Environmental Law Commons^™

Water Litigation In The Lower Rio Grande, Darcy S. Bushnell

Water Matters!

The water allocation issues are hotly contested in south-central New Mexico and the surrounding area. Today, the river and those who depend on it face more administrative challenges in the face of shrinking water supplies and increased population. These challenges have given rise to two ongoing lawsuits: the Lower Rio Grande Adjudication,New Mexico v. EBID, et al., 96-CV-888 (1996) (N.M. v. EBID) in the New Mexico Third Judicial District Court (adjudication court) and the New Mexico v. United States,et al., D.N.M. 11-CV-691 (2011) (N.M. v.U.S.) in United States District Court of New Mexico (U.S. District Court).

Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System (Ute Pipeline Project), Jerold Widdison, Paul Van Gulick, Darcy S. Bushnell

Water Matters!

The Ute Pipeline Project (Project), officially known as the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System (ENMRWS),is a 151-mile-long pipeline project to provide a sustainable municipal and industrial water supply for several eastern New Mexico communities and a military base. The Congress authorized major federal funding for the Ute Pipeline in the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. This important milestone for the project was reached after about 45 years of effort.Attention now shifts to myriad details involved in actually constructing, financing,and administering the project.

Green Harms Of Green Projects, John Copeland Nagle

Journal Articles

This article describes the recent development of renewable energy to examine environmental law’s three contrasting approaches to the green harms of green projects. Sometimes the law allows the green benefit regardless of the green harm. Sometimes the law prohibits the green harm regardless of the green benefit. And sometimes the law allows a balancing of all of the harms and benefits, green or not. Given these options, I argue that the law should not ignore or understate green harms even if they are caused by green projects. There are some types of green harms that no benefit can justify. But …

A Just And Healthy Future For The 100 Percent, Bill Hedden

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reflections On Social Change And Law Reform, John D. Leshy

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

Settler Colonialism And Reclamation: Where American Indian Law And Natural Resources Law Meet, Sarah Krakoff

Publications

Three hours west of Phoenix, Arizona, the Colorado River Indian Tribes (“CRIT”), a federally recognized tribe that includes over 3,700 enrolled members of Mohave, Chemehuevi, Navajo, and Hopi descent, occupies a reservation nearly 300,000 acres in size. The CRIT was one of five tribes to have its water rights confirmed in the landmark case of Arizona v. California, and therefore has senior rights to 719,248 acre-feet of Colorado River water, nearly one-third of Arizona’s allocation. How the CRIT came to be a single federally recognized tribe composed of members from four indigenous peoples located on lands that were a fraction …

Development And Dissemination Of Clean Cookstoves: A Model Law For Developing Countries, Lakshman Guruswamy

Publications

No abstract provided.

Contested Shore: Property Rights In Reclaimed Land And The Battle For Streeterville, Joseph D. Kearney, Thomas W. Merrill

Faculty Scholarship

Land reclaimed from navigable waters is a resource uniquely susceptible to conflict. The multiple reasons for this include traditional hostility to interference with navigable waterways and the weakness of rights in submerged land. In Illinois, title to land reclaimed from Lake Michigan was further clouded by a shift in judicial understanding in the late nineteenth century about who owned the submerged land, starting with an assumption of private ownership but eventually embracing state ownership. The potential for such legal uncertainty to produce conflict is vividly illustrated by the history of the area of Chicago known as Streeterville, the area of …

An Introduction To Climate Change Liability Litigation And A View To The Future, Michael B. Gerrard, Joseph A. Macdougald

Faculty Scholarship

This article discusses the advancement of climate change litigation. It explores two approaches to climate change litigation; the first is to use the federal regulatory apparatus and the second is to use the tort system. The article explores key questions in climate change litigation such as, who is responsible for deciding the appropriate level of harmful emissions? How should courts handle the long tail effects of climate change? What are the proper forums to litigate in? And, what is the role of the federal government in climate change litigation?

The European Union's Potential Contribution To Enhanced Governance Of Arctic Shipping, Nengye Liu

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article focuses on the European Union (EU)’s potential contribution to an enhanced legal regime of the Arctic offshore oil and gas operations. It first briefly describes existing international law for the regulation of offshore oil and gas operations in the Arctic. The article then discusses the development of EU’s Arctic policy and the EU’s competence to regulate Arctic offshore oil and gas activities. Subsequently, it analyzes potential actions and initiatives that could be taken by the EU to promote high safety standards for offshore oil and gas operations in the Arctic.

