Some disjointed observations on federal public-land and resources law

Journal Article · · Environ. Law; (United States)

OSTI ID:6433817

Coggins, G C

A review of the evolution of public-land law and policies concludes that: (1) Public-land and resources law cannot be divorced from history; in spite of recent developments, one cannot understand present problems without understanding their historical derivation. (2) Public-land management will always be as controversial as it is interesting because the perfect balance of resource uses in unattainable. (3) Multiple-use, sustained-yield management has failed; instead, like Christianity, it has never really been tried. (4) From the ecological maxim that everything is connected to everything else comes the notion that the isolation of public-land and resources law as a field of study is inherently artificial. Developments off federal lands that seem unrelated to them will heavily influence public-land policy: recreation pressures could decline in rough inverse proportion to gasoline prices; horizonal divestiture of oil companies would change the whole coal picture; mandatory recycling could lower demand for all virgin resources; and so on. Some notion of conservation is almost certainly going to be among the Nation's highest priorities in the next several decades.

• OSTI ID: 6433817
• Journal Information: Environ. Law; (United States), Journal Name: Environ. Law; (United States) Vol. 11:3; ISSN EVLWA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290400* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Energy Resources
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
LAWS
LEGAL ASPECTS
MANAGEMENT
PUBLIC LANDS