Colorado Environmental Law Journal

Table of Contents Introduction I. Background A. Post-Consumer Waste Is Increasing on a Global Level B. Current Processing Facilities for Recyclables Are Insufficient C. Historical Federal Recycling Initiatives D. Recent Federal Legislative Initiatives II. States Have Divergent Recycling Frameworks and Varying Rates of Success A. Components of Recycling Frameworks 1. Deposit Refund System 2. Curbside Recycling 3. Single-Use Plastic Bans 4. State Regulation and Oversight of Recycling 5. Landfill Costs B. 50 States of Recycling Report C. Case Studies 1. Maine 2. Vermont 3. Colorado Continue reading →

Table of Contents Introduction I. Background A. Pesticide Overview B. Monsanto C. Implications for Victims and Pesticide Manufacturers II. Preemption A. FIFRA Label Requirements B. Bates v. Dow Agrosciences LLC III. Limits of FIFRA Preemption A. Express Preemption 1. Imposes a Requirement 2. For Labeling or Packaging 3. In Addition To or Different From 4. Takeaways for Express Preemption B. Implied Preemption 1. Is Implied Preemption Precluded? 2. Impossibility Preemption 3. Registration as a Defense 4. Takeaways from Implied Preemption IV. The Future of FIFRA Continue reading →

Table of Contents Introduction I. Background: U.S. Energy Markets and Colorado Senate Bill 72 A. Electric Utility Regulation and Energy Markets in the United States B. Electric Utility Regulation and Energy Markets in Colorado and the West C. Overview of Senate Bill 72 1. Organized Wholesale Market Requirement 2. Creation of the Colorado Electric Transmission Authority II. Motivations and Impact of Senate Bill 72 and Stakeholder Responses A. Motivations and Impacts of Senate Bill 72 1. Improving Grid Reliability and Resilience Through the CETA 2. Continue reading →

    Table of Contents Introduction I. The Major Themes of Public Land Political History II. How the National Forest System Came About III. Other Land Acquisition Programs IV. Reserving the Remaining Public Lands in the 1930s V. Congress Reclaims Authority from the Executive VI. Public Land Policy from Reagan to Trump VII. The Trump Administration VIII. The Public Lands Today IX. Challenges to Public Lands A. Climate Change and Biodiversity Loss B. An Explosion of Recreational Use C. Paying More Attention to Native American Continue reading →

Abstract Mounting climate change concerns are driving unprecedented interest in carbon dioxide removal technologies. Unlike carbon capture strategies, which trap carbon dioxide at specific emission points such as power plant smokestacks, carbon removal technologies directly remove carbon dioxide from the ambient atmosphere. Fossil fuel industry stakeholders have championed carbon capture for years as a means of reducing carbon emissions while continuing the nation’s heavy reliance on carbon-intensive energy sources. This focus on promoting carbon capture has delayed the development of policies specifically aimed at promoting Continue reading →

I. Introduction Three hours east 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.[2] The CRIT was one of five tribes to have its water rights confirmed in the landmark case of Arizona v. California,[3] and therefore has senior rights to 719,248 acre-feet of Colorado River water, nearly one-third of Arizona’s allocation.[4] How the CRIT came to be a single Continue reading →

I. Introduction Crude oil reservoirs often contain dissolved natural gas and when oil companies produce crude oil for sale, natural gas is often unintentionally produced as well.[2] Ideally, this natural gas is separated from the crude oil stream and piped to a market or re-injected into the oil reservoir. Perhaps the least desirable handling method is disposing of the natural gas by burning it, which is commonly referred to as “flaring.”[3] Oil producers in Nigeria are notorious for flaring this natural gas instead of putting Continue reading →

“The future depends on what you do today.” − Mahatma Gandhi I. Introduction The Great Lakes are an invaluable resource for the United States and Canada. The Great Lakes waters contain roughly twenty percent of the world’s fresh surface water and almost eighty-five percent of North America’s fresh surface water.[2] Indeed, if we were to take this water and spread it evenly across the contiguous United States, it would be nearly ten feet deep.[3] There is a tendency to describe the Great Lakes as a Continue reading →

I. Introduction The problem of how to develop and promote sustainable agricultural practices has been at the center of the larger debate over sustainable development since the 1980s.[2] As international awareness expanded about sustainable development and sustainable agriculture, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (“UNESCO”) called on nations to create “conditions for sustainable agriculture” to ensure adequate and nutritious food for a growing global population while “conserving and rehabilitating” natural resources in the early 1990s.[3] UNESCO has continued to promote sustainable agriculture into Continue reading →