Measuring Justice for Nature, Issues in Evaluating and Litigating Natural Resource Damages

In this Comment, the author sets the stage for his discussion of natural resource damages by recounting the enormous scale of the impacts resulting from the Exxon Valdez accident. After a brief introduction into the various characterizations of natural resources, the author discusses the various methods by which natural resources are valued and the means by which those values are quantified. Next the author discusses litigation over natural resource damages, including: common law legal rights, federal natural resource protection laws, and common law actions and natural resource trustees. In conclusion, the author recommends that common law claims by private parties and local governments for natural resource damages should be more accessible, preference should be given to restoration over replacement, and modifications should be made to certain key.

Federal statutes that would provide hierarchies of alternative natural resource damage reparations.