Water
California’s Delta & Water Reforms: Now the Hard Work Begins
Last fall’s passage of landmark California legislation to “fix” the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and reform California water law was big news. But key, recent events demonstrate that the devil is truly in the details, and that while legislation certainly matters, it is the manner and means of executive branch implementation that ultimately spell success or …
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CONTINUE READINGDelta NRC committee issues initial report
The National Research Council’s Committee on Sustainable Water and Environmental Management in the California Bay-Delta released its first report this morning (also available through the National Academies Press web site, with registration). On a quick review of the summary, the conclusions are unsurprising — the Committee finds that the provisions of the Biological Opinions for …
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CONTINUE READINGI Love That Dirty Water?
The New York Times supplies another excellent installment on its series about an often-overlooked environmental problem: outdated and overwhelmed municipal water and sewage systems. State and federal studies indicate that thousands of water and sewer systems may be too old to function properly. For decades, these systems — some built around the time of the …
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CONTINUE READINGSettlement marks a step forward on ocean acidification*
Cross-posted at CPRBlog. As Cara and Dan have explained, ocean acidification is the other big climate change problem. As atmospheric CO2 levels rise, more CO2 dissolves in the oceans. That in turn increases ocean acidity, which changes the ecology of the seas, most obviously by reducing the ability of corals and a variety of other …
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CONTINUE READINGSalmon season likely . . . but is it a good idea?
For the last two years, there has been no commercial salmon fishing off the California and Southern Oregon coasts because the Sacramento River chinook run has been so weak. This year, after early pessimism, prospects for salmon fishing look more promising. The Pacific Fishery Management Council has made public the three management options it will …
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CONTINUE READINGConservation deal just a sugar fix?
Cross-posted at CPRBlog When government decides that private economic activity needs to be restricted in order to preserve some part of nature, there are two basic ways to get that result — by demanding cooperation through regulation or by buying it through economic incentives or outright purchase. The second approach is often politically easier, but …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Unintended Consequences of Rapanos
In the Rapanos case, building on its previous ruling in SWANCC, the Supreme Court cut back on federal jurisdiction over water bodies. The issue before it was the government’s power to control filling of isolated wetlands, and it seems clear that the Court was solely focused on what it considered an inappropriate expansion of federal …
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CONTINUE READINGUCLA Clinic persuades federal Administrative Law Judge to vacate approval of new coal mining permit on Indian land in Arizona
I have some exciting news I can’t resist sharing: UCLA’s Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic won a major administrative case last month, which is now final now that the time for appeal has run. All twelve of our clinic students spent a significant chunk of this fall working on it, along with me and …
CONTINUE READINGKeeping Up With EPA’s Rulemaking Efforts
A new Web-based “dashboard” is now available on EPA’s Web site. Created by the Office of Policy, Economics, and Innovation, this site provides a transparent way to keep track of the agency’s priority rulemakings. It provides users with earlier and more targeted information as well as special filters that allow users to find rules and …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Delta: pumps, politics, and (fish) populations
Cross-posted at CPRBlog The past couple of weeks have been crazier than usual on the Bay-Delta. The pumps were first ramped up and then ramped down. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) pandered to the irrigation crowd (or at least a part of it) by proposing to ease endangered species protections in the Delta. And the fall-run …
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