Professor Frank Comments on Public Trust Doctrine for Daily Journal

Professor Richard Frank commented for the Daily Journal on a motion for a preliminary injunction filed in federal court on behalf of a group of children and nonprofit groups seeking to use the public trust doctrine to force the government to come up with a plan to address greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.  Frank said that although the atmosphere is a natural resource that could conceivably be protected under the public trust doctrine, the suit is "probably a long shot," as federal courts do not have a history of embracing the doctrine, which "has seldom been applied to air resources."

Frank, a 1974 graduate of King Hall, is the founding Director of the new California Environmental Law and Policy Center at UC Davis School of Law.