NMFS
Climate Science Takes Win in Effort to Save Bearded Seal
Ninth Circuit upholds NMFS’s reliance on climate projections to 2095 in decision to list Pacific bearded seal as threatened under ESA
Climate change is expected to wipe out critical habitat of the Pacific bearded seal by 2095. This projection, based on IPCC climate data and models, justifies listing the Beringia distinct population segment of the bearded seal as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, according to a recent Ninth Circuit opinion in Alaska Oil and Gas …
Continue reading “Climate Science Takes Win in Effort to Save Bearded Seal”
CONTINUE READINGWhere does NOAA belong?
Cross-posted at CPRBlog. Clearly I need to slow down Rick’s internet connection to get him to stop scooping me. Rick reported earlier today that the President has floated a proposal to reorganize the Commerce Department and related agencies which would apparently include moving NOAA (all of NOAA, according to OMB’s Jeffrey Zeints, not just its …
Continue reading “Where does NOAA belong?”
CONTINUE READINGAnother regulatory success story
A few days ago, Dan posted about some positive EPA achievements. In the same spirit, and since the natural resource agencies get bashed for supposedly over-zealous and ineffective regulation close to as much as EPA does, I wanted to highlight another regulatory success story: turtle excluder devices, often referred to by their acronym, TEDs. The …
Continue reading “Another regulatory success story”
CONTINUE READINGWhite paper on Habitat Conservation Plans and Climate Change
Cross-posted at CPRBlog. Melinda Taylor at the University of Texas School of Law and I have just put out a white paper on Habitat Conservation Plans and Climate Change: Recommendations for Policy. It can be accessed here through Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment, or here through UT’s Center for Global Energy, …
Continue reading “White paper on Habitat Conservation Plans and Climate Change”
CONTINUE READINGNinth Circuit upholds steelhead listing
Salmonids present a challenge for Endangered Species Act implementation, because they aren’t neatly divided into completely separate reproductive units, the way we expect species to be. Conservation advocates have long argued that behavior should be as important in genetics in deciding which salmonid groups merit protection. The National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and …
Continue reading “Ninth Circuit upholds steelhead listing”
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 …
Continue reading “Delta NRC committee issues initial report”
CONTINUE READINGA look at the interim federal Delta plan
As I pointed out three months ago, the federal government has awakened from its 8-year Bush administration slumber to notice that the SF Bay-Delta is an important environmental and economic resource whose management requires federal input. On December 22, the Obama administration issued an Interim Federal Action Plan for the California Bay-Delta. The best news …
Continue reading “A look at the interim federal Delta plan”
CONTINUE READINGA prospective time-out on Arctic fisheries
Just as it did with krill in the Pacific, NMFS has gotten ahead of the curve in regulating potential new commercial fisheries in the U.S. arctic. Global warming, by reducing the extent of sea ice, promises to open new areas to fishing vessels. At the same time, changing ocean temperatures and currents are expected to …
Continue reading “A prospective time-out on Arctic fisheries”
CONTINUE READINGRight whales may need more room
The North Atlantic right whale is critically endangered. The National Marine Fisheries Service pegs its current population at roughly 313 individuals, unchanged over the last 25 years. (Early this year there were hopeful reports of a potential rebound, or at least a very good calving season.) Right whales migrate from winter calving grounds off Florida …
Continue reading “Right whales may need more room”
CONTINUE READINGUS won’t appeal Casitas decision
Last month, when he posted about the Supreme Court taking up the Florida beach renourishment case, Rick noted the possibility that the Court might hear another takings case, Casitas Municipal Water District v. U.S., 543 F.3d 1276 (2008). Indeed, the Casitas case, in which the Federal Circuit held that the physical takings doctrine applied to …
Continue reading “US won’t appeal Casitas decision”
CONTINUE READINGJoin Our Mailing List
Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.
