Great Lakes Law

Supreme Court rejects state’s claim of ownership of groundwater, extends equitable apportionment doctrine to disputed Memphis aquifer

In an unanimous opinion by Chief Justice Roberts, the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected Mississippi’s claims of state ownership of groundwater within its territorial boundaries. The Court instead, as a matter of first impression, extended the equitable apportionment doctrine for flowing waters and resources to the disputed Memphis aquifer. Over two decades of litigation in federal courts, Mississippi has pressed its claim of sovereign ownership of groundwater in the aquifer within its state boundaries. Based... Read more →

Voters Approve Lake Erie Bill of Rights, Polluters Challenge it in Court

On February 26, 2019, voters in Toledo, Ohio overwhelmingly passed the Lake Erie Bill of Rights, fully stated- ESTABLISHING A BILL OF RIGHTS FOR LAKE ERIE, WHICH PROHIBITS ACTIVITIES AND PROJECTS THAT WOULD VIOLATE THE BILL OF RIGHTS We the people of the City of Toledo declare that Lake Erie and the Lake Erie watershed comprise an ecosystem upon which millions of people and countless species depend for health, drinking water and survival. We further... Read more →

Supreme Court considers federal interests and powers in interstate water cases

The US Supreme Court issued a pair of opinions this term dealing with the role of the federal government in ongoing interstate water disputes: (1) Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado; and (2) Florida v. Georgia. The cases are before the Court under “original jurisdiction” - they are being heard on first impression rather than on appeal (although they have been reviewed and reported on by appointed Special Masters). Substantively, both cases involve disputes between... Read more →

Border Flows: A Century of the Canadian-American Water Relationship

A healthy and strong community has no need for walls on its borders. Rather, borders should be a place of cooperation and peace for people and the natural environment. A new book, Border Flows: A Century of the Canadian-American Water Relationship, offers a collection of essays about our northern border over time and across the length of the continent. Edited by Lynne Heasley and Daniel Macfarlane, the book has contributions from writers and scholars in... Read more →

Waukesha Great Lakes water diversion proposal strongly opposed

A proposal by the Wisconsin City of Waukesha to divert Lake Michigan water out of the Great Lakes basin has generated strong opposition from environmental organizations, which have formed a regional coalition on the issue. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has weighed in with a letter expressing his concerns with the proposal. The Great Lakes Environmental Law Center and Wayne State’s Transnational Environmental Law Clinic filed a comment letter authored by Charlotte Johnson, and she... Read more →

On the Supreme Court’s docket – Mississippi v. Tennessee, the first interstate groundwater case

What’s the biggest news story about the Supreme Court and environmental law? Justice Scalia’s passing and the hot list of potential replacements? The Court’s unprecedented stay of President Obama’s Clean Power Plan? Or the grant of leave to hear Mississippi v. Tennessee, the first ever interstate groundwater case? If you picked the last one, you’re reading the right blog post. Admittedly it’s not the hot news item for environmental lawyers and Supreme Court spectators. But... Read more →

Petcoke on the Detroit River – a tar sands byproduct threatens local public health and Great Lakes water

In the early spring of 2012, a black pile three stories high and as large as many of the surrounding buildings appeared along the shores of the Detroit River. This pile was made up of petroleum coke, or “petcoke,” a byproduct created by the process of transforming heavy tar sands oil into useable fuel. While petcoke is not traditionally burned in the United States, competitive markets exist for petcoke in the developing world. This pile’s... Read more →

Law and Governance of the Great Lakes

Along with my friend and colleague Ben Houston, I’ve published a new article entitled simply “Law and Governance of the Great Lakes.” The article appears in the DePaul Law Review’s special symposium issue on the Great Lakes, 63 DePaul Law Review 723 (2014). It aims to explain the law and governance of the Great Lakes within the United States (apologies to Canada, that’s a subject for another time). While discussing the key laws and policies,... Read more →

Water Without Borders? Canada, the United States & Shared Waters - new book and online resources

Water Without Borders? Canada, the United States & Shared Waters, edited by Emma S. Norman, Alice Cohen, and Karen Bakker, has just been published by the University of Toronto Press. I was honored to contribute a chapter to this excellent volume, “The Great Lakes: A Model of Transboundary Cooperation,” co-authored by Dr. Jamie Linton, a Canadian geographer and historian. The companion website provides an excellent overview of the book: Water Without Borders provides readers with... Read more →

New book announcement - Modern Water Law: Private Property, Public Rights, and Environmental Protections

My new book, Modern Water Law: Private Property, Public Rights, and Environmental Protections, has been published by Foundation Press and is available on Amazon. I was honored to work with two superb co-authors on this book - Robert Adler, Interim Dean and James I. Farr Chair in Law, and Robin Kundis Craig, William H. Leary Professor of Law, both at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law. Modern Water Law: Private Property, Public... Read more →

Interstate Groundwater Law in the Snake Valley: Equitable Apportionment and a New Model for Transboundary Aquifer Management

I’ve just posted a pre-publication draft of a forthcoming new article, “Interstate Groundwater Law in the Snake Valley: Equitable Apportionment and a New Model for Transboundary Aquifer Management." The article is co-authored by Benjamin L. Cavataro, a former student at the University of Michigan Law School. It will be published later this year in the Utah Law Review’s inaugural Environmental & Natural Resources Issue (volume 2013, number 6). The article builds on my invited lecture... Read more →

United States and Canada sign new Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement

After three years of negotiations and several limited opportunities for public input, the United States and Canada have signed a new Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement was initiated pursuant to the Boundary Waters Treaty and first signed in 1972 by President Richard Nixon and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. The 1972 agreement focused on phosphorus pollution and created a precedent for environmental leadership by the International Joint Commission. The Great... Read more →

Ontario’s Great Lakes Protection Act

The Great Lakes Protection Act was recently introduced in Ontario (Bill 100, 1st Sess., 40th Leg.). The Act, administered by the Minister of the Environment, would help to identify areas of concern that may adversely affect the ecological health of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin, and establish and prioritize objectives. In that regard, the Act focuses on incorporating public involvement and collaboration with the Government of Ontario. These cooperative efforts would be accomplished primarily... Read more →