Natural Resources Law Commons^™

Imputing Regulatory Failures In Oil And Gas Licensing: A Discussion And Proposal, Joseph A. Schremmer, Charles C. Steincamp

Faculty Scholarship

This Article argues that the Commission's legitimate interest in enforcing its oil and gas regulations, especially including well-plugging regulations, does not justify absolute imputation of regulatory liability to third-party operators under Kan. Stat. Ann. § 55-155(c)(4). But, under certain circumstances, the state's interest may justify imputing personal liability on the individual constituents of a license applicant where the individual is culpable for the underlying regulatory violation or the applicant has a business connection with the operator primarily responsible for the violation, and the competing public policies of groundwater protection and limited liability justify the imputation. This Article proposes a procedural …

New Mexico’S Renewable Portfolio Standard: Analysis Of Existing Policy Design Elements And Compliance Obligations Beyond 2020, Gabriel Pacyniak

Faculty Scholarship

This white paper analyzes two elements of New Mexico’s current Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) in advance of the state legislature’s consideration of an RPS expansion in the 2019 legislative session. First, the paper surveys key policy design elements of the current RPS, compares those elements to other state RPSs, and identifies “policy considerations” that may inform legislative or regulatory action. Among the findings from this part of the analysis are that: 1) other states have set much higher RPS targets; 2) that New Mexico’s RPS has uniquely restrictive cost-containment measures that limit cost impacts but also prohibit the full RPS …

Making The Most Of Cooperative Federalism: What The Clean Power Plan Has Already Achieved, Gabriel Pacyniak

Faculty Scholarship

The fate of the EPA's Clean Power Plan-the signature Obama Administration action to reduce greenhouse gas ("GHG") emissions from existing power plants under the Clean Air Act-is uncertain at best given pending litigation and the opposition of President Donald Trump. Despite this uncertainty, the development of the Clean Power Plan provides an important case study of how rulemaking under a cooperative federalism statutory structure can prompt broad, beneficial policy engagement by states and stakeholders, even in a contentious regulatory action. In the development of the Clean Power Plan, active state and stakeholder engagement and an iterative process of "trying on" …

Reducing Transportation Emissions In The Northeast And Mid-Atlantic: Fuel System Considerations, Gabriel Pacyniak, Drew Veysey, James Bradbury

Faculty Scholarship

In support of states interested in learning more about market-based policy options, the Georgetown Climate Center developed Reducing Transportation Emissions in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic: Fuel System Considerations to explore technical aspects of a possible regional cap-and-invest policy, as an illustrative example of a market-based approach to a multi-state transportation policy. The paper focuses on two subjects: which fuels might be covered under a policy, and which entities in the transportation fuel supply chain might be responsible for reducing emissions.

The recommendations made in this paper are intended to support robust market-based policies that provide flexibility and enable innovation while …

An Examination Of Policy Options For Achieving Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions In New Jersey, Gabriel Pacyniak

Faculty Scholarship

An Examination of Policy Options for Achieving Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions in New Jersey surveys emissions and energy trends, describes a “deep decarbonization pathway” for the state, and identifies the types of policies that would be necessary to achieve those reductions. Many of the policies address the power and transportation sectors, which account for more than 60 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions from New Jersey. The report also includes options for improving building efficiency, reducing methane leaks from natural gas infrastructure, restoring natural carbon sinks in forests and wetlands, and incorporating equity considerations to address the needs of frontline …

Aldo Leopold, Estella Bergere, Mia Casita And Sheepherding In New Mexico And Colorado, Andrew Gulliford

Natural Resources Journal

Personal and regional history of Peggy Bergon, Aldo Leopold, and sheepherding.

Rules And Values In Virtual Optimization Of California Hydropower, Sonya F. P. Ziaja

Natural Resources Journal

Optimization models for California’s hydropower system are designed to be decision-support tools and aids for climate adaptation decision-making. In practice, they fall short of this goal. One potential explanation is that optimization models are not more successful because they are built on, and depend on, a misrepresentation of law and politics. The legal reality of California’s hydropower system is a web of networked jurisdictions of multiple federal and state agencies, with varying levels of coordination, long periods of legally obligated stability with rigid rules, and prone to conflict, but with multiple procedures for conflict resolution. Barriers to climate adaptation from …

Introduction, Natural Resources Vii Journal

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Hydropower Development In India: The Legal-Economic Design To Fuelgrowth?, Surabhi Karambelkar

Natural Resources Journal

Economic liberalization beginning in the early 1990s has represented a paradigm shift in policy discourse in India, from social welfare to economic growth. With its potential benefits of generating power for the growing economy and significant revenue through electricity sales and royalty payments, hydropower development has received center-stage in the hydrorich but economically weaker Himalayan states of India. Using an institutional approach to examine the evolution of laws and policies on electricity, land, environment, and water, this article seeks to uncover how prevailing legal and economic systems prioritize hydropower generation over other water uses. It argues that federal and state …

Liability And Compensation For Oil Spill Accidents: International Regime And Its Implementation In China, Yuan Yang

Natural Resources Journal

Marine oil spill accidents have long been caused by ship collisions. However, the proliferation of offshore oil and gas installations portends a marked increase in oil spills from these sources. This presents a unique enforcement challenge for international and Chinese domestic systems for oil pollution liability and compensation that were developed in response to the threat of ship-based oil pollution. This article focuses on how the international liability and compensation regime for oil pollution has been implemented in China, and whether a combination of the international regime and domestic Chinese regulations could provide an adequate mechanism for holding offshore oil …

