Victor Flatt *
Heather Payne **
Water, always necessary, is becoming less available. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (“OECD”) predicts water use will increase by 55% between 2000 and 2050, and that by 2050, over 40% of the world’s population “will live in river basins under severe water stress.”[1] Climate change is making this worse. Approximately 486 million people will be exposed to water scarcity or aggravated scarcity even if the average global temperature rise is limited to 2°C.[2] If temperatures rise further, the numbers increase.[3] Looking at food production globally, a quarter of croplands lack adequate water, and 56% of irrigated land is under high to extremely high water stress.[4]
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* Thomas F. and Elizabeth Taft Distinguished Professor in Environmental Law, and Director, Center for Law, Environment, Adaptation, and Resources (CLEAR) at the University of North Carolina School of Law.
** Fellow, Center for Law, Environment, Adaptation, and Resources (CLEAR) at the University of North Carolina School of Law.
[1]. OECD, Why Does Water Security Matter?, in Water Security for Better Lives 15 (2013), available at http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/environment/water-security_97892642 02405-en.
[2]. Dieter Gerten et al., Asynchronous Exposure to Global Warming: Freshwater Resources and Terrestrial Ecosystems, 8 Envtl. Res. Letters 034032, at 4 (2013), available at http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/3/034032/pdf/1748-9326_8_3_034032.pdf. Another report has found that this level of temperature rise will increase the world’s population living under absolute water scarcity by an additional 40%. Jacob Schewe et al., Multimodel Assessment of Water Scarcity Under Climate Change, Proc. Nat’l Acad. Sci. 1 (early online ed. 2013), available at http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/12/12/1222460110. full.pdf.
[3]. Gerten et al., supra note 2, at 4.
[4]. Francis Gassert, One-Quarter of World’s Agriculture Grows in Highly Water-Stressed Areas, World Res. Inst. Blog (Oct. 31, 2013), http://www.wri.org/blog/one-quarter-world’s-agriculture-grows-highly-water-stressed-areas.
Keith B. Hall *
Hydraulic fracturing is a process that often is used to stimulate the production of oil and natural gas from low permeability formations. The process is controversial. Some people passionately support the use of hydraulic fracturing, while others fervently oppose it. Much of the controversy arises from the fact that many people fear that hydraulic fracturing might cause contamination of underground sources of drinking water. In part, the public debate and disagreement regarding hydraulic fracturing is fueled by competing opinions regarding how society should balance the tradeoffs between economic development and environmental protection. But this is only part of the disagreement.
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* Campanile Charities Professor of Energy Law and Director of the Louisiana Mineral Law Institute. J.D., 1996, Loyola University School of Law; B.S., Chemical Engineering, 1985, Louisiana State University.
Rhett B. Larson *
Achieving food security and energy security are two primary policy aims of international and domestic law. Ironically, the pursuit of energy security can often frustrate efforts to achieve food security. Energy security is the condition of a nation and its citizens having reasonable physical and economic access to sufficient and sustainable energy.[1] Food security is the condition of a nation and its citizens having reasonable physical and economic access to sufficient and sustainable food.[2] These two objectives often collide in the area of agricultural water management. It is in that realm that, frustratingly, the goal of achieving food security most frequently comes into conflict with the ambition to achieve energy security.
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* Associate Professor of Law, The University of Oklahoma College of Law. M.Sc., 2011, Oxford University; J.D., 2005, The University of Chicago Law School; B.A., 2002, Brigham Young University. This article is written as part of the 2013 Allen Chair Symposium on the Energy-Water Nexus, hosted by the University of Richmond School of Law. My thanks go to Karen Bradshaw Schulz, Emily Hammond, Troy Rule, Dan Tarlock, David Grey, Patricia Wouters, and the panelists, presenters, moderators, participants, and organizers of the 2013 Allen Chair Symposium.
