Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Event Date
6-15-1994
Series
Summer Conference (15th: 1994: Boulder, Colo.)
Description
43 pages.
Contains references.
Citation Information
Thompson, Jr., Barton H., "Regulation of Water Use and Takings: A Growing Battlefield" (1994). Regulatory Takings and Resources: What Are the Constitutional Limits? (Summer Conference, June 13-15).
https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/regulatory-takings-and-resources/16
Included in
Constitutional Law Commons, Courts Commons, Environmental Health and Protection Commons, Environmental Policy Commons, Land Use Law Commons, Litigation Commons, Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons, Property Law and Real Estate Commons, Public Policy Commons, State and Local Government Law Commons, Water Law Commons, Water Resource Management Commons
Comments
Governmental regulation for environmental protection and other important public purposes can affect the manner in which land and natural resources are developed and used. The U.S. Constitution (and most state constitutions) prohibits the government from "taking" property without payment of compensation. Originally intended to apply to situations where the government physically seized private property for public use, the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment has been applied by courts to situations where the application of government regulation is deemed to have effectively "taken" private property.
In recent years there has been an explosion of litigation asserting that certain regulatory activities by federal, state, and local government constitute such a taking of property. Much of this litigation has arisen in situations involving government regulation for what might be broadly characterized as environmental protection purposes.
This conference, Regulatory Takings and Resources: What are the Constitutional Limits, examines the federal constitutional law of takings as it has been articulated by the U.S. Supreme Court. It then turns to a detailed consideration of the state of the law as it has developed in relation to environmental control of land and natural resources uses. In particular, speakers discuss takings cases arising in the context of wetlands use, surface mining, public lands, water, and endangered species.