ESA

Comparing Canadian and US Environmental Law: Judicial Review

In a prior post, I talked a little about proposed changes to Canadian environmental laws that would roll back significant protections and procedural requirements.  I also talked about some of the differences between Canada and the United States that might be the basis for very different histories of environmental law in the two countries.  But …

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What’s in the final 2012 spending bill?

I’ve just finished plowing through H.R. 2055, the2012 Consolidated Appropriations Act, which was signed by President Obama last week. I was curious to see how many anti-environmental riders made it into the final bill. I haven’t seen much news coverage of the details of the final bill, and the White House offered no comment when …

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Gingrich & The Environment

Given Newt Gingrich’s current spurt in the polls, it’s worth taking a bit of a closer look at his environmental views.  He favors dismantling EPA, which should make him popular with the tea party.  But apparently he has problems in that quarter: The reaction from some conservative commentators was swift and harsh. “Intellectually incoherent,” said …

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Interior releases “regulatory look-back” plan

In January, President Obama issued an executive order calling on all federal agencies to promote retrospective analysis of rules that may be outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome, and to modify, streamline, expand, or repeal them in accordance with what has been learned. Last week marked the deadline for agencies to submit preliminary plans for …

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Offshore drilling and endangered species — Part 1

Cross-posted at CPRBlog The media have paid a lot of attention to the cavalier attitude of the former Minerals Management Service (now called the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement) toward the National Environmental Policy Act (I blogged about it here and here and Dan weighed in here). Less has been said, so …

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Updating the Delta litigation line-up

The era of collaboration and cooperation that CalFed briefly brought to management of California’s water system is well and truly over. Lawsuits are multiplying like rabbits, promising to provide full employment for water and natural resource lawyers in California for the foreseeable future. For those of you scoring at home, here are some of the …

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Interior team slowly takes shape

President Obama and Interior Secretary Salazar have begun to trickle out the new leadership team for the Interior Department. So far, the team is heavy on legal talent. Like Secretary Salazar, the first three nominees to subordinate positions all hold JDs. David Hayes was nominated late last month to be Deputy Secretary, the number two …

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Don’t hamstring the Endangered Species Act

The federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) is a vitally important bulwark in the legal protections for our environment in the United States. The ESA provides essential life support to a wide range of species on the edge of extinction, species such as our native salmon, grizzly bears, and California condors. The Act has helped to …

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The importance of outside advisors and career staff

Dan posted recently about the decision remanding EPA’s latest revision of the particulate NAAQS, American Farm Bureau v. EPA. One thing that struck me reading the decision is the powerful role played not only by outside advisory groups but also by career agency staff. Even if they are overridden by the political decisionmakers, the views …

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Undoing the new ESA consultation regulations?

Nick Rahall (D – W.Va.), joined by 12 co-sponsors, has introduced a joint resolution under the Congressional Review Act to overturn the Bush administration’s midnight regulations on ESA section 7 consultation. Some of the many problems with the new regulations have been explained in comments submitted by Berkeley Law profs Eric Biber (coordinating the work …

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