Articles

Dean Revesz of NYU Law and Michael Livermore opine that the environmental community is reading too much into Judge Sotomayor's decision in Riverkeeper v. EPA, in which she ruled that the Clean Water Act forbids cost-benefit analysis in certain circumstances, and in which she was later reversed by the Supreme Court.  The ...

The petition can be found here; press release here.  Steven Geiseler, managing attorney with PLF’s Atlantic Center office in Stuart, Florida, offered the following commentary: Today we’re demanding that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stop stalling and perform its legal duty to remove the wood stork from the federal ‘endanger ...

The New York Times has this article on Sotomayor's environmental credentials. It quotes Glenn Sugameli, who is head of Earth Justice's judicial nominations project.  Here is what Mr. Sugameli has to say (emphasis added): Filling the current Supreme Court vacancy with a jurist who is fair-minded and experienced is critical. . . . ...

California Ag Net is a great resource for news and info on California's agricultural industry. Ag Net reporter Patrick Cavanaugh was in Fresno during PLF's delta smelt press conference. His recordings of PLF attorneys and clients can be found by clicking here and watching the video reports from 5/22 through 5/26. … ...

The nub of the report is that the Service has no systematic means of tracking compliance with the biological opinions issued to other federal agencies.  If that's so, then why all the hullaballoo over the old Section 7 regs that would have eliminated a small percentage of existing consultations?  It seems as if, not surprisingly, & ...

This past Friday, Judge Wanger heard arguments on Westlands Water District and San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority (Westlands) motion for a preliminary injunction of Component 2 of the delta smelt biop's reasonable and prudent alternative. Component 2 will be in effect until June 30 or until the water temperature of Clifton Court Foreb ...

The delta smelt – a tiny fish the size of a small child’s hand – has a stranglehold on California’s water supply. Restrictions put in place on behalf of the smelt have resulted in drastic water shortages for farmers and municipalities as well as a further loss of jobs in the already economically depressed Central … ...

Yesterday PLF filed a lawsuit on behalf on three Central Valley farmers challenging the Fish and Widlife Service's December 2008 biological opinion mandating severe restrictions on Delta water pumping, owing to the threatened Delta smelt.  PLF held a press conference in Fresno near the federal courthouse, as well as a press teleconference ...

Today Pacific Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit in federal court in Fresno challenging the Delta pumping restrictions imposed by the Fish and Wildlife Service on account of the delta smelt, a "threatened" fish species under the Endangered Species Act.  A copy of the complaint can be found here.  Among the claims in the lawsuit ...