Past Projects

1. Examination of principles that should generally govern the alteration of legal regimes in the face of climate change adaptation.

In October 2008, CLEAR and the University of Houston's Center for Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources hosted a workshop on Adapting Legal Regimes in the Face of Climate Change.

2. Examination and recommendation on the legal regime governing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer's decisions on water release and preferred uses from its dams and managed lakes in North Carolina, in conjunction with research performed by the UNC School of Government.

This project recognizes that there is increasing demand for water throughout the Southeast and that much of that water is controlled and managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Climate change may alter the amount of water available, and CLEAR examined the ways in which the Corps does and should respond to these changes from a legal perspective.

Victor B. Flatt and Jeremy M. Tarr, Adaptation, Legal Resiliency, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Managing Water Supply in a Climate-Altered World, 89 N.C. L. Rev. 1499 (2011).

For more information on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer's management of Kerr Lake in North Carolina, see the UNC School of Government's Kerr Lake Overview.