[1]. Barry Barton et al., Introduction to Energy Security: Managing Risk in a Dynamic Legal and Regulatory Environment 5 (Barry Barton et al. eds., 2004); see Wen-chen Shih, Energy Security, GATT/WTO, and Regional Agreements, 49 Nat. Resources J. 433, 436 (2009) (citing U.N. Dev. Programme, U.N. Dep’t of Econ. & Soc. Aff., World Energy Council, World Energy Assessment: Overview 2004 Update, at 42, U.N. Sales No. E.04.III.B.6 (2004), available at http://www.undp.org/content/dam/ap laws/publication/en/publications/environment-energy/www-ee-library/sustainable-energy/ world-energy-assessment-overview-2004-update/World%20Energy%20Assessment%20Ov erview-2004%20Update.pdf).
[2]. See, e.g., Special Session of the Committee on Agriculture, Negotiations on WTO Agreement on Agriculture: Proposals by India in the Areas of (i) Food Security, (ii) Market Access, (iii) Domestic Support, and (iv) Export Competition, ¶ 1, G/AG/NG/W/102 (Jan. 15, 2001), available at https://docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/FE_Search/DDFDocuments/48712/Q/ G/AG/NGW102.pdf.
Justin Pidot *
On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker ran aground on Bligh Reef.[1] Over the next five hours, the incapacitated vessel spilled more than ten million gallons of crude oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound, and some of that oil remains in the environment to this day.[2]
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* Assistant Professor, University of Denver Sturm College of Law. I would like to thank Amanda Leiter, Nancy Leong, Lisa Grow Sun, and Annecoos Wiersema for their help with this article and the University of Richmond Law Review for inviting me to participate in the 2013 Allen Chair Symposium.
[1]. Stephen Raucher, Raising the Stakes for Environmental Polluters: The Exxon Valdez Criminal Prosecution, 19 Ecology L.Q. 147, 147 (1992).
[2]. Amy J. Wildermuth, The Legacy of the Exxon Valdez: How Do We Stop the Crisis?, 7 U. St. Thomas L.J. 130, 130 (2009).
Dr. Benjamin K. Sovacool *
Alex Gilbert **
Existing and planned reliance on thermoelectric power plants—facilities that burn oil, natural gas, coal, and biomass, or fission atoms—depends too heavily on assumptions of widespread, abundant water resources. As the Union of Concerned Scientists has estimated, power plants in the United States take in almost triple the average amount of water flowing over Niagara Falls each minute to meet their cooling needs.[1] Or, put another way, on a typical day more than 500 billion liters of fresh water travel through power plants in the United States—more than twice the amount flowing through the entire Nile River.[2] Yet water is a critical constraint often overlooked in electricity and energy decisions. When considered, it challenges us to think more broadly about integrated resource planning, reliability challenges, and resource selection.
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* Institute for Energy and the Environment, Vermont Law School and Center for Energy Technologies, School of Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University. Ph.D., 2006, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University; M.A., 2003, Wayne State University; B.A., 2001, John Carroll University.
** Energy Analyst, Haynes and Boone, LLP, and former research fellow at Vermont Law School’s Institute for Energy and the Environment. M.A. in Energy Regulation and Law, 2013, Vermont Law School; B.A., Lake Forest College, Environmental Studies and International Relations, summa cum laude.
[1]. Kristen Averyt et al., Union of Concerned Scientists, Freshwater use by U.S. Power Plants: Electricity’s Thirst for a Precious Resource 1 (2011) [hereinafter Freshwater Use], available at http://www.synapse-energy.com/Downloads/Synapse Report.2011-11.UCS.Freshwater-Use-by-US-Power-Plants.10-028.pdf.
[2]. The Coming Clash Between Water and Energy, IEEE Spectrum (May 28, 2010, 12:25 PM), http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/environment/the-coming-clash-between-water-and-energy.
Donald T. Hornstein *
As the outstanding contributions to this symposium demonstrate, the on-the-ground connections between water and energy are pervasive, multidimensional, and sobering. And, at the legal nexus between water and energy, the symposium’s contributors generally hint at some mix of land-use controls, common-law liability, or regulation to help mediate the challenges. Yet precisely because the challenges are so sobering, perhaps an even broader range of social institutions and solutions ought to be considered. In this essay, I offer some observations of the role that insurance may play at the energy-water nexus.
