American Indians, climate change, and ethics for a warming world

Denver University Law Review

Volumn 85, Issue 4, 2008, Pages 865-897

  Krakoff, Sarah ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 47849113991     PISSN: 08839409     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (219)

1. VINEDELORIA, JR.,GOD IS RED: A NATIVE VIEW OF RELIGION 61 (2d ed. 1992).
2. JONATHAN HANNA, NATIVE COMMUNITIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE: PROTECTING TRIBAL RESOURCES AS PART OF NATIONAL CLIMATE POLICY 11-12, 19, 26 (Natural Res. Law Ctr., Univ. of Colo. Law Sch., 2007), http://www.colorado.edu/law/centers/nrlc/publications/ClimateChange Report-FINAL%20_9.16.07_.pdf.
3. See David H. Getches & David N. Pellow, Beyond "Traditional" Environmental Justice, in JUSTICE AND NATURAL RESOURCES: CONCEPTS, STRATEGIES, AND APPLICATIONS 25-26 (Kathryn M. Mutz et al. eds., 2002) (providing a definition of environmental justice in the natural resources context);
4. see also Exec. Order No. 12,898, 59 Fed. Reg. 7629 (Feb. 11, 1994) (calling on federal agencies to achieve environmental justice as part of their mission and defining the problem as the "disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects" of programs or policies).
5. HANNA, supra note 2, at 28-29.
6. Timeforchange.org, Cause and Effect for Global Warming, http://timeforchange.org/ cause-and-effect-for-global-warming (last visited Mar. 27, 2008).
7. See Robert Collier, A Warming World: China About to Pass U.S. as World's Top Generator of Greenhouse Gases, S.F. CHROR, Mar. 5, 2007, at A1.
8. See LEE LANE & SAMUEL THERNSTROM, A NEW DIRECTION FOR U.S. CLIMATE POLICY: CREDIBLE ALTERNATIVES TO KYOTO 2 (2007), available at http://www.aei.org/docLib/20070201_ EPOPosted_g.pdf (discussing the challenge of unifying politicians around effective climate policies).
9. Timeforchange.org, supra note 5.
10. See generally Stephen Gardiner, A Perfect Moral Storm: Climate Change, Intergenerational Ethics and the Problem of Moral Corruption, 15 ENVTL. VALUES 397 (2006).
11. See id.
12. See WORLD COMM'N ON ENV'T AND DEV., OUR COMMON FUTURE 4, 8-9 (1987) [herein-after OUR COMMON FUTURE]. The report, edited by Gro Harlem Brundtland and therefore known as the Brundtland Report, provides a definition of sustainable development and outlines the principles and practices that would operationalize it on a global scale.
13. Some argue that most humans are not inclined to give up present benefits for the good of future generations. See, e.g., Cass R. Sunstein, On the Divergent American Reactions to Terrorism and Climate Change, 107 COLUM. L. REV. 503, 503 (2007) (arguing that this accounts for why most Americans have not pressed for climate change policies). Others contend that the costs of taking action are too high and that we should invest in technological fixes to engineer our way out of environmental problems, including climate change. See, e.g., Thomas Schelling, Climate Change: The Uncertainties, the Certainties, and What They Imply About Action, 4 ECONOMISTS' VOICE 3, 2-4 (2007), available at http://www.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1276&context=ev.
14. See generally DELORIA, supra note 1.
15. Id. at 122.
16. Id. at 98.
17. See id. at 104.
18. See id. at 67.
19. Id. at 62.
20. Id. at 66-67 (emphasis added).
21. See id. at 66.
22. See, e.g., All Things Considered: Explaining the Underpinnings of Mormonism (NPR radio broadcast July 5, 2007) (transcript available at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyld=11761615).
23. DELORIA, supra note 1, at 70.
24. See id.
25. Lyng v. Nw. Cemetery Protective Ass'n, 485 U.S. 439, 442 (1988). The Court is quoting from a study commissioned by the Forest Service completed in 1979. Id. at 442.
26. Id. (second alteration in original) (citations omitted).
27. Id. at 461 (Brennan, J., dissenting).
28. See Bear Lodge Multiple Use Ass'n v. Babbit, 2 F. Supp. 2d 1448 (D. Wyo. 1998), aff'd, 175 F.3d 814 (10th Cir. 1999).
29. See Access Fund v. U.S. Dep't of Agric, 499 F.3d 1036 (9th Cir. 2007).
30. See Natural Arch & Bridge Soc'y v. Alston, 209 F. Supp. 2d 1207 (D. Utah 2002); Badoni v. Higginson, 455 F. Supp. 641 (D. Utah 1977).
