Another example of a typical commons is groundwater. Nobody really owns the groundwater; it is technically up for grabs. Eventually, depletion by a few means depletion for all.
Source: Science (1968) Read More
As the hunt for important unconventional gas resources in America expands, an increasingly popular method of wringing resources from stubborn underground formations is a process called hydraulic fracturing – also described as hydrofracturing, fracking, or fracing – wherein fluids are pumped at high pressure underground to fracture a formation and release trapped oil or gas.
Source: Fordham Environmental Law Review (2008) Read More
In this study, Hitt and Hendryx answer this question in the affirmative, demonstrating that the ecological integrity of stream benthic macroinvertebrate communities is related to human cancer mortality in West Virginia, USA.
Source: EcoHealth (2010) Read More
In her Oregon Law Review article, “The Effect of the United States Supreme Court’s Eleventh Amendment Jurisprudence on Clean Water Act Citizen Suits,” Professor Hope Babcock examines how the Court’s expansion of state sovereign immunity has narrowed citizens’ ability to enforce federal environmental laws. She argues that recent decisions have shielded state agencies from accountability, weakening Clean Water Act enforcement and limiting private lawsuits under other environmental statutes, thereby constraining the public’s capacity to vindicate federally protected rights.
Source: Oregon Law Review (2004) Read More
How far below the earth’s surface do property rights extend? The conventional wisdom is that a landowner holds title to everything between the surface and the center of the earth. This article is the first legal scholarship to challenge the traditional view.
Source: UCLA Law Review (2008) Read More
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), officially established on December 2, 1970 by President Richard Nixon, emerged from a decade of rising environmental awareness sparked in large part by Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. As pollution crises mounted and public pressure intensified following the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Nixon created a strong, independent agency to unify federal air, water, pesticide, and radiation programs under Administrator William D. Ruckelshaus.
Source: EPA Journal (1985) Read More
There are probably no more important reforms to government than the ones that came with the passing of the Federal Freedom of Information (“FOI”) Act. The law recognized in no uncertain terms that if government is to be of the people, by the people and for the people, the decisions and actions of the government must be open for review by the people.
Source: IRE (Investigative Reporters and Editors) Journal (2002) Read More
Coalbed methane extraction promised domestic energy gains, but critics tracked groundwater drawdown, surface disturbance, and wastewater disposal challenges. The cost-benefit debate was not theoretical — it played out in ranchlands and aquifers. As unconventional gas expanded, lessons from coalbed methane became a cautionary template.
Source: Natural Resources Journal (2003) Read More
…As an agency, we are ready to face scientific challenges in 2011 that range from
Source: Science Matters (2011) Read More
On 29 May 2006, an eruption of steam, water, and, subsequently, mud occurred in eastern Java in a location where none had been previously documented.
Source: GSA Today (2007) Read More