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The Subdelegation Doctrine as a Legal Tool for Establishing Tribal Comanagement of Public Lands: Through the Lens of Bears Ears National Monument
Introduction The Bears Ears National Monument (“Bears Ears”) in southern Utah is at the center of a live conflict in the conservation, public lands, and natural resource spaces. President Barack Obama established the 1.35 million acre monument in 2016 as an exercise of his protective authority under the Antiquities Act.[2] Conservation proponents supported the…
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COVID-19 Infects the Fishing Industry: The Rise of Illegal Fishing and the Waiver of Fishery Observer Requirements
INTRODUCTION In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic upended the world as we knew it. COVID-19 impacted almost every aspect of society and the planet—even ocean ecosystems. As global economies sunk into recession, the demand for seafood persisted. Yet, fishing vessels served as perfect vectors for the novel coronavirus because their confined spaces increased transmission of the…
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Impact Fees, Bonding Reform, and Oil and Gas Development
Local and state governments use impact fees to pay for the costs of development. Impact fees improve economic efficiency by internalizing external costs such as the loss of open space and the increased truck traffic that compromises local public infrastructure. Colorado recently expanded the use of impact fees to cover the reasonably foreseeable direct…
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Managing an Administrative Emergency: Establishing FEMA as an Independent Agency
Introduction On November 10, 2018, as Californian families mourned the loss of their loved ones and homes to forest fires, President Trump tweeted a threat to withhold federal payments that could help those families rebuild.[2] Firefighters and lawmakers alike came out against this partisan attack, but that did not stop President Trump from doubling down…
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Why Colorado Should Evaluate Clean Water Act Section 404 Program Assumption
I. INTRODUCTION “The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.” – Charles Kettering[2] For over four decades, Colorado, like virtually every other state, has been content to allow the federal government to regulate the discharge of dredged and fill material into the waters within its borders. During this…
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Beyond our Borders: Barriers and Solutions to Applying Environmental Regulations to U.S. Corporations that Outsource Production
Introduction The world is becoming increasingly interconnected, and our understanding of climate change and pollution now expands beyond the borders of individual countries. Even when the United States monitors and regulates its own contribution to emissions and pollution, these pressing issues are impossible to control through domestic regulation alone. Many goods consumed by Americans…
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Black and Yellow Letter Law: Managing Rusty Patched Bumble Bee Conservation Under the Endangered Species Act
Introduction The rapid decline of various bee species—dubbed “the plight of the bumblebees”—has triggered widespread policy discussions about pollinator protections in the United States (“U.S.”). These discussions resulted in fresh developments in a few areas of law aimed at pollinator protection, including the Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) listing the rusty patched…
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Colorado’s SB 19-181 and the COGCC Rules are First of Their Kinds, yet Still Not Enough
Introduction It was April 2017 when a gas explosion destroyed a home in Firestone, Colorado and killed two people—brothers-in-law Mark Martinez and Joey Irwin.[2] The explosion was caused by a severed gas line, likely cut when the home was built years earlier.[3] In the investigation that followed, it was determined that non-odorous gas had…
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Green Infrastructure: Strengthening Federal Policy for Flood Mitigation, Ecosystems, and Community Well-Being
Introduction At 5:00 p.m. on August 23, 2005, the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida issued an advisory about a tropical storm forming over the Bahamas.[2] To those who live along the southern coast of the United States, a tropical storm advisory, and even a hurricane advisory, is not typically a huge concern. Alerts…
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Sleight of Land: The Socioenvironmental Impacts of Global Land Trade in the International Investment System
Introduction Global land trade has become a subversive form of neocolonialism that obscures environmental exploitation and human rights abuses. It involves the importation and exportation of land in the international market through purchase or lease. Most of the land that is foreignized through this process is in the Global South.[2] Since the beginning of the…