How Would You Write a Law?
See below to refresh your memory:
Increasing Demand for Water
For 10 years farmers have pumped water from the river for irrigation. The upstream city is growing and there are increasing demand for water. There is a drought and there is not enough water to go around.
What can be done to address this issue? Who, if anyone, has the superior interest in the limited amount of water?
Public Lands
Public land refers to the public domain, unappropriated land belonging to the federal government that is subject to sale or other disposal under general laws and is not reserved for any particular governmental or public purpose.
Differing views on how to use federally owned property
"As a nation, we need policies and investments that will keep America’s public lands public, strengthen protections for our natural and cultural resources, increase access to parks and public lands for all Americans, protect species and wildlife, and harness the immense economic and social potential of our public lands and waters."
"Congress should reconsider whether parts of the federal government’s enormous landholdings and control of water in the West could be better used for ranching, mining, or forestry through private ownership… The enduring truth is that people best protect what they own."
How do we balance these competing approaches?
Superfund Sites
In the 1950s, X Manufacturing Co. operated in Town B. It employed 500 people in the town, It produced hazardous waste as a by-product of its manufacturing process, Town B instructed X Co. to dispose of the waste at the local landfill.
In the 1980s, the EPA declared the landfill in Town B a superfund site that must be remediated. It will cost $20 million. At the time of the pollution, few, if any, were aware of the dangers of the pollution being deposited at the landfill.
Who pays?
Initial Post
Discuss the issues involved in these three instances.
How would you write a law to deal with each of these fact situations?
