Region: National
What Happened to EPA Enforcement?
Enforcement efforts peaked long ago and have been in long-term decline. Trump will accelerate that.
There has been a long-term decline in EPA enforcement since the late Bush Administration. The numbers raise three questions: What’s behind the long-term trend? Why has pollution generally continued to decline despite weaker enforcement? And how bad will things be under Trump II? As to the third question, Trump has already made it clear that we can expect environmental enforcement to crash and burn in the next four years.
CONTINUE READINGCalling Captain Renault
We are shocked – SHOCKED – that building more housing causes rents to fall
Well, how shocking. Not: “While much of the country is being crushed by a housing affordability crisis, living in Austin, Texas, is becoming cheaper as rent prices in the city are dropping faster than anywhere else in the nation.” And why, pray tell? “Over the past few years, Austin built more new apartments than any …
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CONTINUE READINGExecutive Disorders
One after another, Trump has let loose destructive blasts at the environment to promote fossil fuels, mining, and logging.
We all know that Trump has issued a slew of executive orders since taking the oath of office. We also know that many of these are aimed to promoting fossil fuels, mining, and logging at the expense of the environment, while disfavoring renewable energy. Still, it’s impressive when you put the list together to see the full onslaught.
CONTINUE READINGThe Problem is Not Brazil. The Problem is COP
The Drain is a weekly roundup of climate and environmental news from Legal Planet.
“Crazy.” That’s how one young Brazilian described what’s happening in Belém to get ready for COP30, the annual UN climate negotiations which will take place in the Amazon this November. We struck up a brief conversation while I was visiting the Museu Afro Brasil in São Paulo, a museum that chronicles the history and culture …
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CONTINUE READINGA Midnight Public Land Sale?
Last-minute addition to House reconciliation bill proposes sale or exchange of hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands
There was a last minute amendment added to the House Natural Resources Committee markup on May 6, an amendment which has gotten a lot of negative attention, including from conservative outdoors advocates. The amendment, made by Representative Amodei (Republican, Nevada) and Rep. Maloy (Republican, Utah) would mandate the sale or exchange of at least 449,174 …
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CONTINUE READINGWhy You Should Care That Congress Might Use the CRA to Overturn California Waivers
Here are at least six reasons.
For the first time ever, the U.S. Senate may vote this week to revoke California’s authority under the Clean Air Act to cut pollution from cars and trucks. The Senate vote is on a resolution to use the Congressional Review Act to overturn three separate waivers EPA granted California to cut pollutants from cars and …
CONTINUE READINGTrump’s Self-Defeating NEPA “Reforms”
Rather than streamlining the process, Trump is gumming up the works.
Trump has taken some dramatic steps in the name of improving use of NEPA, the statute governing environmental reviews of projects. The goal is to speed up the permitting process and make it more efficient. The reality is that his efforts will create chaos and uncertainty, with the likely effect of slowing things down.
CONTINUE READINGTrump’s War on Cities
The Administration is devoted to destroying urban life: that puts it with many of history’s worst regimes
I just finished up Ian Buruma’s and Avishai Margalit’s excellent book, Occidentalism: The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies, and it struck me that we need to think of Donald Trump’s despoilation of the environment in a broader perspective: his administration seeks to fundamentally change both the natural and the human environment. Trump clearly …
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CONTINUE READINGIs Brazil Ready for COP30? No One Is Ready for COP30
The Drain is a weekly roundup of climate and environmental news from Legal Planet.
It’s officially less than 6 months until COP30 — when tens of thousands of people will descend on the Brazilian city of Belém for the annual UN climate conference — and no one is ready. For one thing, Belém is an impoverished city of 2.5 million that can’t build enough hotels for the 50,000 expected delegates …
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CONTINUE READINGNo, DOE, You Can’t Roll Back Product Efficiency Standards
Congress wanted greater energy efficiency over time and banned rollbacks.
The Department of Energy is proposing to rescind key energy efficiency requirements. It is beyond ironic that it is attempting to do so at a time when the President has proclaimed an energy emergency. Trump says the grid is struggling desperately to meet surging power demand. That’s a strange time to eliminate regulations that are saving energy. DOE’s action is also illegal, because the law in question has a provision prohibiting rollbacks. Congress wanted efficiency standards to get tougher over time and included an anti-rollback provision to make sure of that.
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