31. See Rebecca Tsosie, Tribal Environmental Policy in an Era of Self-Determination: The Role of Ethics, Economics, and Traditional Ecological Knowledge, 21 VT. L. REV. 225, 273, 276 (1996).
32. See Peter Whiteley & Vernon Masayesva, The Use and Abuse of Aquifers: Can the Hopi Indians Survive Multinational Mining?, in WATER, CULTURE & POWER 13-18 (John M. Donahue & Barbara Rose Johnson eds., 1998).
33. See Katosha Belvin Nakai, Water: It Always Has Been; It Is; It Will Be - A Cultural Perspective on the Valuation of Water, 38 TEX. TECH L. REV. 1027, 1032-33 (2006).
34. DELORIA, supra note 1, at 89.
35. See Victoria Sutton, Wind and Wisdom, 1 ENVTL. & ENERGY L. & POL'Y J. 345, 360 (2007).
36. See United States v. Friday, No. 05-CR-260-D, 2006 WL 3592952, at *1 (D. Wyo. Oct. 13, 2006) (describing the religious significance of the eagle to the Northern Arapaho); United States v. Tawahongva, 456 F. Supp. 2d 1120, 1124 n.8 (D. Ariz. 2006) (describing the religious significance of the eagle to the Hopi).
37. DELORIA, supra note 1, at 88.
38. See, e.g., Mike Miller, Morning Edition: My Home Is New Orleans (NPR radio broadcast Aug. 28, 2006) (transcript available at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php? storyId=5705026).
39. See Tsosie, supra note 30, at 276-80.
40. See INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE, CLIMATE CHANGE 2007: THE PHYSICAL SCIENCE BASIS (Susan Solomon et al. eds., Cambridge Univ. Press 2007) [hereinafter IPCC: THE PHYSICAL SCIENCE BASIS];
41. INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE, CLIMATE CHANGE 2007: IMPACTS, ADAPTATION AND VULNERABILITY (Martin Parry et al. eds., Cambridge Univ. Press 2007) [hereinafter IPCC: IMPACTS, ADAPTATION AND VULNERABILITY].
42. IPCC: THE PHYSICAL SCIENCE BASIS, supra note 39, at 3, 5.
43. Id. at 2.
44. See Dan Shapley, Global Warming "Beyond the Worst-Case Scenario, " THE DAILY GREEN.COM, Oct. 9, 2007, http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/7642;
45. see also Jim Hansen, The Threat to the Planet, 53 THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS 12 (2006), available at http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19131. Hansen states that the business-as-usual scenario, with an annual global increase in emissions of two percent such as has occurred in the last 10 years, will make it impractical to achieve the reductions necessary to stabilize temperature increases at less than two degrees Fahrenheit.
46. Id. At temperature increases above this, feedback effects, including the release of methane from permafrost, could result in much more accelerated warming. Id. In addition, the business as usual scenario would cause the disintegration of the land-based ice sheets, ultimately resulting in an 80-foot rise in sea levels.
47. 2.
48. See, e.g., Martin Hoffert, Physics Dept., N.Y. Univ., Presentation at the Natural Resources Law Ctr., Univ. of Colorado: An Energy Revolution for the 21st Century (June 8, 2006), available at http://www.colorado.edu/ law/centers/nrlc/summerconference/2006/Hoffert.zip (copy also on file with author).
