Natural Resources Law Commons^™

A Primer: Air And Water Environmental Quality Standards In The United State, Jason J. Czarnezki, Siu Tip Lam, Nadia B. Ahmad

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Plain Meaning, Precedent, And Metaphysics: Interpreting The “Navigable Waters” Element Of The Federal Water Pollution Offense, Jeffrey G. Miller

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article, the third in a series of five, examines the meaning of “navigable waters” under the Clean Water Act. It traces the traditional judicial interpretation of navigable waters and how Congress and EPA attempted to extend its meaning, then examines how the term has been applied in the context of tributaries and wetlands, isolated waters, groundwater, and EPA’s unitary theory of navigable waters. The author then analyzes EPA and the Corps’ 2014 proposed amendments to the definition of “waters of the United States,” and concludes that those amendments may resolve much of the interpretive crisis.

Keeping Track Of Conservation, Jessica Owley

Articles

Throughout the world, governments require land protection in exchange for development permits. Unfortunately, oftentimes scant attention has been paid to these land protection programs after development. Agencies and permit applicants agree on mitigation rules, but there appears to be little follow-up. When we do not know where conservation is occurring and cannot determine the rules of mitigation projects, the likelihood that they will be successful or enforced diminishes. I journeyed to California in search of answers by tracing four mitigation plans associated with the Federal Endangered Species Act. While I anticipated some difficulties, the tale is more alarming than expected. …

Weed And Water Law: Regulating Legal Marijuana, Ryan Stoa

Faculty Publications

Marijuana is nearing the end of its prohibition in the United States. Arguably the country’s largest cash crop, marijuana is already legal for recreational use in Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Washington DC. Between now and election day 2016, an additional 14 states may place marijuana legalization initiatives on their ballots. In addition, 23 states and Washington DC have legalized medical marijuana, with up to seven states pending legislation. The era of marijuana prohibition is rapidly coming to a close.

At the same time, traditional doctrines of water law are struggling to cope with the modern realities of water scarcity. …

Energy, Consumption, And The Amorality Of Energy Law, Lincoln L. Davies

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

This essay explores the connection between energy consumption and energy law and policy. It argues that the energy law and policy system is configured to promote consumption, almost blindly, so that energy seems nearly infinite and invisible to consumers. This regulatory structure thus creates a kind of amorality for energy consumers. That is, when individuals choose to consume power, those decisions are divorced from their consequences. The essay relies on Pope Francis's encyclical on climate change, Laudato Si', to build its argument, and offers observations about the importance of COP21 in Paris to transform how energy is produced and consumed.

Permanent Sovereignty Over Natural Resources And The Sanctity Of Contracts, From The Angle Of Lucrum Cessans, Sangwani Patrick Ng'ambi

Loyola University Chicago International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Can Afghanistan Live Up To The Expectations Of The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative's Expectations And Achieve Compliant Status To Help Improve Good Governance In Its Natural Resources Sector?, Parwiz Esmati

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Hunting & Fishing: The Implications Of Kentucky's "Right To Hunt" Constitutional Amendment, Young-Eun Park

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Windustry And The Accommodation Doctrine: Should Oklahoma Follow In The Steps Of The Lone Star State?, Chantel P. James

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tribal Strategies For Protecting And Preserving Groundwater, Stephen V. Quesenberry, Timothy C. Seward, Adam P. Bailey

William Mitchell Law Review

No abstract provided.

I Can See Clearly Now: The Epa's Authority To Regulate Indian Country Under The Clean Air Act, Richard Duncan, Christiana Martenson

William Mitchell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Climate Change Adaptation In Indian Country: Tribal Regulation Of Reservation Lands And Natural Resources, Jamie Kay Ford, Erick Giles

William Mitchell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Redd+: Climate Justice Or A New Face Of Manifest Destiny? Lessons Drawn From The Indigenous Struggle To Resist Colonization Of Ojibwe Forests In The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries, Philomena Kebec

William Mitchell Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Response To The Ipcc Fifth Assessment, Jessica Owley, Sarah J. Adams-Schoen, Deepa Badrinarayana,, Cinnamon Carlarne, Robin Kundis Craig, John C. Dernbach, Keith H. Hirokawa, Alexandra B. Klass, Katrina Fischer Kuh, Stephen R. Miller, Shannon Roesler, Jonathan Rosenbloom, Inara Scott, David Takacs

Articles

No abstract provided.

