Overlawyered » Environmental Protection Agency

January 28 roundup

Walter Olson — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 14:07:17 +0000

Voters unseat prosecutor in office during Luzerne County cash-for-kids scandal [Wendy N. Davis, ABA Journal]
Obama plan for mass refinance overriding terms of mortgages “could permanently drive housing finance costs higher” [James Pethokoukis]
In Sackett v. EPA case, SCOTUS will decide which EPA enforcement actions if any should escape judicial review [Ilya Shapiro/Cato, Adler, Root] Keystone XL episode gives reason to revisit NEPA [Conn Carroll] Ninth Circuit ruling on forest road runoff will test Obama position [David Freddoso]
Debate at Point of Law on President’s recess appointment power between Jason Mazzone and Andrew M. Grossman;
Lobbyists help get traffic-cams back on Connecticut legislative agenda [Chris Fountain]
Read it here first: “Courts push back on bribery prosecutions” [Reuters]
“In my little corner of the Blawgosphere, few things drive traffic like an Overlawyered link. Thank you, @walterolson.” [George Wallace]

Tags: accolades, Connecticut, environment, Environmental Protection Agency, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Luzerne County judicial scandal, mortgages, red light cameras, Supreme Court

Environmental law roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 05:03:02 +0000

Peter Schweizer: “To RFK, Jr: I’m No Sock Puppet, But You Sir Are a Bootlegger” [Huffington Post; some background on America's Most Irresponsible Public Figure®]
Will legal campaign succeed in shutting down natural gas fracking? [WLF, David Oliver, CL&P, Abby Wisse Schachter/NYP]
Nice work if you can get it: key figure in dubious Chevron-Ecuador expert report slated for National Academy of Sciences reappointment [WizBang, earlier]
EPA’s move-cement-production-to-China plan runs into uncooperative judge [Josiah Neeley, Daily Caller]
Spare that tree? Environmentalists battle Montana underbrush clearance aimed at preventing catastrophic fires [William Perry Pendley, MSLF] More on trees and power outages in Connecticut [WSJ, related earlier]
New book on Endangered Species Act reform [James Burling, Federalist Society]
Rural property owners foot the bill for California green policies [Steven Greenhut]
“What are you in for?” “Backed-up toilets” [Shannen Coffin, NRO]

Tags: California, Chevron, Connecticut, endangered species, environment, Environmental Protection Agency, Montana, oil industry, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., trees

November 26 roundup

Walter Olson — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 17:21:39 +0000

“Ohio Attorney Sues Over Misleading Emails, Even Though He Wasn’t Misled” [Chris Danzig, Above the Law]
Feds say new EPA-ordered fuel economy standards could add $2000 to price of new car [C.J. Ciamarella, Daily Caller] More: WSJ.
Las Vegas considers following Chicago’s lenders-must-cut-grass folly [Kevin Funnell, earlier] “The Fed actually does impose, via legal risk, a de facto ceiling on mortgage rates.” [Mark Calabria, Cato]
2nd Circuit: Prison Litigation Reform Act curbs attorney fee shift at 150% of cash won, and yes, that applies to a $1 award [PoL] Panel on attorneys’ fees in class actions at Federalist Society convention [video, PoL]
John McClaughry reviews Reckless Endangerment, Morgenson/Rosner book on financial crisis [Reason]
Daniel Hannan on John Fonte’s new book on transnational law, Sovereignty or Submission [Telegraph, and see chapters 11-12 of Schools for Misrule] International human rights activism pushes into “economic rights” [James P. Kelly III, Federalist Society "Engage"] NGOs exercise oft-envied combination of power without responsibility [Anderson] UK attorney general Dominic Grieve takes on the European court of human rights [Joshua Rozenberg, Guardian] UN battle plan on non-communicable diseases aims to save us from ourselves;
Sans statutory authority, EPA wanders into “environmental justice” [PowerLine]

Tags: attorneys' fees, autos, Environmental Protection Agency, Europe, international human rights, mortgages, United Nations

Farm dust makes EPA blink

Walter Olson — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 20:02:25 +0000

My new post at Cato at Liberty examines the latest EPA about-face following pushback against its ambitious regulatory schemes. Alarms by farmer and rancher interests over EPA’s proposed curbs on dust in the atmosphere had led to ongoing political headaches for President Obama and Senate Democrats. More: Politico; Robert VerBruggen/NRO and more; welcome Neal Boortz readers.

