Podcasts about National Environmental Policy Act

The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast is a reader-supported publication. The only way to interact with the podcast is to upgrade to The Storm's paid tier. Thank you for supporting independent ski journalism.Welcome to the Storm's short-form, news-focused podcast. Don't worry, I will still write newsletters too (I blasted out this post on Smuggs joining Indy Pass this morning). To browse a podcast transcript, click the “transcript” button above - click on any block of text and the audio will jump to that point in the conversation. Paid subscribers can leave a comment in the article below, or by joining The Storm's chat (also below). I'll respond to some comments in the next episode. The Zoom transcript (click “transcript” above for the Substack transcript, which will zoom to any point in the video when you click on the associated text block; timestamps below DO NOT MATCH THE VIDEO)00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:56.000Stuart Winchester: Welcome to Storm. It is September 9th, 2026 on a Wednesday. I've got a really great show for you today. We are going to visit with Loon President and General Manager, Brian Norton, who has been on the show before.00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:04.000Stuart Winchester: But we are going to have him on to talk about the Blackridge expansion that Loon announced last week.00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:10.000Stuart Winchester: There's actually a couple of expansion items in the news today, and I want to hit on those first before we get to Brian.00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:27.000Stuart Winchester: Altera today confirmed a couple of things we already knew in their 2026 to 27 capital plan. So unlike Vale who tends to release all their lifts and expansions and projects at once, Vale or Altera lets them leak out.00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:41.000Stuart Winchester: and then officially announces them sometime later. So, we had a pretty good idea these were coming. The first one will be up at Mont Tremblant, and Tremblant is…00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:44.000Stuart Winchester: If you've been there, it's…00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:55.000Stuart Winchester: an IntraWest legacy, so it has one of these really nice walkable villages of the sort that I'm always pushing for, and it has really great ski terrain. Busiest… it's…00:02:55.000 --> 00:03:11.000Stuart Winchester: Traditionally, Intrawest had the three busiest ski areas in Canada. They had, uh, Whistler was number one, obviously. Number two was Tremblant, and number three, surprisingly, was Blue Mountain, Ontario, which we covered on in the podcast.00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:14.000Stuart Winchester: Pretty recently, but I want to…00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:19.000Stuart Winchester: show you something here. So this is why it's cool to watch, because you can see…00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:31.000Stuart Winchester: some of these things on YouTube or Substack if you're watching the podcast. So this is Tremblant's timber expansion that they're gonna open for 27 to 28. They're gonna have a new.00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:46.000Stuart Winchester: quad, high-speed quad, coming up to the Timber Summit with 8 new trails over here. Uh, and that's gonna be… let's see, they gave an acreage on that, 62 acres. So sometimes it's hard when you see these things, especially if you don't know the mountain.00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:57.000Stuart Winchester: to really know where it fits in. So this one, here's from the top, you can see the new trails, the timber trails, coming down here off of the new.00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:09.000Stuart Winchester: high-speed quad that'll come out of the Versant-Soleil base. And then here is the existing, if you're watching, here's the existing lift that comes up to the current Tremblant Summit.00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:19.000Stuart Winchester: And you can see that right here. So the new expansion will go bloop right up here, and we'll have some new trails over there. And then Altera also announced.00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:32.000Stuart Winchester: or not really announced, but reconfirmed, that will be when the Club Med is open, so that all-inclusive experience will be there for Tremblant. So, nice expansion coming for Tremblant. Obviously.00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:42.000Stuart Winchester: Altera has had a big expansion ongoing at Deer Valley for years and years. So, Deer Valley, prior to 2023.00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:46.000Stuart Winchester: was really just Bald Mountain.00:04:46.000 --> 00:05:02.000Stuart Winchester: On over to Empire. Uh, and then here's the front side, and then this little baldy peak was here. But over the past three seasons, they've really blown the place out and added thousands and thousands of acres. Uh, Deer Valley, believe it or not, is now the…00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:18.000Stuart Winchester: Sixth largest ski area in America. And, and they're opening 200 more acres this year. Hale Peak will be another high speed quad. I don't have a vertical on Hale Peak, but they did confirm today that Hale Peak will be.00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:29.000Stuart Winchester: 200 acres, so Deer Valley will now total 4,500 acres. It looks, it sounds pretty big, but right next door to it is Park City, which.00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:45.000Stuart Winchester: Combined with the historic canyons is 7,300 