Waste Virginia Governor (and Senate hopeful) Joe Manchin has announced a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for tightening federal regulation of so-called “mountaintop mining.” According to the NYT, Manchin claims “the regulations were unlawful, usurped state rights, were based in inadequate science and harmed the state by preventing […]
Archive | Environment
Suppressing Oil Spill Science
The AP and NYT report on draft reports from National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling critical of the federal government’s response to the spill. Among other things, the reports accuse Administration officials of suppressing and misrepresenting scientific assessments of the spill and its potential consequences. From the AP: The […]
On Catch Shares and Jane Lubchenco
Ron Arnold attacked Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), for seeking to impose industry-killing restrictions on fishing off the New England coast. Iain Murray of the Competitive Enterprise Institute rose to Lubchenco and the Obama Administration’s defense, arguing out that the industry’s woes are a legacy of fishery mismanagement and […]
The Sorry Green Giant
This morning I had an essay on NRO discussing the state of the environmentalist movement in light of the failure to enact significant climate legislation. I’m currently in Emigrant, Montana, attending a conference co-sponsored by Liberty Fund and PERC on “Liberty and the Progress of the Human Condition,” so I may not be able to respond much […]
Dirtier Dishes, Cleaner Lakes
The NYT reports on the mixed consumer reactions to “environmentally friendly,” low-phospate dishwashing detergents. Consumer produce manufacturers have begun selling low-phosphate detergents in response to laws in several states requiring product reformulation. The article also notes that the environmental benefits of reformulated products can depend on how consumers respond. Low-flow toilets don’t save as much […]
Carp Czar
No, that’s not a typo. The White House has appointed an “carp czar.” More precisely, the President named John Goss, former director of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, as director of the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee, and intergovernmental group working to reduce the threat Asian carp pose to the Great Lakes ecosystem. Meanwhile, […]
Letting the Bedbugs Bite
Once virtually eliminated in the United States, bedbugs are back with a vengeance. Earlier this summer Environmental Protection Agency and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the little pests had made an “alarming resurgence,” possibly due to increased resistance to available pesticides and a decline in local pest control programs. Some pesticides once used for […]
On the Latest Eco-Terrorist
“Grover Cleveland” at Pileus offers these thoughts on James Lee: James Lee (the Discovery building hostage taker and crazy environmentalist) no more represents left-wing environmentalists than do violent “right-wingers” (such as Timothy McVeigh) represent those people who are conservative, libertarian, or anti-government. I can see conservative demagogues using Lee to bash left-environmentalists, but I think this is quite unfair even if liberal/progressive […]
Time to Reform the IPCC
By Jonathan H. Adler on August 31, 2010 10:40 am in Climate Change, Environment, Politicizing Science
Yesterday the Inter-Academy Council, a consortium of the world’s leading national academies of science, issued a report highly critical of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). (Full report here.) The report does not challenge the IPCC’s central findings about the science of climate change, but strongly criticizes the IPCC’s procedures and management structure, […]
A Lomborg About-Face on Warming?
The Guardian reports on an “apparent U-turn” by Bjorn Lomborg, the “skeptical environmentalist,” on the issue of global climate change. (See also here.) The stories report that Lomborg has a new book, due out this fall, in which he calls global warming “one of the chief concerns facing the world today” and urges adoption of […]
Writ of Mandamus Sought in Comer v. Murphy Oil
It’s a big week for climate change litigation. In addition to the SG filing I noted below, the plaintiffs in Comer v. Murphy Oil, a public nuisance suit against multiple energy companies, have filed a petition for a writ of mandamus with the Supreme Court in an effort to revive their litigation. It’s an interesting […]
The SG’s Brief in American Electric Power v. Connecticut
The environmental law community is buzzing over a brief filed by the Solicitor General’s Office this week on behalf of the Tennessee Valley Authority in American Electric Power v. Connecticut. As reported by the Washington Post, the WSJ‘s Washington Wire, and Greenwire, environmentalist groups are shocked and dismayed by the SG’s decision to enter the […]
Are Locavores Loco?
Stephen Budiansky loves eating vegetables from his own garden and appreciates the value of fresh ingredients, but still wonders whether the “local food” movement has gone overboard. From his recent NYT op-ed: the local food movement now threatens to devolve into another one of those self-indulgent — and self-defeating — do-gooder dogmas. Arbitrary rules, without […]
Oil’s Well that Ends Well?
The oil spill from BP’s Deepwater Horizon well is just about all cleaned up, right? Maybe not. As reported in today’s Washington Post, academic researchers are challenging recent Administration and media reports suggesting that most of the oil is gone. Academic scientists are challenging the Obama administration’s assertion that most of BP’s oil in the […]
EPA Rejects Reconsideration of Endangerment Finding
Yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency denied ten petitions seeking reconsideration of its December 2009 finding that emissions of greenhouse gases cause or contribute to air pollution that can be reasonably anticipated to endanger human health or welfare. (Hat tip: Legal Planet) This so-called “endangerment finding” is the trigger for the regulation of greenhouse gases under […]