Opinion
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Montana Bans Land Sales to Federal Government
Opinion -In protest of the federal government’s over-reaching and its mismanagement of public lands, Montana has become the first state in the union to prohibit the sale of state lands to the federal government. -
Planning Is a Tool, Not a Goal
Opinion -Local government officials often lament the fact that “not enough planning” has gone on in their communities. Like virtue, urban planning seems to be considered by many as an end in itself. -
Senate Battle Begins on Asbestos Fund
Opinion -On July 14, the U.S. Senate began debate on the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act of 2003, a measure aimed at addressing the nation’s asbestos litigation crisis. -
Horinko Is Named Interim EPA Administrator
Opinion -Senior EPA official Marianne Horinko was appointed on July 10 as the second interim EPA Administrator to serve since Christie Whitman’s resignation. -
Medical Criteria Set for Asbestos Claims
Opinion -In June, the Senate Judiciary Committee reached agreement on language describing the medical criteria that would be used to evaluate asbestos injury claims submitted to a proposed national compensation fund. -
Whitman Resigns EPA Post
Opinion -A contentious period in EPA history came to a close as Administrator Christie Whitman announced on May 21 she would resign from her position effective June 27. Whitman’s reign at EPA was marked by sharp criticism from virtually all sides. -
GAO Forest-Thinning Study Sparks New Controversy
Opinion -Supporters of President George W. Bush’s Healthy Forests Initiative have a new study to cite as proof reforms are needed in the federal government’s forest management effort. -
Census Bureau: 94.6 Percent of U.S. Is Rural Open Space
Opinion -Data newly available from the 2000 Census show that at least 94. -
EPA Scores Major Enforcement Victories
Opinion -The Environmental Protection Agency has announced several landmark enforcement actions, putting industry on notice that the agency is as vigilant as ever. -
Forest Thinning Bill Heads to Senate
Opinion -The U.S. House of Representatives voted May 20 to ease bureaucratic obstacles to forest-thinning activities on 20 million acres of the nation’s most fire-prone federal lands. The bill has the backing of President George W. -
California Supreme Court Expands Coastal Commission Challenge
Opinion -In an increasingly unusual legal scenario, the California Supreme Court agreed on April 9 to review rulings issued by the Sacramento Superior Court and the Court of Appeal for the Third Appellate District, both of which had determined the California -
EPA’s Particulate Matter Standard Challenged
Opinion -A recent study by Competitive Enterprise Institute Adjunct Scholar Joel Schwartz challenges the scientific basis of the Bush administration’s Clear Skies Initiative and Senator Jim Jeffords’ (I-Vermont) Clean Power Act. -
Poverty: Public Enemy #1
Opinion -The Real Environmental Crisis: Why Poverty, not Affluence, Is the Environment’s Number One Enemy Jack M. Hollander University of California Press, Berkeley, 2003 251 pages, cloth, $27. -
Debunking Friday the 13th: 13 Myths of Urban Sprawl
Opinion -Simply described as the geographical spreading out of urban areas, “urban sprawl” has become the stuff of public policy hysteria. A well-financed movement blames sprawl for everything from a lack of community spirit to obesity. -
Congressmen Seek to Halt Federal Land Acquisition
Opinion -If Representative Sam Graves (R-Missouri) gets his way, the federal government will be restricted in buying up new lands until it takes better care of the land it already owns. -
Decision Nears on Canadian Lumber Imports
Opinion -A 27 percent duty imposed by the United States on imported Canadian softwood lumber is currently being deliberated on free trade grounds by a binational panel established by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The U.S. -
Is Kyoto the Hidden Price of Britain’s Aid in Iraq?
Opinion -When polls showed 80 percent of the British citizenry against America’s military position, Prime Minister Tony Blair stood fast with President George W. Bush. As happened for Bush in the U.S. -
A Bridge Too Far?
Opinion -Looking out my bedroom window, I see what to me is paradise. Old, mature oak trees scattered amidst rolling pasture. A leisurely, two-lane country road, Ft. Hamer Road, separates my backyard from the cows and horses grazing in Rawls farm. -
Enforcement Abuse Alive and Well at EPA
Opinion -Trumped-up charges, tampered-with evidence, and armed police raids--these are just some of the tactics known to be employed by foreign dictators against their own people. -
Western States Challenge Feds on Environment
Opinion -The Wyoming and Utah state governments have learned a lesson from their sister states in the northeast and are increasingly taking their environmental arguments to the federal courts. -
Colorado Lynx Releases to Proceed
Opinion -In mid-March, Colorado’s Division of Wildlife (CDOW) announced plans to import from Canada up to 180 lynx to release in Colorado’s national forests. Releases began on April 3. Earlier such efforts, begun in 1999, have failed. -
Lake Michigan Salmon Fishing Best in Decades
Opinion -Lake Michigan creel surveys confirm what charter boat captains and sport anglers reported last summer: Trout and salmon fishing on the big pond was the best in nearly 20 years. -
Federal Appeals Court Won’t Delay New Source Review
Opinion -Nine Democratic state attorneys general have failed in their efforts to delay implementation of reforms to the Environmental Protection Agency’s New Source Review (NSR) program. On March 6, a two-judge panel of the U.S. -
Washington Governor Aims at ‘Sustainable’ Future
Opinion -Washington Governor Gary Locke on February 6 called for government-directed “sustainable” development and praised a report on sustainability strategies issued by the Sustainable Washington Advisory Panel.