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* Aubrey L. Brooks Professor of Law, University of North Carolina School of Law. Even though my experience with insurance and weather comes partly from my role as an appointed public member of the North Carolina Wind Pool, a $400 million insurance facility, the views expressed in this essay do not in any way reflect the views of the Wind Pool or even my own views when operating as a member of the Wind Pool’s Board of Directors.
Andrea West Wortzel *
Energy and water are integrally linked. Water is necessary to produce and deliver energy,[1] both for cooling and for pollution control. For certain energy sources, such as natural gas and coal, water is needed in the extraction process. Energy powers water treatment processes and pumps for transporting water to end users. Energy is also needed to treat water after it has been used and to return it to the stream or to another user.
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* Of Counsel; Environmental & Natural Resources Practice Group, Troutman Sanders LLP; Coordinator, Mission H2O; J.D., 1996, University of Richmond School of Law; B.A., 1991, The College of William and Mary. Mission H2O is a stakeholder group focused on regulatory and legislative developments impacting water supply in Virginia.
[1]. See Energy and Industry, Nat’l Geographic, http://environment.nationalgeogra phic.com/environment/freshwater/energy-and-industry/ (last visited Feb. 18, 2014); Energy-Water Nexus Overview, Sandia Nat’l Lab., http://www.sandia.gov/energy-water/nex us_overview.htm (last visited Feb. 18, 2014).
Lauren Maxey
In May 2012, Roanoke Athletic Club in Virginia revoked a family club membership from two dads and their two-year-old son Oliver, after discovering that the two dads were gay and that they did not qualify for club membership. William Trinkle, Juan Granados, and Oliver applied for membership at the athletic club so that they could enjoy the summer by the pool as a family. Trinkle purchased a family membership and club officials approved his application, but soon after the family started using the facilities, the operations director contacted the couple. The director revoked their membership because they did not qualify under the club’s definition of a family. Thus, Trinkle, Granados, and Oliver were denied a family membership simply because of Trinkle’s and Granados’ sexual orientations. In addition, Oliver was denied the access available to children of heterosexual couples. Although the athletic club later changed its definition of a family to allow families like Trinkle, Granados, and Oliver to gain membership, this event highlights one of the many problems gay dads face in Virginia as a result of the current state of Virginia law regarding legal parentage.
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Leah Stiegler *
“No beaches have been closed due to ethanol spills!”[1] An ethanol advocacy group near the United States Capitol shouted these words in 2010. Proponents of ethanol parade an environmentally benign image that plays up ethanol as a “clean fuel” that could never harm water resources, unlike well-publicized oil spills, such as the Exxon Valdez incident.[2] But this is not the case.
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* J.D. Candidate, 2015, University of Richmond School of Law; B.A. and B.S., 2012, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University. I am grateful to have this opportunity to publish and would like to thank the entire University of Richmond Law Review staff and editorial board for their work to make it possible. A special thank you to Jonathan Tan and Christopher Bascom for providing guidance and edits throughout my writing process. Finally, I would like to thank my friends, family, and especially my mother, Janet Stiegler, for her inspiration and encouragement to improve my writing.
[1]. Erica Gies, As Ethanol Booms, Critics Warn of Environmental Effect, N.Y. Times (June 24, 2010), http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/business/energy-environment/25iht-r bogeth.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.
[2]. See id.
Thomas K. Clancy*
What is the purpose of the Fourth Amendment? How should rules – legal principles – be crafted to implement that purpose? This article addresses those questions. Nothing is more fundamental to the development of Fourth Amendment principles than the answers to those questions. Given the wide applicability of the Fourth Amendment to the countless intrusions by the government in daily life, how the Fourth Amendment is to be construed is itself of fundamental concern to all Americans. It is the foundation upon which other freedoms rest.
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*Director, National Center for Justice and the Rule of Law and Research Professor, University of Mississippi School of Law. J.D., Vermont Law School; B.A., University of Notre Dame. The development of this article benefited significantly from a workshop with Professors Christopher Green, Matthew Hall, and Jack Nowlin.