Breaking The Curse: A Multilayered Regulatory Approach, Hunter Dekoninck

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Eastern Africa has been plagued for generations with what Richard Auty considers 'The Resource Curse." This curse, translated into modern economic tragedies, is the exploitive extraction and use of precious minerals from Eastern Africa, specifically the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). As a result of attempts to combat the international market that perpetuates this curse, Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, largely in response to human rights activism, passed into law a provision requiring companies to account to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for their use of certain listed foreign minerals. Although such regulation is …

Memo To The Obama Administration On The U.S. National Action Plan On Responsible Business Conduct, Kaitlin Y. Cordes, Lisa E. Sachs

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

In January 2015, CCSI sent a memo to President Obama to provide input on the U.S. National Action Plan on responsible business conduct. The memo applauded the U.S. Government’s decision to develop a National Action Plan consistent with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, noting that responsible and rights-respecting outward investment can support sustainable development in host countries, and that the U.S. Government has an important role to play in promoting responsible business operations. The memo urged the government to explore in particular how the National Action Plan can address …

At The End Of The Day: Are The West's General Stream Adjudications Relevant To Modern Water Rights Administraton?, Michelle Bryan

Faculty Law Review Articles

This article provides a modest starting place for exploring how adjudications in various western states function together with modern permitting and administration of water rights. By locating adjudication within a state’s broader water rights system, the hope is to elevate in our water law discourse the question of whether, at the end of the day, adjudication proceedings are meaningful in the day-to-day world of water use. Part I summarizes in broad strokes the way various western states approach the interrelated functions of adjudication, permitting, and administration. Part II then highlights some common, emerging issues among state water systems as well …

Sustainability Reporting And New Governance: South Africa Marks The Path To Improved Corporate Disclosure, Ruth Jebe

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The past decade has seen a dramatic increase in corporate disclosure of environmental and social information in the form of sustainability reporting. This growth trajectory, coupled with dissatisfaction with current reporting schemes, has fueled debate over the future of sustainability reporting. The discussion consists primarily of criticism of existing reporting systems and is often polarized between proponents of continued voluntary reporting and proponents of increased mandatory reporting. Missing from the debate is a critical recognition: the shortcomings of existing reporting mechanisms reflect the public policy drawbacks of the processes that created them.

This Article addresses the question of how to …

The Role Of The Profit Imperative In Risk Management, Christopher French

Faculty Scholarship

Risks in the world abound. Every day there is a chance that each of us could be in a car accident. Or, one of us could be the victim of a tornado, flood or earthquake. Every day someone becomes deathly ill from an insidious disease. Our properties are in constant peril—one’s house could catch fire at any time or a tree could fall on it during a storm. Any one of these events could have devastating financial consequences, and they are just a few of the many risks that impact our daily lives. One of the principal ways we manage …

Front Matter, Natural Resources Journal

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Report Of The Special Rapporteur On The Rights Of Indigenous Peoples On The Situation Of Maori People In New Zealand, S. James Anaya

Publications

No abstract provided.

