Posted in Uncategorized on Jan 25th, 2012
In his inaugural State of the Union address in 2009, President Obama asked Congress to send him cap-and-trade legislation to save our planet from the ravages of climate change In his 2010 State of the Union, the President took credit for the United States going from a bystander to a leader in the fight [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jan 20th, 2012
A federal District Court judge in Vermont has struck down legislation that denied Entergy Corporation to right to renew its operating license for the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant unless it received specific legislative approval that license renewal was in the public interest. The Vermont legislature declined to grant this approval in 2010, leading many [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jan 19th, 2012
Republicans in Congress held the payroll tax cut extension hostage specifically to force President Obama’s hand on the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, looking for a “jobs versus the environment” talking point in the presidential election contest. I join the rest of the environmental community in applauding President Obama’s decision to reject the pipeline. [...]
Posted in Litigation and Dispute Resolution on Jan 12th, 2012
David Cassuto (x-post from Animal Blawg) The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has construed the Endangered Species Act to exclude captive populations of the endangered Southern Resident killer whale population. This means that these endangered orcas are deprived of the protections of the statute and can be exploited for profit by commercial operations. A number of individuals [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jan 12th, 2012
A state administrative case we’ve been watching addresses the question whether an egg farm can be required to get a Clean Water Act NPDES permit for discharges of chicken feathers and litters into the air through its ventilation exhaust fans. The North Carolina DENR initially required a permit for the emissions from Rose Acre Farms, [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jan 9th, 2012
The transcript from today’s SCOTUS argument in Sackett v. EPA is out. Sackett is a landowner challenging an EPA CWA § 309 Administrative Compliance Order that directed him to cease wetlands fill activities and restore wetlands on his lot, where he was building a residence. The lower courts held (consistent with all other circuits) that [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jan 6th, 2012
Reading between the lines of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State address on Wednesday, 2012 may be a year of project related environmental battlegrounds in New York. Governor Cuomo reiterated his support for a fast-tracked replacement project for the Tappan Zee bridge — an endeavor that will have substantial impacts on the Hudson River [...]
