Obama Administration
A new look for fuel economy stickers
If you go shopping for a new car in model year 2013, you’ll see a new sort of fuel economy window sticker, like the one to the left. This is a fascinating example of the challenges of making labels both easy to absorb and informative. (It’s definitely going in my environmental law casebook update.) It’s …
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CONTINUE READINGInterior 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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CONTINUE READINGWhite House review delays EPA mountaintop removal guidance
Cross-posted at CPRBlog. EPA has announced that it will delay finalizing its guidance memorandum on Clean Water Act permitting for mountaintop removal mining projects pending review by the White House Office of Management and Budget. The announcement is bad news for Appalachian streams, and worse news for environmental interests hoping the Obama administration won’t completely …
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CONTINUE READINGA Risky FWS Proposal to Limit ESA Petitions
The Endangered Species Act has long been a lightning-rod for controversy. The last administration tried to significantly circumscribe the scope of the ESA in a wide range of ways (see, e.g, here). The Obama Administration up to this point in time has in general sharply contrasted with its predecessor in ESA management, including listing a …
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CONTINUE READINGForest Service releases proposed revised planning rule
On Monday, the Forest Service published its proposed new planning rule. The planning process for national forests has been in a kind of limbo since the end of the Clinton administration. The National Forest Management Act requires the preparation and periodic revision of land management plans for each national forest. The first planning rule was …
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CONTINUE READINGEPA prepares to wade into the Bay-Delta
Cross-posted at The Berkeley Blog. EPA has announced “an information-gathering process on how the EPA and the State of California can achieve water quality and aquatic resource protection goals” in the California Bay-Delta. EPA is not proposing any new regulations yet, but it is seeking public comment on what it might do to address water …
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CONTINUE READINGContempt? 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 …
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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 …
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CONTINUE READINGMore Garbage Conservative Constitutional Theory
James Joyner is one of the few conservatives who actually try to come up with intellectually coherent policy positions, and he often does. So maybe we should give him a pass when he blows it. But wow, is this one a doozy. The EPA has decided to begin to issue greenhouse gas regulations, as it …
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CONTINUE READINGWhite House scientific integrity guidelines — a long wait for not much
Early on in the Obama administration, promoting scientific integrity in government decisionmaking seemed to be a high priority. Less than 2 months after his inauguration, the President issued a memorandum giving the Office of Science and Technology Policy 4 months to “develop recommendations for Presidential action designed to guarantee scientific integrity throughout the executive branch.” …
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