acres. That's the largest ski area in the United States. So those are a couple of the expansions that we have coming up. We'll talk about another one in a little bit with Loon. And the reason I wanna talk about expansions with you.00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:47.000Stuart Winchester: Is… is I… I…00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:58.000Stuart Winchester: I write about this over and over again, but sometimes when I write an article, it fritters off into the wilderness, and I'm not able to…00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:12.000Stuart Winchester: it doesn't have the staying power necessarily where people might find it sometime later. So I want to revisit some of these points that I made in the past about expansions and how important they are. So I wrote this article a few years ago.00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:14.000Stuart Winchester: And…00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:18.000Stuart Winchester: I was looking at…00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:34.000Stuart Winchester: So everyone always gets hung up on this active ski ski areas number. And the NSA has tracked this for years and years. And here's the numbers you can see on the screen if you're watching in 1991 to 92 season.00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:46.000Stuart Winchester: The United States had 546 active ski areas. As of 2023 to 24, it had 486. The number for this season was right around 490.00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:49.000Stuart Winchester: So, oftentimes.00:06:49.000 --> 00:07:04.000Stuart Winchester: We will see articles usually written by folks who are not ski media, just general media, and they'll write about this number and they'll find this statistic and they'll point to the declining number of ski areas and say, skiing is dying. Climate change is killing skiing.00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:17.000Stuart Winchester: But there's actually a much more nuanced story behind that. So I pulled this number last year when I was reading an article from The Motley Fool, which is an investor site that I use. I love The Motley Fool.00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:24.000Stuart Winchester: But it was talking about MTN stock, which a lot of you know is the stock ticker for Vail Resorts.00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:33.000Stuart Winchester: And the Motley Fool article pointed out that in 1992, and this was their bear case, their case against buying MTN stock.00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:44.000Stuart Winchester: During… I'm gonna quote here, the Motley Fool. During the 1992 ski season, there were 546 ski areas operating in the United States, compared to 486 today. This article's from 2025.00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:57.000Stuart Winchester: Supply, says the fool, is flat to shrinking. On the demand side, 3 of the top 5 busiest ski seasons on record occurred each of the last 3 years. Demand is up. So, they were trying to make the point that.00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:07.000Stuart Winchester: Vail Resorts had a very valuable commodity, because the number of ski areas was shrinking. I said, wait a second, this doesn't really make sense, because…00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:11.000Stuart Winchester: How are you having so many fewer?00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:25.000Stuart Winchester: ski areas, and so many more skier visits? Well, the answer is pretty simple. We have a lot more ski terrain. In fact, I did an analysis in response to that Fool article.00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:27.000Stuart Winchester: And I found, just examining…00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:30.000Stuart Winchester: The 11 western ski states.00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:40.000Stuart Winchester: that, minus Alaska, that those 11 states had 54,598 more acres of terrain.00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:50.000Stuart Winchester: available at their ski areas, their lift service ski areas, than they had in 1994. So, yes, there are fewer ski areas.00:08:50.000 --> 00:09:00.000Stuart Winchester: now than there were in the early 90s. There were 546 in 92, 486 today, but there's a lot more terrain, and so what ended up happening was.00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:08.000Stuart Winchester: The ski areas that were successful expanded. It was as simple as that. And when I did this analysis.00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:10.000Stuart Winchester: I looked at…00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:24.000Stuart Winchester: I looked at 92 ski areas that I had the data for from 1992, and they happen to be some of the biggest ski areas in the West. And I compared their acreage in 1994 according to a guidebook I had from that date that I'd kept.00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:30.000Stuart Winchester: 107,671 acres was the total for these ski areas.00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:45.000Stuart Winchester: Fast forward to 2025, when I did this analysis, those same 92 ski areas had grown from 107,671 acres to 159,754 acres.00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:55.000Stuart Winchester: Then I added in a few ski areas that had opened since then, places like Tamarack in Idaho, Blacktail in Montana. There hasn't been a lot, but there's been a few.00:09:55.000 --> 00:10:11.000Stuart Winchester: And then I subtracted the lost ski areas. The biggest of them was Ski Rio in New Mexico. But for the most part, the ski areas that closed were small surface tow operations and they were in the region of a much larger area and most