Salt Lake Tribune : Utah can welcome data centers — without selling out its principles
Between our two families, we're raising four children in Cache County, next door to the proposed data center in Box Elder County. As researchers working in environmental and energy policy at the Pacific Legal Foundation, handling data centers has been top-of-mind. And as parents, we spend a lot of time thinking about what kind of state our kids wil ...
It’s time for the Fish & Wildlife Service to restore protections for California fishermen
Californian sea urchins, abalone, kelp, and fishermen have a common problem: the popularity of southern sea otters drowns out the concerns of other species and groups. A charge from Congress It's a decades-old problem. In 1986, Congress enacted Public Law No. 99-625, a statute striking a careful balance between the needs of California fisherm ...
San Diego Union-Tribune : Unleashing American energy production can lower gas prices
Uncertainty in the Middle East is hitting Americans at the pump. The national average for a gallon of gas has climbed above $3.75, up from under $3 just six weeks ago, before conflict with Iran roiled the market. Rising fuel costs squeeze household budgets and ripple through every corner of the economy. So what is the solution? Economics 101 tel ...
The Hill : How the federal government is forcing states to spy on lobstermen
The federal government is forcing constant, warrantless GPS surveillance on thousands of small fishing businesses — and threatening their livelihoods if fishermen or state governments object. A federal regulation requires ten East Coast states to adopt and enforce an electronic tracking requirement for federally permitted lobster vessels. Comp ...
American Heroes : When the government wipes out your property rights and your family legacy—overnight
What happens when the government doesn't just regulate your property, but effectively erases its value? That's the reality for John Morgan and his family. In the latest episode of American Heroes, Kathy Hoekstra sits down with John to unpack a California law (SB 1137) that has shut down access to oil and gas resources—wiping out both the va ...
Introducing Free to Flourish
Last summer, Pacific Legal Foundation launched our Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) practice—doubling down on our 50+ years of success as America's leading defender of property rights and environmental common sense. With this new practice, our mission is threefold: Defend the freedom to use both public and private land productively ...
Minnesota’s batty restriction on timber operations
Over a third of Minnesota is forested, and the state's forest products industry ranks as its fifth-largest manufacturing sector by payroll employment. Citizens' ability to use these resources, however, has been unconstitutionally restricted by a state and federal government scheme to protect three bat subspecies. Two of these species were listed as ...
The state wants to track lobstermen’s every move. One is asking the Supreme Court to end it.
Everyone in Vinalhaven knows two things: the weather and the price of a lobster — $6. Ten miles off the coast of Maine, this rugged outcropping of fewer than 1,300 people is one of the cradles of the New England lobster industry. Dark evergreens cling to the hillsides above its blue coves; granite cliffs take the full force of the North Atlant ...
Who owns the rain? When government regulation loses common sense
There are moments when you hear a legal argument and wonder whether common sense has quietly left the building. Take the case of an Oregon man who went to jail in 2012 for collecting rainwater in basins. The state water department said he was interfering with local rivers because they're usually filled by the rain. If you "interrupt the flow of ...