Public Trust and the Environment

Alexandra B. Klass (Associate Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School) has recently published her article entitled Modern Public Trust Principles: Recognizing Rights And Integrating Standards, 82 Notre Dame L. Rev. 699 (2006).

Here is the conclusion of her article:

This Article proposes a new framework for using public trust principles to protect natural resources and the environment that creates a mutually-reinforcing relationship between the common law doctrine and environmental protection provisions contained in state statutes and constitutions. Such a framework builds on recent developments in the state courts that can begin to establish a cohesive jurisprudence of natural resources protection in contrast to prior scholarship that has assumed an “either-or” dichotomy between the common law and statutes. Scholars, courts and lawyers can work toward this goal by reaching out beyond the common law precedent of the doctrine and incorporating policy statements and standards from the current codifications of these principles found in state constitutions and statutes. Doing so will strengthen state public trust principles and provide protection for state natural resources in situations where other branches of the government cannot or will not act. Moreover, this process also has the potential to create a new dialogue in the area of environmental law focusing on principles of ecology and interconnectedness in a way that has been difficult to achieve so far.