Last week the House Committee on Natural Resources held a hearing on the “weaponization” of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the “lawfare” surrounding it. There were key points made from both trenches. There were muted calls for bi-partisan solutions. But there are few signs that much is going to change. Here are some […]
Read moreWe Need More Lanes*!
As the Washington Post reports, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan recently announced that the state would study whether, where and how to build a replacement for the {scary, aging, traffic-plagued, absolutely vital} Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Officially, the bridge is known as the “William Preston Lane, Jr., Memorial Bridge,” and it adorns the Maryland Transportation Authority’s website […]
Read moreAn Undeclared War on Wolves? Wildlife Services’ NEPA Debts Coming Due
Jamison Colburn action agencies, endangered species, FONSI, inthenews, USDA agency discretion, risk, Wildlife Services, wolves
Wildlife Services (WS)—the current name for a bureau within the Department of Agriculture (USDA)—annually kills between 1 and 5 million animals, all in the name of “wildlife control.” It has done so in one form or another since 1915. The agency points to the European starlings, airport hazard species, feral swine, nutria and other “invasives,” […]
Read moreA Programmatic EIS on Federal Coal Will Show . . . ?
Jamison Colburn action agencies, climate change, coal, inthenews burnable carbon, climate change mitigation, coal leasing, risk
So the Secretarial Order (Order No. 3338) on the “pause” was recently released and we took a look at what it tells Interior personnel conducting this review they should view as the priorities in the Nation’s coal leasing “program.” The three “main” priorities named in the order—fair return on the coal, climate change, and coal-dependent […]
Read moreThe Arrowhead Water War: Bottled Water, Drought & NEPA
Jamison Colburn action agencies, bottled water, inthenews, uncategorized, USFS bottled water, drought, Nestle, risk, San Bernardino
The San Bernardino National Forest has many special use permits. One in particular made the news in 2015. The Arrowhead Water bottling operation, currently owned by Nestlé, stood out for its water-a-plenty during a crippling drought. You see the Arrowhead permit to take the water (said by Nestlé to amount to 68,000 gallons a year […]
Read moreNo Big Deal? Space X’s Falcon May Mean a New Era of Space Travel and Cause No Environmental Impact?
Earlier this month, the Federal Aviation Administration, tiering to NEPA documents already prepared by the U.S. Air Force, found that the famed “SpaceX” Falcon launch vehicles don’t cause a significant enough impact on the environment to merit a full environmental impact statement. You can access FAA’s EA/FONSI here. In a separate statement, FAA described its […]
Read moreBeyond the Four Corners: Extending the Life of a Western Coal Belt
Jamison Colburn climate change, coal, inthenews, uncategorized coal, Four Corners, Navajo Mine, risk, social cost of carbon
Combined, the Navajo Generating Station, Four Corners Generating Station, and San Juan Generating Station make up a sizable portion of just about everything in their vicinity. Their emissions of greenhouse gases, conventional pollutants like particulates and NOx and SOx, and toxics like mercury, lead and selenium are enormous for the region. Their economic impact is […]
Read moreDeadlines on Scientific Integrity II: Inter-Disciplinarity in the Real World
Jamison Colburn action agencies, BOEM, inthenews, oil arctic drilling, Lease Sale 193, risk, science communication, shell
Our last post explained the Office of Inspector General’s conclusions surrounding Lease Sale 193’s hurry-up supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS). In that report, OIG found numerous instances where staff specialists at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) were strong-armed by their superiors as the narratives they were offering for inclusion in the SEIS were cut […]
Read moreClimate of Hypocrisy? The Peculiarity of Glocal Problem Solving
Jamison Colburn climate change, coal, inthenews, oil Arctic, chukchi sea drilling, climate change, POTUS, risk
Bill McKibben’s recent column in Medium on physics—or, more specifically, the nonnegotiability of CO2e emissions’ effects in the atmosphere—took President Obama to task for his visit to Alaska and what he called the President’s “climate change hypocrisy.” How can the Administration claim to be fighting for future generations on climate when it’s simultaneously opening up vast […]
Read moreGroundswell: Ground Water Depletion and an Army Corps Revolt?
Jamison Colburn action agencies, climate change, dredge and fill, inthenews Army Corps, Clean Water Act, ditchtherule, risk, wetlands, wotus
Water, water everywhere . . . . Sea level rise (SLR) has long been among the big threats global climate disruption promises, especially in the public consciousness. Most of the American populace (like others) lives within 100 miles of the coasts and will be impacted directly by SLR. But a new threat—exacerbated by climate disruption—seems to be […]
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