Month: February 2011
Briefly noted: four recent federal appellate decisions
Here are links to and brief descriptions of four interesting recent decisions from federal appellate courts: Wilderness Society v. Kane County, 10th Cir., en banc, 1/11/2011. This decision is the latest in a long-running dispute over the extent to which Kane County in southern Utah can authorize the use of off-road vehicles on federal lands. …
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CONTINUE READINGThe World in 2050: Demographics
I’ve just finished reading Laurence Smith’s The World in 2050. It’s a sober, non-sensationalist look at how current trends are projected to play out over the next four decades. Of course, there’s uncertainty, but the projections do give us some basis for thinking about the world’s future. Here are some important 2050 demographic projections: Two-thirds …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia’s Redevelopment Wars
California’s political leaders are currently struggling with the monumental challenge of finding ways to eliminate the state’s $25 billion budget deficit. Somewhat surprisingly, one of the most controversial deficit reduction proposals offered by newly-installed Governor Jerry Brown involves elimination of California’s 425 redevelopment agencies. Estimated savings: $3 billion per year. Such a reduction in state …
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CONTINUE READINGContempt? Not by Interior
Cross-posted at CPRBlog. Conservative media and bloggers are making much of a ruling last week by Judge Martin Feldman of the Eastern District of Louisiana that the Department of Interior was in contempt of his June 2010 order enjoining enforcement of the May moratorium on new deepwater exploratory drilling for oil. The Washington Times, for …
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CONTINUE READINGAnd now for some good news
If you’re as depressed as I am by the current political climate and attempts on Capitol Hill to roll back everything from clean air protections to food safety, you might be feeling the need for some good news. Here’s at least a small antidote. The San Jose Mercury News reports that fish and birds are …
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CONTINUE READINGThe N.Y. Times Clears the Air
The Times as a forceful editorial today about pending legislative efforts to block EPA’s climate regulations and other air pollution regulations: Congress’s failure to enact a climate bill means that the E.P.A.’s authority to regulate these gases — an authority conferred by a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2007 — is, for now, the only …
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CONTINUE READINGInterior adopts scientific integrity guidelines
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has formalized the Department’s guidelines on scientific integrity and created the new position of Scientific Integrity Officer, to be filled by Dr. Ralph Morgenweck, Senior Science Advisor at the Fish and Wildlife Service. The guidelines are the first agency effort out of the blocks after the White House Office of Science …
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CONTINUE READINGWhat makes fisheries co-management successful?
Global fisheries provide an important source of food, yet most fisheries are thought to be fully or over-fished. That’s led to a great deal of discussion recently in the academic literature about how fisheries could be more effectively managed. One suggestion is “co-management” — cooperative regulation undertaken by fishers and managers together. A recent study …
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CONTINUE READINGCourt’s AB 32 Ruling Is Quite Narrow and At Most a Temporary Setback
Cara published a terrific summary of a tentative California superior court decision in which the court held that the state’s Air Resources Board (CARB) violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in implementing AB 32, the state’s landmark climate change legislation. The CEQA portion of the ruling — should the judge stick with it when …
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CONTINUE READINGCalif court tentatively rules AB 32 implementation unlawful
A California superior court has issued a proposed decision, not yet final, holding that ARB failed to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in its adoption of the Scoping Plan that is guiding its implementation of AB 32, California’s landmark climate change law. The ruling proposes to set aside ARB’s CEQA documentation and to …
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