The growing numbers of grizzly bears in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, are rankling ranchers. So the Montana legislature has passed two bills that aim at giving ranchers more rights to kill grizzlies. But will these laws fly? The will undoubtedly run into conflict with federal regulations for the grizzly, which is still listed as an…
Search Results for: federal management
Can Banks Refuse Oil and Gas Customers?
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has issued a regulation that would prevent banks from refusing to fund legal activities that they disapprove of, such as oil and gas drilling. During the past year, several major banks, including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, J. P. Morgan, and others, announced they will not…
The Challenge of Private “Seasteading”
By Greg Rehmke. This is a guest post by Greg Rehmke, program director of Economic Thinking, an organization that fosters better understanding of economic principles. Natural coral and oyster reefs around the world are considered “rainforests of the oceans,” home to rich and diverse ecosystems. Shipwrecks, offshore oil platforms, and artificial reefs teem with species…
A Property Rights Solution to Endangered Salmon
Writing for PERC, R. David Simpson gives an intriguing example of salmon preservation: Native American tribes in Oregon considered bidding on a dam license (to change its operations in ways that would protect salmon). The result: a productive relationship with the dam owners—a cooperative effort to protect salmon. Here is an excerpt from Simpson’s paper:…
Why Should We Endorse Trump’s NEPA Reforms?
By H. Sterling Burnett You may have heard that the Trump administration is proposing changes in the 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which mandates federal regulatory environmental oversight of major infrastructure projects. These changes are appropriate and overdue. Here’s why. NEPA requires federal agencies to assess the environmental effects of their proposed actions before…
Let Environmentalists Bid
In this guest post by Shawn Regan, a research fellow and the director of publications at the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) in Bozeman, Montana, looks at the fact that to acquire rights to natural resources in the West, you must use the resource. This is an obvious barrier to many would-be environmentalist bidders.