Natural Resources Law Commons^™

Political Externalities, Federalism, And A Proposal For An Interstate Environmental Impact Assessment Policy, Noah D. Hall

Law Faculty Research Publications

Interstate environmental harms, which occur when decisions or actions in one state produce negative environmental impacts in another state, have challenged environmental law and American federalism for over a century. While even the strongest advocates of state primacy in environmental policy concede that interstate environmental harms necessitate federal governance, federal adjudication and regulation have had only modest success in addressing the problem. This is due, in part, to a failure to fully understand the causes of interstate environmental harms. This article provides a newframeworkfor understanding interstate environmental harms as political externalities caused by a combination of inadequate information, public process …

The Clean Water Act's Antidegradation Policy: Has It Been "Dumped"?, 42 J. Marshall L. Rev. 209 (2008), Katherine A. Zogas

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Introduction: Collaboration Good Or Bad: How Is It Working On The Colorado River?, Jean R. Sternlight

Scholarly Works

This is an introduction to articles submitted as part of the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution’s Symposium, Collaboration and the Colorado River. The Symposium focused on the uses of collaboration to resolve environmental and natural resource disputes pertaining to the Colorado River.

This written version of the conference now builds upon the live event. We are most fortunate that many (unfortunately not all) of the speakers were able to contribute articles to comprise this written version of the Symposium. In their papers, presenters have expanded on their oral remarks and responded to points made by others during the conference.

Séances, Ciénegas, And Slop: Can Collaboration Revive The Colorado Delta?, Bret C. Birdsong

Scholarly Works

Issues of transboundary allocation of water resources and its environmental effects are, virtually by their very nature, ones that require collaborative solutions. In the absence of international law norms and institutions to resolve sovereign claims to the waters of international rivers, much of the decisionmaking is left to the collaborative, or negotiated, arrangements between the countries involved and their respective domestic stakeholders. This Article examines collaborative efforts to allocate waters in the Colorado River basin as they relate to the lowest reaches of that great river, the ecologically important but very fragile Colorado River Delta in Mexico. Collaboration is sometimes …

State And Local Governments Address The Twin Challenges Of Climate Change And Energy Alternatives, Irma S. Russell, Jeffery S. Dennis

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article examines new programs and initiatives that states, local governments, and regional groups have embarked upon to address the issues of climate change and energy alternatives. The article also questions whether these efforts will be overtaken by federal action or whether a tradition of cooperative federalism will continue.

Tidelands: Analysis Of Southeastern Massachusetts Municipal Bylaws, Heath Hixson

Sea Grant Law Fellow Publications

No abstract provided.

Conservation Of Submerged Lands In Rhode Island, Alicia Schaffner

Sea Grant Law Fellow Publications

No abstract provided.

Warming Up To Water Markets, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

Water policy experts contend that the United States is heading toward a water scarcity crisis in the coming years. Global climate change is likely to make water scarcity much worse in the long run. This article argues that demands of current and projected water management challenges can best be met through a greater reliance on water markets. To facilitate this, water management must shift toward recognition of transferable rights in water that facilitate voluntary exchanges and the market pricing of water resources.

Settlement Of The Acf Controversy: Sisyphus At The Dawn Of The 21st Century, Robert H. Abrams

Journal Publications

The ancient Greek myth in which Sisyphus is condemned to perpetually roll a massive boulder up a hill only to have it fall back down now symbolizes repetitive, ultimately fruitless effort. The Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) basin rapidly has become the emblem of Sisyphean water conflict in the eastern United States. It has the potential to rival some of the West's long-running water disputes, although it will never challenge the Colorado River in that regard.

At the outset, it is important to recognize that there are many parties with an interest in the ACF basin. The most prominent in recent years are …

Climate Change And Freshwater Resources, Robert H. Abrams, Noah D. Hall, Bret B. Stuntz

Journal Publications

Earth's climate is warming. This is the unequivocal conclusion of climate scientists. Despite the complexities of climatology, certain consistent trends emerge with implications for water availability: as the world gets warmer, it will experience increased regional variability in precipitation, with more frequent heavy precipitation events and more susceptibility to drought. These simple facts will have a profound impact on freshwater resources throughout the United States, as the warmer climate will reduce available water supplies and increase water demand. Unfortunately, current water law and policy are not up to the new challenges of climate change and resulting pressures on freshwater resources. …

My Two Cents Per Kilowatt-Hour: Virginia's Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard, Justin W. Curtis

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Boundary Waters Treaty Of 1909 As A Model For Interjurisdictional Water Governance, Robert H. Abrams

Journal Publications

In an age of increasing interjurisdictional water conflict and water management concern, the list of accomplishments of the Boundary Water Treaty of 1909 (BWT), reached in a harmonious manner, raises the possibility that, perhaps, the management mechanisms of the BWT might beneficially be used in other contexts. This Article will take up that possibility in the context of three contemporary American interstate water allocation disputes. These disputes are (1) a relatively simple cross-border complaint by a downstream state, South Carolina, that North Carolina cities are using too much water of the Catawba River; (2) the basin-wide dispute regarding water use …

Dual Regulation, Collaborative Management, Or Layered Federalism: Can Cooperative Federalism Models From Other Laws Save Our Public Lands?, Hope M. Babcock

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

To realize the goals of conservation biology and ecosystem management, the institutions that govern these systems must be able to work together harmoniously, across political boundary lines and into a biologically uncertain future. The rigidity of the current public lands model creates substantial barriers to the achievement of these goals.

