The law states that if the government appropriates a property by the exercise of eminent domain, then it must justly compensate the legal owners of the property ( Kerekes, 2011) . Several environmental property rights, including air, water, and land rights are subject to eminent domain ( Kerekes, 2011) . If the government regulates the use of this property then the owners must be compensated in due process. However, the provisions of the takings law make many environmental laws so expensive and difficult to enforce. One case involving the takings law was that of Horne v. Department of Agriculture in 2015. The court ruled that the reserve requirement of the marketing order by the department had a per se taking, and therefore mandated the government to justly compensate ( Horne v. Department of Agriculture, n.d.) . The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a procedural regulation that pushes agencies to be cautious of how their decisions impact the environment. NEPA’s overall performance has been a success. It has made agencies reflect on the potential of their actions for the environment, thereby creating a state of productive harmony between economic progress and environmental sustainability. One of NEPA’s achievements is the case of Ashland and the Rogue River, where NEPA spearheaded the project to protect the Siskiyou National Forest Watershed. The case proved that NEPA provides a platform for the public to propose improvements in agency decisions, which would otherwise destroy the environment ( Environmental Law Institute, 2010). Environmental laws contain elements that control the human impact on the environment ( Sands & Peel, 2012) . The laws can be substantive when they bear substances of charges or elements of criminal activities that a court of law can carefully review to make a ruling on whether or not a crime has been committed ( Main, 2009) . For example, to decide whether or not an agency’s decisions destroy the environment, a few elements would be looked for: the organization has a direct or indirect manipulation of the particular environment, there are records of activities to validate these allegations, and the agency is over the legal limit of the use of the environment. Environmental laws can be procedural when they are used to prescribe the means by which the substantive laws are enforced ( Main, 2009) . For instance, a procedural environmental law would explain how the public with concerns over an agency's misuse of the environment might seek the courts' help.
References
Environmental Law Institute. (2010). NEPA's Success Stories-Celebrating 40 years of Transparency and Open Government . NEPA | National Environmental Policy Act. Retrieved February 15, 2020, from https://ceq.doe.gov/docs/get-involved/NEPA_Success_Stories.pdf
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Horne v. Department of Agriculture. (n.d.). Oyez . Retrieved February 15, 2020, from https://www.oyez.org/cases/2014/14-275
Kerekes, C. B. (2011). Government takings: Determinants of eminent domain. American Law and Economics Review , 13 (1), 201-219.
Main, T. O. (2009). The Procedural Foundation of Substantive Law. Wash. UL Rev. , 87 , 801.
Sands, P., & Peel, J. (2012). Principles of international environmental law . Cambridge University Press.
