Coverage of our Drakes Bay Oyster Company lawsuit against the Department of the Interior and National Park Service continues. The Pacific Sun writes:
West Marin oyster farming is still floating in limbo this week, as Drakes Bay Oyster Company awaits a decision from an Oakland judge as to whether it can keep its Inverness vermiculture operation up and running during its lawsuit against the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior. The lawsuit was filed in December after Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar allowed the farm’s lease to expire upon its Nov. 30 deadline.
The EPA was dealt a blow recently for the culture of overregulation that has seemed to permeate the agency as of late. Michael Bastasch of the Daily Caller News Foundation reports:
A federal court delivered a serious blow to the Environmental Protection Agency’s renewable fuel agenda, ruling that the agency exceeded its authority by mandating refiners use cellulosic biofuels, which isn’t commercially available.
The court sided with the country’s chief oil and gas lobby, the American Petroleum Institute, in striking down the 2012 EPA mandate that would have forced refineries to purchase more than $8 million in credits for 8.65 million of gallons of the cellulosic biofuel. However, none of the biofuel is commercially available.
The winds of change are starting to blow at the National Labor Relations Board, starting with a federal appeals court ruling that came down on Friday. Josh Hicks of the Washington Post brings us this story:
A federal appeals court on Friday ruled that President Obama exceeded his constitutional authority with three appointments to the National Labor Relations Board while the Senate was on break last year.
The impact of that decision by a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in Noel Canning v. NLRB will depend on what the Obama administration does next.
The Government Accountability Office is due to produce its biannual report on the areas of the government that present the highest risk for squandering tax payer dollars in the next couple weeks, and we are looking forward to seeing it.
Some more interesting reads:
The Atlantic – The most ridiculous law of 2013
USA Today (Op-Ed) – Revolving Door Government Ethics