likely failed in large part.00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:29.000Stuart Winchester: Because they couldn't compete with that full service area, which could offer folks not only beginner terrain, but a progression up to more interesting terrain. So, there's a lot more ski terrain than there used to be, and to give you an idea of how much terrain 54,598 acres is.00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:36.000Stuart Winchester: Currently in Colorado, the whole state of Colorado, which has a quarter of the ski terrain in the entire United States.00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:42.000Stuart Winchester: there's 45,552 acres of terrain. So we've added the equivalent of another Colorado.00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:45.000Stuart Winchester: Now, there's a caveat to that.00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:48.000Stuart Winchester: The ski industry has been able to grow by expansion.00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:58.000Stuart Winchester: But it hasn't necessarily been able to grow where it needs to grow, and I made another point, a related point, in another recent article that I wrote.00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:11.000Stuart Winchester: for… about the U.S. Forest Service, and how most of the ski areas in the western United States are built on U.S. Forest Service land. They're leased from the U.S. Forest Service under 40-year terms.00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:18.000Stuart Winchester: However, following the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, those permits.00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:33.000Stuart Winchester: got almost impossible to obtain new permits. The Forest Service had lots and lots of ski areas proposed, but they were all shut down. Everyone except for Beaver Creek and then Blacktail in 1998 were shut down with.00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:51.000Stuart Winchester: court challenges that came out of NEPA in 1969. So, while we have more terrain, skiable terrain, than we had in 1994, the reason it often feels as though the mountains are overcrowded and insufficiently distributed.00:11:51.000 --> 00:11:57.000Stuart Winchester: is because they are. Because we've only been able to expand the ski areas where they were.00:11:57.000 --> 00:12:10.000Stuart Winchester: rather than building new ski areas where people move to. Look at snowy regions like Washington and Oregon, some of the snowiest ski areas in the country. A lot of them still don't have snowmaking because they get so much snow there.00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:22.000Stuart Winchester: Washington in 1980 had 4.1 million people. Today it has 8.2 million people, double the population, but fewer ski areas and some larger.00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:37.000Stuart Winchester: Stevens Pass has certainly grown, Crystal has grown, Mission Ridge has grown. Oregon, same thing, went from 2.6 million people in 1980 to 4.3 million today, but has fewer ski areas now than it did in the 1980s. So…00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:48.000Stuart Winchester: For better or worse, we are stuck right now with growth through expansion. So, I want to get to an expansion. First, I want to tell you about one of my awesome partners.00:12:48.000 --> 00:13:00.000Stuart Winchester: I've been working with Bonfire Collective for a long time, and if you run a ski area or an outdoor brand, you should consider hooking up with them as well.00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:10.000Stuart Winchester: Bonfire Collective is a fractional marketing team that collaborates with ski areas and outdoor brands to give your marketing a fresh perspective and better storytelling.00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:16.000Stuart Winchester: Bonfire can help you rethink your approach in ways that can turbocharge your business.00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:31.000Stuart Winchester: Bonfire Collective, for example, took on the marketing at one New Hampshire sea area and doubled revenue in just three years. And when the storm was ready to invest in its first ever digital marketing campaign last year, I worked with Bonfire to make it happen.00:13:31.000 --> 00:13:36.000Stuart Winchester: I could not be happier with the results. I think you will love working with them too.00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:40.000Stuart Winchester: To get started, you will want to talk to Eric over at Bonfire Collective.00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:56.000Stuart Winchester: Eric was a co-founder of Bluebird Backcountry Colorado, the first human powered ski area. He knows the ski business, as many of you know from that episode of the Storm Skiing Podcast that he appeared on last year. Visit bonfirecollective.com or I will be happy.00:13:56.000 --> 00:14:03.000Stuart Winchester: to make that connection for you. Alright, with that, let's go to our guest for today.00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:08.000Stuart Winchester: And…00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:15.000Stuart Winchester: Here he is, Mr. Brian Norton. Brian, what an awesome background! Where are you at?00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:19.000brian norton: Uh, I'm in my office, but that's hanging outside my office, so…00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:24.000Stuart Winchester: Oh, okay, cool, I thought maybe you were in the, uh, the kink barn with the, uh…00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:27.000Stuart Winchester: With that, with the cool groomer behind you.00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:44.000Stuart Winchester: All