Criminal Liability For Vessel-Source Pollution In China: Law And Practice, Nengye Liu

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article addresses criminal liability for vessel-source pollution in China. It describes relevant Chinese legislation regarding criminal liability for vessel-source pollution, analyses why a criminal case pertaining to vessel-source pollution has yet to be brought in Chinese courts and presents suggestions on how to improve the current regime.

Prevention Of Vessel-Source Pollution In The South China Sea: What Role Can China Play, Nengye Liu

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article examines China's role in the prevention of vessel-source pollution in the South China Sea. The article argues that, although the South China Sea is a disputed sea area, China has the potential to play a leading role to improve the prevention of vessel-source pollution in this area. By playing a key role in addressing the issue of vessel-source pollution China also has the opportunity to demonstrate its willingness to co-operate to protect the marine environment of the South China Sea without inflaming the thorny sovereignty disputes in the area. First, the sovereignty disputes in the South China Sea …

Equity And The Global Policy On Climate Change: A Law And Economic Perspective, Andri G. Wibisana

Indonesia Law Review

The opponents of the global commitment to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions seem to have shifted their arguments from the one emphasing on the issue of uncertainty to the one focusing on the economic burdens disproportionately placed on the current generation in general, and some developed countries in particular. Inevitably, the issue of equity becomes of highly importance in the recent climate policy debates. This paper attempts to analyze the implementation of equity principles, i.e. intergenerational and intragenerational equity, in the global climate policy. In doing so, it will first briefly outline some prominent economic appraisals on the impacts of …

Selected Bibliography On Adjudications And New Mexico Water Management, Carol Romero-Wirth, Susan Kelly, Ernesto Longa

Publications

No abstract provided.

Agenda: The Future Of Natural Resources Policy, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

The Future of Natural Resources Policy (December 6)

This forum will provide a post-election perspective on some of the challenges and opportunities that natural resources, public lands, and energy policymakers in Washington are likely to face in the next four years. An expert panel will discuss the dynamics in the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, and Congress, and how their evolving policies are likely to affect Colorado in the coming years.

Moderator: Dean Phil Weiser, University of Colorado Law School

Panelists:

Jay Jensen, Associate Director for Land & Water Ecosystems, White House Council on Environmental Quality

Scott Miller, Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Colorado Law …

Background Reading: Department Of The Interior, 2013 Departmental Overview, United States. Department Of The Interior, Ken Salazar

The Future of Natural Resources Policy (December 6)

18 pages (DO-5 through DO-22).

"Background Reading"

The Future of Natural Resources Policy: This forum will provide a post-election perspective on some of the challenges and opportunities that natural resources, public lands, and energy policymakers in Washington are likely to face in the next four years. An expert panel will discuss the dynamics in the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, and Congress, and how their evolving policies are likely to affect Colorado in the coming years.

Background Reading: Department Of Agriculture, 2013 Budget Overview, United States. Forest Service, United States. Department Of Agriculture

The Future of Natural Resources Policy (December 6)

57 pages.

"Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Overview"

"February 2012"

"Background Reading"

The Future of Natural Resources Policy: This forum will provide a post-election perspective on some of the challenges and opportunities that natural resources, public lands, and energy policymakers in Washington are likely to face in the next four years. An expert panel will discuss the dynamics in the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, and Congress, and how their evolving policies are likely to affect Colorado in the coming years.

Systems Of Carbon Trading, Dr. Bruno Zeller

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Overlooked Role Of The National Environmental Policy Act In Protecting The Western Environment: Nepa In The Ninth Circuit, Michael C. Blumm, Keith Mosman

Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy

Critics widely disparage the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for being a mere “paper tiger” or bureaucratic red-tape. The U.S. Supreme Court has surely encouraged this perception by treating the statute with consistent hostility, reducing it to a requirement only to follow prescribed administrative procedures but not produce any environmental results. But in the Ninth Circuit, NEPA lives a more important life, since that court has not forgotten NEPA’s essential environmental purpose. This article examines four lines of cases in the Ninth Circuit that may show that NEPA’s future might reflect its conservation purpose. These cases 1) deny NEPA plaintiffs …

Leopold's Last Talk, Eric T. Freyfogle

Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy

During the last decade of his life, Aldo Leopold (1887–1948) delivered more than 100 conservation talks to various popular, professional, and student audiences. In them, he set forth plainly the central elements of his conservation thought. By studying the extensive archival records of these talks one sees clearly the core elements of Leopold’s mature thinking, which centered not on specific land-use practices (good or bad), but instead on what he saw as deep flaws in American culture. Leopold’s sharp cultural criticism—more clear in these talks than in his lyrical, muted classic, A Sand County Almanac—called into question not just …