This article's working premise is that unless the current governance structure for the management of public lands changes, the political conflicts over their use and management will continue to blight their future, just as it has marred their past. Further, failing to adapt the management of public lands to our …

Coining A New Jurisdiction: The Security Council As Economic Peacekeeper, Kristen E. Boon

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Economic conditions are linked to international peace and security. Financial crises, mismanagement of natural resources, food shortages, and climate change can create transnational effects, including conflict. The Security Council is the executive organ of the United Nations, with primary jurisdiction over the maintenance of international peace and security. This Article explores the extent to which the Security Council can and should assert jurisdiction over economic and financial issues.

In the past decade, the economic dimensions of conflict, including the economic causes of war, economic agendas of state and nonstate actors, and economic measures for reconstruction have become central to the …

The Fight To Save Red Lady: Does The 1872 Mining Law Impliedly Preclude Review Of Patent Protest Determinations, Michelle Albert

University of Colorado Law Review

For over thirty years, residents and the local government of Crested Butte, Colorado have been fighting to keep a molybdenum mine out of their backyard. In 2004, the High Country Citizens Alliance, the town of Crested Butte, and the Board of County Commissioners filed an administrative protest challenging several applications to patent mineral land on nearby Mt. Emmons. The Bureau of Land Management denied their protest and issued nine mineral patents. The issuance of these patents increased the likelihood of a molybdenum mine on Mt. Emmons. The unsuccessful protestors appealed the BLM's decision in federal district court. In High Country …

Home State Responsibility And Local Communities: The Case Of Global Mining, Sara Seck

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Home states that are actively engaged in global mining have considered and rejected calls to regulate the conduct of transnational mining corporations so as to prevent and remedy human rights and environmental harms. This reluctance to regulate is often expressed as a concern that extraterritorial regulation will conflict with the sovereignty of foreign states. This paper argues that the public international law of jurisdiction is permissive of home state regulation that can be justified under the nationality or territoriality principles, provided that there is no true conflict with an exercise of host state jurisdiction. In the human rights and environment …

No Two-Stepping In The Laboratories: State Deference Standards And Their Implications For Improving The Chevron Doctrine, Michael Pappas

Publications

No abstract provided.

Real Property And Peoplehood, Kristen A. Carpenter

Publications

This Article proposes a theory of real property and peoplehood in which lands essential to the identity and survival of collective groups are entitled to heightened legal protection. Although many Americans are sympathetic to American Indian tribes and their quest for cultural survival, we remain unable to confront the uncomfortable truth that the very thing Indian peoples need is their land, the same land that the U.S. took from them. This is especially the case with regard to the sacred sites of Indian peoples, whose religions and cultures are inextricably linked to those sites. Federal law permits the United States …

American Indians, Climate Change, And Ethics For A Warming World, Sarah Krakoff

Publications

Developing a sense of ourselves that would properly balance history and nature and space and time is a more difficult task than we would suspect and involves a radical reevaluation of the way we look at the world around us. Do we continue to exploit the earth or do we preserve it and preserve life? Whether we are prepared to embark on a painful intellectual journey to discover the parameters of reconciling history and nature is the question of this generation.

The Public Lands And The National Heritage, Charles F. Wilkinson

Publications

No abstract provided.

Court Grants Stay Of Injunction In Navy Sonar Case, Alicia Schaffner

Sea Grant Law Fellow Publications

No abstract provided.

Appeal No. 0778: Century Well Service V. Division Of Mineral Resources Management, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Chief's Order 2006-137

Appeal No. 0779: Darrell Yoder, Dba Double "D" V. Division Of Mineral Resources Management, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Chief's Order 2007-27

The New Nuisance: An Antidote To Wetland Loss, Sprawl, And Global Warming, Christine A. Klein

UF Law Faculty Publications

Marking the fifteenth anniversary of Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council—the modern U.S. Supreme Court's seminal regulatory takings decision—this Article surveys Lucas's impact upon regulations that restrict wetland filling, sprawling development, and the emission of greenhouse gases. The Lucas Court set forth a new categorical rule of governmental liability for regulations that prohibit all economically beneficial use of land, but also established a new defense that draws upon the states' common law of nuisance and property. Unexpectedly, that defense has taken on a life of its own—forming what this Article calls the new nuisance doctrine. As this Article …

Environmental Law, Brooks Meredith Smith, Andrea West Wortzel

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Split Estates: A New Equilibrium Between Surface And Mineral Owners, Bruce Kramer

Schultz Lectureship Series: Energy Innovation

The inaugural speaker was Bruce Kramer, who spoke on “Split Estates: A New Equilibrium between Surface and Mineral Owners.” Kramer was formerly the Maddox Professor of Law at Texas Tech University School of Law and is a co-author of a four-volume treatise titled The Law of Pooling and Unitization and a casebook titled Cases and Materials on Oil and Gas Law. He is a trustee of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation and the Energy and Mineral Law Foundation and chair of the Advisory Board of the Institute of Local Government of the Center of American and International Law …

Baselines Newsletter, No. 1, Fall 2007, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Baselines: The Natural Resources Law Center Newsletter (2007-2011)

No abstract provided.

Mexico's Implementation Of The Biodiversity Convention And The Catagena Protocol In The Gmo Era: Challenges In Principles, Policies, And Practices, Juan Antonio Herrera

PhD Dissertations

Recent developments in genetic modification and the use of Living Modified Organisms (LMOs) in agriculture have ignited a debate over the potential effects of these organisms on biological diversity. This controversy materializes in the clash between the international environmental and trade regimes. Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), such as the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) focus on the preservation of biological diversity and, in the case of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (Cartagena Protocol), the safe transfer of LMOs. These Agreements encourage States to base national decisions to allow LMO imports on environmental and risk assessments using the precautionary principle. …

Introduction, G. Emlen Hall

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

United States Supreme Court Rules Epa Must Take Action On Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Massachusetts V. Epa, Saillan De Charles

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.