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Rena Steinzor | May 4, 2010
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson was in a tough position on coal ash. If you are African American and low-income, you have a 30 percent greater chance of living near a big pit of this toxic brew than a white American, so Jackson correctly decided that such an important environmental justice issue should be at the […]
Daniel Farber | May 3, 2010
Cross posted from Legal Planet. A couple of key observations about the oil rig blowout, based on my work on disaster issues. First, “human error” is a cop-out when you’re dealing with major technology. It’s not like human fallibility is a surprise. Training, good management, and smart design should be the responses, not whining after […]
Holly Doremus | May 3, 2010
Cross-posted from Legal Planet. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is the nation’s look-before-you-leap environmental law, intended to make sure that we understand what environmental problems we might result before we act. To that end, federal agencies must prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) before they take, authorize, or provide funding for actions that may […]
James Goodwin | April 28, 2010
As the Obama Administration ought to know by now, open government isn’t easy. There are a lot of constituent elements in the wall that separates the American people and their government. Getting open government right requires planning and dedication. Moreover, resource and legal constraints can thwart even the best-intentioned efforts by government agencies to operate in a […]
Daniel Farber | April 27, 2010
Cross-posted from Legal Planet. Libertarians are, of course, deeply suspicious of government regulation. This may lead to a reflexive rejection of climate change mitigation. But Jonathan Adler, who provides a refreshingly distinctive view of environmental law from the Right, argues otherwise. In a forthcoming article (only the abstract is available on SSRN), he contends […]
Yee Huang | April 26, 2010
This is the April installment of CPRBlog’s series of posts highlighting legal developments in other countries and in international environmental law. Last month the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted a hearing to the residents of Mossville, Louisiana, based on their petition asserting that the U.S. government has […]
Victor Flatt | April 23, 2010
On Monday, the Environmental Defense Fund announced that it had reached a settlement with Tenaska Inc. to withdraw opposition to that company’s proposed “Trailblazer Energy Center,” a 600 megawatt coal fired power plant in West Texas. In return for dropping its objections, the EDF signed an agreement with Tenaska that the company will sequester 85% […]
Yee Huang | April 22, 2010
Earlier this month an Oklahoma jury awarded $7.3 million to current and former poultry growers for fraud, negligence, and violations of a state consumer protection act committed by Tyson Foods, Inc. This verdict is not surprising as Tyson, like other major poultry processors, wields considerable economic clout in its relationship with poultry growers. This imbalanced […]
Patrick MacRoy | April 22, 2010
Guest blogger Patrick MacRoy is Director of Community-Based Initiatives and RRP Training Program Manager for the National Center for Healthy Housing. He launched the first “train-the-trainer” program to help increase the supply of accredited RRP training providers and has been working on related policy issues. Today marks a major milestone in the century-long battle against […]