Natural Resources Law Commons^™

Evolution Of Water Institutions In The Indus River Basin: Reflections From The Law Of The Colorado River, Erum Sattar, Jason Robison, Daniel Mccool

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Transboundary water institutions in the Indus River Basin can be fairly characterized as broken in key respects. International relations between India and Pakistan over the Indus Waters Treaty, as well as interprovincial relations within Pakistan over the 1991 Water Accord, speak to this sentiment. Stemming from research undertaken by the authors for the Harvard Water Federalism Project and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), this Article seeks to spur the evolution of the Indus River Basin’s water institutions by offering a comparative perspective from North America’s most “institutionally encompassed” basin, the Colorado River Basin. Mindful of the importance …

Muddying The Water: Tiered Water Rates After San Juan Capistrano, Travis Kaya

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

In the face of chronic drought, water utilities across California have turned to tiered water rates to promote conservation and curb consumer demand. However, recent legal challenges have called the constitutionality of tiered- rate schemes into question, threatening to deprive utilities of a critical conservation tool.

A patchwork of recent court decisions—the landmark Capistrano Taxpayers Association v. City of San Juan Capistrano most notable among them—have exposed an unresolved conflict between the California Constitution’s water rights and taxation provisions. Namely, how does Proposition 218’s restrictions on assessments for “property related services” apply to tiered water rates set by public water …

Take This Job And Shove It: The Pragmatic Philosophy Of Johnny Paycheck And A Prayer For Strict Liability In Appalachia, Eugene "Trey" Moore Iii

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming

Navajo Nation V. Department Of The Interior, Jaclyn R. Van Natta

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Navajo Nation v. Department of the Interior, the Navajo Nation challenged the Department of the Interior’s 2001 and 2008 water allocation guidelines and asserted that under NEPA and the APA the guidelines violated the Navajo Nation’s water rights. The Navajo Nation also asserted a breach of trust claim against the United States. After nearly a decade of attempted settlement negotiations, the Navajo Nation reasserted its complaints. The District Court for the District of Arizona denied the Navajo Nation’s motions, and the Navajo Nation appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which determined the Navajo Nation lacked standing, …

Hawai'i Wildlife Fund V. County Of Maui, Lowell J. Chandler

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Hawai’i Wildlife Fund v. County of Maui, the Ninth Circuit held that the plain language of the Clean Water Act provides jurisdiction over indirect discharges of pollutants from a point source into groundwater that is shown to be connected to navigable waters. The court found that studies confirmed pollutants entering the Pacific Ocean were fairly traceable to the County of Maui’s sewage disposal wells. In affirming the district court’s ruling, the Ninth Circuit held that Maui County violated the Clean Water Act by discharging pollutants into a navigable water without the required permit. The court also concluded the …

Survey Of Legal Mechanisms Relating To Groundwater Along The Texas-Mexico Border, Jessica Foster

EENRS Program Reports & Publications

The purpose of this study is to present a factual picture of the multiple groundwater governance frameworks that cover the same transboundary aquifers on the Texas-Mexico border. The study can then serve as a foundation to support future research and as a reference for those sharing groundwater resources on the border to use in considering whether and how to coordinate management. Currently, Texas A&M School of Law, the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, and the Texas Water Resources Institute are collaboratively pursuing a larger interdisciplinary project, and the study presented in this report is …

National Association Of Manufacturers V. Department Of Defense, Summer L. Carmack

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In an attempt to provide consistency to the interpretation and application of the statutory phrase “waters of the United States,” as used in the Clean Water Act, the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers together passed the WOTUS Rule. Unfortunately, the Rule has created more confusion than clarity, resulting in a number of lawsuits challenging substantive portions of the Rule’s language. National Association of Manufacturers v. Department of Defense did not address those substantive challenges, but instead determined whether those claims challenging the Rule must be filed in federal district courts or federal courts of appeals. In its decision, the …

Serving Pets In Poverty: A New Frontier For The Animal Welfare Movement, Amanda Arrington, Michael Markarian

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

How Fast Is Too Fast? Osha’S Regulation Of The Meat Industry’S Line Speed And The Price Paid By Humans And Animals, Israel Cook

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

The Farts Heard ‘Round The World: Where Cow-Tapping Falls On The International Agenda Of Sustainable Development, Alexandra C. Nolan

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

This Is Not The Bee’S Knees: A Critical View Of The Government’S Lack Of Policy To Conserve The Pollinators, Savannah Pugh

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Legislative Efforts To Increase State Management For Imperiled Species Should Be Rejected, Stephanie Kurose

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Anthropogenic Noise And The Endangered Species Act, Carolyn Larcom

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Cruelty To Human And Nonhuman Animals In The Wild-Caught Fishing Industry, Kathy Hessler, Rebecca Jenkins, Kelly Levenda

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

The “Fowl” Practice Of Humane Labeling: Proposed Amendments To Federal Standards Governing Chicken Welfare And Poultry Labeling Practices, Latravia Smith

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

Chickens raised specifically for meat production are the world’s most intensively farmed land animals. Yet, the existing legal frameworks that regulate the production and labeling of poultry products in the United States allow poultry producers to mistreat chickens, falsely distinguish poultry products, and defraud conscious consumers. This article proposes unique opportunities to improve poultry welfare in the United States’ agricultural industry and offers methods to ensure the accurate labeling of poultry products.

