Articles

Coverage of Mississippi Levee Board suit

September 11, 2009 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Damien M. Schiff Last month, PLF filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Board of Mississippi Levee Commissioners, to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency's unwarranted veto of a desperately needed flood control project in the lower Mississippi Delta.  The latest Impact Newsletter from the Board has an excellent article detailin ...

Articles

Clean Water Act point-counterpoint

March 01, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author:  Damien M. Schiff Today's New York Times has this article contending that, at least from the US Environmental Protection Agency's perspective, that agency's ability to enforce the Clean Water Act and prevent the Nation's waters from becoming polluted has been seriously constrained by recent federal court rulings. The a ...

Articles

Forest landowners deserve their day in court

March 15, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Damien M. Schiff Last week, I argued PLF's appeal in Barnum Timber Co. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.  PLF represents Barnum Timber Co., a family-run timber harvesting operation based in Eureka, California.  In this case, PLF is suing EPA over the agen ...

Articles

Earth Day and the Clean Water Act

April 23, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Ted Hadzi-Antich This week Pacific Legal Foundation is celebrating Earth Day 2010 by devoting the PLF Blog to a different environmental topic every day. Today, Friday, April 23, we’re focusing on the Clean Water Act. Over the past 40 years, the Clean Water Act has been a tremendous success. Our lakes, rivers and streams … ...

Articles

The LA River's navigability : what's the big deal?

July 09, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author:  Damien M. Schiff This week the EPA announced that it was reversing a 2008 Army Corps of Engineers determination that the Los Angeles River (whose headwaters form in the San Fernando Valley and empties some 51 miles away into San Pedro Bay) is not a "traditional navigable waterbody" for purposes of federal regulation.  ...

Articles

Clean Water Act permits required for runoff from forest roads

August 17, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author:  Damien M. Schiff This week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the Environmental Protection Agency’s “silvicultural activities” exemption for stormwater runoff. PLF filed an amicus brief on behalf of the California Forestry Association in support of the timber industry, arguing that the exemption is valid, a ...

Articles

Are lead bullets on their way out?

August 26, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author:  Damien M. Schiff Earlier this month, the Center for Biological Diversity submitted a petition to the Environmental Protection Agency requesting that the latter ban lead-based ammunition and fishing tackle.  CBD submitted the petition pursuant to the Toxic Substances Control Act.  The petition concedes that EPA is forbidde ...

Articles

Ninth Circuit says no to judicial review of compliance orders

September 23, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author:  Damien M. Schiff Last Friday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency that a landowner does not have the right of immediate judicial review when he receives a compliance order from the EPA for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act (PLF represents the appellants, Michael and Cha ...

Articles

EPA turns 40, but I'm not sending a birthday card

December 02, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author:  Damien M. Schiff Today's Wall Street Journal has an oped by Lisa Jackson, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, celebrating the agency's 40-year history of enforcement of federal environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act.  I'm sure that one can find any number of "s ...