Articles

Green jobs and snake oil

March 15, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Brandon Middleton Apropos of my colleague Damien Schiff's post on enviromental regulation and wealth, I found this comment by Megan McArdle amusing: But green jobs have become the ginseng of progressive politics: a sort of broad-spectrum snake oil that cures whatever happens to ail you. They are the antidote to economic malaise, an unde ...

Articles

Environmental regulation : a threat to national security

May 27, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author:  Damien M. Schiff Today's Vancouver Sun has this article about a recent statement from a group of Republican lawmakers charging that environmental regulations, including those for the grizzly bear, are hampering Homeland Security's efforts effectively to patrol the Washington-British Columbia border. These protections have ena ...

Articles

In a better world, enviro groups would appreciate the importance of chemicals and pesticides

September 21, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Brandon Middleton Chemicals allow us to enjoy a greater standard of living than any of our ancestors could have ever imagined.  They preserve food for billions of people and prevent harm from annoying and dangerous pests, among other things. Unfortunately, the trend nowadays is for environmental groups to use expansive environmental s ...

Articles

Seven stories; one moral

March 16, 2012 | By JENNIFER THOMPSON

During the past week and a half, I have encountered seven separate instances of property owners stuck in seemingly intractable disputes with government agencies.  In each situation, someone is trying to use his or her property, but can’t because of some government action.  The experience of hearing people’s stories first-hand—and le ...

Articles

The Use and Abuse of Property Rights

October 08, 2012 | By JAMES BURLING

My new article, The Use and Abuse of Property Rights in Protecting the Environment, 1 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference Journal 373 (2012), has just been published in the premier edition of William & Mary Law School’s Property Rights Project’s journal. About a year ago several dozen Chinese and American scholars and pratitio ...

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National Agriculture Day

March 19, 2013 | By TONY FRANCOIS

A friend once explained the importance of agriculture to me in a way I have never forgotten:  “Every last physical thing that you use in life, was originally either grown from the ground or dug out of it.”  Ponder that for a moment (and yes, the seas and rivers are included). Today, March 19, is National … ...

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Government attempts power grab under guise of protecting environment

December 20, 2013 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

After receiving complaints about all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) driving through a shallow river, a Louisiana governmental agency decided to step in.  The agency’s solution: restricting a large amount of freedom and greatly expanding its own power. The agency is the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF), which, among other things ...

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CEQA : Special interest groups’ favorite toy

March 12, 2014 | By JONATHAN WILLIAMS

Union activists in San Francisco recently filed suit to block Google’s commuter buses from stopping at City bus stations– a privilege for which Google pays the City handsomely. Why might activists use an environmental regulation to block buses that eliminate at least 45 million vehicle miles and 761,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions a ye ...

Articles

Weekly litigation report — December 2, 2016

December 03, 2016 | By JAMES BURLING

Right to say you are who you are We filed this complaint on behalf of Peggy Fontenot against the State of Oklahoma. The rub of Fontenot v. Pruitt is that Peggy Fontenot, who is a member of the Patawomeck Indian Tribe, is not allowed to say in Oklahoma that her photographs and artwork are made … ...