Join us.

We’re working to create a just society and preserve a healthy environment for future generations. Donate today to help.

Donate

Blog

Showing 17 results

Sandra Zellmer

Professor of Law and Director of Natural Resources Clinics

Sandra Zellmer | June 14, 2013

CPR Scholar Sandi Zellmer: Senate Passes Wrong-Headed “States’ Water Rights Act” WRDA Amendment to Facilitate N.D. Fracking

The 2013 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), as adopted by the Senate on May 13, S.601, would authorize $12 billion in federal spending on flood protection, dam and levee projects, and port improvements.  A new version of WRDA is passed every few years, and it is the primary vehicle for authorizing U.S. Army Corps of […]

Sandra Zellmer | April 23, 2013

Blistering Comments on State’s Draft Keystone XL Environmental Impact Statement

Monday was the deadline for public comment on the State Department’s draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the Keystone XL Pipeline. Mine, which I submitted with the support of two of my University of Nebraska colleagues, are here. The State Department had initially announced that it would take the unusual path of refusing to make […]

Sandra Zellmer | October 16, 2012

The CWA’s Antidegradation Policy: Time to Rejuvenate a Program to Protect High Quality Water

This post was written by CPR Member Scholars Robert Glicksman and Sandra Zellmer. Visual images of burning rivers, oil-soaked seagulls, and other grossly contaminated resources spurred the enactment of the nation’s foundational environmental laws in the 1970s, including the Clean Water Act (CWA). Similarly, evocative prose like Rachel Carson’s description of the “strange blight” poisoning […]

Sandra Zellmer | May 30, 2012

Protecting Our Greatest Asset: Ratifying the Convention on Biological Diversity

a(broad) perspective Today’s post, co-authored by CPR Member Scholar Sandra Zellmer  and Policy Analyst Yee Huang, is the fourth in a series on a recent CPR white paper, Reclaiming Global Environmental Leadership: Why the United States Should Ratify Ten Pending Environmental Treaties. Each month, this series will discuss one of these ten treaties. Previous posts are here. Convention […]

Sandra Zellmer | February 16, 2012

The Pipeline That Refuses to Die

Last month, President Obama denied TransCanada’s permit application for the Keystone XL pipeline because a congressionally mandated deadline did not allow enough time to evaluate the project once Nebraska completed its analysis for re-routing of the pipeline around the Sand Hills. A January 26-29 poll from Hart Research Associates found that, after hearing arguments for and […]

Sandra Zellmer | November 14, 2011

TransCanada Says Nebraska Bill on Pipeline Rerouting Is Unconstitutional. Here’s Why They’re Wrong.

The Nebraska Legislature is in a special session currently to consider five bills concerning the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. The situation was shaken up by Thursday’s announcement from the Obama Administration that it was pushing back its decision on federal approval of the pipeline. This news may take away some urgency for the Nebraska Legislature, […]

Sandra Zellmer | July 6, 2011

Species Conservation Efforts Only a Scapegoat in Missouri River Flooding

This post was written by CPR Member Scholar Sandra Zellmer and John H. Davidson, an emeritus professor of law at the University of South Dakota. It appeared first in the Omaha World-Herald. As the Missouri River nears the 500-year flood mark, we sympathize with those whose homes and businesses are flooded. And we recognize that […]

Sandra Zellmer | January 13, 2010

Atrazine, Syngenta’s Confidential Data, EPA’s Review, and the Five Stages of Grief

My family has gotten a lot smaller lately. My mother died in 2004, my father in 2007, and my uncle in 2008. I’ve done the five stages of grief, as introduced by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in 1969, but not exactly as she described. It’s true that I initially felt denial: “I’m a lucky person; this can’t […]