Sunrise light on a grove of tufa towers emerging from the water of Mono Lake with soft green and dusty-red wild grasses in the foreground, Canada geese in the shallow water with reflections of the rocky towers, and desert hills in the distance.

Public Trust Doctrine back in the courts

Sunrise light on a grove of tufa towers emerging from the water of Mono Lake with soft green and dusty-red wild grasses in the foreground, Canada geese in the shallow water with reflections of the rocky towers, and desert hills in the distance.

This post was written by Julia Runcie, 2011 Project Specialist.

The Public Trust Doctrine, a principle of law that requires the government to protect and maintain certain resources for public use, was invoked back in the 1980s during the legal battle to save Mono Lake. Now, a group called Our Children’s Trust is claiming that the earth’s atmosphere constitutes a public trust resource, and has sued the federal government for failing to protect it. Read more here.