Nasty Weather And Ugly Produce: Climate Change, Agricultural Adaptation, And Food Waste, Richard Moore

Natural Resources Journal

Food systems worldwide are threatened by climate change, as reflected, for example, in the diminished yields of fruits and vegetables and reduced production of global fisheries. This article discusses the threats of climate change on agricultural production and the need for agricultural adaptation. It posits that food insecurity must be considered in terms of climate change and its likely effects on food production. The article argues that agricultural mitigation and adaptation measures should must be pursued and communicated through the mechanisms of the Paris Agreement. In the United States, reducing food waste effectuated by the regulation on the culling of …

Liquid Power: Contested Hydro-Modernities In Twentieth-Century Spain By Erikswyngedouw, John Morseau

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Front Matter, Natural Resources I. Journal

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

The Domestic Well Exemption In The West: A Case Study Of Santa Fe’S Municipal Ordinance, Maxine N. Paul

Natural Resources Journal

In the case of Bounds v. State of New Mexico, the New Mexico Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a statute that allows domestic wells to be permitted with less oversight than other water rights. The statute, known as the domestic well exemption, is common in various forms throughout the Western United States. Currently, there are an estimated 200,000 permitted domestic wells across the State of New Mexico, increasing at a rate of approximately 5,000 per year. Various scholars have argued for amendments to domestic well statutes or local regulations to make exempt well applications as rigorous as other water …

Fighting For Environmental Justice: The Life And Work Of Professor Eileen Gauna, Clifford J. Villa

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

State Regulation Of Oil And Gas Pools On State, Federal, Indian And Fee Lands, C. Gene Samberson

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Richardson, Elmo R., The Politics Of Conservation: Crusades And Controversies, 1897-1913, Ernest A. Engelbert

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Milner, J. B., Community Planning: A Casebook On Law And Administration, Ira Michael Heyman

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Alternatives For Recovery Of Attorney's Fees In Environmental Litigation, Fritz Ledbetter

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Res Judicata: Will It Stop Instream Flows From Being The Wave Of The Future?, Harold A. Ranquist

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Statecraft, Domestic Politics, And Foreign Policymaking: The El Chamizal Dispute, Albert E. Utton

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Public Participation And Natural Resource Decision-Making: The Case Of The Rare Ii Decisions, Paul Mohai

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

New Strategies For Reducing Transportation Emissions And Preparing For Climate Impacts, Gabriel Pacyniak, Kathryn Zyla, Vicki Arroyo

Faculty Scholarship

The transportation sector is becoming the largest source of greenhouse gas ("GHG") emissions in the United States. The Obama Administration put in place federal vehicle and fuel standards that are significantly reducing emissions. However, these regulations will be insufficient to put the United States on track to achieve needed reductions needed long-term. This is especially true if the 2025 standards announced by the Obama Administration are rolled back by the new Trump Administration. Because current federal standards alone will not attain ambitious climate goals and may be rolled back, state and local activity is essential to make progress towards meeting …

Pueblo Indian Water Rights: Charting The Unknown, Richard W. Hughes

Publications

This article examines the so-far-unsuccessful efforts to judicially define and quantify the water rights appurtenant to the core land holdings of the 19 New Mexico Pueblos, many of whose lands straddle the Rio Grande. It explains that the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has squarely held that Pueblo water rights are governed by federal, not state law, and are prior to those of any non-Indian appropriator, but also that the Tenth Circuit acknowledged that it could not say how those rights should be characterized. Part I of the article examines the course of the cases that have sought to achieve …

Front Matter, Natural Resources Journal

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

State Innovation On Climate Change: Reducing Emissions From Key Sectors While Preparing For A New Normal, Gabriel Pacyniak

Faculty Scholarship

Climate change is a global phenomenon that is causing sea levels to rise, floods and droughts to become more severe, and countless other impacts. States are implementing many innovative initiatives that are helpful models for other state and federal action—catalyzing changes well beyond their borders. State and local governments possess important legal authorities in areas such as utilities regulation, infrastructure investment, and land use—governing important policies, programs and investments that have long-term consequences in the fight against climate change. More recently, states have begun to undertake efforts to prepare for the consequences of climate change—developing “adaptation plans” aimed at increasing …

Regarding Temporary Modification Of Operations At El Vado Reservoir In New Mexico During May And June 2016, Rio Grande Compact Commission

Law of the Rio Grande

Rio Grande Compact Commission authorizes Reclamation and the MRCGD to temporarily modify operations at El Vado Reservoir in 2016 to aid in creating a spawning flow for the benefit of the Rio Grande silvery minnow in the Middle Rio Grande.

Front Matter, Natural Resources Journal

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Transportation: Opportunities In The Northeast And Mid-Atlantic, Gabriel Pacyniak

Faculty Scholarship

The report finds that clean transportation policies could cut greenhouse gas emissions between 29 to 40 percent in the TCI region by 2030. A comprehensive implementation of state policies could result in net cost savings of up to $72.5 billion over 15 years for businesses and consumers, along with tens of thousands of new jobs and improvements in public health.

Enduring Acequias: Wisdom Of The Land, Knowledge Of The Water By Juan Estevan Arellano, Bianca Smoker

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.