49. IPCC: THE PHYSICAL SCIENCE BASIS, supra note 39, at 12.
50. IPCC: IMPACTS, ADAPTATION AND VULNERABILITY, supra note 39, at 11-12, 14, 18.
51. See HANNA, supra note 2, at 5.
52. Id.
53. Id.
54. Id.
55. Id.
56. Id.
57. Id.
58. Id.
59. Id.
60. Id. at 5-6.
61. Id. at 6.
62. Id.
63. Id.
64. Id.
65. Id.
66. Id.
67. Id.
68. Id.
69. Id.
70. Id.
71. Id.
72. Id. at 7.
73. Id.
74. Id.
75. Id.
76. Id.
77. Id.
78. Id.
79. Id.
80. Id.
81. Id.
82. Id.
83. See CHARLES F. WILKINSON, CROSSING THE NEXT MERIDIAN 199-203 (Island Press 1992).
84. HANNA, supra note 2, at 8.
85. Id.
86. Id.
87. Id.
88. See WILKINSON, supra note 77, at 187.
89. Id.
90. Id.
91. Treaty with the Tribes of Middle Oregon art. 1, June 25, 1855, 12 Stat. 963. The other Stevens Treaties are: Treaty of Medicine Creek, Dec. 26, 1854, 10 Stat. 1132 (treaty between the United States and the following tribes: Nisqually, Puyallup, and Squaxin Island); Treaty of Point Elliott, Jan. 22, 1855, 12 Stat. 927 (treaty between the United States and the Dwamish, Suquamish, and Other Allied and Subordinate Tribes of Indians in Washington Territory); Treaty of Olympia, Jan. 25, 1856, 12 Stat. 971 (treaty between the United States and the Qui-nai-elt and Quil-leh-ute Indians); Treaty of Neah Bay, Jan. 31, 1855, 12 Stat. 939 (treaty between the United States of America and the Makah Tribe of Indians); Treaty of Point no Point, Jan. 26, 1855, 12 Stat. 933 (treaty Between the United States of America and the S'Klallams Indians); Treaty between the United States of America and the Nez Perce Indians, June 11, 1855, 12 Stat. 957; Treaty between the United States and the Walla-Walla, Cayuses, and Umatilla Tribes and Bands of Indians in Washington and Oregon Territories, June 9, 1855, 12 Stat. 945; Treaty between the United States and the Yakama Nation of Indians, June 9, 1855, 12 Stat. 951.
92. 384 F. Supp. 312 (W.D. Wash. 1974).
93. Id. at 343.
94. Washington v. Wash. State Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessel Ass'n, 443 U.S. 658, 686-87 (1979).
95. United States v. Washington, 506 F. Supp. 187, 190-91 (W.D. Wash. 1980).
96. See id. at 206-08.
97. See, e.g., IDAHO DEP'T. OF WATER RES., THE NEZ PERCE WATER RIGHTS SETTLEMENT (May 15, 2004), available at http://www.idwr.idaho.gov/nezperce/index.htm.
98. See Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, Overview of the NWIFC, http://www.nwifc.org/aboutus/index.asp (last visited Mar. 27, 2008) (providing an overview of the NWIFC); Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, What Is CRITFC (2008), http://www.critfc.org/text/work.html (providing an overview of the CRITFC) (last visited Mar. 27, 2008).
99. See United States v. Washington, 506 F. Supp. at 190-191.
100. Catherine A. O'Neill, Risk Avoidance, Cultural Discrimination, and Environmental Justice for Indigenous Peoples, 30 ECOLOGY L.Q. 1, 36 (2003).
101. Mary Christina Wood, EPA's Protection of Tribal Harvests: Braiding the Agency's Mission, 34 ECOLOGY L.Q. 175, 188 (2007) (quoting Water Spreading: Hearing on Water Use Practices on Bureau of Reclamation Projects Before the H. Comm. on Natural Res., Subcomm. on Oversight & Investigations, 103d Cong. (1994) (statement of Antone Minthorn, Chairman, Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation)).
102. See Gordon McBean et al., Arctic Climate: Past and Present, in ARCTIC CLIMATE IMPACT ASSESSMENT 21, 22-23 (Carolyn Symon et al. eds., Cambridge Univ. Press 2005), available at http://www.acia.uaf.edu/pages/scientific.html (quoting the 2001 reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).
103. See id. at 54.
104. HANNA, supra note 2, at 10.
105. See id.
106. Id.
107. See Id. at 3, 10.
108. Id. at 10.
109. Id.
110. See id.
111. See id.; see also John M. Broder & Andrew C. Revkin, Warming May Wipe Out Most Polar Bears, Study Says, N.Y. TIMES, Sept. 8, 2007, at A11.
112. HANNA, supra note 2, at 10.
113. See id.
114. Id. at 10-11.
115. Id. at 11.
116. See id.
117. See PETITION TO THE INTER AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS SEEKING RELIEF FROM VIOLATION RESULTING FROM GLOBAL WARMING CAUSED BY ACTS AND OMISSIONS OF THE UNITED STATES 1 (2005), available at http://www.earthjustice.org/library/legal_docs/petition-to-the-inter-american- commission-on-human-rights-on-behalf-of-the-inuit-circumpolar-conference.pdf [hereinafter INUIT PETITION].
118. See id. at 1, 9.
119. Id. at 35.
120. Id. at 78.
121. Id.
122. See id.
123. See JONATHAN LEAR, RADICAL HOPE: ETHICS IN THE FACE OF CULTURAL DEVASTATION 49-50 (Harvard Univ. Press 2006) (emphasis in original).
