Peace Like a River: Institutionalizing Cooperation Over Water Resources in the Jordan River Basin

November 2, 2022 by Philip A. Williams[1]*
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    I. Introduction In January 2008, United Nations (“UN”) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon commented on the coincidence of water and conflict at the World Economic Forum. Pointing out that the world’s thirst will grow alongside its economy and that “many more conflicts lie over the horizon,” he observed that “too often, where we need water, we find guns.”[2] Some observers are quick to point to the coincidence of armed conflict in regions of water scarcity and resort to syllogism, often labeling them “water wars.”[3] While Continue reading →

Collateral Damage: The Gun Debate Moves into America’s National Parks

November 2, 2022 by Clare E. M. Mack[1]*
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    National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst. —Wallace Stegner[2]   I. INTRODUCTION In the mid-morning hours of Saturday, September 7, 2013, as the summer season was winding down at Yellowstone National Park, three-year-old Ella Marie Tucker found her father’s gun and shot herself.[3] Park emergency personnel tried to resuscitate her, but Ella died, the victim of the first fatal shooting in Yellowstone in over three decades.[4] Ella’s Continue reading →

Not All Land Exchanges Are Created Equal: A Case Study of the Oak Flat Land Exchange

November 2, 2022 by Katharine E. Lovett[1]*
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        I. Introduction “Balance, that’s the secret. Moderate extremism. The best of both worlds.”[2] As a result of United States federal land policy in the early part of the country’s history, including the disposal of much of the federal land under the 1872 General Mining Law[3] and the granting of over 130 million acres to railroad companies,[4] much of the federal public land is scattered among various private land holdings throughout the country. This has made parts of the federal domain extremely Continue reading →

Areas of Critical Environmental Concern: FLPMA’s Unfulfilled Conservation Mandate

November 2, 2022 by Karin P. Sheldon[2]* and Pamela Baldwin[3]†
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[1]Authors’ note: The analysis and citations in this article to “current” Bureau of Land Management (BLM) planning regulations are to the regulations in effect in 2015, when the article was initially prepared. In 2016, BLM issued new planning regulations, to be effective in January of 2017. However, on March 7, 2017, Congress voted to rescind these regulations pursuant to the Congressional Review Act. As of this writing, the President has not signed the bill into law, but there is little doubt that he will. When he Continue reading →

Mountain Biking into the Wilderness

November 2, 2022 by Heidi Ruckriegle[1]*
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  ABSTRACT America’s Wilderness Act of 1964[2]* (the “Wilderness Act”) dedicates unique and scenically important federal lands for protection from development.  Over time, the increased acreage of federal land designated as Wilderness, and new legislative proposals to further expand Wilderness, have fueled controversy over the scope of activities that may be pursued in Wilderness areas.  One of the most hotly contested debates of the 21st Century examines whether the Act allows mountain bikers to recreate in Wilderness.  And, if not, the corollary question is raised of whether Continue reading →

The Truth Behind International Climate Agreements: Why They Fail and Why the Bottom-Up is the Way Forward. A Game Theory Analysis

November 2, 2022 by Krishna Prasad[1]*
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        I. INTRODUCTION Climate change is one of the biggest problems facing the world today. It is no longer just environmental groups who are warning of the threat. In 2014, the Pentagon released a report in which they determined that climate change was the greatest threat to national security, citing rising sea levels, more violent storms, and increased widespread droughts.[2] Major companies have also joined the call for action, with eighty-one companies signing the American Business Act on Climate Pledge, which calls Continue reading →

The Hard(rock) Truth About Abandoned Mines in the Western United States: Why the Pressure Is On to Enact Good Samaritan Legislation as a Way to Recover

November 2, 2022 by Erika Kuhl[1]*
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      I. INTRODUCTION The water was mustard yellow. It was unnatural and unsafe, but was it unexpected? The normally blue, free-flowing Animas River, which flows from Southern Colorado into New Mexico, a part of the Colorado River System, was instantly transformed from a serene, natural river into a toxic wasteland. Three million gallons of toxic mining waste rushed into the Animas River on August 5, 2015, spilling over from Gold King Mine, located near Silverton, Colorado.[2] Although Gold King Mine has been inactive Continue reading →

Speech: In Love With the Wild: Thoughts About the Public Lands in the 21st Century

November 2, 2022 by Bill Hedden[2]
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[1]Years ago, the writer and activist Terry Tempest Williams and I stood on the sidewalk in front of the Whitney Museum in New York asking passersby if they knew what the BLM is. Terry makes me do things like that. The first nine cosmopolitan people had no idea whatsoever, so Terry, who had bet that somebody would know, cheated. She spied a woman wearing heavy turquoise jewelry crossing the street and ran over to accost her. The woman, freshly arrived from Idaho, broke the streak Continue reading →

Colorado’s Ground-Level Ozone Burden

November 2, 2022 by Steve Gilman[1]*
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      I. INTRODUCTION Since 1970, the federal government has been regulating ground-level ozone under the Clean Air Act (“CAA”). At the ground level, ozone is an air pollutant, which can be harmful to humans, animals, and vegetation. Ground-level ozone is, in part, created by man-made emissions from industrial processes and vehicle exhaust. In October 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced its most aggressive regulatory action ever regarding ground-level ozone. For years, Colorado has struggled with attaining the federal government’s ozone requirements, and Continue reading →

Wringing Wonder From the Arid Landscape of Law

November 2, 2022 by Robert L. Fischman[1]*
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      INTRODUCTION It is easy to celebrate the multi-faceted work of Charles Wilkinson. His public service has given voice to many lives and communities. His teaching has transformed ambitions, including my own.[2] His wide-ranging writing has inspired uncounted thousands. Canvassing Professor Wilkinson’s full influence would require an article that would swallow any single issue of this law journal. Therefore, I limit my own tribute to the aspect of his many works I know the best: Wilkinson’s profound contribution to public land law scholarship. Continue reading →