NEPA
Pine Beetles, Environmental Law, and Climate Change Adaptation
Inflexible laws may be the best response to climate change
Anyone who lives or has visited the Intermountain West over the past decade or so has noticed the devastating impact of a mountain pine beetle epidemic on the pine forests from Arizona and New Mexico all the way up to British Columbia and Alberta. As a result of warmer winter weather because of climate change, …
Continue reading “Pine Beetles, Environmental Law, and Climate Change Adaptation”
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia High Speed Rail Slowed by Court Decisions
Judge rules the train needs a new business plan and project-level environmental review
California Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny dealt two setbacks to high speed rail yesterday that are likely to delay the project significantly. First, Judge Kenny ruled that the state committee that approved the disbursement of bond money for the project acted without sufficient evidence to justify the disbursal. California law empowers the High-Speed Passenger Train …
Continue reading “California High Speed Rail Slowed by Court Decisions”
CONTINUE READINGU.S. Bureau of Land Management Violated NEPA When Selling Oil and Gas Leases in California
On April 8, a federal magistrate judge issued the first major ruling in a California fracking lawsuit, finding that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to take the necessary “hard look” at the impact of hydraulic fracturing when it sold oil and gas leases in California. …
CONTINUE READING