natural resources
Will Rights of Nature Save The World?
Examining whether granting legal rights to nature could make a difference in how courts understand environmental law
A number of environmental advocates have been pushing a new strategy for environmental protection – seeking to pursue legal rights for elements of nature (such as rivers, lakes, ecosystems, or species), sometimes in alliance with Native American tribes. This approach is not unique to the United States – rights of nature legal approaches have been …
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CONTINUE READINGScience article argues that conservation should be allowed to pay its own way on public lands
The law too often restricts resource rights on public lands to extraction activities and precludes conservation
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) auction in February, 2016, for oil and gas drilling rights near Arches National Park was unremarkable. The high bidder, Tempest Exploration Co. LLC, paid $2,500 for the 1,120 acre lease by credit card and began paying annual rental fees. What soon did prove remarkable, though, was the revelation that …
CONTINUE READINGThe Public Trust Doctrine as an Anti-Corruption Weapon
Everything Old Is New Again
As Rick noted a couple of weeks ago, the California Court of Appeal has recently decided that the public trust doctrine applies to groundwater resources — a long overdue holding that flows (so to speak) pretty much directly from the landmark Mono Lake decision that applied the PTD to surface water. (Since surface and groundwater …
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CONTINUE READINGIn Memoriam: David Getches
We are very sorry to report the death of David Getches, who was the Raphael J. Moses Professor of Natural Resources Law at the University of Colorado School of Law. His fields were water law, public land law, environmental law, and Indian law. Professor Getches several books on water law and one on Indiana law. …
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CONTINUE READINGChanging Course on Consumption
We need to begin rethinking how much and what we consume, as well as how we produce the goods, services, and energy used by consumers.
CONTINUE READINGWhat are the Top 10 Natural Resources Stories?
Lots of folks in legal academia are familiar with Foundation Press’ popular Law Stories series; around here on Legal Planet, we are particularly familiar with Environmental Law Stories (pictured right), edited by Richard Lazarus and Oliver Houck, to which Dan and Holly contributed a chapter. It’s a very useful book, and I’m a fan. But …
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