Colorado Environmental Law Journal

I. Introduction In Cook v. Rockwell International Corp., a class of property owners sought to recover damages under the Price Anderson Act (“PAA”) after a nuclear plant exposed their property to plutonium radiation.[2] Following a four-month trial and three weeks of deliberation, the jury awarded the class just over $926 million.[3] The Tenth Circuit subsequently remanded the case because, among other reasons, the plaintiffs did not show that exposure to nuclear radiation constituted damage to their property or that they were deprived of any use Continue reading →

I. Introduction On August 21, 2012, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (“CSAPR”) was struck down by the D.C. Court of Appeals in EME Homer City Generation, L.P. v. EPA.[2] The rule was the EPA’s most recent attempt to regulate nitrogen oxide (“NOx”) and sulfur dioxide (“SO2”) emissions under the Clean Air Act (“CAA”). The rule was intended to serve as a replacement for the embattled Bush-era Clean Air Interstate Rule (“CAIR”), which the D.C. Circuit had ordered the EPA to replace Continue reading →

Abstract Article 6(5) of the 1997 United Nations (“UN”) Convention on the Non-Navigable Uses of International Watercourses lists “economy of use” as one of the factors to determine the reasonable and equitable use of the waters of shared international watercourses. But, as used in the Convention, the phrase is ambiguous, and a more precise definition is desirable. The treaty and academic commentary suggest that the meaning of the obligation of “economy of use” is restricted to avoiding unnecessary wastage and achieving the best possible efficiency Continue reading →

I. Introduction One of the key innovations of the 1970s regulatory environmental revolution was the provision for citizen enforcement of regulatory standards. This innovation upset the previous bipolar regulatory model, which was a two-way negotiation between the regulated industries and the often captive regulatory agencies. By removing agency enforcement discretion as a means of underenforcing statutory norms, the citizen suit brought a new constituency to the regulatory bargaining table. The citizen suit had the intended effect of implementing a regime of full enforcement of the Continue reading →

Abstract The protection of federally owned wild lands, including, designated wilderness areas, has long been a cardinal element of the American character. For a variety of reasons, designating wild lands for protection under the Wilderness Act has proved difficult, increasingly so in recent years. Thus, attention has focused on undesignated wild lands, that is, unroaded areas managed by the principal federal land managers, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”). These areas can benefit from a kind of de facto protected Continue reading →