Environmental

Summary: Over one billion tons of animal waste is produced each year in the United States by animal feedlot operations (AFOs). In 1995 alone, 63.5 million gallons of manure spilled from AFOs. Manure spills poison rivers, lakes, and ponds, seep into groundwater, causing fishkills, human disease, and death. The United States Environmental Protection Agency, reports that AFOs are a primary factor in the impairment of forty percent of the nation's waterways. Despite these conditions, there are no federal standards for the storage, application, or management of animal waste. This Comment evaluates the existing regulation of AFOs under the Clean Water Act and proposes that new regulations and stricter enforcement of the current NPDES program are necessary to protect public and environmental health from manure contamination.

Summary: Over one billion tons of animal waste is produced each year in the United States by animal feedlot operations (AFOs). In 1995 alone, 63.5 million gallons of manure spilled from AFOs. Manure spills poison rivers, lakes, and ponds, seep into groundwater, causing fishkills, human disease, and death. The United States Environmental Protection Agency, reports that AFOs are a primary factor in the impairment of forty percent of the nation's waterways. Despite these conditions, there are no federal standards for the storage, application, or management of animal waste. This Comment evaluates the existing regulation of AFOs under the Clean Water Act and proposes that new regulations and stricter enforcement of the current NPDES program are necessary to protect public and environmental health from manure contamination.

Summary: The following is an interview with Doc Hatfield about his views on raising cattle and his association with Oregon Country Beef, a cooperative organization that his wife, Connie, helped start in 1986. Doc was on his cell phone while we talked, as he and Connie were on their way to Portland from their High Desert Ranch in Brothers, Oregon to give a talk to an agricultural group. Connie was driving while Doc and I spoke. They have a rule against driving and talking on the phone at the same time. I agreed that was probably a good policy.

Summary: In this comment, the author explores the development of open range laws in Oregon and other western states and argues such laws should be abolished or drastically amended. Common law requires ranchers to fence livestock in or face liability for damages caused by strays. However, historical customs and practices of Western states were shaped by vast open lands and sparce populations, leading to open range customs which required a landowner to fence "out" livestock to protect their property. This comment focuses on the case of Dr. Patrick Shipsey, an Oregon landowner convicted of shooting cattle that wandered onto his land. Through this discussion, the viability of open range statutes is discussed and the ongoing debate exposed. Policy alternatives are proposed that reflect modern demographic changes and a re-balancing of the economic and environmental burdens of ranching practices.

Summary: The concept of sustainability has evolved through a wide variety of definitions. Traditionally, sustainability was seen as a system of management which would allow humans to perpetually exploit the world's natural resources; that is, to manage resources so they would never be depleted. More recently, however, writers have argued the traditional concept of sustainability has failed because a truly sustainable system recognizes all resources and stakeholders for their inherent value. Equity is thus the essential ethic of a sustainable system. This article adopts this modern view of sustainability and identifies interspecies equity-the consideration of nonhuman animals based upon their inherent self-interests-as the embodiment and ultimate test of a truly sustainable system. By identifying the negative impacts of suppressing interspecies equity and citing examples of how to incorporate the sustainable ideal of interspecies equity, this article points the way toward a truly equity-based ethic of sustainability.

Summary: The Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service manage millions of acres of public land across the United States. Most of this land serves more than one purpose-grazing, mining, recreation, timber, wildlife-and thus must remain available for these uses. Historically, the Unlawful Inclosures Act (UIA) preserved access for ranchers and homesteaders. More recently, the UIA has also protected access for wildlife whose movements are impeded by fences or other illegal obstructions. This article argues that such protection should be extended to the Sonoran pronghorn antelope in the southwestern United States.

Summary: From the courtroom, to Capitol Hill, to the international arena, the struggle for animal rights continues (as it does too for human rights). In this volume of Animal Law, several authors discuss how the legal rights of humans compete with those of animals. Rick Eichstaedt's article, "Save the Whales" v. 'Save the Makah": The Makah and the Struggle for Native Whaling, discusses the competing interests of the Makah Indian tribe and the gray whale. The Makah will begin hunting gray whales for the first time in over seventy years in the fall of 1998. Some defenders of indigenous peoples' rights argue that the Makah should be allowed to return to their traditional ceremonial practice. Animal rights groups argue that it is not right to kill even one whale. There are no easy answers in conflicts such as these.

Summary: Unscreened surface water diversions damage and kill young fish. The decline of anadromous fish stocks in the Columbia Basin puts a premium on protection of juvenile salmon. State laws require screens on surface water diversions, but compliance has been poor. The Endangered Species Act and the Northwest Power Act have motivated and funded a massive remedial screening effort since 1991. Effective screens, installed with ratepayer and taxpayer funds, have dramatically improved fish protection at diversions. However, many harmful diversions remain. This paper concludes that, although progress has been swift full compliance in 1996 is problematic. Greater incentives and enforcement are essential to complete screening in the Columbia Basin. After full compliance, maintenance and eventual replacement of screens are essential to the screening program's continued success. To avoid another Endangered Species Act "train wreck " states must transfer their screening experience to other watersheds in order to improve conditions for their native and resident fish.

Summary: This legislative resolution adopts the Convention on Biological Diversity signed in Rio de Janeiro in June 5, 1992. The CBD strives for the conservation and sustainability of biodiversity and its components.

Summary: Ley 71 is “the law for the rights of mother earth." This law recognizes the rights of Mother Earth, as well as the obligations and duties of the government and society to guarantee respect for these rights. This law gives the environment, or "mother earth," and all its components, the status of collective subject of public interest for the purpose of guaranteeing the protection of its rights.