Planetizen Newswire
Keep up with essential planning news and commentary, delivered to your inbox every Monday and Thursday.
National Environmental Policy Act
Sources report that proposed changes to the National Environmental Policy Act would limit the kinds of projects subject to federal environmental review, and remove climate change as a consideration for large infrastructure projects.
The New York Times
The U.S. Department of Transportation is following through President Trump's promises to ease the federal government's permitting and approvals processes for infrastructure projects.
Politico
The Bakersfield Office of the Bureau of Land Management released an environmental study that is the basis for undoing a 2013 de facto moratorium on fracking on federal lands in California. The Supplemental EIS triggers a 45-day public comment period.
San Francisco Chronicle
Once again, the president's efforts to undo his predecessor's environmental legacy were thwarted by a court ruling. In this case, the Interior Department's failure to conduct an environmental review of a Trump executive order ran afoul of NEPA.
The New York Times
The Trump administration's "energy dominance" agenda depends, in part, on growing the energy distribution network, namely pipelines, rail facilities, and ports. However, states can use the Clean Water Act to block pipelines and coal terminals.
InsideClimate News
Last week, Amazon abruptly canceled its decision to invest about $2.5 billion and bring 25,000 high-paying jobs to Queens. A scholar blames their abrupt decision on an arcane state bureaucracy tasked with preventing Robert Moses-like takings.
Politico Magazine
A long term plan to add an additional bridge connection across the Chesapeake Bay is underway in Maryland.
WTOP
The state that implemented the first gas tax and the first bike tax took a huge step on Thursday toward becoming the first, since 1956, to toll all lanes on an interstate highway by approving an application to the Federal Highway Administration.
The Columbian
The Trump administration's denial of climate change may serve a political purpose, but in the courtroom, it can prove a liability. A federal judge in Montana took into account the administration's "discarding" of climate science in its ruling.
InsideClimate News
A reminder of the intended purpose of environmental law.
Center for American Progress
Two GOP bills and one bipartisan Senate bill hope to reduce the wildfire risk in the West. The "Wildfires Management Act of 2017" is sponsored by the two Republican senators of Idaho and three of the four Democratic senators of Washington and Oregon.
The Associated Press
A federal judge ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers failed to fully comply with NEPA in allowing the controversial pipeline to cross under the Missouri River. The judge did not order Energy Transfers Partners to cease operations of the pipeline.
NPR: The Two-Way
The Public Information Act has not been sufficient in getting the Trump Administration to divulge information about its plans to build a wall between the United States and Mexico.
Center for Biological Diversity
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who represents an area covering about 300 miles of the border between Arizona and Mexico, would force the Trump Administration to complete an environmental review before completing its promised border wall project.
Al Día
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has thrown support behind a study to add a third span to the Bay Bridge that spans the Chesapeake Bay.
The Baltimore Sun
A new report documents the dramatic growth in the average length of environmental reviews for major infrastructure projects. While some have called for easing environmental protections as the solution, the report authors have different suggestions.
The Atlantic Cities