Tags: agriculture and farming, Environmental Protection Agency

“Isolated” EPA enforcement abuse

Walter Olson — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 15:05:20 +0000

Louisiana plant manager Hubert Vidrine has won a rare $1.7 million verdict against the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for malicious prosecution, with a judge lambasting EPA’s enforcement apparatus for “reckless and callous disregard” of Vidrine’s rights. Agency defenders say it was an isolated case of a rogue agent, a proposition I examine in my latest Cato post. More: Orin Kerr, Volokh.

Tags: Environmental Protection Agency, prosecutorial abuse

October 3 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 05:13:55 +0000

Arizona officials say “accents were never the focus” of teacher fluency monitoring suspended at feds’ insistence [NYTNS, earlier] Reactions to my piece last week include columnist “Johnson” at The Economist (taking issue) and Hans Bader and Carrie Lukas (favorable);
Another highlight of new “jobs” bill: financial institution customers would help pay for auto bailouts [John Berlau]
Key New Orleans Police Department officer in charge of integrity of traffic-cam program accused of altering own plates [WWL] Red light cameras defended [Noah Kristula-Green, FrumForum] Why Massachusetts won’t raise the speed limit on Route 3 north of Burlington (NMA blog via @radleybalko)
Eight bad reasons for going to law school [Campos] Law schools have demographic but not socioeconomic diversity [Richard Sander, Denver U. Law Review via Legal Ethics Forum] And besides my own contribution on law school reform at the recent Truth on the Market symposium, check out the contributions by Hans Bader and Larry Ribstein;
Fellow federal agency FERC worried that EPA’s power-plant crackdown could lead to outages [WSJ] EPA’s plan to regulate dust from farmers’ fields led to public opinion blowback for President Obama [Diane Katz/Heritage, Environmental Legal Blogs, Radley Balko] Shutting down EPA isn’t likely under GOP reign, but reforming EPA might be [Adler, NYT "Room for Debate"]
Left rallies around New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman [Ben Smith, Politico]

Tags: agriculture and farming, attorneys general, Environmental Protection Agency, language bias, New Orleans, New York, red light cameras

Spare EPA’s heavy hand — they’re a swing state

Walter Olson — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 05:54:21 +0000

My newest Cato at Liberty post raises an eyebrow at some remarkably cynical calculations — who’s making them isn’t entirely clear — about a recent Obama administration backtrack on environmental initiatives (& welcome Neal Boortz readers). More: ShopFloor (Texas power plants).

Tags: Environmental Protection Agency, politics

July 15 roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:38:47 +0000

Dreadful “Caylee’s Law” proposals continue unabated [Balko and more, Lowering the Bar, Skenazy, Frank, Somin] Confirmed non-members of Nancy Grace fan club include Stephen Bainbridge and Scott Greenfield;
Swedish heavy metal fan has musical preferences officially classed as disability [Cowen]
In welcome Goodyear and Nicastro rulings, SCOTUS reins in “stream of commerce” jurisdiction [Yeary, Beck, Wasserman and more, Lahav, Fisher]
Federal lawsuit alleges polka song infringement [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel]
EPA winning showdown with Texas, power plants may shutter at cost to Lone Star economy [Chron] Don’t dismiss the Texas job creation story — or the role of lawsuit reform [Rick Wartzman, L.A. Times]
Breyer backs Thomas on recusal ethics [Adler]
“Clashing Visions of a ‘Living’ Constitution” [William Van Alstyne on SSRN, his Cato lecture last fall]

Tags: constitutional law, disabled rights, Environmental Protection Agency, music and musicians, Nancy Grace, recusals, Supreme Court, Sweden, Texas

EPA gives millions to environmental groups that sue it

Walter Olson — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 21:30:20 +0000

I’ve got a new post up at Cato at Liberty about the convenient symbiosis between the EPA and advocacy groups it funds that sue it demanding that it regulate new things. “Sweetheart” or otherwise, the resulting legal actions help deploy taxpayers’ money in service of the relentless expansion of the regulatory state. More: Bader.

Tags: attorneys' fees, Environmental Protection Agency

When regulation bites

Walter Olson — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 15:27:17 +0000

The EPA may face escalating pressure to un-ban some pesticides effective against bedbugs [Michelle Minton, CEI]

Tags: Environmental Protection Agency

Overlawyered » Environmental Protection Agency

January 28 roundup

Related posts

Environmental law roundup

Related posts

November 26 roundup

Related posts

Farm dust makes EPA blink

Related posts

“Isolated” EPA enforcement abuse

Related posts

October 3 roundup

Related posts

Spare EPA’s heavy hand — they’re a swing state

Related posts

July 15 roundup

Related posts

EPA gives millions to environmental groups that sue it

Related posts

When regulation bites

Related posts