The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) issues orders on electricity market auction results to ensure that electricity rates are just and reasonable. FERC issued an order accepting the results of the 2008 ISO New England forward capacity auction. PSEG Energy Resources (“PSEG”), a participant in the auction, challenged the order on the grounds that it resulted in undue...
Waterbury v. Washington came to the Connecticut Supreme Court as a dispute over water rights that could have been resolved via a number of statutory or common law doctrines. Instead, the court sought to articulate a uniform theory of riparian law in Connecticut, acknowledging all of these competing doctrines. This uniform theory was one of regulated riparianism. After...
In Weinberger v. Romero-Barcelo, the United States Supreme Court allowed for an equitable resolution to a lawsuit seeking immediate enforcement, by injunction, of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (“FWPCA”). In this case, the United States Navy violated the FWPCA by discharging munitions—a pollutant as defined by the statute—during training exercises into the waters...
In order to preserve the historic authenticity of Alexander Hamilton’s only home, concerned citizens, community groups, and the National Park Service (NPS) created a plan to move Hamilton’s Home. The Friends of Hamilton Grange (“Friends”) were created to assist the NPS in that process. The Friends never filed official paperwork to become an official “friends group” of the NPS...
Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) are the repugnant remnants of antiquated technology that plague older cities like Boston and threaten precious water resources like the Charles River by introducing raw sewage during wet- weather events. Solving the CSO problem means tearing up many of the streets and replacing decades-old pipes or boring large underground storage basins to contain...
Airport noise pollution is a widespread and growing problem in the United States. Traditionally the regulation of airport noise was left to state and local regulatory efforts as well as judicial actions brought under nuisance and inverse condemnation theories of liability. With the enactment of several pieces of federal legislation beginning in the 1970s, however, Congress has...
Commentators have identified fear of liability as a major deterrent to the widespread land application of sewage sludge. Liability issues regarding land application include not only legal liability, but also market liability as a result of negative public perceptions of the land application of sewage sludge. Under current law, municipal sewage treatment facilities, landowners...
The Reindeer Industry Act of 1937 established a de facto Native Alaskan monopoly in the reindeer industry as a means of subsistence that would allow Native Alaskans to remain self-sufficient and continue to practice their traditional customs. In 1997, the Ninth Circuit held that the Reindeer Act did not preclude nonNatives from owning and selling reindeer, thereby opening the...
Global ecosystems are emerging as both targets and conduits of terrorist activity. The end of the Cold War and the changing face of terrorism have contributed to this development. Domestic law has not, however, kept pace with this threat. Applicable legal doctrines do not operate effectively with existing anti-terrorism strategies and fail to express adequately societal outrage...
The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) has recommended, in light of severe stress on the Atlantic Ocean's population of bluefin tuna that, for the indefinite future, no commercial fishing for juvenile fish of this species be allowed. Concurrently, Congress has set out specific monitoring requirements for the catch Atlantic bluefin tuna in the...
Conventional wisdom assumes that environmental monetary sanctions should not be allowed as a deduction from income taxes. This Comment advances the counter-intuitive argument that under the present statutory framework, allowing some environmental monetary sanctions to be tax deductible is consistent with sound environmental policy and social values. Properly structuring sentences...
Nonpoint source pollution continues to frustrate the Clean Water Act's (CWA) promise of restoring and maintaining the integrity of our nation's waterways. Although programs exist within the CWA to assist states with abating nonpoint source pollution, these programs have not prevented nonpoint source pollution, or polluted runoff, from contributing an increasing load of pollutants...
In recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court has restricted the ability of state and local governments to implement land use controls, wielding the Takings Clause of the Constitution as its weapon of choice. The Court has expanded the applicability of the doctrine far beyond claims concerning real property, to overturn legislation protecting employee health benefits, and to find...
Habitat Conservation Plans (HCPs) developed under Section 10 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) have been heavily promoted as a solution to the problem of balancing preservation of biodiversity with the rights of landowners. This Comment takes issue with the current policies employed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in approving HCPs in order to grant incidental lake...
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) imposes strict, retroactive liability on owners or operators of sites contaminated with hazardous waste. CERCLA also authorizes private parties and the Environmental Protection Agentry (EPA) to initiate the cleanup process and to recover the costs of that cleanup from the responsible party...
In the current post-Cold War era, when the need for combat readiness no longer seems necessary, the training activities of the United States military have come under fire. Military training sites across the nation are littered with spent munitions and unexploded ordnance, the result of decades of weapons development and training exercises. The problem is that these military...
We are a society advancing towards undetermined levels of technological sophistication. As we enter the new millennium, we bring a wealth of highly advanced biotechnology, allowing the synthesis of chemicals and hormones which are designed to kill or alter living organisms. Unfortunately, we as humans fall into the definition of "living organisms.
Federal land management agencies historically have disregarded American Indian cries for protection of sacred sites on public lands, and the federal judiciary consistently has supported such action according to a formalistic interpretation of the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment. This Note takes issue with the pattern of religious oppression in the context of public land...
Due to a variety of factors in the last half-century, local governments have increasingly relied upon exactions to finance new development projects. Developers and land owners have challenged these development conditions as abuses of the police power or as violations of the United States Constitution’s Equal Protection, Due Process and Takings Clauses. Recently, the Supreme Court...