Whitebark pine in ESA limbo
Today the Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the whitebark pine, an iconic tree of the high-elevation American west, qualifies for listing as an endangered or threatened species. The combined...
View ArticleEPA finalizes mountaintop removal guidance
After a three-and-a-half month delay for White House review, EPA has finalized its guidance for review of mountaintop removal mining permits in Appalachia. I needn’t have worried that the White House...
View ArticleWhite House science advisors call for better ecosystem information
If you’ve never heard of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), you’re not alone. It’s not a group that’s often in the news. But its new report, “Sustaining...
View ArticleNo (or at least little) net loss of jobs from regulation
We keep hearing the phrase “job-killing regulations” from the Republican side of the aisle, with environmental regulations generally at the top of their lists. Yet there has never been much evidence...
View ArticleSagebrush rebellion, version 3.1
Some things never seem to change, including the (interior) West’s frustration over the extensive federal land holdings in the region. If you’re old enough, you might recall the Sagebrush Rebellion,...
View ArticleGina McCarthy to be nominated as EPA head
As predicted by Cara Horowitz recently, it’s being widely reported (for example here) this morning (March 4) that Gina McCarthy, currently EPA’s Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and...
View ArticleLogging, tropical forests and biodiversity — what we don’t know
A new paper in Conservation Biology (subscription required) from researchers at UC Berkeley and elsewhere provides an important reminder that we often don’t know as much as we think we do about...
View ArticleIf we could see carbon emissions, would we produce less?
It’s difficult to see something as a problem if we can’t see it at all. That’s one problem with coming to grips with greenhouse gas pollution. It doesn’t show up in the air the way smog does, and its...
View ArticleExecutive Order calls for climate adaptation
On Nov. 1, President Obama issued an Executive Order intended “to prepare the Nation for the impacts of climate change by undertaking actions to enhance climate preparedness and resilience.” In some...
View ArticleOf sewage spills and citizen suits
(Co-authored with Nell Green Nylen and Michael Kiparsky.) Every day, Californians produce millions of gallons of wastewater. We tend to avoid thinking about what flows down our drains, but how we deal...
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