Articles

The Heritage Foundation's Ben Lieberman has this analysis on the ESA riders and concludes: The American people do not need a costly backdoor global warming policy implemented through the misuse of preexisting ESA authority never intended for that purpose. But at no time is such a policy more harmful than in the midst of a … ...

Yesterday, the Obama Administration issued an executive order requesting all federal agencies to initiate consultation with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service under ESA Section 7 according to the regulatory rules in effect prior to the Bush Administration's promulgation of the new Section 7 regs last ...

Yesterday the California Fish and Game Commission voted to uplist the delta smelt from threatened to endangered under the California Endangered Species Act.  Also, the Commission voted to list the longfin smelt as threatened.  Neither move was especially surprising. … ...

SF Gate reports that the Senate Rules Committee yesterday appointed San Francisco Board of Supervisor, Ross Mirkarimi, to a seat on the California Coastal Commission.  Mirkarimi co-founded the California chapter of the Green Party and is a radical environmentalist.  A perusal of his record as supervisor makes clear this one's no fri ...

This, out of Santa Cruz, where about 500 coastal properties may see the size of their prospective homes drastically reduced under new land-use rules issued by Santa Cruz and happily approved by the Coastal Commission. This is part and parcel of Commission and local government efforts to sacrifice individual freedom at the altar of neighborhood  ...

Blogging at PLF on ESA was unfortunately light last week, especially considering the several ESA-related news items that occurred. We continue to monitor delta smelt litigation, which took a new turn when the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority and Westlands Water District filed a complaint in the Eastern District of California. This compl ...

by Timothy Sandefur I will be speaking at the conference on redevelopment abuse sponsored by Municipal Officials for Redevelopment Reform, on April 25. More information here. … ...

PLF Vice President M. David Stirling had this op-ed in yesterday's Washington Times. … ...

Today the Ninth Circuit issued its decisions in Alsea Valley Alliance v. Lautenbacher and Trout Unlimited v. Lohn.  Both cases presented challenges to the National Marine Fisheries Service's Hatchery Listing Policy (HLP).  Under the HLP, the Service determines whether and to what extent hatchery-raised salmon will be taken int ...