Downstream Inundations Caused By Federal Flood Control Dam Operations In A Changing Climate: Getting The Proper Mix Of Takings, Tort, And Compensation, Robert Haskell Abrams, Jacqueline Bertelsen

Journal Publications

The 2012 United States Supreme Court case Arkansas Game & Fish Commission v. United States presented the Court with a claim that the property of a landowner downstream of a flood control dam was taken without compensation as a result of non-permanent inundations of low lying portions of that parcel caused by a change in the dam's pattern of releases. The Court held that, "government-induced flooding temporary in duration gains no automatic exemption from Takings Clause inspection" and must, instead, be tested according to the Court's usual precedents governing temporary physical invasions and regulatory takings. The Federal Circuit held a …

Plain Meaning, Precedent, And Metaphysics: Interpreting The “Point Source” Element Of The Clean Water Act Offense, Jeffrey G. Miller

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article, the fourth in a series of five, examines the continuing struggles to define “point source” and “nonpoint source” under the Clean Water Act. State regulation of nonpoint sources is neither pervasive nor robust, and most continuing water pollution problems can be traced primarily to nonpoint sources. EPA should define nonpoint sources by regulation and begin to expand the definition of point source by incorporating established case law and Agency practice to bring more nonpoint sources into the point source definition.

A Primer: Air And Water Environmental Quality Standards In The United States, Jason J. Czarnezki

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article, designed as a resource for environmental law professors both domestically and abroad, addresses how environmental quality standards are created, implemented, and enforced in the United States. The answers to these questions are useful to those teaching U.S. environmental law and international scholars, especially in the European Union, who are faced with the challenge of creating new environmental quality standards under both national and EU directives. It must be noted that this project is complicated by the federal system within the country, and, thus, attention must be devoted to the federal-state relationship. In fact, the major relevant statutes, the …

Acknowledgment Of Supporters, Utton Center, University Of New Mexico - School Of Law

Water Matters!

List of supporters.

Legal & Scientific Integrity In Advancing A "Land Degradation Neutral World", Shelley Welton, Michela Biasutti, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

It is no secret that the fight against desertification isn't going well. In the two decades since the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification ("UNCCD") came into force, desertification – defined as degradation in the quality of "arid, semi-arid, and dry subhumid" land areas – has worsened considerably. Recent United Nations estimates suggest that fifty-two percent of drylands currently under agricultural cultivation are moderately or severely degraded, and 12 million hectares of productive land become barren each year due to desertification and drought. And while drylands are the focus of the UNCCD, the challenge isn't limited to them: somewhere around …

How National Park Law Really Works, John Copeland Nagle

Journal Articles

This article provides the first explanation of the relationship between the three overlapping sources of national park law. It first explains how the Organic Act affords the National Park Service substantial discretion to manage the national parks, including deciding the proper balance between enjoyment and conservation in particular instances. It next shows how federal environmental statutes push national park management toward preservation rather than enjoyment. Third, Congress often intervenes to mandate particular management outcomes at individual parks, typically but not always toward enjoyment rather than preservation. The result is that the NPS has substantial discretion to manage national parks in …

The Fair Market Value Of Public Resources, Bruce R. Huber

Journal Articles

This Article explores the problem of public resource sales with particular reference to natural resources managed by the federal government. Lands owned by the United States hold trillions of dollars' worth of natural resources. Federal agencies earn billions in annual revenue from resource sales, yet critics assert that billions more could be reaped if resources were sold for a fair price. Although federal law has increasingly required that agencies price resources at fair market value, this requirement is surprisingly difficult to interpret and even more dfficult to implement and enforce. This Article analyzes the various forces that bear on public …

Safe And Sound: How Adr Can Protect Aquatic Life And National Security, James Diskint

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Part I of this Note examines the background of the LFA conflict, introducing the reader to the parties involved in the litigation, the nature of LFA sonar technology, the applicable statutory laws, and the litigation history. Part II outlines ADR procedures and proposes that ECR mediation would serve as an ideal forum for the LFA dispute. ECR involvement would help protect both aquatic life and national security by empowering the parties to collaboratively find creative solutions to complex problems and reach closure from the unending cycle of litigation.

Report Of The Special Rapporteur On The Rights Of Indigenous Peoples On The Situation Of Indigenous Peoples In Canada, S. James Anaya

Publications

No abstract provided.