Articles

Author: Damien M. Schiff Today thousands of farmers, farm workers, and other Central Valley citizens convened in front of the Fresno City Hall for a Water Rally, sponsored by the California Latino Water Coalition, to protest the water restrictions, imposed under the Endangered Species Act, that are currently beleaguering California's agri ...

The giant Palouse earthworm may be endangered, at least so say Center for Biological Diversity and other environmental groups, who filed a lawsuit this week challenging the Fish and Wildlife Service's conclusion to the contrary.  The case raises the interesting question of whether the absence of evidence of the presence of a species neces ...

So ruled this week Judge Wilkin of the Northern District of California in Citizens for Better Forestry v. U.S. Department of Agriculture.  The case involved an important application of the Supreme Court's decision this last Term in Summers v. Earth Island Institute (PLF participated as amicus).  There, the High Court held that certa ...

This week Earth Justice bloggers contended that the "conservative, anti-environmental operation known as the Pacific Legal Foundation is pushing Governor Schwarzenegger to ask Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to remove protections of California’s native fish species."  We'll respond in greater detail next week, but suffice i ...

The environmental community is now contending that (1) the California water crisis is largely the result of natural causes, or doesn't exist at all, or (2) the crisis is real and it serves the farmers right for daring to grow crops where they couldn't "naturally."  Although neither contention can withstand scrutiny, the cont ...

The case was brought by Center for Biological Diversity, contending that EPA must analyze the effects of 74 pesticides on 11 endangered and threatened species in the San Francisco Bay Area.  EPA last week published a proposed stipulated injunction for public comment; the settlement anticipates EPA "effects" determinations under Sect ...

Author: Damien M. Schiff So argues author Paul VanDevelder this week in the Los Angeles Times.  Van Develder refers to Judge James Redden's recent letter to the federal defendants in National Wildlife Federation v. National Marine Fisheries Service (noted on this blog) that, if renewed federal efforts to restore depleted ...

Author:  Damien M. Schiff Yesterday, an amendment to an appropriations bill, sponsored by Representative Nunes, that would have provided an exemption from the Endangered Species Act for the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project failed in committee.  The amendment was defeated 31 to 25, garnering 3 Democratic votes. … ...

Author:  Nicholas M. Gieseler Bad news this morning by way of the Eighth Circuit, as its decision in United States v. Bailey dealt a blow to property rights.  The decision granted the federal government jurisdiction over private property located more than 200 feet away from a navigable waterway.  Under Justice Sca ...