Contempt? 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 example, accused the administration of "tempt[ing] a constitutional confrontation." Not so fast. Judge Feldman's latest decision s...
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 responding well to restoration of former salt ponds on the edges of San Francisco Bay to more natural tidal marsh. Continued operation of the salt ponds by Cargill Salt, and ...
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 tool available to the federal government to combat global warming. The modest regulations the agency has already proposed, pl...
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 and Technology Policy issued a long-delayed Memorandum providing general guidance on ensuring scientific integrity but ...
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 led by researchers at the University of Washington adds an important broad-scale perspective. The study, publi...
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 he finalizes his decision -- is a setback for efforts to implement California's law. But I think it's worth emphasi...
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 enjoin "any implementation of the Scoping Plan" until ARB corrects the CEQA violation. Among other things, such a ruling...
CONTINUE READINGREINS Act: An attack on environmental regulation and executive power
Representative Geoff Davis (R-KY) has once again sponsored a bill that would require Congressional approval of any regulatory rule that imposes compliance costs in excess of $100 million annually. The Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act (H.R. 10) would require agencies to seek Congressional approval of such regulation. If Congress fails to approve the rule within 70 days of promulgation, the rule is void. David Goldston, at NRDC, has a thorou...
CONTINUE READINGComparing Climate Models with Reality
The models are looking pretty good, as shown by this graph from Real Climate. The colored lines are different measurements of change in global temperature average. The black line is the average of the predictions from the models used by IPCC, and the gray band shows the 95% confidence level (only a 1/20 chance of being outside the band). There's obviously a some significant short-term bouncing-around, but the trend line looks quite good -- better than one might expec...
CONTINUE READINGJustice Brennan was not an Irishman
If you have access to The New Republic's premium content online, or have a chance to buy the dead-tree version this week, make sure to do so. Justin Driver has written an outstanding essay on Justice William Brennan. It's styled as a (positive) review of Seth Stern and Stephen Wermiel's new full-length biography of Brennan (pictured right), but it's really a fascinating essay on what Driver considers to be the myths of Brennan, and his effectiveness on the Court. S...
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