Water
White 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 …
Continue reading “White House review delays EPA mountaintop removal guidance”
CONTINUE READINGRight on the Commerce Clause, wrong on the ESA
Cross-posted at CPRBlog. As Rick noted earlier, the Ninth Circuit is now the fifth federal circuit court of appeals to reject a Commerce Clause challenge to the ESA. In San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority v. Salazar, a Ninth Circuit panel upheld protection of the Delta smelt. I agree with Rick’s analysis of the Commerce …
Continue reading “Right on the Commerce Clause, wrong on the ESA”
CONTINUE READINGThe question of triage
The latest Delta report issued by the Public Policy Institute of California goes well beyond the Delta. Titled Managing California’s Water: From Conflict to Resolution, the report takes on the entire water management structure set up by state and federal law. There’s a lot in the report, which should be required reading for anyone interested …
Continue reading “The question of triage”
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia’s Delta Stewardship Council Gets Down to Business
Today California’s Delta Stewardship Council begins its deliberations on a Delta Plan that promises to be a big part of the answer to one of that state’s most pressing environmental questions: can California’s Delta be saved? Creation of the Delta Stewardship Council was a key element of landmark 2009 California legislation designed to address the …
Continue reading “California’s Delta Stewardship Council Gets Down to Business”
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 …
Continue reading “EPA prepares to wade into the Bay-Delta”
CONTINUE READINGNinth Circuit allows landowner to challenge impaired water listing
UPDATED. See below. An odd judicial couple, conservative Jay Bybee (of torture memo fame) and liberal Stephen Reinhardt, have combined to issue an even odder Clean Water Act standing decision. In Barnum Timber v. EPA they ruled, over the dissent of District Judge James Gwin, sitting by designation, that a landowner had standing to challenge …
Continue reading “Ninth Circuit allows landowner to challenge impaired water listing”
CONTINUE READINGFunding dam removal
Many of you have probably heard of the settlement agreements in Klamath River Basin. For those who have not, the short version is that most participants signed two agreements: the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement and the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement. The Hydroelectric Settlement lays out a process that could culminate in the removal of four …
Continue reading “Funding dam removal”
CONTINUE READINGEPA vetoes mountaintop removal mining permit
Cross-posted at CPRBlog. If EPA is afraid of the new Congress, you wouldn’t know it from today’s news. Assistant Administrator Peter Silva issued the Obama administration’s first veto of a Clean Water Act section 404 permit. This veto, which has been working its way through the cumbersome process for more than a year (see here, …
Continue reading “EPA vetoes mountaintop removal mining permit”
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 …
Continue reading “Ninth Circuit affirms that ignorance is bliss”
CONTINUE READINGThoughts on the latest Delta smelt ruling
As Sean pointed out yesterday, this week federal District Judge Wanger issued another ruling in the ongoing litigation over protection of the Delta smelt and restrictions on diversions from the Sacramento-San Joaquin river system. Reviewing the opinion, my first reaction was sympathy for the judge and his staff. There is no question that sorting through …
Continue reading “Thoughts on the latest Delta smelt ruling”
CONTINUE READINGJoin Our Mailing List
Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.
