Clean Water Act turns 40
Today marks the 40th anniversary of passage of the Clean Water Act, one of the most remarkable, far-reaching and contentious laws ever enacted by Congress -- and, as we detail in "Paving Paradise," one that set a new standard for protecting wetlands. The New York Times called it "a critical ...
Supreme Court gets a chance to botch another wetlands case
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the somewhat tangled case of Mike and Chantell Sackett , whose plans for their property in Idaho ran afoul of the Environmental Protection Agency's definition of what a wetland is. Business groups are lining up to support the Sacketts' attorneys' contention ...
U.S. wetlands are "at a tipping point" -- and worse off than report says
The U.S. Interior Department issued its latest report on the status and trends of the nation's wetlands last week, and officials declared their concern over its findings of a continuing decline in the number of swamps, bogs and marshes. “Wetlands are at a tipping point,” said Secretary of the Interior ...
New study shows Supreme Court decision left wetlands vulnerable
Last week the Environmental Law Institute released an extensive new study on the state of the nation's wetlands in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Rapanos case. The Rapanos case, as we've written about previously, ran counter to the intention of the original sponsors of the ...
House casts historic vote to yank EPA's Clean Water Act authority
In a historic vote late Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to yank the Environmental Protection Agency's authority over the state's out of the Clean Water Act. The vote was 239-184, mostly along party lines, although 16 Democrats crossed party lines to support the bill while 13 Republicans voted ...
Obama administration tries fixing Supreme Court's wetlands "bungle"
The Obama administration has gotten pretty serious about the Clean Water Act lately. First the EPA launches the first-ever survey of the condition of the nation's wetlands. Now it's trying to cut through the murk of two Supreme Court cases that Clean Water Act sponsor John Dingell once described as ...
EPA launches first-ever survey of the condition of nation's wetlands
The Environmental Protection Agency this month launched the field sampling for its first-ever nationwide assessment of the condition of America's wetlands. The ambitious project is supposed "to provide regional and national estimates of wetland ecological integrity and rank the stressors most commonly associated with poor conditions." It begins with a ...
New study shows just how badly Supreme Court botched wetlands case
One of the biggest botches in U.S. Supreme Court history came about five years ago in what's known as the Rapanos case. Just how big is only now becoming clear, thanks to a series in the New York Times and a study of Texas wetlands reported this week. In the ...
EPA vetoes a Clean Water Act permit -- a rare event
The big news out of West Virginia this past week was the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to veto a Clean Water Act permit. The permit was for the controversial coal-mining practice of mountaintop removal. The EPA noted if it allowed the mine to proceed, "the project will disturb approximately 2,278 ...
"Paving Paradise" is now available via Kindle
Just a quick note to tell you that "Paving Paradise" is now available for purchase via Kindle. It's one of the first two books from the University Press of Florida to be made available in an e-reader format. The other is "Ditch of Dreams," a terrific history of the Cross-Florida ...
Wetlands crucial to battling climate change
Although some folks are ready to declare media interest in climate change at an end, there was an intriguing Reuters story out of the Cancun climate talks just before Christmas. "Climate negotiators at UN talks agreed to consider letting rich countries cut their climate-changing emissions by 'rewetting' degraded peatlands, in ...
"Paving Paradise" wins national honor
Every year the Society of Environmental Journalists gives out an award for the best environmental book of the year. The award, named for "Silent Spring" author Rachel Carson, is a coveted honor. This year the top prize went to"Heart of Dryness" by James G. Workman. Second place was another book ...
Corps loses two wetland cases in court
It's been a rough couple of weeks for the Corps of Engineers, as federal judges in two high-profile Florida cases ruled that the federal agency in charge of protecting wetlands had failed to do so. First came word that U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth had tossed out the Corps permit ...
"Paving Paradise" wins award named for Florida icon Stetson Kennedy
Big news, folks. The Florida Historical Society has notified our publisher that "Paving Paradise" has been named the winner of its annual Stetson Kennedy Award. The award, which is for "books which cast light on historic Florida events in a manner which is supportive of human rights, traditional cultures, or ...
Oil spill reminds us of importance of wetlands
We named our book "Paving Paradise" after the lyrics from Joni Mitchell's song "Big Yellow Taxi," in which she observed, "You don't know what you've got till it's gone." When people debate offshore drilling, the subject is usually the impact on the beaches. Wetlands seldom are mentioned. But now that ...
Earth Day at 40: Strong laws, spotty enforcement
You should expect to see a ton of stories this week about the 40th anniversary of Earth Day on Thursday. These days Earth Day seems like just a marketing campaign than an actual day for thinking about the environment. The first one, though, was far different. It had to be. ...
Restoring wetlands, restoring the Clean Water Act
The White House delighted environmental and civic groups in Louisiana and Mississippi last week with an announcement about a new plan for restoring coastal wetlands. The road map comes from a working group that combines the forces of most of the federal agencies that deal with environmental and wetland issues. ...
"Paving Paradise" coming out in paperback this spring
Mark your calendar, folks. The hardback edition of "Paving Paradise" has sold so well that the fine folks at the University Press of Florida have chosen to put it out in a paperback edition. Look for it to hit stores starting this spring, around the same time as the hardback ...
Appeals court agrees: Corps messed up on Everglades mining permits
This blog has mentioned before the long-running saga concerning permits for rock-mining in an area near Everglades National Park that's been dubbed "the Lake Belt." "The permits are required to extract limestone from the Lake Belt, home to four of Florida's largest mines, which supply about half of the state's ...
Another rave review for "Paving Paradise"
We learned of another rave review for "Paving Paradise" this week, this time in the pages of the "Florida Historical Quarterly." The reviewer, Robert Krause of the University of Mississippi, writes that our book is "a compelling, but deeply disturbing read" that "offers new insight into the blatant disregard of ...
