By rescinding the expansive regulatory definition of “harm” under the Endangered Species Act and returning to Justice Scalia’s narrower textual reading that limits “take” to direct actions against individual animals, federal agencies have struck a blow for property rights, reduced unnecessary land-use controls, and restored freer market incentives.
Congress is running short on time to pass a comprehensive permitting reform package before the lame duck this fall. On the table awaiting votes are bills reforming the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, and Clean Air Act. The National Historic Preservation Act, which has recently gained traction as a permitting barrier to projects, has received comparatively little attention in Congress.
The federal government is proposing potentially steep cuts to water used by California, Arizona and Nevada, a major step toward figuring out the management of the dwindling Colorado River. The river provides water to states throughout the West, including drinking water and water for agricultural, industrial and municipal uses. As the West becomes drier, figuring out...
Building more is no substitute for building smarter. At times, this has been a challenge for America's energy infrastructure, particularly transmission. It is evident that the U.S. needs more transmission, but which transmission lines it builds matters for protecting ratepayers and keeping costs in check. An overwhelming number of House Members just reaffirmed this guiding principle for how America should approach the development of electric transmission.
The White House is pushing Congress to break a decades-long impasse around the handling of nuclear waste and entice states to get on board, according to a document obtained by POLITICO. The Trump administration is seeking changes to federal law to allow the Department of Energy to partner with states willing to store waste generated...
The 50-year era of “don’t-touch” conservation may have ended three weeks ago, after the Trump administration narrowed the definition of harm under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Harming an endangered species used to encompass damage to the land the species lives on. Landowners with endangered species were limited in how they could steward their plots of land. After all, endangered species’ recoveries relied on proactive efforts by landowners, which will remain intact regardless of the changing incentive structure of the ESA. The unnecessary penalties landowners had to incur were lifted, and conservation efforts will be able to fit the needs of the land and life rather than keeping the overburdening punishments of the ESA.
The far-left environmental lobby has a problem with Rep. Bruce Westerman’s proposed amendments to the Endangered Species Act. The Sierra Club calls them “nothing short of a tragedy.” The Center for Biological Diversity simply calls it the “Extinction Act.” These slogans are alarming and completely disconnected from what the bill does and from the stubborn reality of a law that is failing...
As major fires burn across Colorado and Utah this summer, the broader Western lesson is hard to miss. Colorado’s Aspen Acres fire forced evacuations and destroyed more than 160 structures. Utah’s Babylon Fire passed 100,000 acres recently, the state’s first fire to reach that mark in eight years. Colorado officials also issued air-quality advisoriestied to wildfire smoke moving through the...
Electricity rates are rising faster than inflation and are felt by households across America. After decades of flat electricity demand, the country is experiencing significant load growth, driven by hyperscale AI data centers, resurgent domestic manufacturing, and the steady electrification of buildings and vehicles.
“The endangered species list is not a dean’s list,” Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon said this week, standing near Big Sky, MT, with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and the governors of Montana and Idaho. “It's time this bear graduates.” After decades of federal control and an amazing tale of conservation success in America, the Interior Department has announced it will shift the daily management of the grizzly bear back to the states. Grizzly bears would, however, remain listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
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