The federal Clean Water Act is a notoriously complex statute, imposing federal permitting on a wide variety of land uses, … More
Tag: Supreme Court
Supreme Court searches for path through byzantine federal land laws
Federal lands are governed by a complex thicket of laws built up over more than a century, often with too … More
Should property rights give way if environmental cleanups seem too costly?
Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Atlantic Richfield v. Christian, an important case concerning whether property owners … More
Supreme Court wades back into the murky Clean Water Act
Since the 1980s, Maui County’s wastewater treatment plant has discharged millions of gallons of recycled water into groundwater. Over several … More
Property rights are key to addressing pollution
For nearly 100 years, a copper smelter near Opportunity, Montana dumped tons of toxic metals, arsenic, and lead on its … More
What are “reasonable efforts” to restore habitat? Supreme Court argument highlights the importance of who pays to recover endangered species
On Monday, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral argument in Weyerhaeuser Co. v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, … More
What if, instead of battling about the costs of environmental regulations in the political arena and the courts, property owners and environmental groups treated their differences as an opportunity for arbitrage?
Whether regulation generally—and environmental regulation, in particular—imposes significant burdens on property owners and other regulated parties is sharply contested. The … More
If the goal is to guide human action, environmental markets work better than indecipherable regulations
One of the greatest strengths of free market environmentalism approaches to environmental problems is that they facilitate the development of … More
Settling lawsuit brought by 20 states, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reconsider critical habitat regulations. What will this mean for conservation?
Last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it had settled a lawsuit brought by 20 states against … More
Supreme Court’s WOTUS decision means more judicial scrutiny of government decisions
In law school, my civil procedure professor’s favorite quip was that he would gladly let his opposing council choose the … More
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