Accretion from natural causes (also referred to as alluvion) adds soil, sand, and other types of earth to the part of a person’s property that borders water. While this occurs very slowly, a piece of property may grow a lot over time and increase its value. Any addition to one’s property by accretion becomes that person’s legal property. This is in contrast with avulsion, where the original owner of the moved earth continues to own it.
Alluviation is the gradual shifting of land boundaries caused by the depositing of gravel and sediment by a moving body of water. Alluvion is the actual sediment deposited on the land (e.g., a bank or shore).
Alluvion is the slow accretion or erosion of soil, sand, and other parts of land. Water usually causes alluvion by moving the shoreline over time. In some areas located besides rivers and oceans, land can continuously change its shape through the daily movement of water. If land becomes eroded, the owner of the property where the erosion occurred loses right to any removed part of the property.
Avulsion refers to water quickly submerging land or moving land to another location. In most situations under state property law, land moved by avulsion continues to be the property of the owner of where the land originally was located. For example, a major hurricane may cause chunks of land to be dislodged from a person’s land beside a river, and in this case, the person would continue to own the dislodged land. The key aspect of avulsion is its rapid change.
The Clean Water Act (CWA), encoded in 33 U.S.C. Chapter 26, is a landmark piece of legislation in the field of environmental law designed to prevent and repair water pollution in the United States.
For most of American history, the federal government did not play an active role in the energy industries. During the Great Depression and into the years of WWII, the federal government began to establish a fragmented regulatory framework, with many agencies participating.
Environmental law refers to a variety of protections which share the goal of protecting the environment.
International environmental law (sometimes international ecological law) is a field of international law regulating the behavior of states and international organizations concerning the environment. See: Phillipe Sands, et al, Principles of International Environmental Law (4th ed., Cambridge, 2018). Core global regulation domains include the world's oceans and fisheries management, the polar ice caps, and the regulation of carbon and other particulate emiss
Natural resources, as defined in the Code of Federal Regulations (40 C.F.R.), encompass land, fish, wildlife, biota, air, water, ground water, drinking water supplies, and other such resources belonging to, managed by, held in trust by, appertaining to, or otherwise controlled by the United States, any State or local government, or any foreign government.
Pollution is the contamination of air, water, or earth by harmful substances. Concern for pollution developed alongside concerns for the environment in general. See Environmental law. The advent of automobiles, increased chemical wastes, nuclear wastes, and accumulation of garbage in landfills created a need for legislation specifically aimed at decreasing pollution.