124. U.S. GEN. ACCOUNTING OFFICE, PUBL'N NO. 04-142, ALASKA NATIVE VILLAGES: MOST ARE AFFECTED BY FLOODING AND EROSION, BUT FEW QUALIFY FOR FEDERAL ASSISTANCE 7-8 (2003).
125. See id. at 2-3.
126. See id. at 4.
127. See id.
128. 43 U.S.C.A. § 1601 (West 2008).
129. See 43 U.S.C.A. §§ 1603, 1605-06, 1608 (West 2008).
130. 43 U.S.C.A. § 1628 (West 2008).
131. See HANNA, supra note 2, at 14.
132. 16 U.S.C.A. § 3101 (West 2008).
133. 16 U.S.C.A. § 3111 (West 2008).
134. See 16 U.S.C.A. §§ 3111, 3115 (West 2008).
135. In furtherance of ANILCA's mandate, the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior established the Federal Subsistence Board to oversee management of subsistence activities on federal lands and waters of Alaska. Id. § § 3112, 3115. In 1993, the Board established 10 regional advisory councils, and Alaska Natives are well represented in these councils. See generally FRANK NORRIS, U.S. DEP'T INTERIOR, ALASKA SUBSISTENCE: A NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MANAGEMENT HISTORY ch.7 (2002).
136. See Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C.A. § 1531 (West 2008); Reindeer Industry Act of 1937, 25 U.S.C.A. § 500 (West 2008); Marine Mammal Protection Act, 16 U.S.C.A. § 1361 (West 2008).
137. See, e.g., INUIT PETITION, supra note 111, at 10-11.
138. See HANNA, supra note 2, at 18.
139. U.S.G.S., EFFECTS OF CLIMATIC VARIABILITY AND LAND USE ON AMERICAN DRY LANDS 1 (2004), available at http://esp.cr.usgs.gov/info/sw/maps.html.
140. See Whiteley & Masayesva, supra note 31, at 10.
141. HANNA, supra note 2, at 19.
142. See IPCC: THE PHYSICAL SCIENCE BASIS, supra note 39, at 16 fig. SPM7.
143. HANNA, supra note 2, at 19.
144. Id.
145. See id at 6.
146. See Winters v. United States, 207 U.S. 564, 564 (1908) (holding that the Fort Belknap Tribe's treaty impliedly reserved water rights for the reservation notwithstanding the absence of express language to that effect).
147. HANNA, supra note 2, at 22.
148. See id. at 23.
149. See WILKINSON, supra note 77, at 219-31 (describing effects of pre-existing diversions and massive reclamation projects on Jicarilla Apache and Navajo claims to water).
150. THE HARVARD PROJECT ON AMERICAN INDIAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, THE STATE OF NATIVE NATIONS: CONDITIONS UNDER U.S. POLICIES OF SELF DETERMINATION 170 (2008) [herein-after THE STATE OF NATIVE NATIONS].
151. See Whiteley & Masayesva, supra note 134, at 15 (describing Hopi ceremonies and beliefs surrounding water and their sacred springs).
152. See WILKINSON, supra note 77, at 219-26;
153. see also MARC REISNER, CADILLAC DESERT 255-305 (Penguin Books 1986) (recounting the machinations to get water to Arizona and California and noting the tribes' powerful paper rights).
154. HANNA, supra note 2, at 24.
155. Id.
156. Id.
157. Id. at 26.
158. Id. at 25.
159. ENVTL. PROT. AGENCY, PUBL'N NO. 430-F-02-007, SAVING FLORIDA'S VANISHING SHORES 5 (2002) available at http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ effects/coastal/saving_FL.pdf.
160. Id.
161. See HANNA, supra note 2, at 25.
162. Id. at 26.
163. Id.
164. Id.
165. Id.
166. Id.
167. Id. at 26-27.
168. Id. at 21.
169. Id.
170. Id.
171. Id.
172. Id.
173. Id.
174. Id. at 30-31.
175. Id. at 30.
176. Id.
177. See THE STATE OF NATIVE NATIONS, supra note 144, at 3-5 (recounting briefly the history of United States-American Indian relations). This history reveals that the most damaging policies, such as allotment and termination, were crafted and implemented without meaningful tribal consultation and that even well-intentioned efforts faltered due to excessive control by the federal government.
178. See id. at 4 (describing the Indian Reorganization Act policies, which gave inordinate control to the Secretary of the Interior).
179. HANNA, supra note 2, at 30-31.
180. See Victor B. Flatt, Taking the Legislative Temperature: Which Federal Climate Change Legislative Proposal Is Best?, 102 NW. U. L. REV. COLLOQUY 123, 135 (2007) (analyzing climate change bills introduced in the 110th Congress), available at http://www.law. northwestern.edu/lawreview/colloquy/2007/32/.
