The United States And Brazil, David N. Cassuto

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Over the last sixty years, industrial agriculture has expanded in the United States and throughout the world, including in Brazil. Any benefit this expansion has brought comes at significant environmental and social costs. Industrial agriculture is a leading contributor to global climate change, air and water pollution, deforestation, and dangers in the workplace. This Article discusses the impact of industrial animal agriculture in the U.S. and Brazil. It also examines the laws pertaining to industrial agriculture in both countries and provides a comparative analysis of the two legal regimes. Finally, this Article concludes with the observation that although the price …

Slides: Introduction To Large-Scale Planning And The Intermountain Bmp Project, Kathryn Mutz

Best Management Practices (BMPs): What? How? And Why? (May 26)

Presenter: Kathryn Mutz, Natural Resources Law Center, University of Colorado School of Law

18 slides

Agenda: Best Management Practices (Bmps): What? How? And Why?, Houston Advanced Research Center. Environmentally Friendly Drilling Systems Program, Research Partnership To Secure Energy For America, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center. Intermountain Oil And Gas Bmp Project

Best Management Practices (BMPs): What? How? And Why? (May 26)

The Environmentally Friendly Drilling Systems (EFD) Program, managed by the Houston Advanced Research Center, works to identify, develop and transfer critical, cost effective, new technologies that can provide policy makers and industry with the ability to develop natural gas reserves in a safe and environmentally friendly manner. Funding for the EFD Program is through a grant from the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America, established under the 2005 Energy Act. Within the EFD Program, some projects focus on technologies for developing energy sources in environmentally sensitive areas; others (like the NRLC’s BMP Project) seek ways to reduce the environmental …

Slides: The Costs And Benefits Of Best Management Practices: Insights From The Marcellus Shale, Timothy J. Considine

Best Management Practices (BMPs): What? How? And Why? (May 26)

Presenter: Timothy J. Considine, School of Energy Resources, Department of Economics and Finance, University of Wyoming

15 slides