Regulation
Engineering Life Itself
I was interested to learn that Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, up the hill from where I work, has the world’s first department of synthetic biology. Berkeley’s bioengineering department also has a program focusing on systems and synthetic biology. Synthetic biology is genetic engineering but on a more ambitious scale, explains a very useful NY Times …
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CONTINUE READINGWe’ve Known the Risks in the Gulf for Forty Years
We’ve known all along that offshore drilling in the Gulf placed at risk exceptionally valuable and sensitive coastal areas. We need look no further than a forty-year-old court decision on Gulf oil drilling, which made the dangers abundantly clear. In 1971, President Nixon announced a new energy plan involving greatly expanded offshore drilling. In a …
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CONTINUE READINGMMS needs more than a facelift
The Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has brought new attention to the Minerals Management Service, the obscure branch of the Department of Interior responsible for overseeing offshore oil and gas production. MMS has been on the hot seat together with BP, Transocean, and Halliburton as Congressional committees and others have begun to …
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CONTINUE READINGHeads in sand, oil in water
Cross-posted at CPRBlog. As oil drifts on and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, forcing the closure of wildlife refuges and more fishing grounds, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has called a temporarily halt to new offshore drilling while his staff prepare a report on the disaster and even Republicans in Congress are calling for new …
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CONTINUE READINGAnother Lesson from the BP Disaster: The Need for Better Risk Assessment
Apparently, the lease grant to BP was exempted from environmental review, according to the Washington Post’s Juliet Eilperin: The decision by the department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) to give BP’s lease at Deepwater Horizon a “categorical exclusion” from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on April 6, 2009 — and BP’s lobbying efforts just 11 …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Looming Political Battle Over AB 32 & California’s Environmental & Economic Future
Today, proponents of an initiative measure designed to “suspend” California’s landmark Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32) are scheduled to submit signatures to state election officials designed to qualify the measure for the November 2010 ballot. Bankrolled by two Texas-based oil companies, Tesoro Corporation and Valero Energy Corporation, the initiative measure would preclude …
CONTINUE READINGA great case for worst case analysis
Cross-posted at CPRBlog. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is the nation’s look-before-you-leap environmental law, intended to make sure that we understand what environmental problems we might result before we act. To that end, federal agencies must prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) before they take, authorize, or provide funding for actions that may have …
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CONTINUE READINGUC San Francisco Throws Its Hat Into the Nanotechnology Policy Ring
The UCSF Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment recently released a draft set of policy recommendations to address nanotechnology meeting for comments on May 5 in Oakland, CA. The report is in draft form and the authors are seeking comment, so there will likely be a fair amount of modification as commenters with different perspectives and …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Offshore Oil Drilling Debate–Revisited (Again)
Earlier this month, the Sacramento Bee published an interesting point-counterpoint debate over the wisdom of re-commencing offshore oil drilling in the U.S., with a particular focus on California and the West Coast. Arguing in favor of the proposition was U.C. Santa Barbara Professor of Political Science and Environmental Studies Eric R.A.N. Smith, who maintained that …
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CONTINUE READINGUnintended Consequences and Environmental Policy
Last summer, Los Angeles experienced a rash of water main breaks that at the time baffled city officials responsible for the 7000 plus miles of underground pipes. In a new report, a panel of experts concluded that the city’s 2009 water conservation program, which limited lawn watering to Mondays and Thursdays during the summer, increased the number …
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