The Problematic Pipeline Approval Process
The State Department has announced that its Inspector General will be looking into the process for approval of the controversial pipeline. There are certainly reasons to worry about the integrity of the process. The State Department held public hearings, but turns out to have no plan for actually considering the comments; in the meantime, it has actually lost tens of thousands of written comments completely. Not only that, but it has used a consultant that allegedl...
CONTINUE READINGWhatever Happened to K Street?
Yet another core sector of the American economy seems to be in trouble. After years of consistent growth, lobbying seems to be on the skids. According to figures compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, lobbying expenditures doubled from 2001 to 2008, reaching $3.3 billion that year. Expenditures in 2009 and 2010 stabilized at around $3.5 billion. But 2011 looks grim, with only $2.4 billion reported so far. It's not just because the year hasn't finished ye...
CONTINUE READINGTenth Circuit upholds Clinton-era Roadless Rule
You wouldn't think courts would still be deciding, late in 2011, whether actions taken by the Clinton Administration were lawful. But they are. Late last month, the Tenth Circuit upheld the Roadless Rule for national forests issued at the very end of the Clinton presidency. The Roadless Rule, which largely prohibited road construction and timber harvest in inventoried roadless areas, has been the subject of a game of judicial and executive ping-pong. Wyoming challenged ...
CONTINUE READINGCatching up with ELQ
While I was taking a hiatus from blogging, ELQ published not just one but two issues. Check out Volume 38, Issue 1, featuring: Michelle Bryan Mudd, A "Constant and Difficult Task": Making Local Land Use Decisions in a State with a Constitutional Right to a Healthful Environment? Alexandra B. Klass, Property Rights on the New Frontier: Climate Change, Natural Resource Development, and Renewable Energy Kristin N. Carden, The Legal Viability of Territorial Use Rights i...
CONTINUE READINGLisa Jackson Speech
Following up on Holly's post, here is video of the speech. (And no, contrary to a rumor in the blogosphere, she didn't call conservative critics "jack-booted thugs." Instead, as you'll see, she commented that they used this term about EPA.) [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcNeR6-EEGc]...
CONTINUE READINGLisa Jackson at Berkeley Law
Yesterday, Berkeley Law's Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment hosted a public presentation by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. She delivered brief prepared remarks, then took a lot of questions. She didn't announce any new policy initiatives, but she did make it clear that she (and the President) are not going to cave to pressure from Republicans in the House. Jackson did seem glad to be well outside the Beltway for a while, and who can blame her? She noted that ...
CONTINUE READINGShould We Allow Development in National Parks?
If I were pressed to state my favorite place in the world, coming right at the top of the list would be the Wawona Hotel, in Yosemite National Park. Not only is it inside Yosemite, but it is a historic hotel, originally built in 1879, and possessing all kinds of retro features as well as good restaurant, an excellent piano bar, great views etc. etc. And in fact one of the best things about Yosemite is just how much of it is developed -- there's the whole Yosemite Vi...
CONTINUE READINGDefending the “green guinea pig”
Just a quick post to point out my UCLA colleague Matt Kahn's piece, in the Christian Science Monitor, defending California's AB 32 climate regulations from a recent Wall Street Journal editorial (sub. req'd.) that maligns the state's approach. Apparently the WSJ relies on a long-debunked estimate of the costs to households from California's program, an estimate that (among other flaws) adds together all costs of AB 32 but excludes the value of all energy savings....
CONTINUE READINGIs California’s Anti-Sprawl Law Worth the Investment?
This past Friday, the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) approved the very first Sustainable Communities Strategy in the state as part of its regional transportation plan. The strategy document is the critical planning piece mandated by California's anti-sprawl law, SB 375. As I discussed over the summer, SANDAG's plan meets its greenhouse gas reduction goals largely through congestion management and decreased ridership from the down economy. It does not f...
CONTINUE READINGNEWS FLASH: D.C. Circuit Appeal of GHG Rules
According to E&E News, the D.C. Circuit has set oral argument for Feb. 28 and Feb. 29 in the complex legal challenges to EPA's endangerment finding and initial batch of rules regulating greenhouse gases. As I've written previously, I consider the endangerment-finding a slam dunk; the tougher issue is the "tailoring" rule that exempts smaller sources from the initial round of regulation. Industry is attacking the exemption, which is a bit ironic since it is a pro-...
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