right, well, let me give you a proper introduction here. Uh, my guest today is president and general manager of Loon Mountain, New Hampshire since 2022. Loon claims New Hampshire's tallest vertical drop at 2,190 feet.00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:58.000Stuart Winchester: served by 13 lifts. Last week, Loon announced the 272-acre Black Ridge expansion that, when added to the resort's existing 403-acre footprint.00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:08.000Stuart Winchester: will make Lune the largest ski area in New Hampshire, and the sixth largest ski area in the eastern United States at 675 acres.00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:23.000Stuart Winchester: He began his Loon career in 2001 as a Lyft attendant, and now he's running the place. He is Brian Norton. Brian, welcome back to the storm. Always good to see what's new at Loon, because there is always something new at Loon. How you doing today, Brian?00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:29.000brian norton: I'm doing awesome. It's sweatshirt weather right now, so we're getting closer.00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:33.000Stuart Winchester: Nice. Did you do a snowmaking test yet, or is that Sunday River's ter.00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:38.000brian norton: No, we have not done that yet. Sunday will probably beat us to that one.00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:54.000Stuart Winchester: All right, let's talk about Black Ridge. This is really an amazing project, and I've been pretty vocal and frank over the years about what I saw as Loon's biggest shortcoming, which was not enough real expert terrain, and by that I really meant glades, wild terrain.00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:58.000Stuart Winchester: Talk to us about Black Ridge, what it is, and how it's going to change Loon.00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:14.000brian norton: Yeah, I mean, it's a pivotal project for the ski resort. As you mentioned, it's almost doubling the size of the ski resort. For those not familiar with it, it's this kind of secret shoulder glade skiing. It's been there.00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:30.000brian norton: It was developed over time by some locals just kind of going out there, you know, maybe not necessarily following the rules, certainly not at our approval, but people have been skiing there. I mean, I think the first time I went skiing over there, I was in college, like 2001, and it was like you had to kind of find your way over there. You had to commit to it.00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:28.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:42.000brian norton: beautiful, um, beautiful area. It's like a big catcher's mitt off the side of the ski resort that just holds snow really well, and there's a lot of, um, it's a mile and a quarter.00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:51.000brian norton: hike, uh, across a ridgeline. You can actually ski or skate most of it. There's a few sections where you have to, you know, unclick and walk and…00:16:51.000 --> 00:17:09.000brian norton: um, you just get this incredible glade scheme that brings you right back to the bottom of North Peak, so it's like this full circle, you're way the heck out there, there's a couple viewpoints where you can stand at this cliff and just look back at the ski resort and look into the town of Lincoln, you're like, whoa, I am way out there, but a completely different view than, you know, most people would.00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:23.000brian norton: would ever get to see from Loon. And so, yeah, we've been working on it for a couple years with the Forest Service, trying to, like, wrap that into our special use permit. And, um, yeah, super happy to have that announcement, kind of. Like I said, planning.00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:28.000brian norton: For a long time, but awesome to have that hit the newsstands the other day.00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:34.000Stuart Winchester: So help us understand Loon's Forest Service footprint. This is a conversation I'm accustomed to having with.00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:53.000Stuart Winchester: your partners who run western ski areas. There's very few, just 7 in New England, that touch Forest Service land. My understanding is that Loon is not entirely on Forest Service land. I believe it's Kissing Cousins Lift. You're riding up, and you see a sign, welcome to the White Mountains National Forest. So, where are those boundaries at?00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:55.000Stuart Winchester: at Loon.00:17:54.000 --> 00:18:05.000brian norton: Yeah, it's really just the bottom. I mean, like, pretty much if you can hit a golf ball there, you're on private land from a base area, hit it up, and then everything above there is forest service land, so…00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:00.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:02.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:05.