Journals
Summer 2005, Vol. 45, No. 3
Essay – Mind Over Matter: The Coming Revolution in the Natural Sciences
William H. Eddy, Jr.
What I would like to do despite the strictures of time and the complexity of the subject matter is to describe briefly a revolution in thought that I believe is taking place today in various segments of the scientific community. I also believe that it is a characteristic of such revolutions that they remain virtually unrecognized by the mainstream thinking of the very communities in which they are occurring. This is an illustration of what I call the First Corollary of Environmental Perception, which states that “it is impossible to perceive any environment except from the context of another.” It is especially true in many universities, where the habits and traditions of thought, though different perhaps from those of the past, are almost as deeply entrenched today as they were in, say, the universities of medieval Europe. Thus, the First Corollary of Environmental Perception applies not simply to physical environments but to environments of thought as well. It perhaps helps to explain why historians today can speak so easily of a period called the Middle Ages while people living at the time could not.
Polluters and Protectors: Combined Sewer System Authorities and Urban Waterway Restorations
Paul Bohannon & Patricia E. Lin
A “combined sewer system” is a series of pipes and related equipment that gather and transport through the same pipes both stormwater and industrial/domestic wastewaters. Most combined sewer systems are old, many dating back to the nineteenth century. As the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) increases its focus on cleaning up the environmental problems in rivers and harbors, it is necessary to address the historical contamination resulting from combined sewer discharges of industrial waste. Because many of these combined sewer systems are still discharging, the EPA must address ongoing contamination problems from these systems before implementing remedies to resolve legacy contamination issues.
This article explores the nature of combined sewer system contamination problems and the role of faulty operation and maintenance in the creation of these problems. The legal liabilities of combined sewer systems and their responsibilities in the cleanup process are studied. A case study compares how several combined sewer systems throughout the United States have responded to the issues. Finally, an assessment of the Passaic River Restoration Initiative suggests a combined government/private “potentially responsible parties” approach toward resolving these complex legal and technical issues.
The Restatement (First) of the Oilfield Operator’s Fiduciary Duty
John Burritt McArthur
The oilfield has seen hundreds of cases trying to classify the operator’s relationship to its nonoperating investors and to determine whether the operator is a fiduciary. Courts have not treated the operator as a fiduciary per se, but have held it to fiduciary responsibilities in such core areas as acquiring acreage, handling investor funds, and marketing production. The Article surveys judicial approaches to this question by legal theory, by jurisdiction, and by the nature of the operator’s activity. A duty in acreage acquisition, handling funds, and marketing production is entirely in accord with the common law’s imposition of a fiduciary duty on trustees and agents. Yet instead of applying a single, clear theory, courts have used a hodgepodge of sometimes inconsistent approaches to define the operator’s obligations. Among the unfortunate consequences has been an entirely unnecessary risk of nonoperator liability to vendors and other third parties. The Article restates the law by describing the unified operator fiduciary theory that is emerging from the cases, is based on the operator’s control, and protects the nonoperator’s dependence. It urges that the logic of this duty should lead the courts to extend fiduciary responsibilities to the operator’s representations and omissions as well.
