Open Controls Close Controls

Foreword

Julie Rose

March 29th 2020

It is our pleasure to introduce Ecology Law Quarterly’s 2017–18 Annual Review of Environmental and Natural Resource Law. In its nineteenth year, the Annual Review is the product of collaboration among the student authors, ELQ’s editors, Berkeley Law’s environmental law faculty, and the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment.

The Only Green That Matters Is the Green in Your Pocket: Advocating for Renewable Energy in Red States

Julie Rose

March 29th 2020

Addressing the threat of climate change will require a large-scale transition from fossil fuel-generated power to renewable energy. However, climate change has been politicized in the United States to such an extent that many states’ lawmakers resist embracing wind and solar power for the simple reason that it is favored ...

An Indivisible and Living Whole: Do We Value Nature Enough to Grant It Personhood?

Julie Rose

March 29th 2020

In 1972, in his dissent to the majority’s decision in Sierra Club v. Morton, Justice Blackmun posed a question: “Must our law be so rigid and our procedural concepts so inflexible that we render ourselves helpless when the existing methods and the traditional concepts do not quite fit and do ...

Agua Caliente: A Case Study and Toolkit for Securing Tribal Rights to Clean Groundwater

Julie Rose

March 29th 2020

In 2013, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians sued the Coachella Valley Water District and Desert Water Agency after nearly two decades of voicing its concerns to the agencies over their unsustainable groundwater management practices. Specifically, the Agua Caliente disapproved of the agencies’ overdraft mitigation techniques, which involve artificially ...

Expediting Infrastructure Development without Conceding Reasoned Decision Making and Public Comment: Streamlining NEPA Compliance for Facility Upgrades and Expansions

Julie Rose

March 29th 2020

On August 15, 2017, the White House issued Executive Order 13,807, which cited the need to improve domestic infrastructure as the basis for its mandate to cap the amount of time federal agencies may spend preparing an Environmental Impact Statement for certain major infrastructure projects. This development followed Executive Order ...

“This Land Was Made for You and Me”—And Them: Why and How the Department of the Interior Should Give Greater Consideration to the Gray Wolf’s Historical Range

Julie Rose

March 29th 2020

Throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the gray wolf was systematically eradicated from most of the lower forty-eight states. A population of hundreds of thousands was whittled down to a few hundred, concentrated only in the woods of Minnesota and Isle Royale, Michigan. The wolf has rebounded, thanks ...

Reasonable Expectations: An Unreasonable Approach to the Denominator Question in Takings Analysis

Julie Rose

March 29th 2020

In Murr v. Wisconsin, the U.S. Supreme Court confronted the “denominator problem” that arises when defining the baseline unit of property for assessing a regulatory taking. That problem was particularly complex in light of Wisconsin’s merger provision, an increasingly common zoning tool that treats adjacent, commonly owned lots as a ...

Continental Divides: How Wolf Conservation in the United States and Europe Impacts Rural Attitudes

Julie Rose

March 29th 2020

Wolves are controversial carnivores whose management generates intense debate. That debate, and the response from wolf managers, often fails to adequately account for rural communities’ fears about wolves. These fears, if ignored, can lead to the frustration of conservation objectives and a disrespect for the law itself. In order to ...

When the Exemption Becomes the Rule: Problems that Waterkeeper v. EPA Poses for Advocates of Reporting Requirements and Potential Solutions

Julie Rose

March 29th 2020

Waterkeeper v. EPA represents a limited victory for advocates of reporting requirements. In this case, the court held that the Environmental Protection Agency could not exempt farms from air pollution reporting requirements based on the use of the de minimis doctrine, which allows for exemptions from regulations to avoid trifling ...

Climate Change in the Era of Post-Truth

Julie Rose

March 29th 2020

In The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial is Threatening our Planet, Destroying our Politics, and Driving us Crazy, climate scientist Michael Mann joins with Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Tom Toles to take on climate change denialism. Mann, the Director of the Earth System Science Center at The Pennsylvania State University, ...

Martin’s Beach Litigation and Eroding Public Access Rights to the California Coast

Julie Rose

March 29th 2020

Martin’s Beach, a privately owned, rugged, photogenic strip of sand south of Half Moon Bay on California’s Pacific coast, has become a flashpoint for a changing state. When billionaire Vinod Khosla—new owner of the beach and abutting property—closed Martin’s Beach to the public in 2009, environmentalists, surfers, and local government ...

Public Finance, Stormwater, and the California Constitution: Who Pays for Trash Cans at Bus Stops?

Julie Rose

March 29th 2020

California voters and courts consistently support efforts to protect both the environment and taxpayers. These actions often spur changes in policy throughout the nation. For example, California passed comprehensive water quality legislation prior to enactment of the federal Clean Water Act. California also pioneered air quality standards before the federal ...

Regulating Water Transfers in the Wake of Catskill Mountains Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Inc. v. EPA: Examining Alternatives to NPDES Permits

Julie Rose

March 29th 2020

In January 2017, the Second Circuit upheld the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Water Transfers Rule (Rule), reversing a decision by the Southern District of New York to vacate the Rule and remand the matter to the EPA.1 The decision in Catskill IV was greeted as a victory by many ...

A Proposal to Increase Public Participation in CERCLA Actions through Notice

Julie Rose

March 29th 2020

Congress enacted the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) to address hazardous substances releases from industrial operations. Although the statute was meant to provide communities with a means of self-protection, CERCLA actions are often commenced by a government agency against a polluter or a group of potentially responsible ...

Combatting Lake Invaders: A Proposal for Ballast Water Standards to Save the Great Lakes from Invasive Species

Julie Rose

March 29th 2020

Since 1972, the Clean Water Act has been a powerful tool for regulating waterborne pollutants. Despite the success of the Clean Water Act in mitigating water pollution, unforeseen challenges arise when regulators use the Clean Water Act to regulate nonconventional pollutants, including invasive species. Invasive species continue to wreak havoc ...

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Stay up to date about upcoming events and exciting news about our current members.