Region: National
SPEED bump?
Recent proposal for NEPA reform in House of Representatives is sweeping and perhaps counterproductive
The House of Representatives recently held a hearing on the SPEED Act, a proposal for NEPA reform advanced by Representatives Westerman (R-Arkansas) and Golden (D-Maine). While the public announcement by the majority for the bill is that it is simply “commonsense upgrades,” a close review indicates that it would produce potentially dramatic changes to NEPA, …
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CONTINUE READINGThe War on Science: Week 35
Every week we get more reports about the Administration’s anti-science campaign.
It was just another week in the government’s war on science. Rather than editorialize about what’s going on, I thought it would be more useful just to relay what has come out in news reports over the last week. The facts really speak for themselves.
ITEM. On Saturday, we learned that EPA’s water division had told its scientists to pause publication of papers in scientific journals pending a “review.” The order came from political appointees. There’s little doubt that the goal is to silence scientific findings that might call Administration policies into question.
CONTINUE READINGThe perils of federal abundance legislation
Political polarization at the federal level is a steep obstacle to any major abundance reforms
I recently wrote an assessment of the ROAD Act, a bill in the US Senate that would do some (mild) changes to NEPA and develop some guidelines and incentives for state and local governments to amend their zoning to facilitate more housing production. While the ROAD Act may be fine policy, one question is whether …
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CONTINUE READINGNational Academies School the Trump Administration on Gold-standard Science
Report on Effects of Human-Caused GHG Emissions on US Climate, Health, and Welfare shows how actual science is done.
It’s not news that the Trump administration has little interest in getting the facts right. But facts often matter for crafting policy that serves our societal goals. And it’s not rare for the law to require that specific factual findings underpin government decisions. In both cases, we need to assemble, understand, and apply the best …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Forgotten Constitution
There’s a lot more than the “executive power” in there.
To hear Trump & Co., you might think that the Constitution was one sentence long, with that sentence vesting the executive power in the President. That’s the theory behind his efforts to remake the government – including environmental regulation – single-handedly. But there’s a lot more in there. Much of that forgotten language is directly relevant to the presidential actions that are now shaking the government, including environmental governance.
CONTINUE READINGDOJ Challenge to Vermont’s Climate Law Has a Problem
The EPA’s proposed repeal of the endangerment finding undermines the U.S. position in the Vermont Climate Superfund Case.
EPA’s proposal to rescind the Clean Air Act endangerment finding is not final but it is already causing problems for the Trump Administration in court. The Department of Justice today filed a brief for summary judgment challenging Vermont’s climate superfund law. Its principal argument? That the Clean Air Act — in regulating greenhouse gases — …
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CONTINUE READINGThe ROAD to housing?
Initial federal legislation advancing more housing is limited in scope.
There’s been a lot of legislative action advancing housing production through reforms to land-use and environmental regulations at the state level, including California. Now, the federal government is every so gingerly stepping into the area. The ROAD Act passed unanimously through the relevant Senate committee last month. In this blog post I’ll provide a brief …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Color PURPA
A Win for Solar– And a Glimpse of Life After Chevron
The majority in a recent case — an Obama appointeet and a Trump appointee — ruled in favor of renewable energy. Even without Chevron deference, they were able to conclude that the statute favored solar producers. And unlike a win under Chevron, this one can’t be reversed by a more conservative agency — it’s etched in stone.
CONTINUE READINGViolations of Free Speech at EPA
EPA employees were within their rights with the dissent letter they wrote.
I know it must be a shock to the Trump Administration that even lowly civil servants — I’m sure they would put the emphasis on “servants” — have rights that Important People like them are obliged to respect. But we still live in a democracy, and as the Supreme Court once said, government employees don’t leave their First Amendment rights at the door.
CONTINUE READINGYoung Climate Plaintiffs Won Big in Montana. Can They Again?
The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
One of the biggest climate victories to date belongs to 19-year-old Eva Lighthiser and the other Montana youth climate plaintiffs who won their landmark case against state officials and saw it upheld in the state Supreme Court. Now, some of those same young people — Lighthiser included — are headed back to court next week …
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