Harvard Environmental Law Review

Bethany Berger on Intertribal Wildlife Cooperation

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Bethany R. Berger has published “Intertribal: The Unheralded Element in Indigenous Wildlife Sovereignty” in the Harvard Environmental Law Review.

Here is the abstract:

Intertribal organizations are a powerful and unheralded element behind recent gains in Indigenous wildlife sovereignty. Key to winning and implementing judicial and political victories, they have also helped tribal nations become powerful voices in wildlife and habitat conservation. Through case studies of these organizations and their impact, this Article shows why intertribal wildlife organizations are necessary and influential, and how the intertribal form reflects a distinct relational approach to wildlife governance. As the first article focused on the intertribal form, moreover, the Article also identifies an unexamined actor in tribal sovereignty and legal change.

Highly recommended!

Bethany Berger on Intertribal Wildlife Orgs

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Bethany Berger has posted “Intertribal: The Unheralded Element in Indigenous Wildlife Sovereignty,” forthcoming in the Harvard Environmental Law Review, on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

Intertribal organizations are a powerful and unheralded element behind recent gains in Indigenous wildlife sovereignty. Key to winning and implementing judicial and political victories, they have also helped tribal nations become powerful voices in wildlife and habitat conservation. Through case studies of these organizations and their impact, this article shows why intertribal wildlife organizations are necessary and influential, and how the intertribal form reflects a distinct relational approach to wildlife governance. As the first article focused on the intertribal form, moreover, the article also identifies an unexamined actor in tribal sovereignty and legal change.

Jim Grijalva on the Gap in Indian Country Water Quality Protection

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

James Grijalva has posted “Ending the Interminable Gap in Indian Country Water Quality Protection,” forthcoming in the Harvard Environmental Law Review, on SSRN.

The abstract:

Tribal self-determination in modern environmental law holds the tantalizing prospect of translating Indigenous environmental value judgments into legally enforceable requirements of federal regulatory programs. Congress authorized this approach three decades ago, but few tribes have sought primacy even for foundational programs like Clean Water Act water quality standards, contributing to potentially serious environmental injustices. This article analyzes in detail EPA’s recent attempt at reducing tribal barriers — reinterpreting the Act as a congressional delegation of tribal jurisdiction over non-Indians — and the early indications its results are insignificant. The article then proposes an unconventional solution ostensibly at odds with tribal self-determination: promulgation of national, federal water quality standards for Indian country. EPA’s Indian Program actually began this way, as an interim step awaiting tribes’ assumption of federal regulatory programs. Thirty years later, the seemingly interminable regulatory gap in Indian country water quality protection remains, and EPA has a legal and moral responsibility to close it.

Case Note on Trail Smelter (Pakootas v. Teck Camino)

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

The Harvard Environmental Law Review published a case note on the Trail Smelter case, “Pakootas v. Teck Cominco Metals, Ltd.“ The Supreme Court will decide shortly whether or not the hear the case, though the Solicitor General has argued in favor of a denial of cert. The case involves water pollution of tribal waters at Colville by a Canadian smelter.