EPA proposes to veto mountaintop removal project
Cross-posted at CPRBlog. EPA's seesaw on mountaintop removal mining continues. Last time I wrote about this topic it was to note EPA's approval of the Hobet 45 project. Today, EPA announced that it is proposing to veto the Spruce No. 1 project, as it had threatened last fall. Should EPA follow through on its proposal, this would be its first veto of a Clean Water Act section 404 permit since 1990. Publication of the proposal in the Federal Register will start a 60-day p...
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia’s Delta & Water Reforms: Now the Hard Work Begins
Last fall's passage of landmark California legislation to "fix" the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and reform California water law was big news. But key, recent events demonstrate that the devil is truly in the details, and that while legislation certainly matters, it is the manner and means of executive branch implementation that ultimately spell success or failure for most environmental laws. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislative leaders recent...
CONTINUE READINGIf not at Yucca Mountain, then where?
Cross-posted at CPRBlog. Last August, Dan announced "The Death of Yucca Mountain," pointing to a news story in which Senator Harry Reid ( D - Nev.) declared that he had dealt a fatal blow to plans to store high-level radioactive waste in a repository there. The Department of Energy sought to pull the plug on the project once and for all early this month, when it filed a motion to withdraw its application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license for a Yucca ...
CONTINUE READINGHealth Care Reform could help the environment
As Streetsblog noted, the newly-passed health care reform contains some grant money for nonprofits, Indian Tribes, and state and local governments to promote increased physical exercise and to create "the infrastructure to support active living." Overall, this provision could provide local governments with extra money they desperately need to create more bicycle and pedestrian-friendly land use planning and projects. Local land use planning is critical to developing the ...
CONTINUE READINGDeath of a Great American
Stewart Udall died today. His legacy, as the N.Y. Times recounts, surrounds us: As interior secretary in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, he presided over the acquisition of 3.85 million acres of new holdings, including 4 national parks — Canyonlands in Utah, Redwood in California, North Cascades in Washington State and Guadalupe Mountains in Texas — 6 national monuments, 9 national recreation areas, 20 historic sites, 50 wildlife refuges and 8 nationa...
CONTINUE READINGDelta NRC committee issues initial report
The National Research Council's Committee on Sustainable Water and Environmental Management in the California Bay-Delta released its first report this morning (also available through the National Academies Press web site, with registration). On a quick review of the summary, the conclusions are unsurprising -- the Committee finds that the provisions of the Biological Opinions for protecting Delta smelt and winter-run chinook salmon are scientifically justified and concep...
CONTINUE READINGWhy Doesn’t Anyone Care When IPCC UNDER-Estimates Climate Impacts
Imagine the following scenario: 1. The IPCC announces a surprising figure for sea level rise by 2100. 2. But it used a model that was off by a factor of two as applied to recent changes in sea level. 3. It also made a 5-year change in the time period that reinforced the first problem. 4. The most recent studies oppose IPCC. As a recent post on RealClimate points out, if these mistakes had caused an overestimate of sea level rise, "SeaLevelgate" would be all ...
CONTINUE READINGBig Three backs CAA regulation, cars deal
An interesting development: Yesterday, the industry group for major car manufacturers sent a letter to Congressional leaders opposing Sen. Murkowski's legislative efforts (discussed by Holly here) to un-do EPA's greenhouse gas endangerment finding. The Murkowski resolution, as many have pointed out, would have the result of undoing the federally brokered cars deal set to impose Clean Air Act limits on car greenhouse gas emissions--a deal that industry likes, but that...
CONTINUE READINGA blue day for bluefin
Negotiators at the meeting in Qatar of the parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species have rejected proposals to ban international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna (and in polar bears). (See coverage in the New York Times and Washington Post.) The vote on the bluefin ban was surprisingly lopsided -- only 20 nations in favor, 68 opposed, and 30 abstentions. The United States was the main advocate for the ban, although the proposal was formally...
CONTINUE READINGCO2 may be more than a global problem
So far, all the discussion about how to deal with CO2 pollution has assumed that it is a global problem. It undoubtedly is -- CO2 emissions anywhere in the world contribute to global climate change. But that assumption typically carries another along with it -- that CO2 is not a local problem. It turns out that may not be true. A study just published online in Environmental Science and Technology (subscription required for that link; open access pre-publication draft he...
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