Articles
Secretary Salazar's shameful ignorance of the Endangered Species Act
Author: Brandon Middleton Via Aquafornia, we learn of a recent statement by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar concerning new California water legislation and the forthcoming National Academy of Sciences reviews of the delta smelt and salmon biological opinions. Secretary Salazar's statement begins as follows: Today, Governor Schwarzenegger is sign ...
Articles
PLF asks Ninth Circuit to invalidate delta smelt restrictions
Author: Brandon Middleton Today, Pacific Legal Foundation attorneys will file an appeal to the Ninth Circuit, asking the court to invalidate the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's delta smelt water cutbacks as unconstitutional. The appeal will be filed not only on behalf of PLF's farming clients (Stewart & Jasper Orchards, Arroyo Farms, a ...
Articles
The ramifications of the Obama administration's man-made California drought
Author: Brandon Middleton Big Government's John Loudon has a great article on why it's important for the entire country to wake up and realize that the Obama administration is putting fish before people. Loudon explains that the ramifications of cutting off water to the San Joaquin Valley go far beyond California: As for the rest … ...
Articles
The Constitution is (fortunately) a stubborn document
Author: Brandon Middleton The Natural Resource Defense Council's Barry Nelson doesn't like what Pacific Legal Foundation is doing when it comes to California's water. (See his NRDC Switchboard blog post, "Facts are stubborn things"). According to Nelson, PLF and others have been "particularly careful to ignore facts that ...
Articles
Don’t be fooled : "fish vs. people" is real
Author: Brandon Middleton With Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s proposal to increase water deliveries to the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California, there’s been a renewed discussion of the “fish vs. people” theme that accompanies the debate on California’s water policy. For example, the Fresno Bee’s Jim Boren sugg ...
Articles
It is "frighteningly clear that despite all good intentions, the Endangered Species Act is making a bad situation worse."
Author: Brandon Middleton Looks like more and more people are waking up to the uncompromising nature of the Endangered Species Act. Here is the Merced Sun-Star's Steve Cameron: I have been a lifetime environmentalist, nearly always supporting regulations to save existing wildlife and protecting the ecosystems that keep our fragile planet ...
Articles
The fight for water continues
Author: Brandon Middleton It's not a great time right now for farmers and water users throughout the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. Despite significant precipitation over the past several months, the federal government is currently preventing a vast amount of water from flowing to where it's most needed. Instead of certain deli ...
Articles
A needed attempt to add balance to the Endangered Species Act
Author: Brandon Middleton Much of Georgia depends on Lake Lanier for their water supply. There is an ongoing dispute concerning how much of Lake Lanier's water should be devoted downstream to endangered species in Florida. After a two-year water shortage, folks in Georgia are well aware of how the Endangered Species Act can be use ...
Articles
Tide turns for victims of regulatory drought : government errors continue to mount; PLF appeals delta smelt regulations to 9th Circuit
Author: Brandon Middleton The last couple of weeks has seen good news for Californians who have lost water and jobs as a result of the Endangered Species Act. But leave it to environmental groups to express dismay over Judge Wanger's decision to give humans a voice in the regulatory process: "The last time around, he … ...