Category: Printed
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Lessons from Cancer Alley: How the Clean Air Act Has Failed to Protect Public Health in Southern Louisiana
This Note discusses the history and development of Cancer Alley under the regulatory framework of the Clean Air Act, analyzing how industrial interests infiltrate the environmental regulation at the design, implementation, and enforcement level and ultimately hinder how the Act protects public health and the environment. Cancer Alley is an eighty-five mile stretch of land…
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When the Fast Track Hits the Off Ramp: Renewable Energy Permitting and Legal Resistance on Western Public Lands
INTRODUCTION In recent years, the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) has attempted to institute a “Fast-Track” permitting process for renewable energy projects on public lands, which is supposed to increase the efficiency and speed of project development.[2] However, previous attempts have met procedural and administrative hurdles that have led to legal resistance.[3] The new…
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Speech: Atmospheric Trust Litigation: Securing a Constitutional Right to a Stable Climate System
[1]*It is a privilege to be here in Boulder, which is a place I think of as a hub of climate action, with its young climate warriors, its renewable energy visionaries, and its dedicated league of citizens determined to create a safe future. And it is a supreme honor to give the lecture named after…
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Federal Power Act Limitations on FERC Dam Decommissioning Authority: Shielding Preexisting Licensees and Revisiting Trust Funds to Protect the Public Interest
INTRODUCTION Hydropower is one of humankind’s oldest sources of energy.[2] Civilizations from the ancient Mesopotamian region utilized dams in one form or another as early as 8,000 years ago.[3] More than 2,000 years ago, the Greeks utilized the flow of rivers to turn water wheels which then ground wheat into flour.[4] Indeed, it is difficult…
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Speech: Climate Progress in the Energy Sector: Room for (Cautious) Optimism?
[1]*I want to join others in thanking Alice Madden, Shaun LaBarre, the Getches-Wilkinson Center and the sponsors for making this conference possible. It is just exactly the kind of conference I love to attend where people from different perspectives and different disciplines talk about these issues in a more sophisticated way than they’re usually talked…
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Peace Like a River: Institutionalizing Cooperation Over Water Resources in the Jordan River Basin
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,…
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Congress Resurrects a Native Harvest and Creates Potential for Conflict in Migratory Bird Management
ABSTRACT In 2014 Congress passed the Huna Tlingit Traditional Gull Egg Use Act. The Act reestablishes a native gull egg harvest that had been eliminated in the 1960s. The new statute, however, does not reference the Migratory Bird Treaty Act or the migratory bird treaties, and the new statute contains several provisions that conflict with…
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Environmental Jurisdiction in Indian Country: Why the EPA Should Change its Definition of Indian Agency Jurisdiction under the Safe Drinking Water Act
I. INTRODUCTION The Navajo Nation has a bitter history with uranium mining. Uranium mining began in and around the Navajo Nation reservation in 1942, as the uses of uranium were just being discovered.[2] When the worldwide sprint for uranium began during World War II, the dangers associated §with uranium were not yet well understood.[3] Uranium…
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A Looming “Sand Trap” in Severed Mineral Estates
Introduction Over the last decade, U.S. oil production has nearly doubled in volume on the strength of what has come to be known as a “shale revolution.”[2] Due to a confluence of market and technological forces, the process of hydraulic fracturing—or “fracking,” in common parlance—has served as the primary driver for this dramatic uptick…
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The Lobo Limps on from Limbo: A History, Summary, and Outlook for Mexican Wolf Recovery in the American Southwest
Introduction The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish (“NMDGF” or “Department”), acting pursuant to new administrative regulations, denied a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”)[2] application to import and release Mexican wolves—lobos—into New Mexico in November 2015. The FWS, acting pursuant to its own regulations, decided to proceed with Mexican wolf reintroduction. Acting without…