NYTs article here.
An excerpt:
As a result, some businesses are declaring that the law no longer applies to them. And pollution rates are rising.
Companies that have spilled oil, carcinogens and dangerous bacteria into lakes, rivers and other waters are not being prosecuted, according toEnvironmental Protection Agencyregulators working on those cases, who estimate that more than 1,500 major pollution investigations have been discontinued or shelved in the last four years.
From tv via A.K.:
ISHPEMING TWP. — Wednesday night, a public hearing was held at Westwood High School to discuss Kennecott’s Woodland Road Project. The road would connect Kennecott’s planned mine site to US-41.
The route is designed to avoid large population areas. Tonight’s public hearing was meant to be informative for both the community and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, or DNRE. With the Kennecott Mine being such a huge controversy in the U.P., giving the public an open microphone, led to an interesting evening.
Within minutes of the hearing, one environmental activist was escorted out of the auditorium for disruptive behavior. But the interruption didn’t stop the hearing. Only allotted three minutes to speak, community members made sure their opinions were heard. Continue reading
The case is Parchester Village Neighborhood Council v. City of Richmond, and here is the opinion.
An excerpt:
Defendants the City of Richmond and the City Council of the City of Richmond (City) appeal the judgment granting a peremptory writ of mandate invalidating a municipal services agreement (MSA) entered into by the City and the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians of California (Tribe). The trial court concluded the City violated the California Environmental Quality Act (Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.) (CEQA) when it approved the MSA. We reverse.
Opinion here.
From the Guardian:
‘Terminator’ carp threatens Great Lakes
Environmentalists say Asian carp, an invasive species of food-guzzling fish, could cause an ecological disaster if it enters Lake Michigan
Ed Pilkington, Chicago
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 23 February 2010 18.36 GMT
Asian carp, an invasive aquatic species threatening the Great Lakes. Photograph: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
The fight looks utterly unequal. In the red corner: the combined might of North America, including the US and Canadian governments, the US army, the governors of eight American states, two Senate committees and the supreme court. In the blue corner: one fish.
The way things are looking, the fish is winning.
At stake is the health of the Great Lakes, the world’s largest body of fresh water. Environmentalists warn of ecological disaster, courtesy of Asian carp, an invasive species of food-guzzling fish that is within miles of entering Lake Michigan.
If they do, they would have the potential to spread throughout the lakes, wreaking havoc to their ecosystem and with it the $7bn (£4.7bn) fishing and recreation industries on which millions of jobs depend. “This is an intense threat, and people are just waking up to how big the danger is,” said David Ullrich of the Great Lakes and St Lawrence Cities Initiative, which represents 70 waterfront cities in the US and Canada with a joint population of 13 million.
From the Traverse City Record-Eagle:
Three decades ago many thought that the Great Lakes fisheries resources would be ruined by American Indian tribes exercising “treaty-fishing” rights. After the federal courts confirmed these treaty-reserved rights, the tribes demonstrated their primary concern is protection of the Great Lakes fisheries.
Ironically, these “treaty-fishing” rights now might prove crucial in protecting fisheries resources for all of Michigan’s citizens against the Asian carp invasion.
The United States Supreme Court has denied Michigan’s request for an injunction closing the shipping locks outside of Chicago to prevent any further migration of Asian carp into the Great Lakes. In the midst of the competing claims debating the economic losses of closing shipping to the Mississippi River system compared to potential harm to Great Lakes fisheries, all parties — Attorney General Cox, Gov. Granholm, the Army Corps of Engineers and other federal agencies — agree that the damage to the Great Lakes fisheries will be profound.
It has been almost six years since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that “Asian carp could have a devastating effect on the Great Lakes ecosystem and a significant impact on the $7 billion fishery.” During this time the Army Corps of Engineers failed to act promptly, in effect fiddling while Rome burned. To the extent the Army Corps is responsible for the impending disaster, the tribes may be better situated than the state to challenge the federal government.
Briefs here (still waiting on OSG brief and reply briefs):
Amicus Brief Supporting Cert Petition
Second Amicus Brief Supporting Petitioner
Lower court materials are here.
Questions Presented:
From MM:
A $78.5 million dollar federal plan to keep Asian carp from becoming established in the Great Lakes is drawing criticism from diverse groups that say the proposed temporary closure of the locks in Chicago area canals will disrupt the economy without stopping the spread of aquatic invaders.
The Chicago canal system that connects the Mississippi River system to the Great Lakes basin conveys much of the Chicago region’s petroleum, coal, road salt, cement, and iron, according to federal officials, along with 15,000 recreational boats and 900,000 passengers that travel through the locks on the system each year.
Purpose of the Hearing
The Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment met on Tuesday, February 9, 2010, at 2:00 p.m., in room 2167 of the Rayburn House Office Building to receive testimony on the issue of preventing the induction of the aquatic invasive species, the Asian carp, into the Great Lakes.
Full Summary of Subject Matter
Written Testimony:
| Mr. Cameron Davis |
| Major General John W. Peabody |
| Mr. John Rogner |
| Ms. Rebecca Humphries |
| Mr. Matt Frank |
| Prof. David Lodge |
| Dr. Michael Hansen |
| Mr. Del Wilkins |
| Mr. Joel Brammeier |
From the WSJ via How Appealing:
![[SEPARATE]](https://i0.wp.com/sg.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NA-BE297_SEPARA_NS_20100215193223.gif)
More than a century ago, this city reversed the flow of its eponymous river, connecting the Great Lakes with the Gulf of Mexico and defining itself as the can-do capital of the American heartland.
Today, that engineering feat is coming under growing scrutiny, as scientists and politicians intensify their battle against a voracious flying fish that has been traveling up the Mississippi for 20 years. Amid signs that Asian carp have breached the last defensive barrier, calls are mounting for a massive do-over.
“We know these barriers aren’t working,” said Joel Brammeier, president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes and the lead author of a 2008 report that laid out how this project might look. “An ecological separation is the only permanent solution.”
Turtle Talk 
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