Banning Plastic: A Local Effort

Oct. 2, 2018

In Colorado, approximately two billion single use plastic bags are used annually – less than 5% are recycled. Of those recycled, most are turned into low-value products that are not recycled again. To combat the proliferation of plastic bags, ten cities in the state have passed plastic bag ordinances (see...

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Fall 2018 Newsletter

Sept. 1, 2018

Featured articles: GWC welcomes new Getches-Green Clinical Director Sean Helle Ruth Wright endows the GWC Distinguished Lecture in Natural Resources Food for his Children: A Podcast about U.S. v. Washington Read the full newsletter.

Food for His Children: A Podcast About U.S. v. Washington

Aug. 7, 2018

The Getches-Wilkinson Center is proud to announce the launch of a student-produced podcast. The first series, Food for His Children , will tell the story of how a salmon fishing rights case reflects Pacific Northwest Tribes’ struggle—over the course nearly forty years—to reassert their tribal sovereignty by insisting the states...

Colorado’s Responsibility to Protect the Public and the Environment from Adverse Impacts of Oil and Gas Development

July 17, 2018

Oil and gas (O&G) production in Colorado is growing largely through development of wells using hydraulic fracturing (pumping millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals under high pressure) coupled with horizontal drilling at distances extending one to three miles from the wells. (The entire process in now commonly referred...

Navajo Generating Station: An Opportunity for Renewable Energy Project Finance

June 26, 2018

Immensity is the abiding feature of the Colorado Plateau. During this year’s Advanced Natural Resources Seminar, our group was struck again and again by the sheer magnitude of the region’s features. Sleeping Ute Mountain, Shiprock, and Bears Ears greeted us outside Durango. These figures remained our companions on the horizon...

Collaborating for a Greener Future: How Colorado Encourages Better Energy Decisions

June 14, 2018

Most states have separate agencies responsible for environmental protection and energy planning, making collaboration between agencies a necessity to ensure that energy and environmental decisions do not undermine the achievement of one another’s goals. Collaboration between agencies promotes efficient planning, a clearer understanding of issues and solutions, and greater accountability...

2018 GWC Summer Conference

June 8, 2018

Event video Presentations Day 1-Session 1 Gil Barth-Essential Science Leonard Konikow-Western Groundwater Sharon Megdal-The Governance Conundrum Presentations Day 1-Session 2 Bonnie Colby-Groundwater Trading Cleave Simpson-Rio Grande/San Luis Valley Sam Routson-Diamond Valley Mike Young-Diamond Valley Sam Routson and Mike Young Documents Diamond Valley Groundwater Management Plan Sharing Groundwater Unbundling Water Rights...

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“The Shock of the Real”: Twelve Law Â鶹ŇůÔş, Nine Days, and One Unforgettable Adventure

May 29, 2018

“Out there is a different world, older and greater and deeper by far than ours, a world which surrounds and sustains the little world of men as sea and sky surround and sustain a ship. The shock of the real . . . For a few moments we discover that...

Amid Coal-Plant Closures, Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe Face Economic Transition

May 18, 2018

Despite President Trump’s promise to end “the war on coal,” the Hopi and Navajo Nations are facing the inevitable transition away from a coal-dependent economy due to the upcoming closure of the Navajo Generating Station (NGS) and Kayenta Mine. The Trump administration maintains that its policies will revive coal. However,...

Advising the EPA: The Insidious Undoing of Expert Government

May 1, 2018

This post originally appeared on the Harvard Law Review Blog The modern administrative state was built on the promise of expertise. As James Landis argued in his New Deal-era defense of the bureaucracy, expert agencies are needed to effectively oversee the behavior of sophisticated industry actors. Consistent with Landis’s vision,...

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