Dawn at Mineral King Valley: The Sierra Club, the Disney Company, and the Rise of Environmental Law

In 1972, the Sierra Club and Disney had a Supreme Court showdown, which set a revolutionary legal precedent for environmental activism. The case involved Disneys development plan for the Mineral King Valley, which would have irreversibly altered the untouched alpine area. The Sierra Club filed a lawsuit, allowing interest groups to bring litigation against environmentally destructive projects, which propelled the modern environmental era.

Format: Hardback
Length: 344 pages
Publication date: 06 July 2022
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press

The story behind the historic Mineral King Valley case, which reveals how the Sierra Club battled Disney's ski resort development and launched a new environmental era in America, is a fascinating tale of activism and legal precedent. Set against the backdrop of the environmental movement that swept the country in the late 1960s and early 1970s, "Dawn at Mineral King Valley" tells the surprising story of how the US Forest Service, the Disney company, and the Sierra Club each struggled to adapt to the new, rapidly changing political landscape of environmental consciousness in postwar America.

Proposed in 1965 and approved by the federal government in 1969, Disney's vast development plan would have irreversibly altered the practically untouched Mineral King Valley, a magnificently beautiful alpine area in the Sierra Nevada mountains. At first, the plan met with unanimous approval from elected officials, government administrators, and the press—it seemed inevitable that this expanse of wild natural land would be radically changed and turned over to a private corporation.

However, the scrappy Sierra Club forcefully pushed back with a lawsuit that ultimately propelled the modern environmental era by allowing interest groups to bring litigation against environmentally destructive projects. An expert on environmental law and appellate advocacy, Daniel P. Selmi uses his authoritative narrative voice to recount the complete history of this revolution.

The Sierra Club's lawsuit against Disney was a landmark case that challenged the power of corporations and the federal government to override environmental laws. The case was based on the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which was passed in 1969 to protect the environment from harmful development projects. The Sierra Club argued that Disney's development plan violated NEPA by failing to consider the environmental impact of the resort.

The Supreme Court's decision in the Sierra Club v. Disney case was a significant victory for the environmental movement. The Court ruled that corporations had a responsibility to protect the environment under the law and that the federal government could not ignore the environmental impact of development projects. The case also established the principle that interest groups could bring litigation against environmentally destructive projects, a principle that has been used by environmental organizations ever since.

The Sierra Club's victory in the Mineral King Valley case was a turning point in the history of environmental activism. It showed that private groups could play a significant role in protecting the environment and that the federal government could not be trusted to do so alone. The case also inspired a wave of environmental activism across the country, as other interest groups began to challenge development projects that threatened the environment.

In conclusion, the story behind the historic Mineral King Valley case is a testament to the power of activism and the importance of protecting the environment. The Sierra Club's lawsuit against Disney set a revolutionary legal precedent for the era of environmental activism we live in today and inspired a wave of environmental activism across the country. The case shows that private groups can play a significant role in protecting the environment and that the federal government can not be trusted to do so alone.

Dimension: 229 x 152 x 33 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780226816197