Spring Lunch Seminars at CLF

This was forwarded to me from Abbie at CLF. Everyone is welcome. Simply contact her at CLF if you would like to attend.

Spring Brown Bag Lunch Series at the Conservation Law Foundation

CLF’s Brown Bag Lunches cover the most pressing environmental issues facing the Bay State and offer a friendly forum in which to share ideas. Bring your lunch and come prepared to discuss!

All lunches are held at 62 Summer Street, Boston, MA at 12:00 noon. Contact Abbie Daniel at 617-350-0990 x727 or adaniel@clf.org to reserve a spot at the table.

Getting the Lead Out!
Friday, March 3, 2006
In Massachusetts and across New England, pregnant mothers, children and babies are living in homes with lead pipes, lead solder and leaded brass fixtures which are exposing them to dangerous levels of this powerful toxin. Many of these Massachusetts residents are from communities of color and/or low-income communities which experience the highest rates of childhood lead poisoning. Learn about this issue and CLF’s work on preventing lead poisoning. Come prepared to explore other environmental issues that disproportionately affect low-income communities and communities of color.

Our Growing Water Crisis
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Eastern Massachusetts is facing an expanding water crisis. Streams and rivers are running at dangerously low levels and water quality is highly degraded. Learn how our water and wastewater management “solutions” have contributed to this crisis and how we can rehabilitate this region’s water resources.

The Bay State’s Transit Future
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Transit is an economic lifeline to those who depend on it. It is also key to reducing air pollution and climate-changing gas emissions. Yet here in Massachusetts, public transit systems are falling into disrepair, causing greater car dependence and sapping our urban centers of their economic vitality. Join us for a look at these issues, the challenges lying ahead, and the ways CLF is helping to solve them.

The Problem of Acid Rain
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Acid rain has a devastating impact on New England’s forests, water bodies and public health. Emissions from power plants that form the ingredients for acid rain blow from west to east, crossing state and national boundaries, causing this environmental crisis. Let’s discuss the problems, ways to curb acid rain and how to begin the process of ecological recovery in New England.

EPA Set to Close Library Network and Electronic Catalog

EPA Set to Close Library Network and Electronic Catalog

Under Bush’s plan, $2 million of a total agency library budget of $2.5 million will be lost, including the entire $500,000 budget for the EPA Headquarters library and its electronic catalog that makes it possible to search for documents through the entire EPA library network. These reductions are just a small portion of the $300 million in cuts the administration has proposed for EPA operations.

At the same time, President Bush is proposing to significantly increase EPA research funding for topics such as nanotechnology, air pollution and drinking water system security as part of his “American Competitive Initiative.”

The article asks the obvious question: how can the ill-informed by competitive?

Grizzly Bears meet Admin Law

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service proposed last Fall to remove ESA protections for the Grizzly Bears in Yellowstone National Park.

Since the mid-90s, the bear population has allegedly increased from four to seven percent annually with over 600 bears now living around the Park.

The environmentalist concern is that the proposal is too soon to ensure a thriving population continues without protection and meanwhile agency concerns indicate the proposal as is, is simply too cumbersome and technical.

The Notice & Comment period was supposed to expire yesterday but in response to requests for extension on both sides of the proposal, it has been extended until March 20th.

Beware: Roberts May Destroy Wetlands

There are three cases about to be heard by the Supreme Court regarding the reach of the Clean Water Act.
Rapanos v. U.S. - Involves whether the Clean Water Act's prohibition on unpermitted discharges to "navigable waters" extends to distant wetlands and whether Congress' commerce clause power to regulate those unpermitted discharges is exceeded.
Carabell v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Similarly, focuses on wetlands isolated from "waters of the United States" and on Congress' commerce clasue powers.
S.D. Warren Co. v. Maine Board of Environmental Protection - Deals with the issue of whether the mere flow of water through an existing dam constitutes a "discharge" under federal statute.

"Environmentalists are worried in part because of the new chief justice. As a judge, Roberts famously dissented in the case of the 'hapless toad,' the endangered inhabitant of a dry canyon near San Diego. Rancho Viejo LLC v. Norton, 334 F.3d 1158 (D.C. Cir. 2003).
Due to the broad reach of the Endgangered Spieces Act, developers were barred from building there because of the toad. Roberts wondered how the federal jurisdiction extended so far. While the law at issue is different in [the three pending cases, they raise] a similar question on the reach of federal power."
Excerpt from "Going With the Flow" ABA Journal, Feb. 2006.

SCOTUS to hear CWA Cases

This month's ABA Journal highlighted three cases that are to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on February 21st under new Chief Justice Roberts in "Going with the Flow: Wetlands Cases Raise Anew the Question of the Environment and Federal Power".

The first case, Rapanos v. United States, No. 04-1034, turns on whether there is a "hydrological connection" from Rapanos' land to "navigable waters" (Lake Huron) which would extend federal regulation via the Commerce Clause to distant wetlands.

Coupled w/ Rapanos, SCOTUS will hear Carabell v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, No. 04-1384, to determine whether their wetlands are within the Lake St. Clair watershed and therefore subject to "waters of the United States".

Thirdly, the issue of S.D. Warren Co. v. Maine Board of Environmental Protection, No. 04-1527, is whether water flowing through an existing dam qualifies as a "discharge".

The import of these cases draw in the argument of potential over-reaching of federal regulation under the Commerce Clause. Rapanos currently face $13 million in fees and fines because of the broad interpretation of "navigable waters" under the Clean Water Act. However, part of the theory of liability for what Rapanos does with his wetlands is the concern of "tributaries that flow into traditional navigable waters" per U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement.

Another consideration as SCOTUS prepares to hear these cases, is the position of Chief Justice Roberts. As pointed out in the article, Roberts dissented in Rancho Veijo LLC v. Norton, 334 F.3d 1158 (D.C. Cir. 2003), that barred developers from building under the Endangered Species Act, questioning the extent of federal jurisdiction.

It should be interesting to see where our highest court comes down on these cases...