#environmental-review

#environmental-review

Now, having recently read Why Nothing Works and Abundance, I constantly see examples of the government slowing down projects. The latest was another delay in the Brooklyn Marine Terminal megadevelopment. It was portrayed not as a setback, but as something to celebrate. And it was caused not by opponents of the plan, but by its alleged supporters. We are proud to share that the Environmental Review scoping comment period has been extended to March 31, 2026!

Once every 10 years, ranchers must renew the permits that allow their cattle, sheep and other livestock to graze on the West's public domain. These renewals are the government's best opportunity to address how those livestock are harming the environment. The Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service, which manage the majority of public lands, are required by law to review each permit before deciding whether to place additional conditions on it or - in rare cases - to deny its renewal.

Built in just eight days in the Everglades wetlands, the facility was intended to hold up to 5,000 federal immigration detainees. In July, around 1,800 people were confined there in groups of thirty-two inside disaster-relief tents, where conditions reportedly swung between extreme cold and heat, with sewage hauled out and drinking water brought in. Speaking to the Associated Press, migrant detainees and their lawyers described worm-infested food, swarms of mosquitoes, windowless cells, flooded floors with fecal waste, and insufficient showers and toilets.

The first five homes in the project were under construction when, in 2002, the L.A. Planning Commission placed a six-month moratorium on the project pending an environmental impact assessment to be drafted by the property developers. The impact assessment did not happen, the city attorney alleged in a 2021 statement, and the city ordered the homes demolished in 2003, according to news reports at the time.

The timeline and scope for doing the service development plans may seem larger than people are used to or comfortable with, but that is intentional—so that we are doing a lot of the good iterative planning that we need to do in engaging the host railroads.