Settlement reached in challenge to Twin Metals prospecting permits
The Bureau of Land Management will conduct environmental review on 13 prospecting permits for Twin Metals as it reconsiders last year s permit extensions. 5:34 pm, May 12, 2021 ×
The federal government will conduct an environmental review on a batch of Twin Metals prospecting permits as it reconsiders its May 2020 decision to extend the permits to the copper-nickel mining company.
A federal judge on Monday approved a settlement between the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and environmental groups opposed to Twin Metals that requires the federal agency to conduct an environmental assessment under the National Environmental Protection Act, while revisiting its decision to grant 13 prospecting permits, which cover more than 15,000 acres of Superior National Forest land near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, to the company.
Housing and Development Newsletter
The good news is that regulatory reform of, among other things, the National Environmental Protection Act of 1970 has bipartisan support.
Scholars on both sides of the aisle agree that these reviews delay and drive up the costs of infrastructure projects while rarely delivering on the promise of environmental protection. Less expensive infrastructure projects mean more investment at home and more resources to innovate toward a greener future.
The Biden administration s commitment to the protectionist tariffs of the Trump administration is also counterproductive for the environment. The reason free trade is good for the environment is simple: Countries will only produce things at what economists call a comparative advantage.
The Biden administration has made the fight against climate change a central part of its $2 trillion infrastructure plan. This legislation, if it ever sees the light of day, would shovel more than $100 billion of subsidies toward boosting the market for electric vehicles, as well as updating the country s electric grid to make it allegedly more resilient to climate disasters.
All of these investments sound well and good on paper, but if you genuinely care about the environment, don t hold your breath for any real progress. For one thing, Biden s plan is mostly a giant handout to corporations that are already heavily investing in infrastructure. It s also a gift to unions, most of which will do nothing to encourage the type of activities the president claims to support, and they ll make the cost of producing infrastructure more expensive, so we ll probably see less of it.
Updated
State Board of Forestry is moving Tuolumne County towards a “No Build” Community
The State Board of Forestry decided to move the March 15, 2021 draft of Revised State Fire Safe Regulations ahead, without revision, into a 45-day public comment period, ultimately intending to adopt them as State law. This will dictate oppressive requirements for development and construction in our county. Within high fire zones (which the majority of our county and rural California fall under), if any type of building permit is taken out, the landowner would be required to bring roads up to modern standards all the way from their property out to the next fully-conforming collector road. This would be unattainable for most folks as the costs would be astronomical. Numerous parcels would instantly be (administratively) undevelopable, and therefore instantly worthless. In March, our Board sent a letter of opposition to the Board of Forestry (https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/u
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