Great Lakes Law

Michigan Supreme Court rules that citizens have the right to sue state agencies for issuing permits, and that diverting contaminated water from one river to another is unlawful

Just before the end of the calendar year, the Michigan Supreme Court has issued a sharply divided decision in Anglers of the AuSable v. Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and Merit Energy Company. The majority’s decision is a huge legal victory for Anglers of the AuSable and other environmental groups on several very important state law issues. However, the decision was authored by Justice Alton Davis, a Democrat who was not reelected last month, when... Read more →

Framing Water Policy in a Carbon Affected and Carbon Constrained Environment

With Prof. Robert Abrams, I’ve published a new article that focuses on the challenges for water management as climate change affects water resources and climate change mitigation policy affects water allocation decisions. The article, “Framing Water Policy in a Carbon Affected and Carbon Constrained Environment”, was published in a special Fiftieth Anniversary edition of the Natural Resources Journal (citation - 50 Natural Resources Journal 3 (2010)). Here’s the abstract, and the full article is available... Read more →

Water policy research exchange in Japan

I’m very fortunate to be spending a week in Japan thanks to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The research exchange is funded by the Japan Foundation’s Center for Global Partnership through the Woodrow Wilson Center’s China Environment Forum in partnership with Institute of Developing Economies in Japan and Nanjing University’s Center for Environmental Management and Policy in China. The exchange aims to build a network of water policy experts to solve pollution problems... Read more →

Another setback in the legal fight to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes

Late last week, in a 61-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Robert Dow denied the request of Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to issue a preliminary injunction compelling the United States Army Corps of Engineers and Chicago’s Municipal Water Reclamation District to close the locks on the Chicago Area Waterway System to prevent the spread of Asian carp into Lake Michigan. The states’ complaint alleged that U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Metropolitan Water Reclamation... Read more →