OECD / by Sam Hill http://bit.ly/10D8aPP China’s exceptional economic expansion has led to rising energy demand and pollution as well as other environmental pressures. Strong efforts by the government have moderated emissions of some types of air and water pollution from high levels but others, including greenhouse gas emissions, continue to rise. Poor air and … Continue reading »
Tagged with Regulation …
Draft US Bureau of Land Management Rules for Fracking on Public Lands
US Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management http://on.doi.gov/10TauUv [PDF of Draft Rules] http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/newsroom/2013/may/nr_05_16_2013.html [BLM Press Release] [InsideEPA.com, sub. req'd] …DOI Secretary Sally Jewell May 16 unveiled the long-awaited proposed rule governing fracking operations on public land overseen by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and tribal lands. The proposal would update decades-old requirements … Continue reading »
The 2013 Resource Governance Index — Comparing Accountability and Transparency in Natural Resources Policies
Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) http://www.revenuewatch.org/rgi [Oil and Gas Journal] The lives of more than 1 billion people worldwide could be transformed if their governments managed their countries’ oil, gas, and mineral resources in a more open and accountable manner, a new Revenue Watch Institute analysis concluded. RWI’s 2013 Resource Governance Index measured oil, gas, and … Continue reading »
Regulatory Red Herring: The Role of Job Impact Analyses in Environmental Policy Debates
Institute for Policy Integrity /Contributing Authors: Michael A. Livermore, Elizabeth Piennar, and Jason A Schwart http://policyintegrity.org/publications/detail/regulatory-red-herring/ The current debate on jobs and environmental regulation too often relies on thinly-supported forecasts about jobs “killed” or “created” by public protections. In this debate, the larger costs and benefits of protections for clean air or water can get … Continue reading »
Hydrofracking: State Preemption, Local Power, and Cooperative Governance
Case Western Reserve Law Review ( 2013, v63 n4 ) / by John R. Nolon and Steven E. Gavin http://bit.ly/10Co1ts Advocates for the gas drilling technology known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, argue that it will bring significant economic benefits to the private and public s ectors. Its opponents dispute these claims and point to significant environmental and public health risks associated with fracking—risks … Continue reading »
Stress Relief: Prescriptions for a Healthier Delta Ecosystem
Public Policy Institute of California / by Ellen Hanak et al. http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=1051 California is at a critical juncture on policy for the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. This report summarizes the results of a wide-ranging study of cost-effective ways to improve the health of the Delta ecosystem. It highlights the need for science-based, integrated management of the … Continue reading »
Assessing Risks to Endangered and Threatened Species from Pesticides
National Academies Press http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=18344 The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) are responsible for protecting species that are listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and for protecting habitats that are critical for their survival. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for … Continue reading »
Toxic Substances: EPA Has Increased Efforts to Assess and Control Chemicals but Could Strengthen Its Approach
US Government Accountability Office http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-249 Since 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has made progress implementing its new approach to managing toxic chemicals under its existing Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) authority; particularly by increasing efforts to obtain chemical toxicity and exposure data and initiating chemical risk assessments..The results of EPA’s data collection activities, in … Continue reading »
Legal Fractures in Chemical Disclosure Laws: Why the Voluntary Chemical Disclosure Registry FracFocus Fails as a Regulatory Compliance Tool
Harvard Law School, Environmental Law School / by Kate Konschnik, with Margaret Holden and Alexa Shasteen http://hvrd.me/17gbfam [Business Week] FracFocus, the website used by Exxon Mobil Corp. and other energy companies to disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, fails as a compliance tool for the 11 states that rely on it, a Harvard Law School … Continue reading »
S. 601, Water Resources Development Act of 2013
Congressional Budget Office http://www.cbo.gov/publication/44095 The legislative language for this version of the bill was provided by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works to CBO on April 12, 2013 S. 601 would authorize the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to construct water projects for mitigating storm damage, restoring ecosystems, and reducing erosion on inland … Continue reading »
