Great Lakes Law

New Second Edition of Modern Water Law – comprehensive text now includes human right to water

Our new Second Edition of Modern Water Law: Private Property, Public Rights, and Environmental Protections has been published by Foundation Press and is available on Amazon. Co-authored again with Robert Adler, the Jefferson B. and Rita E. Fordham Presidential Dean, and Robin Kundis Craig, the James I. Farr Presidential Endowed Chair of Law, both at the University of Utah College of Law. Modern Water Law provides a comprehensive text to study the range of legal... Read more →

UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment presents 16 Framework Principles on Human Rights and the Environment in final report to UN Human Rights Council

Professor John Knox, a leading expert on international environmental and human rights law, is scheduled to present his final reports as Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment to the United Nations Human Rights Council this week. In July 2012, the United Nations Human Rights Council appointed Professor Knox to a three-year mandate as its first Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy... Read more →

Environmental Justice in Practice - national conference at Wayne Law

Wayne Law is hosting a national conference on environmental justice Friday January 26, 2018. Environmental Justice in Practice features a superb line-up of advocates, attorneys, community leaders, organizers, and policy-makers. Panels will cover energy and climate justice, water access and affordability, urban air quality, and careers in environmental justice. The conference is co-sponsored by Wayne Law's Transnational Environmental Law Clinic and Environmental Law Society, CURES at Wayne State, the University of Chicago Law School's Abrams... Read more →

Open Source Property: A Free Casebook

I’m teaching property again this semester and have compiled a new book for my students, Open Source Property: A Free Casebook. As the title describes, the book is available under open source licensing, totally free and public. Students and anyone else can have it at no cost (except for the time and energy downloading a 650-page book) at http://www.greatlakeslaw.org/files/Open_Source_Property_Casebook_Hall.pdf. In 16 chapters, the book covers: 1. Ownership 2. Subject Matter of Property 3. Property in... Read more →

"Water Law" - new book explores private rights and public interests in freshwater

I have a new book out this year – it’s about water law and aptly named “Water Law.” Water Law: Concepts and Insights (full title) is another collaboration with Robin Kundis Craig, the James I. Farr Presidential Endowed Chair of Law, and Robert Adler, the Jefferson B. and Rita E. Fordham Presidential Dean, both at the University of Utah College of Law. (The cover photo of the Detroit River was taken from Belle Isle State... Read more →

Detroit Enacts New Ordinance to Protect Residents From Dust Pollution

Guest post by Great Lakes Environmental Law Center staff attorney Nick Leonard. On a summer day in July of 2013, a dangerous dark cloud of dust blew along the Detroit River between Windsor, Canada and Detroit. Video captured by an individual showed several people standing along the riverfront transfixed by the dust cloud as it completely obscured their view of the Ambassador Bridge, a normally omnipresent visual landmark for Detroit and Windsor residents alike. The... Read more →

Federal appeals court opens the door to Constitutional claims against state officials for dangerous and inaccessible drinking water in Flint

A federal appeals court has allowed two lawsuits by Flint residents against state officials for Constitutional violations arising from the Flint water crisis to go forward, giving victims a big legal win with even bigger implications. In Boler v. Earley and Mays v. Snyder, 865 F.3d 391 (6th Cir. 2017), cert. denied, 583 U.S. __ (2018), the court held that alleged violations of substantive due process and equal protection could be brought in federal court... Read more →

A win for Great Lakes wolves in federal court

The federal D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower court ruling striking down an attempt by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to delist Great Lakes wolves under the Endangered Species Act. Delisting the Great Lakes wolves would remove federal protections and open the wolves to state hunting seasons. (See this prior Great Lakes Law post on Michigan’s state-sanctioned wolf hunt.) In Humane Society v. Zinke, the federal court rejected the U.S. Fish... Read more →

Flint water crisis litigation – resources and pleadings

A listing of key resources and pleadings from Flint water crisis litigation (updated and current). 1.Background – what happened in Flint, how, and why: US EPA, Emergency Administrative Order re City of Flint, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, and the State of Michigan (January 2016) http://www.greatlakeslaw.org/Flint/EPA_Emergency_Administrative_Order.pdf US EPA, Office of Inspector General, Management Alert: Drinking Water Contamination in Flint, Michigan, Demonstrates a Need to Clarify EPA Authority to Issue Emergency Orders to Protect the Public... Read more →

Ta-Nehisi Coates, Environmental Prophet

I was inspired and challenged by Ta-Nehisi Coates’ public lecture this week at the University of Detroit Mercy. Based on his most recent book Between the World and Me, winner of the 2015 National Book Award, Coates presented an efficient and highly effective argument that America is based on a false idea of race and built on the plunder of black bodies. Implicit in this living lie and ongoing injustice is “the Dream” – Coates’... Read more →