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:09.000brian norton: Yeah, it's the top 95% of the skewers work.00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:07.000Stuart Winchester: So how?00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:16.000Stuart Winchester: Right, so Loon went through quite a process as I remember it back in the 90s to open up South Peak and there was…00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:22.000Stuart Winchester: a lot of resistance to that locally, and ultimately, you got it opened.00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:25.000Stuart Winchester: was…00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:30.000Stuart Winchester: if you look at Black Ridge, it's… there's no new lift, right? It's essentially…00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:35.000Stuart Winchester: Glade thinning. So, so I want to talk about the process for that in a minute, but.00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:45.000Stuart Winchester: What was the process like of working with the Forest Service? Did they seem much more amenable and does the local community seem much more amenable?00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:54.000Stuart Winchester: to this given the small actual environmental impact? And was that a consideration in deciding how to develop this terrain?00:18:54.000 --> 00:19:10.000brian norton: I mean, it was definitely a consideration for us as we think about, you know, growing the ski resort sustainably. I think the, you know, and our partnership with the Forest Service is a really great one. I hear, you know, different stories from around the industry or around the country.00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:26.000brian norton: I just can't speak highly enough of our team here and the relationship that we have with them. And, the fact that this was kind of already skiing, the fact that it was super low impact, we weren't ever going to put a lift or a lodge or some sort of, you know, driving snow cats over there. We're not even doing any of that.00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:31.000brian norton: really, so it was a small lift, I think, to bring this kind of.00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:43.000brian norton: thing that people were skiing into the permit boundary, which really, you know, there's some work to clean it up and to create slightly better access, mostly for our patrol team to react out there.00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:44.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm.00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:46.000brian norton: But this is, um…00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:48.000brian norton: It's a small lift to bring our…00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:52.000brian norton: Services, so that we can go, you know, in the past.00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:56.000brian norton: Someone would get hurt, someone would get lost ‘cause they thought they knew where they were going.00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:57.000Stuart Winchester: Yep.00:19:56.000 --> 00:20:14.000brian norton: technically, we're supposed to call fish and game, and they're supposed to go rescue them. A lot of times, we helped with that. So, by bringing this into the permit boundary, we're allowed to help manage it. So, um, this is really a win-win for everyone. It's a win-win for the skiers, it's a win-win for the Forest Service, because now we can actually manage something that wasn'.00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:02.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:16.000brian norton: That's a great opportunity for us.00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:28.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, it's going to be tremendous terrain. You know, another big difference between working in the East and the West is sometimes if you want to open 500 acres of glades in the West, you just drop a rope.00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:39.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, in the east, there tends to be a lot of undergrowth. Now, I don't know if that's the case at Loon, because maybe you have some old growth there, where the canopy is, is, has, you know, shut out some of that little stuff.00:20:39.000 --> 00:20:45.000Stuart Winchester: 200 and what is it, 267 acres? That's a lot of acres to clear.00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:55.000Stuart Winchester: What does it look like in there, and what is the… what is the labor lift gonna be like to glade that out and make it so that you don't need 4 feet of snow to ski it?00:20:56.000 --> 00:21:08.000brian norton: Um, we'll talk about snow in a minute, but in terms of glading, you get across the ridgeline, and you get to this… it's not the high point, like, the actual peak of the mountain, but the high point of the ridgeline.00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:23.000brian norton: And you kind of drop in there, and then it just funnels out both directions. And from that point, it's all hardwoods. And it's just… it's really open. You can kind of ski wherever you want. Now, we're gonna manage it slightly better, so there's better waypoint finding, you know, kind of…00:21:23.000 --> 00:21:42.000brian norton: more organized corridors. There's a river, uh, a stream valley that is between what I would call, you know, Black Ridge proper and, like, the North Peak Glades and Walking Boss, um, that you don't want to end up in, so that's kind of the part of the land that, you know, we're going to try to manage away from, and.00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:43.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:53.000brian norton: kind of cut that, you know, the extent of it, kind of clear those glades a little more, so that it's obvious, like, no, no, no, I want to go this way, or I want to go that way, so you all come back out to the… to.00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:50.