Environmental Regulations, Legal Fees and Credit Markets
The White House plans to suspend federal environmental regulations to allow construction of a border fence between the U.S. and Mexico.
A federal court orders Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) to pay more than $1 million in legal fees to House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH).
The Senate Banking Committee hears testimony on the recent turmoil in U.S. credit markets.
1. ENVIRONMENT
The White House plans to suspend federal environmental regulations to allow construction of a border fence between the U.S. and Mexico.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of Risk & Environmental Policy Angela Logomasini on what this teaches us about the regulations themselves:
“…if the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a bureaucratic/litigation nightmare, why don’t they consider fixing the law rather than waiving here and there? NEPA is causing lots of problems as the greens have been using it to tie up a host of activities that affect federal lands. For example, they have been able to prevent logging operations and other activities in the national forests for decades. As a result, forests have built up dead and dying trees that have fueled the massive forest fires out west. Rather than simply waiving such problematic laws, it’s time that Washington lawmakers reformed them.”
2. LEGAL
A federal court orders Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) to pay more than $1 million in legal fees to House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH).
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Special Projects Counsel Hans Bader on the background to the case:
“Congressman Jim McDermott, who cozied up to Saddam Hussein, opposes protecting phone companies from the multibillion dollar lawsuits that trial lawyers have brought against them for assisting the U.S. government in wiretapping communications with foreign terrorists. But he himself assisted what was akin to wiretapping aimed at a conservative colleague. Now, he has the chutzpah to depict himself as a First Amendment martyr for doing so, even though a federal appeals court ordered him to pay damages for invasion of privacy.”
3. BUSINESS
The Senate Banking Committee hears testimony on the recent turmoil in U.S. credit markets.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Center for Entrepreneurship Director John Berlau on the Federal Reserve’s forced sale of investment bank Bear Stearns to JPMorgan Chase:
“In this bailout, the government sided with creditors at the expense of shareholders of Bear Stearns common stock. By forcing this fire sale, the Fed ran roughshod over thousands of investors’ interests, and whatever effects this has on the credit market, the precedent may do untold damage to the retail investor market for equity in firms through common shares.”
Blog feature: For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open Market.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
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