Water Law Commons^™

Texas Groundwater And Tragically Stable “Crossovers”, Zachary Bray

BYU Law Review

One recurring question in the academic literature on common-pool resources relates to the persistence of “tragic” commons regimes—systems that encourage, or at least tolerate, the inefficient, wasteful, hazardous, or unfair exploitation of a resource that is easily accessed for and diminished by individual use and consumption. Of course, not all commons are tragic: some common-pool resources invite individual access in efficient, fair, and durable ways. Yet many commonly held resources do lie under systems of governance that are not just tragic but persistently and stubbornly so. Often the tragic aspects of such commons regimes are well known; indeed, for some …

Habitat And Harvest: The Modern Scope Of Tribal Treaty Rights To Hunt And Fish, Whitney Angell Leonard

American Indian Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Bill Williams River Water Rights Settlement Act Of 2014, United States 113th Congress

Native American Water Rights Settlement Project

To direct the Secretary of the Interior to enter into the Big Sandy River-Planet Ranch Water Rights Settlement Agreement and the Hualapai Tribe Bill Williams River Water Rights Settlement Agreement, to provide for the lease of certain land located within Planet Ranch on the Bill Williams River in the State of Arizona to benefit the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program, and to provide for the settlement of specific water rights claims in the Bill Williams River watershed in the State of Arizona.

Changing Lead Into Gold: Examining Agency Attempts To Use The Clean Water Act To Solve Ecosystem Degradation Issues, N. Lindsay Simmons

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Navigating Through The Confusion Left In The Wake Of Rapanos: Why A Rule Clarifying And Broadening Jurisdiction Under The Clean Water Act Is Necessary, Kristen Clark

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

The Greenback, The Humpback, And The Silverback: How A Third Wave Of Federal Water Policy Could Benefit The West, Reed D. Benson

Faculty Scholarship

Proposing any major new federal initiative regarding water in the western United States might seem preposterous, given conventional wisdom and entrenched positions on state control of water resources. But there is a strong rationale, and a growing imperative, for a new federal water .policy for the West. Many river basins face serious problems as limited water supplies are over-allocated, demands continue to increase, and climate change promises to exacerbate the West's perennial problems of scarcity and variability. Solutions to such problems are likely to be expensive and will need to address national interests as well as state and local concerns. …

Specially Invited Opinions And Research Report Of The International Water Law Project: Global Perspectives On The Entry Into Force Of The Un Watercourses Convention 2014: Part One, Gabriel Eckstein, Salman M.A. Salman, Dinara Ziganshina, Kishor Uprety, Götz Reichert

Faculty Scholarship

This is the first part of a two-part research report on opinions of prominent international water lawyers from each continent on the potential impacts of the 1997 UN Convention on Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses. The second part of the report was published in Water Policy 17(1).

The following compilation is reproduced and adapted from a series of essays that appeared in the blog of the International Water Law Project (www.internationalwaterlaw.org). The series was solicited in preparation for the coming into force of the 1997 UN Convention on the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses. The Convention had been pending for …

Not A Drop To Spare: The Global Water Crisis Of The Twenty-First Century, Ranee Khooshie Lal Panjabi

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Failure And Future Of Lake Okeechobee Water Releases: A Quasi-Governmental Solution, Jacquelyn A. Thomas

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Getches Wilkinson Center Newsletter, Fall 2014, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment

Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment Newsletter (2013-)

No abstract provided.

Coeur D'Alene Tribe's Enduring Relation To Water -- A Legal History, Dylan R. Hedden-Nicely

Articles

No abstract provided.

Coeur D'Alene Tribe's Claims In The Coeur D'Alene-Spokane River Basin Adjudication, Dylan R. Hedden-Nicely

Articles

No abstract provided.

Status Of Bulk Water Exports Under Nafta, Binda Preet Sahni

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of The Syrian Crisis On Jordanian Internal Security, Andrew E. Szparaga

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Jordan has a refugee crisis; between 620,000 and 1.3 million Syrian refugees are seeking refuge in Jordan. This report aims to answer which aspect of Jordanian security the refugees have the biggest effect on. It also aims to answer whether the refugees based in camps, like Za’atari, or those integrated into the Jordanian communities are more threatening to internal security. Because many argue that Syrian refugees have a negative effect on the economic, environmental, military, political, and social securities of Jordan, many believe that they might pose a possible threat to the country’s internal security factors. The Syrian refugees have …

Blueprint For The Great Lakes Trail, Melissa K. Scanlan

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

The Great Lakes are vast yet vulnerable. There is a need to focus the public’s attention on the significance of the lakes for the region as a cohesive, binational whole. To address this need, build on existing water law, and engage the public, this Article provides a blueprint to establish a Great Lakes Trail on the shores of the Great Lakes. The Trail will link together 10,000 miles of coastline and provide the longest marked walking trail in the world. It will demarcate an already existing, yet largely unrecognized, public trust easement and engage the public with their common heritage …

Legal Protection For Groundwater-Dependent Ecosystems, Collin Gannon

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

This Note concerns the legal protection of groundwater-dependent ecosystems in the United States and abroad. By first describing the science and ecology of ecosystems that are dependent on groundwater and then surveying the current American legal system that fails to adequately protect groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs), this Note proposes legal reforms that could vastly improve groundwater management systems. State protection of GDEs is sparse and often only operates indirectly as a result of states’ water policies focused on water quantity upkeep for consumptive purposes. Part I provides an overview of GDEs. Part II discusses state legal protection, including indirect state protection …

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe - Fish Springs Ranch Settlement Act, United States 113th Congress

Native American Water Rights Settlement Project

The overall purpose of this Act is to ratify a water settlement agreement affecting the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, and for other purposes.