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:57.000brian norton: But it's not a heavy lift to cut a lot out there.00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:54.000Stuart Winchester: So I.00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:13.000Stuart Winchester: So as far as snow goes, you mentioned a, a little catcher's mitt and along North Peak, and there are some terrific glades in lower New England. Stratton, I think has really, really excellent glades. Magic Mountain has some excellent glades. They're in a little bit different.00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:33.000Stuart Winchester: snow pocket, obviously, than you are, but also farther south. So, so talk to us, you know, Loon averages 160 inches of snow per year, but I don't know where you measure that, and I know that snow stays on different parts of the mountain in different ways, right? Because you can ski in New Hampshire in June on natural snow at Mount Washington and Tucks.00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:34.000Stuart Winchester: But…00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:39.000Stuart Winchester: That's not the case in most places. So, so talk to us about.00:22:39.000 --> 00:22:48.000Stuart Winchester: the snow in that area, and how often you think you'll realistically be able to offer that glade skiing experience in Black Ridge.00:22:48.000 --> 00:23:06.000brian norton: Yeah, I mean, I think it's gonna be… it's definitely a different experience, so we're gonna have different, um, opening protocols when that part of the mountain will open versus your traditional glade skiing, so it's gonna be a little more raw, a little more rugged, we're gonna be a little more free with opening it. Um, we're working through those kind of details with our patrol team right now.00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:23.000brian norton: Um, in terms of holding snow, predominant northeast wind here, everything cuts across the ski resort as you're looking at it, right to left, and guess what's far left? This, right? So, um, I'll tell you a funny story. We were walking over there with the Forest Service this.00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:25.000brian norton: Spring, and we're walking along the ridgeline.00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:38.000brian norton: And we're contemplating, like, how we get snowmobile access out there for our patrol team to, you know, manage this terrain in a reasonable amount of time to, like, respond to an incident. And we get to these two big boulders.00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:47.000brian norton: like, oh man, how are we gonna get a snowmobile through here? Like, it's… we can't get a machine all the way out here to move these boulders, what are we gonna do? And then it, like.00:23:47.000 --> 00:24:06.000brian norton: I don't remember seeing these boulders in the winter. That means there's 4 feet of snow here on this ridgeline, so it's like… it just… it's not the same as the rest of the ski resort when you think about, like, how that pocket holds snow and takes all the wind-deposited snow from the whole area and just stacks up in there, so it was a bit… it was eye-opening for us to be like.00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:54.000Stuart Winchester: Wow.00:23:57.000 --> 00:23:59.000Stuart Winchester: Right.00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:11.000brian norton: Wait a minute, we don't see these in the winter, and they're 4-foot boulders, so.00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:28.000Stuart Winchester: Oh, man, you're really making me want to get back in there. You know, I did not mention in the intro that Loon is owned by Boyne Resorts, one of the 11 ski areas in the Boyne family. And Boyne has done just a tremendous amount of work over the past decade, putting in new lifts and doing expansions.00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:30.000Stuart Winchester: In fact, I think…00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:42.000Stuart Winchester: the last 5 expansions in New England were all Boyne Mountains. It was Brackett Basin, Burnt Mountain, it was, uh, Merrill Hill at Sunday River, it was the little one you did at Loon the other… the other, uh, couple years ago, and… and.00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:54.000Stuart Winchester: Black Ridge, you know, the one that this most echoes for Sugarloaf fans, and Sugarloaf is far, far, far, far north, but it's worth going to, is… is they opened that several hundred acre.00:24:54.000 --> 00:25:04.000Stuart Winchester: terrain expansion of Brackett Basin back in 2011. They expanded it with Burnt Ridge a few years later, and it's all natural bladed. How much…00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:06.000Stuart Winchester: Did you…00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:21.000Stuart Winchester: did Loon and the team at Loon use Bracket Basin as an inspiration, either… either to see as, like, a proof of concept this'll work, or… or just to imagine a… a different way of, uh… of expanding the resort without necessarily having to spend.00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:28.000Stuart Winchester: you know, $20 million on a new lift. Just talk about it, if there's any relationship there, or, you know, learning how to manage it, etc.00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:51.000brian norton: A lot for me personally, and for the team here. I mean, I'm not the the people that have been out there developing that glade skiing probably aren't necessarily thinking about bracket basin, but 100%. That was the equivalent. That was, you know, I've referred to it through this whole planning process as our version of bracket basin. We've been in communication with the team up there about how they manage it, what their entrance looks like all of those things. So.00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:31.