Overlawyered » Environmental Protection Agency

Instant regulatory-agency celebrity of the week

Walter Olson — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 04:22:23 +0000

EPA regional administrator Al “crucify them” Armendariz [Heritage "Foundry," Christopher Helman/Forbes]

Instant regulatory-agency celebrity of the week is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

April 3 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 04:02:19 +0000

In time for Easter: egg prices soar in Europe under new hen-caging rules [AP]
For third time, the Environmental Protection Agency backtracks on claims of harm from gas “fracking” [Adler; U. Texas study on drinking water safety, CBS Dallas] Yes, there’s a plaintiff’s lawyer angle [David Oliver] Don Elliott, former EPA general counsel, on why his old agency needs cutting [Atlantic] Blow out your candles, coal industry, and so good-bye [Pat Michaels/Cato, Shikha Dalmia]
Following the mad logic wherever it leads: “State Legislators Propose Mandatory Drug Testing of Judges and Other State Officials” [ABA Journal]
Proposal: henceforth no law may run to greater length than Rep. Conyers’s copy of Playboy [Mark Steyn]
Creative American lawyers: “Carnival cruise ship briefly seized in Texas” [AP]
“Overlawyered” is the title of a new commentary in The New Yorker, not related to a certain website [Kelefa Sanneh]
Repressive Connecticut “cyber-harassment” bill [Volokh, Greenfield, Popehat] And now, not to be outdone, Arizona… [Volokh]

Tags: agriculture and farming, animal rights, Arizona, bullying, Connecticut, cruise ships, Environmental Protection Agency, harassment law, illegal drugs, oil industry

April 3 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

March 13 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 05:06:52 +0000

“Are Courts Dragging Out the Housing Crisis?” [Mark Calabria, Cato] “Boom-Era Property Speculators to Get Foreclosure Aid” [Bloomberg News via Bader, CEI] Community organizing groups expect to cash in on state AGs’ robosigning settlement [Neil Munro, Daily Caller, earlier] As does NAAG itself [Daniel Fisher] More: Kevin Funnell.
“Non-standard explanation offered for bugging wife’s bedroom” [Lowering the Bar]
Chris DeMuth on James Q. Wilson [Weekly Standard, earlier] I wrote about Wilson’s work on at least two occasions: the Baltimore Sun had me review a book of his on “abuse excuses” and other difficulties of psychiatric testimony in court, a good book if a mere foothill in the mountain range of his overall scholarship; on another occasion in Reason I challenged his uncharacteristic backing of a “family policy” proposal ripe with potential for unintended consequences;
Boston city councilor: make valet kid at restaurant responsible if patron drives off drunk [NPR via Alkon]
“Texas is being stiff armed by the EPA at every turn” [Munro/DC quoting Texas attorney general Greg Abbott] NYT’s “modest” offshore drilling restrictions: “I hate to think what immodest restrictions would look like” [John Steele Gordon]
“The Southern Poverty Law Center Is Now Writing About Pickup Artists as Hate Groups” [Mike Riggs]
SFO rental car garage offers a whiff of Prop 65 absurdity [Stoll]

Tags: attorneys general, Boston, dramshop statutes, Environmental Protection Agency, hate speech, mortgages, Prop 65, Texas

March 13 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

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

January 28 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

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

Environmental law roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

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

November 26 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

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

Farm dust makes EPA blink is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“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

“Isolated” EPA enforcement abuse is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

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

October 3 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

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

Spare EPA’s heavy hand — they’re a swing state is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system