The Failings Of The Tri-State Water Negotiations: Lessons To Be Learned From International Law, Michael Keene

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Three's A Crowd: Examining Georgia's Options In The Tri-State Water Wars Under Principles Of International Law, Eva M. Lamanna

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Domestic Solutions To The International Problem Of Water Scarcity: Singapore, A Case Study, Suzanne T. Lewis

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

River Of Contention: Scarcity Discourse And Water Competition In Highland Peru, Barbara Lynch

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

International Law In A Time Of Scarcity: An Introduction, Harlan G. Cohen

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Agenda: Celebrating The Great Law: The Wilderness Act At 50, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment, The Wilderness Society

Celebrating the Great Law: The Wilderness Act at 50 (September 4-5)

"A conference sponsored by the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment and The Wilderness Society."

On September 3, 2014, the National Wilderness Preservation System—established and protected by the Wilderness Act of 1964—celebrates its 50th anniversary. We are gathering on September 4th and 5th to celebrate Wilderness—“ornery old wilderness, scratchy, sweaty, and distant, but sacred every step of the way”—and to commemorate the great law so central to its protection.

This is not an ordinary conference, full of dry presentations or heated policy debates. Instead, this will be a full-throated love song to wild country. We have brought …

Clear As Mud: Recreating Public Water Rights That Already Exist, Kathryn A. Tipple

Utah Law Review

“Speculation. Water monopoly. Land monopoly. . . . John Wesley Powell was pretty well convinced that those would be the fruits of a western land policy based on wishful thinking, willfulness, and lousy science.”186 PWR 107 was created to avoid water monopolization through land reservation. However, it would seem that management of public water reserves on federal lands has succumbed to some of John Wesley Powell’s concerns: management has been incomplete, ad hoc, and potentially based on incomplete hydrological data. PWR 107, as well as federal water reserves in general, pits western states against the BLM where there is a …

Public Water, Private Rights: All Are Not Equally Protected When The State Allows Some To Divert Small Quantities Of Ground Water Outside The Permitting System, Carolyn A. Sime

Montana Law Review

Public Water, Private Rights: All Are Not Equally Protected When The State Allows Some To Divert Small Quantities Of Ground Water Outside The Permitting System

Cooperative Transboundary Mechanism, Alena Drieschova, Gabriel Eckstein

Faculty Scholarship

Management of transboundary waters in increasingly becoming more challenging, and climate change is likely to exacerbate these pressures. Not least because climate change is a global issue, adaptation will require an international response. This book aims to identify issues, both theoretical and practical, that States face in establishing cooperative transboundary mechanisms to effectively adapt water management to climate change. Furthermore, it will address complex legal hurdles that existing transboundary water institutions face when attempting to adapt existing mechanisms to function in a changing climate. It will also provide an overview of best practices in transboundary adaptive water governance thus far, …

Washington's Water Right Impairment Standard: How The Current Interpretation Impedes The State's Policy Of Maximizing Net Benefits, Matthew Rajnus

Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy

Washington manages water rights under conflicting goals—maximizing net benefits while protecting water rights from any impairment. Over time, the state judiciary, often at the request of the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology), has elevated the water right impairment standard to an absolute protection. Initially, Division III of the Washington Court of Appeals held that it was proper for Ecology to require a modeled impact of 0.004 percent in river flows, finding that this was substantial and could not be allowed; then, the Washington Supreme Court concluded that any impact constituted impairment; and most recently, the Court paradoxically declared that instream …

Global Water Resources & Publications, Taryn L. Rucinski

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Before we as a society can begin crafting innovative legal solutions to help combat the global water crisis, researchers and experts in the field first need access to sound sources of scientific information. Despite the seeming simplicity of that goal, locating research about water, sanitation, and agricultural conditions, especially in developing countries, can be immensely challenging as it is complicated by issues of language, currency, scope, and accuracy. The purpose of this note is to provide practitioners with a list of free, high quality resources that should help make their research in this area a bit more accessible.

On Local Fracking Bans: Policy And Preemption In New Mexico, Alex Ritchie

Natural Resources Journal

In the midst of the hydraulic fracturing revolution, elected officials in Mora County, New Mexico recently banned all oil and gas production within the county. But the officials went even further, stripping corporations of constitutional rights and declaring the constitutions of the United States and the state of New Mexico illegal if interpreted as inconsistent with the ordinance. Why would a small rural county like Mora with no oil and gas operations to speak of adopt such an extreme ordinance? This article applies economics, political choice, and localism theories to argue that Mora County’s decision may be at least partly …

Hydraulic Fracturing: If Fractures Cross Property Lines, Is There An Actionable Subsurface Trespass, Keith B. Hall

Natural Resources Journal

The law recognizes trespass liability for subsurface intrusions, at least in some circumstances. Further, courts sometimes have stated that ownership of land extends to the earth’s center. But such statements are dicta. Few courts have carefully considered the maximum extent of subsurface ownership or subsurface trespass liability. Courts in two jurisdictions have recently addressed whether a person incurs liability when he causes hydraulic fracturing fluid to intrude into the subsurface of a neighbor’s land, but the courts reached opposite conclusions, with each suggesting that public policy supported its position. Neither adequately examined the legal issues. Careful consideration of trespass concepts …