Kent Lassman, president of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, thinks it is time to retire Earth Day. Writing in the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Tribune-Democrat, he says: “Despite the positive effects Earth Day may have had in the past to raise awareness and rally the grassroots, today we have a global class of professional activists committed to campaigning…
Search Results for: habitat
Unpleasant Truths about Minerals for Electric Vehicles
Will the minerals needed for electric car production come from the U. S . or (more likely) overseas? Maxine Joselow writes in the Washington Post: “Prices of key minerals are skyrocketing amid the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, potentially increasing the cost of electric vehicles and other technologies crucial to the clean energy transition….
Shooting Barred Owls to Save Spotted Owls
On March 4, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (in San Francisco) upheld a policy of the Fish and Wildlife Service that kills barred owls in Oregon. The practice, which goes back to 2013, had been challenged in court by Friends of Animals. An article by Barbara Grzincic of Reuters explains that the northern spotted owl…
Does the State of Oregon Owe $1.1 Billion for Mismanaging Forests?
An extraordinary court case is proceeding in Oregon. In November a jury the state of Oregon should pay $1.1 billion to 13 counties and 151 taxing districts on the grounds that the state has failed to maximize timber harvests as required by a 1941 law. On February 22, the state Court of Appeals heard oral…
Bureaucratic Delays Will Hinder Biden’s New Forest Restoration Plan
The Biden administration has issued a ten-year plan to manage the national forests to prevent future wildfires. It will include “the use of prescribed fire and thinning to reduce hazardous fuels,” says PERC’s Shawn Regan, writing in City Journal. “It’s a step in the right direction,” says Regan. However, the billions of dollars proposed by the…
Why Can’t Conservation Groups Buy or Lease Federal Land?
By and large,, conservation groups in the United States cannot buy or lease federal land or water rights and apply them to conservation goals. That is, they cannot obtain cattle grazing rights to let bison roam; “mining rights” to leave the minerals in the ground; timber leases to stop cutting trees; or federally supplied water…