DEVELOPMENT OF FEDERAL RESERVE RIGHTS1

ABSTRACT: The concept that has been termed “Indian Rights to Water” is one manifestation of the area of federal reserved rights that is a major concern of states in arid regions. The federal reserved rights are those that are reserved in fact or by implication in federal actions, acts, reservations, and treaties. Federal actions include such things as navigation improvement and flood control projects. The Federal Court System, since the Civil War has been promulgating, developing, and protecting federal reserved water rights. The development of those rights can be traced from early cases through the landmark cases such as U.S. v. Rio Grande and Irrigation Co. (1899); Winters v. U.S. (1908) with the origin of the Winters' Doctrine of Indian Rights; Federal Power Commission v. Oregon, commonly called the Pelton Dam Case (1955); Arizona v. California (1963); U.S. v. District Court for Eagle County (1971); to existing suits on surface water sources such as that on appeal in regard to reserved federal water rights on the Truckee River. It can be shown that the federal position has been consistent through all the years in that the federal rights have been protected, expanded, developed, and preserved in a more or less predictable manner.     

美国《濒危物种法》对联邦机构的要求--美国《濒危物种法》第七章浅析

目前，在世界范围内，美国《濒危物种法》可以说是物种保护方面最强有力的国内立法，它规定了两项国家政策，其一就是要求所有的联邦部门和机关都必须努力保护濒危物种并运用其权力促进《濒危物种法》立法宗旨的实现。本文简要介绍美国《濒危物种法》的历史发展和其第七章的主要内容，分析美国《濒危物种法》对联邦机构在物种保护中的要求。     

ESTABLISHING PRIORITIES FOR WETLAND MANAGEMENT1

Wetlands provide a variety of ecological services, but are attractive sites for many development activities. Between the mid-1950's and mid-1970's about 550,000 acres, or about 0.5 percent, of the vegetated wetlands remaining in the conterminous states were converted to other uses each year. About 80 percent of these losses involved draining and clearing of inland wetlands for agricultural purposes. Recent reductions in national wetland conversion rates are due primarily to declining rates of agricultural drainage and secondarily to government programs that regulate wetlands use. Several governmental policies and programs exist that either encourage or discourage wetland conversions. Section 404 of the Clean Water Act is the major tool for Federal involvement in controlling the conversion of wetlands to other uses. The 404 program, in combination with State regulatory programs, is responsible for reducing annual conversions nationwide by about 50 percent of what is applied for, or 50,000 acres of wetlands per year, primarily through project modifications. Coastal wetlands are reasonably well protected. Inland, freshwater wetlands are generally poorly protected. Efforts to protect wetlands, given a set level of resources, could be improved by categorizing wetlands according to their relative importance and focusing existing wetland programs on high value wetlands.     

QUANTIFICATION OF INSTREAM FLOW NEEDS OF A WILD AND SCENIC RIVER FOR WATER RIGHTS LITIGATION1

ABSTRACT: The lower 4 miles of the Red River, a tributary of the Rio Grande in northern New Mexico, was designated as one of the “instant” components of the National Wild and Scenic River System in 1968. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), as the managing agency of the wild and scenic river, was a participant in a general water rights adjudication of the Red River stream system. The BLM sought a federal reserved water right and asserted a claim to the instream flows necessary to protect and maintain the values of the river. Instream flows are not recognized under New Mexico water law. Instream flow requirements were determined by several methods to quantify the claims made by the United States for a federal reserved water right under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. The scenic (aesthetic), recreational, and fish and wildlife values are the purposes for which instream flow requirements were claimed. Since water quality is related to these values, instream flows for waste transport and protection of water quality were also included in the claim. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Instream Flow Incremental Methodology was used to quantify the relationship between various flow regimes and fish habitat. Experience in this litigation indicates the importance of using state-of-the-art methodologies in quantifying instream flow claims. The incremental methodology held up well under technical and legal scrutiny and is an example of the latest methodology that was applied successfully in an adjudication. On February 23, 1984, the parties involved in the adjudication entered a precedential stipulation recognizing a federal reserved right to instream flows for the Red River component of the National Wild and Scenic River System.     

