A (Limited) Win for the Environment and Those of Us Living in It  In March 2020, sixteen Montana youth (the “Youth Plaintiffs”) ranging from two to eighteen years old filed a complaint alleging the State’s energy system, powered by fossil fuel, caused and contributed to climate change, violating their constitutional right to a healthy environment. Over three and a half years later, Kathy Seely, District Court Judge for the First Judicial District Court of Lewis and Clark County, found in favor of the Youth Plaintiffs , holding that “[Youth] Plaintiffs have a fundamental constitutional right ..read more

Colorado Efforts to Protect Water Resources             Water shortages in Colorado have prompted negotiations between the Colorado River Basin states regarding how best to cut water use.  Recent estimates suggest that California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming must cut their current allocation by thirty percent. [i]   Although snowpack in Colorado is currently one hundred and forty percent of average , more is needed to curb the water crisis in the West. [ii]  To aid in negotiations, four senators from Colorado, Wyom ..read more

California has a storied and complex history of water rights evolution that has resulted in over a century’s reliance on a successful water rights permitting system. However, as a megadrought strains water resources across the southwest, the State Water Board is pushing back on California’s longstanding water rights scheme in favor of a more innovative approach: a voluntary water rights sharing agreement program. California joined the Union as the thirty-first state on September 9, 1850.  After gaining its statehood, California embraced the water rights system of the Eastern United Stat ..read more

Are current punitive damages caps sufficient to deter bad actors from contaminating the environment? The recent train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, demonstrates that Ohio’s punitive damages cap may be a drop in the bucket for large corporations.  Nearly every state has its own cap on punitive damages, which is usually tied to a defendant’s liability for compensatory damages.  These statutory caps may defeat the purpose behind punitive damages: punishment and deterrence.    On February 3, 2023, a Norfolk Southern train carrying chemicals and combustible materials dera ..read more

The Future of Toxic Tort Litigation Surrounding PFOA and PFOS Modern society benefits from the use of non-stick cookware, stain-proof carpets and clothing, long-wear makeup products , cardboard food packaging, and firefighting foams.  However, these products often contain chemical coatings of PFOA and PFOS, two types of PFA chemicals which allow the products to resist “oils, stains, water, and heat.”  Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) are commonly known man-made chemicals used in industry and consumer products since the 1940s.  Many refer to ..read more

A national effort to regulate water consumption is needed to ensure the upper and lower basin states are all collaboratively, and aggressively, working towards reducing both residential and agricultural water use. The need for water conservation is growing in many areas of the world. In Amman, Jordan , it is typical for the federal government to deliver a family’s entire supply of water to their residential home once per week.  Water conservation is a part of daily life in Amman. This type of federal regulation of water resources is unfamiliar in the United States; however, increasing dr ..read more

Wildfires occurring with increased strength and frequency endanger the characteristics of Colorado watersheds that help them to do their jobs. In American politics, a ‘ watershed moment ' is a turning point—something pivotal that can alter the outcome or trajectory of a movement.  This idiom borrows its name from a geological feature where a land area channels rainfall and snowmelt into creeks, streams, and rivers, eventually guiding the water into an outflow point such as a lake or an ocean.   Watersheds are essential to a healthy ecosystem ; however, Colorado’s watersheds are stru ..read more

– Climate Change is Water Change – The Colorado River Basin is a defining feature of the American Southwest and is one of the most critical sources of water in the region .  The river borders seven states, two nations, and dozens of Native American reservations such as the Navajo Nation, the White Mountain Apache Nation, and the Hopi Tribe.  The Colorado River Basin has shaped the face of the region, supporting a multi-billion-dollar recreation industry and providing life-giving flows to the nation, its adjacent regions and across the country.  But this lifeblood of the southwe ..read more

Environmental problems–such as water resource depletion–are surfacing faster than ever before.  Marijuana is a water-intensive crop that will require built-in water sustainability practices to avoid scrutiny as water shortage in the West becomes increasingly dire.  Water scarcity is an increasing problem, and the State of Colorado is not immune.  It is no secret that in every sector, global sustainability, including water reduction, is of increasing importance.  We are likely not far from intense federal, state, and municipal sustainability requirements for every industry ..read more

“Removing lead at its source by removing lead service lines may be the heart of the program, but communication, outreach and education is the foundation on which it is all built[.]” – Meg Trubee, Communications, Outreach, and Education Manager for Denver Water's LRPP. Colorado is known for its clear blue mountain lakes, as popularized by the late John Denver in his song “Rocky Mountain High.” People come to Colorado every year to hike up to Bear Lake and see the towering snow caps slowly trickle down into the perfect blue lake, or to drink from one of the many small high-elevation seasonal la ..read more