Cafos: Plaguing North Carolina Communities Of Color, Christine Ball-Blakely

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

About Sdlp

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Editor's Note, Luke Trompeter, Ingrid Lesemann

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

The Semicommons And Wisconsin Water Quality, David A. Strifling

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

From the Great Lakes to pristine northern streams, Wisconsin boasts a plentiful and valuable array of water resources. Yet water stress analyses show that this natural capital is deeply threatened in a variety of ways. The pressure results primarily from human activity, ranging from general overuse to colonization by anthropogenically introduced non-native species. Some of the greatest water quality problems, however, are caused by land use practices that lead to polluted runoff from farm fields and urban settings. The onset of climate change has the potential to further exacerbate all of this. These issues, coupled with the failure of existing …

Drought And Public Necessity: Can A Common-Law "Stick" Increase Flexibility In Western Water Law?, Robin Kundis Craig

Texas A&M Law Review

Drought is a recurring—and likely increasing—challenge to water rights administration in western states under the prior appropriation doctrine, where “first in time” senior rights are often allocated to non-survival uses such as commercial agriculture, rather than to drinking water supply for cities. While states and localities facing severe drought have used a variety of voluntary programs to reallocate water, these programs by their very nature cannot guarantee that water will in fact be redistributed to the uses that best promote public health and community survival. In addition, pure market solutions run the risk that “survival water” will become too expensive …

Compact Compliance As A Beneficial Use: Increasing The Viability Of An Interstate Water Bank Program In The Colorado River Basin, Emily Halvorsen

University of Colorado Law Review

There is a looming problem facing the Colorado River Basin: an increasing likelihood of a compact call on the Upper Basin due to projected climate change and population growth stresses on the Colorado River. To address this problem, water resource managers and natural resource management organizations throughout the Upper Basin have proposed a leading approach of an interstate water bank program. There are three main shortfalls to this though, which do not make the program a viable approach in addressing the problem: (1) legal uncertainty regarding individual water rights; (2) concerns regarding speculation; and (3) lack of incentives for state …

Energy-Water Nexus, The Clean Power Plan, And Integration Of Water Resource Concerns Into Energy Decision-Making, Sarah Ladin

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Energy regulation in the United States is now at a crossroads. The EPA has begun the process to officially repeal the Clean Power Plan and currently has no plan to replace it with new rulemaking to regulate carbon emissions from the U.S. energy sector. Even though the Clean Power Plan is more or less at its end, its regulatory structure stands as a model of the way decision-makers in the United States regulate the energy sector and the environment. Since the beginning of the modern environmental legal system, decision-makers have chosen to silo the system. Statutes and agencies focus on …

Water Security, Rhett B. Larson

Northwestern University Law Review

Climate change, as the dominant paradigm in natural resource policy, is obsolete and should be replaced by the water security paradigm. The climate change paradigm is obsolete because it fails to adequately resonate with the concerns of the general public and fails to integrate fundamental sustainability challenges related to economic development and population growth. The water security paradigm directly addresses the main reasons climate change ultimately matters to most people—droughts, floods, plagues, and wars. Additionally, this new proposed paradigm better integrates climate change concerns with other pressing global sustainability challenges—including that economic development and population growth will require 50% more …

Small Sustainability Supply: How Small Business And Lean Manufacturing Can Change Supply Chains, Carlos Lopez

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Benefitting From Sustainable Development, Victoria Frappaolo

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Batteries Included: Incentivizing Energy Storage, Lindsay Breslau, Michael Croweak, Alan Witt

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

Distributed Energy Storage (“DES”) technologies that allow households and businesses to store substantial amounts of electricity on site are rapidly advancing and could soon have dramatic impacts on the nation’s electricity generation, transmission, and distribution markets. These technologies could provide numerous benefits, including enhanced energy security, grid stability, and greater support for renewable generation technologies, but several obstacles are slowing their adoption throughout the country. Among these obstacles are stubbornly high manufacturing costs and the potential impacts of DES development on utilities and the traditional energy regulatory framework. Fortunately, policymakers in California, New York, Hawaii, and some other states are …

Appraising The Role Of The Ifc And Its Independent Accountability Mechanism: Community Experiences In Haiti’S Mining Sector, Kate Nancy Taylor

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Green Is Good: How Green Bonds Cultivated Into Wall Street’S Environmental Paradox, Luke Trompeter

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

When the European Investment Bank issued the first green bond in 2007, few imagined this debt instrument would attract mainstream investors. Designed to finance projects ranging from climate change prevention to clean transportation development, green bonds were geared for socially responsible investors concerned with our planet’s sustainability. However, by 2015, green bonds were issued by major corporations like Apple and municipalities like New York City at a record $40 billion. Major players on Wall Street have taken notice and look to cash in on the rapidly growing green bond market. With this new influx of investment and the bonds’ tax-exempt …

About Sdlp

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Editor's Note, Kimberly Reynolds, Ryan Schmidt

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.