by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow As appearing in the Daily Sentinel Most people are happier on weekends. We know that because a government study proved it. Without such studies, you may not know that people drive poorly when talking on a cellphone, or that the elderly cherish happy memories more than sad [...]
by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow As appearing in the Daily Sentinel In 2006, Cambridge physicist Stephen Hawking said, “Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden global warming…” and suggested colonizing other planets to ensure the survival of the human species. Some [...]
by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow As appearing in the Daily Sentinel California recently adopted a zero-emission requirement for all railroad locomotives in the state by 2030, which many critics are saying could cripple the nation’s freight rail network. That’s because California doesn’t have its own separate fleet of locomotives. So to keep [...]
by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow As appearing in the Daily Sentinel British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) famously said, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” No fan of academic studies, he had learned how statistics can be used to make almost any point the researcher wants to [...]
by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow As appearing in the Daily Sentinel Our obsession with the study of antiquities goes back centuries, at least since Renaissance poet Petrarch wrote, “Among the many subjects which interested me, I dwelt especially upon antiquity, for our own age has always repelled me.” But what exactly is [...]
by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow As appearing in the Daily Sentinel An “end run” was once a common football term, describing an offensive play in which the ball carrier runs around the end of the defensive line. But today it is more often used rhetorically to describe a strategic dodge, any maneuver [...]
by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow As appearing in the Daily Sentinel I did a double take when I saw the headline, “Meeker County to call on Congress to pay up for federal lands.” I thought it must be a typo because Meeker is a town not a county (it’s in Rio Blanco [...]
by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow As appearing in the Daily Sentinel Merle Haggard sang about a utopian future, in which “we’ll all be drinkin’ free Bubble Up, and eatin’ rainbow stew.” That is about as realistic as the Postal Service’s “solution” to its absurd budget problem. For as long as I can [...]
by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow As appearing in the Daily Sentinel A group called Environment Oregon is circulating a petition asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to get on with it. Two years ago, the agency proposed reintroducing sea otters to the Oregon coast, concluding that reintroduction was not only [...]
by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow As appearing in the Daily Sentinel There is a famous story about Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman walking down the street with a friend. The friend stopped and said, “Hey, there is a $20 bill on the sidewalk.” The economist turned to him and replied, “There can’t [...]
