by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow The Daily Sentinel “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 [...]
by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow The Daily Sentinel A couple years ago, I criticized the Bureau of Reclamation for draining Blue Mesa Reservoir without bothering to warn anyone. I got a little pushback for saying that while the bureau owned the dam, it did not own the water. A close friend and [...]
by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow The Daily Sentinel Washington Evening Star humorist Philander Chase Johnson created a great character named Senator Sorghum. A 1902 piece called “A Delicate Distinction” had one character saying, “That friend of yours seems to have a clear conscience.” Senator Sorghum answered, “No, not a clear conscience; merely [...]
by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow The Daily Sentinel This week’s withdrawal of President Trump’s nominee to head the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) provides an opportunity, not just for a new nominee but for a new approach to the whole Colorado River management mess. It is an opportunity the White House and Interior [...]
by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow The Daily Sentinel Last week when some marauding teens bashed a mailbox with a bat, angry neighbors posted on nextdoor.com, “there needs to be a law against that.” Is that just an impulse reaction, or do they really not know there is a law against that. Since [...]
by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow The Daily Sentinel In the next few days, the Environmental Protection Agency will announce that it is officially revisiting its 2009 “endangerment finding,” the controversial declaration that carbon dioxide is a dangerous pollutant. Dozens of lawsuits will immediately follow, some judge will block the process, and courts [...]
by Katy Grimes, E&E Legal Senior Media Fellow and California Globe Editor As Appearing in the California Globe Navy SEALs in Coronado couldn’t even train on the beach because of the sewage For many years, untreated raw sewage has flowed into Southern California from Mexico and polluted the Tijuana River Valley, causing beaches to close, [...]
by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow The Daily Sentinel Energy Secretary Chris Wright went to Wyoming last week to cut the ribbon on the first new rare earth mine in the U.S. since the 1950s. Telling the assembled guests and reporters that the “Brook Mine” is critical to breaking China’s “stranglehold on rare [...]
by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow The Daily Sentinel Western newspapers, blogs, and podcasts are humming this month with stories that the seven states on the Colorado River are close to an agreement on managing the river in future years. The existing agreements, designed to “supplement” the ancient and sacred Interstate Compact during [...]
by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow The Daily Sentinel Gertrude Stein wrote her oft-repeated line “A rose is a rose is a rose…” in a 1913 poem. She explained it as meaning “things are what they are.” But what if it’s called something else? That was Juliet’s question to Romeo: “What’s in a [...]