181. Id. at 135, 138.
182. See id. at 138-39;
183. see also CARBON TAX CENTER, INTRODUCTION (2007), http://www.carbontax.Org/introduction/#cap-and- trade (last visited Mar. 27, 2008).
184. See Tom Redburn, The Real Climate Debate: To Cap or to Tax?, N.Y. TIMES ONLINE, Nov. 2, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/02/us/politics/04web-redburn.html.
185. See HANNA, supra note 2, at 30-31.
186. Id. at 31.
187. See THE STATE OF NATIVE NATIONS, supra note 144, at 161-62.
188. See, e.g., NATIVEENERGY, OUR PROJECTS, http://www.nativeenergy.com/pages/our_projects/14.php (last visited Mar. 27, 2008) (providing a list of tribal wind and other renewable energy projects).
189. See Stephen M. Gardiner, Ethics and Global Climate Change, 114 ETHICS 555, 579 n.75 (2004). Exact figures vary somewhat depending on the method of analysis.
190. See, e.g., IPCC: IMPACTS, ADAPTATION AND VULNERABILITY, supra note 39, at 412.
191. See, e.g., id. at 394.
192. See, e.g., id. at 413-15.
193. Id. at 13.
194. Id. at 8.
195. See id. at 12-15.
196. See Applause, at Last, for Desalination Plant, TAMPA TRIB., Feb. 22, 2007, at A16;
197. Sydney Desalination Plant to Double in Size, AUSTL. BROAD. CORP. NEWS, June 25, 2007, http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/06/25/1961044.htm.
198. Matt Bradley, Dutch Design Lets Homes Float on the Floodwaters, CHRISTIAN SCI. MONITOR, Oct. 26, 2005, at A13.
199. See, e.g., STATE OF CALIFORNIA OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR, GOVERNOR CALLS FOR AGREEMENT ON COMPREHENSIVE WATER INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN (Nov. 13, 2007), http://gov.ca.gov/issue/water-supply.
200. Dale Jamieson, Adaptation, Mitigation, and Justice, 5 ADVANCES IN ECON. OF ENVTL. RESOURCES 217, 227 (2005).
201. See IPCC: IMPACTS, ADAPTATION AND VULNERABILITY, supra note 39, at 15.
202. Dale Jamieson, The Moral and Political Challenges of Climate Change 1 (Mar. 14, 2008) (unpublished manuscript) (on file with author).
203. See id. at 1-3.
204. EDWARD O. WILSON, BIOPHELIA 119 (Harvard Univ. Press 1984).
205. See, e.g., Juliet Eilperin, Lawmakers on Hill Seek Consensus on Warming, WASH. POST, Jan. 31, 2007 at A6 (quoting lawmakers as urging action on global warming in order to protect future generations); Press Release, Office of the Governor, Gov. Schwarzenegger Signs Landmark Legislation to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Sept. 27, 2006), http://gov.ca.gov/index.php?/press-release/4111/(discussing Governor Schwarzenegger's speech urging action on global warming to protect future generations).
206. See generally FRANK ACKERMAN & LISA HEINZERLING, PRICELESS: ON KNOWING THE PRICE OF EVERYTHING AND THE VALUE OF NOTHING (The New Press 2004).
207. See id. at 81-84.
208. Exec. Order No. 13,422, 72 Fed. Reg. 2763 (Jan. 18, 2007) (requiring "market failure" assessment of all planned agency action, and annual cost benefit analysis of all agency rules).
209. OUR COMMON FUTURE, supra note 11, at 8-9.
210. Id. at 3.
211. Id. at 363-65.
212. Lyng v. Nw. Indian Cemetery Protective Ass'n, 485 U.S. 439, 460 (1988) (Brennan, J., dissenting) (citation omitted) (emphasis added).
213. See Sarah Krakoff, Fragmentation, Morality, and the Law of Global Warming 31-39 (University of Colorado Law School Legal Studies Research Paper Series, Working Paper No. 07-10, 2007), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=976049.
214. James Kanter, Members of New Group in Britain Aim to Offset Their Own Carbon Output, N.Y. TIMES, Oct. 21, 2007, at A12.
215. Id.
216. VALMONT BUTTE HERITAGE ALLIANCE, EVENT TIMELINE (2007) http://www.valmontbutte.com/timeline. html (last visited Mar. 27, 2008).
217. Id.
218. Id.
219. Id.