Public Lands
And now for some good news
If you’re as depressed as I am by the current political climate and attempts on Capitol Hill to roll back everything from clean air protections to food safety, you might be feeling the need for some good news. Here’s at least a small antidote. The San Jose Mercury News reports that fish and birds are …
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CONTINUE READINGNinth Circuit affirms that ignorance is bliss
Lack of information is a continuing problem for environmental policy. In part, that’s unavoidable; we’ll never know enough about the world around us to be confident that we’re making the best choices. In part it is because potential regulatory targets control some needed information. And in significant part it’s because decisionmakers have a tendency to …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Incoming Congressional Freshmen
Politico has a nice posting about the incoming freshman GOP in the House and their views on environment and energy issues. The bottom line: House Republican freshmen looking to make names for themselves on energy issues in the next Congress have some goals in common: Ramp up domestic energy production, roll back the Obama administration’s …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia designates new Marine Protected Areas
The California Department of Fish and Game has created a new network of state-designated Marine Protected Areas, as Tony Barboza reported today in the Los Angeles Times. This action, controversial because of its restrictions on fishing in the protected areas, begins to fulfill the promise of California’s decade-old Marine Life Protection Act. As this detailed …
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CONTINUE READINGBP spill lawsuit complaint and link to early analysis
Here’s the complaint in the newly-filed lawsuit the United States filed against BP today, which I summarized earlier in this post. And NRDC’s David Pettit has written an interesting blog post with some initial thoughts about timing and choice of defendants in the lawsuit.
CONTINUE READINGU.S. sues BP, eight other defendants for violations of Oil Pollution Act in Deepwater Horizon blowout
Eric Holder, the Attorney General of the United States, announced today that the U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit alleging that BP, Transocean, and seven other firms caused or contributed to the massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill earlier this year. The lawsuit seeks response costs, natural resource damages, and economic damages under the …
CONTINUE READINGFunny, It Doesn’t Look Bluish
The initial results in California last night make it seem like a sane drop of blue in the country. Jerry Brown won for Governor; Barbara Boxer was re-elected; and Proposition 23, which would have reversed the state’s landmark climate change law, was resoundingly defeated. Voters also approved Proposition 25, which allows the state budget to be …
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CONTINUE READINGWhy Republicans Should Support Proposition 21
In my lonely quest to get people interested in Proposition 21, I’ve written other posts about it, and tried to answer objections. But one objection, usually offered by Republicans, deserves a closer look, because addressing it means that Republicans should vote for Proposition 21 even if one accepts their premises about the Legislature and the …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Feds Take On Climate Adaptation
On October 14, the White House’s Climate Change Adaptation Task Force released its recommendations to President Obama for how agencies can better prepare the United States to respond to the impacts of climate change. Once again we are reminded of how important it is to have an Administration that takes climate science seriously. According to …
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CONTINUE READINGNudging State Parks
The Sacramento Bee comes through with another essential backgrounder on Proposition 21. Among the takeaway points: *The parks have a $1 billion maintenance backlog; *Nationwide experts consider the California system to be the nation’s most endangered; *Among those 10 states with the nation’s biggest systems, only California and Massachusetts lack a dedicated funding source. The …
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