risk governance – The NEPA Lab

A Pipeline, A North Dakota Community’s Water, and the End of a NEPA Saga?

August 17, 2017 Jamison Colburn Bureau of Reclamation, pipelines, risk governance Minot, NAWS, risk, water, whirling disease

Unless you’re one of the 80K+ residents of northern North Dakota who’s been waiting on this project, you’d be forgiven for thinking we mean that other pipeline that got hung up on NEPA. This pipeline is a straw moving water from one watershed (the Missouri River basin) to another (the Hudson Bay basin). The proposal […]

The National Flood Insurance Program: Time to Weigh Some Alternatives?

April 12, 2017 Jamison Colburn climate change, FEMA, risk governance FEMA, national flood insurance program, NEPA, risk

When the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced in 2012 that it was beginning a scoping process on a “programmatic” environmental impact statement (EIS) for the national flood insurance program, heads didn’t exactly bob up and down in nervous excitement. Indeed, that announcement seemed to coincide with a congressional probe and threats on Capitol Hill […]

When a President Rescinds a Memo

March 30, 2017 Jamison Colburn CEQ Watch, climate change, risk governance climate change, NEPA, risk, Trump

Among the provisions of President Trump’s executive order on climate change was this: Section 3(c) The Council on Environmental Quality shall rescind its final guidance entitled “Final Guidance for Federal for Federal Departments and Agencies on Consideration of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and the Effects of Climate Change in National Environmental Policy Act Reviews . . […]

The Risk of Genetically Engineered Accidents

November 20, 2015 Jamison Colburn action agencies, FDA, GMOs, risk governance AquAdvantage, fda, GMO, risk 1

The FDA’s decision to license the first genetically engineered food animal for consumption in the US garnered little attention last week at its issuance. That by itself is odd: though perhaps small, there is a confident and vocal cohort of Americans who oppose the use of “genetically modified organisms” (GMOs) in general. What is even […]

Long on Rhetoric, Light on Reality

September 12, 2015 Jamison Colburn action agencies, risk governance, uncategorized, wind turbines bayonne bridge, Common Good, environmental review delays, NEPA red tape, risk, tappan zee

A new report—Two Years, Not Ten Years—from Philip K. Howard’s Common Good calls for abruptly overthrowing decades of statutory, constitutional and political “accretions” surrounding America’s infrastructure planning. The report itself has attracted little attention, but the underlying issues are hot. The MSM coverage of our unfolding public infrastructure crisis has recently gone full bore. None of […]

Using NEPA to Solve Problems: On Re-Publicizing the Governance of Risk

May 11, 2015 Jamison Colburn oil, pipelines, risk governance, uncategorized crude-by-rail, DOT 111, oil, ticker

The U.S. Dept. of Transportation finally moved to finalize its rules on tank car safety on May 1. {See Final Rule Federal Register Notice here.} The Department’s summary of the enhancements: Enhanced Standards for New and Existing Tank Cars for use in a[ high-hazard flammable train] (HHFTs)—New tank cars constructed after October 1, 2015, are […]

Herbicides and the NEPA Injunction: A SCOTUS Inversion in Three Acts

April 21, 2015 Jamison Colburn herbicides, judicial relief, risk governance glyphosate, GMOs, risk, risk governance, Round-Up

At one time, NEPA had teeth akin to those of the Endangered Species Act. An affirmative finding and the law’s bite could be severe. Of course, since then many of the ESA’s teeth have been pulled (or at least muzzled) and NEPA’s have positively atrophied—some would say to a dangerous extent. The herbicide cases in […]

Logging in the Tongass: What was Known and When

March 31, 2015 Jamison Colburn action agencies, judicial relief, logging, old growth, risk governance Forest Service, logging, old growth, risk, Tongass, wolves

The Tongass Timber Battle. It rivals the Spotted Owl wars in longevity, energy, lawsuit volume and rhetorical pitch. The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council and allies headed to the Ninth Circuit yesterday on, among other things, a NEPA claim against the Forest Service (USFS) in what might wind up being more than just the latest salvo. The petitioners […]

Keystone: What and How to Count?

February 4, 2015 Jamison Colburn action agencies, CEQ Watch, climate change, oil, pipelines, risk governance, uncategorized climate change, Keystone, KXL, pipeline, risk

EPA’s final comments on the KXL Final SEIS made something of a splash today with a piece in today’s New York Times. They mostly reflect what EPA has been saying about KXL for going on two years now. As EPA says in its latest filing on the Department of State’s impact analysis, [t]he Final SEIS […]

The DOT 111 as a Best Technology Problem: RIAs, NEPA & Risk

January 3, 2015 Jamison Colburn action agencies, risk governance action agencies, risk, risk governance, rulemaking, ticker

Moving crude or ethanol by freight train is dangerous. Trains that are bigger or faster are more dangerous. And bigger, faster trains in populous areas are the most dangerous. That much can be said with confidence. Beyond these generalities, things get contentious. In an earlier post we noted that the Department of Transportation Notice of […]

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Category: risk governance