Claims that #NEPA litigation from anti climate action forces are making it harder to fight climate change #envirolaw #environmentalassessment
https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/12/business/environment-laws-climate-housing/index.html

A new law review explores "why the FCC’s current regime on categorical exclusions is ill-prepared for the developing mega-constellation industry, why the regime should be revised to require that companies launching mega-constellations file an Environmental Assessment (EA) as defined in the National Environmental Policy Act, and how such a change might fiscally impact these companies."

https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/jbel/vol16/iss1/4/

#Space #SpaceGovernance #NEPA #FCC #UnitedStates #Satellites

Nebraska Law Review article: "Although #Viasat lost its appeal due to Article III standing requirements, this Article posits that it would be beneficial for the #FCC to consider incorporating the #NEPA EA review process into their constellation #satellite system licensing process."

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3370&context=nlr

#EnvironmentalAssessment #space #LawReview

"What effect would miles of blazing stadium-bright lights have on birds, bees, bats and fish living along the #Arizona -#Mexico border? It’s not a question conservationists expected the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency to even ask."

"Now, in a reversal that’s surprised Arizona conservationists, a #CBP spokesperson has stated that the agency would refer to federal standards to assess the environmental impact of the lights."

https://azluminaria.org/2023/06/15/in-a-rare-step-cbp-says-it-will-follow-environmental-laws-on-border-lights/

#LightPollution #Conservation #NEPA

Another new law review that looks at federal rule making concerning #SpaceDebris.

"The purpose of this Article is to provide arguments for why Earth’s orbital #environment should be protected under the National Environmental Policy Act and to provide draft legislation that is responsive to both the Orbital Debris Plan and the Supreme Court’s recent #EPA ruling, which will enable #FCC rulemaking in the area of orbital debris."

https://scholar.smu.edu/jalc/vol88/iss1/5/

#Satellites #NEPA

“The suit, filed in federal district court, seeks to revoke the FAA’s launch license for #Starship launches from Boca Chica and declare that an #environmental review done as part of that process violated the National Environmental Policy Act.”

https://spacenews.com/environmental-groups-sue-faa-over-starship-launch-license/

#NEPA #SpaceX

In case you needed more evidence that our system of #environmentalreview is broken, the #SpaceX project that hurled chunks of concrete shrapnel into a protected habitat full of endangered shorebirds because #Elon didn’t think the #launchpad for the most powerful rocket in history needed standard noise- and fire-suppression systems DID NOT have to complete an #EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) under #NEPA.

https://open.substack.com/pub/esghound/p/spacexs-texas-rocket-is-going-to

The GOP-led U.S. House of Representatives is poised to shred the "Magna Carta of environmental policy," the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). And they're getting Democratic support by claiming we can't decarbonize without gutting NEPA. The experts I interview explain why that's a lie. #environment #energy #NEPA #climatechange https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/how-greenwash-attack-major-environmental-law

This is a really informative discussion of #permitting reform that correctly notes "Critics of #NEPA rely on anecdotal evidence about costly delays. But lengthy delays resulting from NEPA are rare" https://lpeproject.org/blog/seven-reactions-to-the-permitting-reform-debate/

One of the true things about archaeology is we will never have a "full set" of evidence about the past- environmental forces have removed some, and when it comes to human development, we remove more.

Another thing is that while we can't predict exactly what will appear at any given site, one thing that we will not find is a label telling us why and how significant what we find is (even if we're excavating a museum--)- this takes analysis, research, comparison.

Together, this is why I'm aching for the archaeologists working in advance of the Tren Maya in the Yucatan. They are having to balance immense pressures of development with potential to learn new things about human society, environment, and changing climates.

I did some of this kind of work in the US West in the build up of the housing bubble in the 2000s. I thought pressures were intense then; that was child's play compared to this! But I'm also worried about what proposed #NEPA reforms may do in implementation of the #IRA without careful attention to the field and science portions of environmental assessment.

#ClimateHeritage

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2022/mexico-tren-maya-destruction-archeology/

RT @LoraLucero@twitter.com

Highly recommend this article with thoughtful framing of the complex issues surrounding the #DirtyDeal and suggestions for #NEPA reform. https://twitter.com/riogranderift/status/1597634169168805888

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/LoraLucero/status/1597637348396654592

High @Mastodon, my name is Eric, I am a #Geologist. My world is #Rocks #Earthprocesses #Food and #Cocktails. I have practiced #Geology for 30 years in the #Environmental #SiteCleanUp and #Groundwater world. Currently I am a #Hazmat specialist at a #CEQA #NEPA firm. I am here for continuing education.

Supreme Court Declines Appeal In Dakota Access Pipeline Case https://unicornriot.ninja/2022/supreme-court-declines-appeal-in-dakota-access-pipeline-case/ #DAPL #Army_Corps_of_Engineers #Dakota_Access_Pipeline #DAPL_#NoDAPL #DC #DC_District_Court #Judge_James_Boasberg #National_Environmental_Policy_Act #NEPA #standing_rock #Standing_Rock_Sioux_Tribe #Standing_Rock_Sioux_Tribe

In looking at various forms of power, one point that's increassingly clear to me is that in a mature and multipolar society what exists are multiple power centres, each often with the effective capability to say "no". The word veto comes directly from the Latin, for "I forbid", and comes from that culture's multipolar power structure, the Senate.

There's also a lesson from warfare and combat, which is that the ability to induce damage or cost on an enemy whilst avoiding it oneself is also powerful. This is the difference between melee and ranged weapons (hand-to-hand, or tooth-and-claw, vs. ballistic or projectile weapons, see also "time-ranged" weapons in the form of traps and snares). "You don't have to be there for it".

Camouflage and armour afford similar capabilities.

The dynamics enabling NIMBY attacks are that stalling tactics don't incure consts or liabilities for those engaging in them. Sometimes this has merits, it very often does not, e.g., the delay of a bike-lanes project which sees scores of additional cycling and pedestrian deaths due to street traffic.

#MoneyIsPower #TimeIsMoney #VetoPower #Obstructionism #NEPA #NIMBY #constructionCosts #construction #housing #UCLALewisCenter

Why does it cost so much to build things in America?

Researchers have ruled out some of the more obvious potential explanations for why these projects cost more in the US.

As transit researcher Alon Levy writes in a report for the Niskanen Center, “This is not about our wealth: there is no correlation between a country’s GDP per capita and its subway construction costs. Nor is it about geological factors: the biggest factor behind a project’s cost is what country it is in, and costs are fairly consistent even across different geologies ... This is purely institutional.”

And when it comes to roads and the bulk of the high costs — “the new construction bit” — Turner says even though he has “no idea why those prices are increasing,” he can “eliminate a lot of things.” Turner explains that common theories like unions or the way we’re building roads or where we’re building them (for example, in more urban areas) are not supported by statistical evidence.

Time is money, money is power, power is delaying transportation projects

https://www.vox.com/22534714/rail-roads-infrastructure-costs-america

h/t Shane D. Phillips / #UCLALewisCenter

#housing #construction #constructionCosts #NIMBY #NEPA #Obstructionism #VetoPower #TimeIsMoney #MoneyIsPower