Implementing Ecosystem Management in Public Agencies: Lessons from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service

Abstract:  Ecosystem management was formally adopted over a decade ago by many U.S. natural resource agencies, including the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. This approach calls for management based on stakeholder collaboration; interagency cooperation; integration of scientific, social, and economic information; preservation of ecological processes; and adaptive management. Results of previous studies indicate differences in the extent to which particular components of ecosystem management would be implemented within the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management and suggest a number of barriers thought to impede implementation. Drawing on survey and interview data from agency personnel and stakeholders, we compared levels of ecosystem-management implementation in the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management and identified the most important barriers to implementation. Agency personnel perceived similarly high levels of implementation on many ecosystem-management components, whereas stakeholders perceived lower levels. Agencies were most challenged by implementation of preservation of ecological processes, adaptive management, and integration of social and economic information, whereas the most significant barriers to implementation were political, cultural, and legal.     

美国联邦财政环保支出经验借鉴

为应对当前环境保护工作所处的新阶段、新形势、新任务,在分析美国联邦财政环保支出特征的基础上,从加大环保专项资金投入、提高环境科技支出占比、强化重点领域环保支出、注重建立环保基金等方面,提出优化我国中央财政环保支出可供借鉴的四点经验。     

利用ARIMA(自回归移动平均)模型对跑道侵入事件的分析及预测

综合运用具有相当精度的时间序列分析方法,建立美国民航运输安全中的机场跑道侵入的AR IMA(自回归移动平均)模型,克服了样本空间总是有限带来的不足,揭示出民航跑道侵入的动态变化规律,并对未来美国民航跑道侵入事故发生次数进行较准确的预测,为我国民航部门科学地制定飞行计划、人员培训、提高安全管理水平,提供可靠的依据。     

美国侧面碰撞规程下轿车变形侵入仿真研究

为更好地分析汽车侧面碰撞过程中驾乘人员安全,根据美国联邦机动车安全法规FMVSS214碰撞要求,采用显式有限元分析软件LS-DYNA详细建立了某公司轿车有限元整车模型和可变形移动壁障有限元模型,研究了美国侧面碰撞规程下可变形移动壁障以54 km/h速度撞击轿车侧面的变形侵入过程仿真模拟和轿车侧面车门不同水平级的变形侵入对乘员损伤程度的影响。结果表明:有限元模拟结果与实车碰撞试验结果吻合较好,模型可信;轿车车门中部位置对驾乘人员损伤影响最大,乘员损伤AIS值接近3(严重损伤);参数加权平均变形侵入量能较好的反映车辆侧面碰撞下车身侧围的变形侵入情况。     

Dissent and descent: tracing Canada’s environmental governance from regulatory beginnings to dismissal and reversals by the Harper government

Since Confederation in 1867, official Canadian settler government policy on the environment has sought to simultaneously preserve “wilderness” and exploit natural resources for market gain. In the 1960s, the nascent North American modern environmental movement pushed for stronger regulation on pollution and toxics – and a more institutionalised state-led response to environmental problems emerged. Throughout the last five decades, three principal “eras” of federal government reaction have emerged in response to mounting scientific evidence and public pressure to act on environmental issues. The first, from the late-1960s to mid-1980s, saw the development and implementation of early environmental policy and programmes. The second era, from the mid-1980s to mid-2000s co-occurred alongside the rise of the sustainable development paradigm, and is marked by the Canadian government’s attempt at leadership on the global stage. The third era, from the mid-2000s to 2015, demonstrates a shift from environmental regime-building and multilateral collaboration toward rollbacks and obstructionism. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the government of Canada reversed decades of progress and cooperation on the environment and sustainable development through its muzzling of government scientists, superficial co-optation of climate policy, rollbacks of environmental legislation and disparagement of environmental activists. In total, by shifting the federal government from a position of ineffective benevolence on environmental issues to one of contention and antagonism, the Harper government’s approach represents a departure from Canadian environmental governance norms and sought to remake the identity of Canada as an energy superpower inextricably tied to its oil and gas industry.     

论我国海岸带立法的核心内容

2018年11月18日发布的《中共中央国务院关于建立更加有效的区域协调发展新机制的意见》明确提出了"推动海岸带管理立法"的工作要求。该工作的重心理应是解决目前我国海岸带管理实践中的突出问题，即陆海之间、部门行业之间和行政辖区之间难以统筹协调的问题。解决该问题的有效途径是通过立法的方式构建统筹协调机制。美国海岸带管理制度中的统筹协调机制颇具特色，由"总协调人"和"联络人"制度、"联邦一致性"制度、州海岸带管理项目与州其他项目的统筹协调制度，以及陆海统筹协调制度等方面组成。我国可以借鉴其成功经验，在海岸带立法中，以构建统筹协调机制为核心内容。该机制以程序性规则为主体，设立"总协调人"和"联络人"制度，组成统筹协调网络，并规定统筹协调的基本"排序规则"。