Refocusing the Endangered Species Act

January 9, 2026

They’re gutting the Endangered Species Act, have you heard? A good friend of mine hired a professional photographer, at great expense, to take pictures during a planned event. Afterwards, when the finished pictures were delivered, virtually all of them were blurry, because the camera had been out of focus. Laws are like that, too, when […]

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If Others Make Laws, What Does Congress Do?

January 6, 2026

An interesting case in Tennessee focuses on Congress delegating its legislative power to others – for decades. Not just to executive branch agencies, but in some situations to anyone at all. In Tennessee Riverkeeper v. City of Luttrell, an environmental group from another state (Alabama) sued the tiny town of Lutrell, population 1,000, over its […]

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Colorado River Flowing With Crocodile Tears

December 26, 2025

“Crocodile tears” is an expression describing an insincere, hypocritical display of emotion, like when a murderer pretends to mourn his victim. It is an ancient metaphor – Plutarch attributed it to “antiquity” during Nero’s reign. It has been around so long because, believe it or not, there is truth in it. Crocodiles do have tear […]

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Poor Planning Leaves Colorado Wolf Program Uncertain

December 19, 2025

A 16-year-old, just allowed to drive and still excited about running family errands, was sent on an important one Christmas Eve. The family was out of eggs and cream needed to make the eggnog and sent him to the store. Everyone depended on him, the pressure was on, but when he arrived the store was […]

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Finally, a Definition of “Taking”

December 17, 2025

The 1998 final report of independent counsel Ken Starr’s investigation of President Clinton led to the first impeachment since 1868. But today the report is better remembered for Clinton’s response, buried in footnote 1128, “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.” Pundits made fun of it, but there was nothing new […]

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Feds Own the Dams – Who Owns the Water?

December 13, 2025

A couple years ago, I criticized the Bureau of Reclamation for draining Blue Mesa Reservoir without bothering to tell the people in Gunnison whose livelihood is affected. I got a little push-back for saying that while the Bureau owned the dam, it did not own the water. A close friend and water lawyer told me […]

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Political Climate is Deteriorating Even Faster

November 26, 2025

Over 70,000 people just left Belém, Brazil after attending the annual UN climate change party, called COP30 because it was the 30th annual “Conference of the Parties.” This year there were 56,118 delegates, appointed by governments who are parties to the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Besides the delegates themselves, there were over […]

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Unsolicited Advice to the Sierra Club

November 19, 2025

After the 2020 George Floyd murder, the Sierra Club called for defunding police and reparations for slavery. It touched off an internal battle that tore the organization apart, leading to the ouster of two consecutive executive directors, employee layoffs, office closings, loss of members, and financial freefall. It also invited some unsolicited advice – from me. My column, […]

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What Happened to the Buffalo?

November 14, 2025

Theodore Roosevelt and Sitting Bull both thought the great American buffalo were extinct. Roosevelt called it “a veritable tragedy of the animal world,” and Sitting Bull said, “a cold wind blew on the prairie the day the last buffalo fell.” They didn’t know there were still about 100 remaining, but they were almost right. In […]

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Taxpayers Are On the Hook – Anyone Else?

November 7, 2025

A decade ago, three giant companies took advantage of federal incentives to build the world’s largest solar power plant in the Mojave Desert, known as Ivanpah. It was “the wave of the future,” a new technology that focuses 300,000 computer-controlled mirrors to reflect solar rays onto three boiler towers, each the height of a 40-story […]

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