Chevron deference is no more. What’s Chevron deference you ask? Well, it was the backbone of our federal administrative state. Congress often passes laws that are vague or are capable of multiple interpretations. In Chevron, decided in 1984, the Supreme Court said that where a law is vague, the agency gets deference to its … Read more
Dear Friends, Can you believe we are preparing to celebrate 30 years of protecting the Eel River? Many of you have been with us since the beginning, for which we are incredibly grateful. Some of you may have participated in Friends of the Eel River’s very first meeting in late 1994, our initial actions intervening … Read more
We recently submitted a letter to Chuck Bonham, the director of California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife, requesting that his agency provide overdue stream flow studies and minimum flow recommendations to the State Water Resources Control Board. The State Water Board is in turn responsible for managing instream flows and rights to divert water. Maintaining … Read more
Special guest Rep. Jared Huffman is heading a task force in the Democratic caucus to address Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s policy outline for a second Trump administration. The document is pervaded by anti-science and anti-regulatory animus, with a particular focus on climate science and renewable energy. This week on the EcoNews Report, Friends of … Read more
FOER worked hard to provide detailed comments on the Great Redwood Trail Agency’s (GRTA) nearly 600-page Draft Master Plan for the Great Redwood Trail. In addition to the comments linked below, we submitted location-specific comments using the GRTA’s pdf commenting application focused on locations to expand equitable river access, camping or access sites popular with … Read more
As many of you are likely now familiar, PG&E is unable to meet the flow schedule for the Potter Valley Project as outlined in their amended license from 2004. This flow schedule is unobtainable in most years due to a variety of factors including strategies employed to reduce dam safety risk, and changes in climate … Read more
PG&E announced on Friday, May 31 late last week that it will request a 7-month extension from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in decommissioning the Eel River dams. Stakeholders were expecting the utility to file its Draft Surrender Application plan with FERC this month, with a final version due in January 2025. PG&E now … Read more
Last month we had a lot of fun at KEET TV’s first ever Eco Mingle. It was a mixer for all kinds of environmental organizations as well as a film screening for some episodes of the Wild Hope documentary series as well as Swiftwater Film’s Guardians of the River. Our staff led a panel discussion with local environmental leaders … Read more
Whenever a state agency begins a new development project, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires agencies to evaluate and disclose to the public the potential environmental impacts of the proposed project. This evaluation of impacts usually comes in the form of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR). These reports are an important part of … Read more
This week on the EcoNews Report, our host Alicia Hamann from Friends of the Eel River discusses the opportunities and challenges presented by the Great Redwood Trail. The project, proposed to be the longest rail-trail in the nation, is the state’s opportunity to fulfill their responsibility to remediate the environmental harms caused by the … Read more