PLF's Brandon Middleton to testify before House Natural Resources Committee on the ESA

December 05, 2011

PLF attorney Brandon Middleton, whom readers of the PLF Liberty Blog know has been knee-deep in the delta smelt litigation, will be testifying before the full Natural Resources Committee of the United States House of Representatives tomorrow morning.  This is an oversight hearing on the Endangered Species Act  titled “The Endangered Species ...

op-ed on delta smelt biological opinion

January 09, 2009

Yesterday PLF attorney Brandon Middleton and former Interior assistant secretary Craig Manson had this op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle. The op-ed points out that "there is little science to support the notion that pumping restrictions will solve the problem of the smelt's decline" and argues that "it makes no sense to make t ...

SCOTUS reverses Ninth Circuit, allows needed mining project to go forward

June 23, 2009

Today the Supreme Court issued a decision in Coeur Alaska v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council. The Court reversed a 2007 decision by the Ninth Circuit and held that the discharge of tailings material from a mine is subject only to the permitting scheme of Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, not the more burdensome … ...

Coverage of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's town hall meeting

July 03, 2009

Author: Brandon Middleton Earlier this week Capital Press's Cecilia Parsons reported on Secretary Salazar's visit to Fresno and his initial reaction to requests for relief from the "God Squad."  … ...

What the environmental movement does not want you to know

July 06, 2009

Author: Brandon Middleton One of the fundamental problems of national environmental organizations is that they equate reasoned opposition of overzealous enforcement of federal environmental laws to a pro-pollution stance. Earthjustice’s Brian Smith contends that the attorneys and staff members here at Pacific Legal Foundation are ...

the hidden costs of environmental litigation

July 13, 2009

Author: Brandon Middleton As California's economic troubles continue, more and more people are waking up to the hidden costs that accompany environmental litigation. Last week Chapman University presidential fellow Joel Kotkin noted that "in California today, everyone who makes a buck in the private sector–from developers and manufac ...

reality bites: the Endangered Species Act puts fish before people

July 13, 2009

Author: Brandon Middleton Last week NRDC's Doug Obegi weighed in on the California water crisis by discussing "The Fallacy of 'Fish versus People.'" His message: While some Members of Congress and other elected officials have fallen hook, line and sinker for the myth that protecting California ...

Polar bear update: "It's a good time to be a polar bear."

August 24, 2009

Author: Brandon Middleton An editorial in yesterday's Washington Times describes how conditions in the Arctic are not fitting the alarming narrative behind the listing of the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act: It's a good time to be a polar bear. Unusually cool temperatures in the northern climes last winte ...

Pipe dreams and the response to PLF's "Save Our Water" Petition

August 24, 2009

Author: Brandon Middleton As my colleague Damien Schiff noted last week, Pacific Legal Foundation has submitted over 12,000 signatures to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger urging him to formally request the convening of the "God Squad." The "God Squad" committee would be managed by the Obama administration and would have ...

The misuse of the Endangered Species Act: becoming clearer everyday

August 25, 2009

Author: Brandon Middleton When the Endangered Species Act was first enacted in 1973, it would have been hard to imagine that this law would eventually find disfavor among significant portions of the American public.  After all, who could be against protection of endangered species? As we approach 2010, however, it becomes more and more eviden ...