Would You Like Some Regulatory Inaction With Your Tea?
Wisconsin continues to be the playground of Tea-Party efforts to minimize the power of government, particularly in the environmental arena. On May 10, 2016, the Wisconsin Attorney General opined that...
View ArticleThe Toxic Substances Control Act Amendments May Do Little to Relieve...
Business groups largely supported the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Amendments recently signed into law by President Obama to address concerns about the emergence of varying state-by-state...
View ArticleThe California Supreme Court Hoovers Up More Pieces of the Mining Law of 1872
Once both a paradigm of brevity in the federal code and a fertile source of work for generations of mining lawyers, the Mining Law of 1872 has been picked away at (pun intended) for many years. The...
View ArticleThe Drama of the Massachusetts Power Wars
Sometimes the most extraordinary things in the world of law and government get served up in the most undramatic way. If you aren’t paying attention to the back story, and you don’t know the context,...
View ArticleFlint litigation: an interim update
Along with the flood of news coverage of the Flint water crisis comes the flood of litigation. So far, early indications show a wrong in search of a remedy, and for criminal defendants, just the...
View ArticleWhy You Should Pay Attention to ECOS
ECOS – the Environmental Council of States – I suspect that most of you have heard of it, but what do you really know about ECOS? And, why should you care? As the current Past President of ECOS, I...
View ArticleAN ANTIDOTE TO INERTIA?
Let’s face it – most seasoned bureaucrats (I confess I am one) often don’t react well to change. Over time, there just seems to be an intrinsic inertia that builds in all bureaucracies. Federal and...
View ArticleThe DOJ Environment Division and State Joint Enforcement
As I reflect on my tenure as Assistant Attorney General, I have been especially proud of the Division’s cooperation with state and local governments in matters encompassing all aspects of the...
View ArticleIt’s Getting Hot in Hells Canyon
The state of Oregon has turned up the heat in Hells Canyon. The burning question, so to speak, is whether a state can require passage and reintroduction of anadromous fish as a condition of...
View ArticlePublic Parks in Massachusetts – Here Today, Gone Tomorrow?
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) will soon decide how hard or easy it is to sell or change the use of public parks. Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution provides that the “people...
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