Our partner, Jimmy Kirkland, prepared the below summary of an important United States Supreme Court decision and Mike and I wanted to share it with the readers of our blog. […]
Water and Land In Part I, we discussed the lawsuit between the State of North Carolina and Alcoa which determined that Alcoa owns a 45 mile portion of the Yadkin River riverbed. State of North Carolina v. Alcoa Power Generating, Inc., 5:13-CV-00633 (E.D.N.C.) (September 28, 2015). In Part […]
Water and Land Two recent cases, State of North Carolina v. Alcoa Power Generating, Inc., 5:13-CV-00633 (E.D.N.C.) (September 28, 2015) and Nies v. Town of Emerald Isle, __ N.C. App. ___ (November 17, 2015) address ownership of riverbeds and ocean beaches. These are complicated and increasingly important issues […]
What are Riparian Buffers?Riparian buffers are vegetated areas next to water resources that protect water quality, bank stabilization from erosion, and aquatic and wildlife habitat. The USDA Forest Service defines a riparian buffer as follows: “The aquatic ecosystem and the portions of the adjacent territorial ecosystem that directly […]
As we’ve posited in this space before, water will be the oil of the 21st century. In what way? Its value, its scarcity, its requirement for development. It will also be more valuable than oil in that, unlike oil, we have no way to replace its role in […]
Aaron Frank
Amy C. O'Neal
John Cooke
Michael Thelen
WBD Admin
North Carolina Land Use Litigator 