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:25:51.000 --> 00:25:54.000brian norton: Yeah, it's our version of that, 100%.00:25:54.000 --> 00:26:12.000Stuart Winchester: And just from a liability point of view, it's funny, because I grew up in Michigan, and I've been skiing the Boyne Mountains there since the 90s, and I remember you weren't allowed in the trees, and that was a big no-no. So now here you have, fast forward 30 years, and they're developing these enormous glade skiing pockets, and obviously Jay Peak was a leader.00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:17.000Stuart Winchester: our early leader in that, in New England. But what has Boyne learned, do you think.00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:25.000Stuart Winchester: by operating Brackett Basin for the last 15 years, about liability and skiers' abilities to self-manage in terrain like that.00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:36.000brian norton: Yeah, I mean, Sugarloaf, they're Sugarloafers, right? So they're a slightly different clientele than we have here, so I'm sure we'll learn different things. I think the big thing is, you know.00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:30.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:50.000brian norton: clear messaging, and… and with this project, it's… it's very different. I said it earlier, it's different than the rest of the Glades here, so, um, you gotta know what you're doing, and it's gonna be messaged that way, but it's gonna be managed that way, too, and…00:26:50.000 --> 00:27:06.000brian norton: it's gonna pull people around the resort and move people around to places that, you know, it's a bit of a destination now. Camp 3 in North Peak was already a destination, and now you've got another, you know, 300 acres or so just past there that's serviced by the same portal, so…00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:15.000brian norton: yeah, I think our patrol team's gonna have a little bit of work cut out for them, but frankly, the guys and girls that work for our team that are gonna end up over there, like.00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:18.000brian norton: They… they're looking forward to that, so…00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:22.000Stuart Winchester: Alright, well, let's talk about access a little bit. I'll tell you…00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:39.000Stuart Winchester: That, or the listeners at least, people who haven't been there. So you access this expansion through the North Peak lift. It's a high speed quad built in 2004, 1500 vertical foot, 4,800 foot long. But the view off the top is an absolute showstopper. It's one of the best.00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:49.000Stuart Winchester: in New England. I just love it. Uh, my question for you, Brian, is Flight Path 2030, your… your Loon 2030 plan, essentially 10-year plan, published around 2020.00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:55.000Stuart Winchester: did consider an upgrade for the North Peak lift. Now, it's obviously not a very old lift.00:27:55.000 --> 00:28:10.000Stuart Winchester: But I would imagine that there may be some volume considerations as you look to expand the terrain available off this lift. So, A, am I right in seeing that you will be able to fully lap Black Ridge?00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:17.000Stuart Winchester: on the North Peak lift? And B, do you have thoughts on what might be next for North Peak lift?00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:26.000brian norton: Um, yes, you access it from the top of that lift. The entrance is 150 feet from the top of that lift, maybe, off of Whatcom House.00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:26.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, thank you.00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:45.000brian norton: the primary exit is slightly lower in elevation than North Peak. You come out onto Brookway Extension there, so if you really wanted to lap it, you'd probably unclick and go down there. More often than not, I think what people will do is they'll ski down Brookway, go up Seven Brothers and a gondola, and get back over there if they want to do it again.00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:32.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:28:46.000 --> 00:29:06.000brian norton: So, yeah, I mean, access is pretty strong. In terms of replacing North Peak, yes, that lift is on our planning process. It's probably equivalent to South Peak on any given day, or Lincoln Express, I should say. On any given day, I flip-flop which one's more important. You know, we did the Timbertown expansion, and we thought, oh, these people are over here.00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:03.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:22.000brian norton: maybe we should be focused on this lift, and now we're doing this thing over here, or maybe we should be focused on North Peak, and, um, I'll tell you that the RFID data that we, you know, 3, 4 years ago, we put RFID gates at North Peak, remote up mountain, you can't get to it without passing another gate, and everyone was kind of looking at us, like.00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:19.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:29:22.000 --> 00:29:29.000brian norton: What are you doing that for? Data collection, 100%. The things we've learned about how people use that terrain have…00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:26.000Stuart Winchester: Right.00:29:29.000 --> 00:29:40.000brian norton: driven our snowmaking philosophy, our investment philosophy. Uh, it's… it's last winter that Lyft opened on day one and closed on day 151, I think it was, so it was open every day of the season, so…00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:45.000brian norton: Maybe today, if you're asking me, that one gets done before Lincoln Express.00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:48.000Stuart Winchester: And are you thinking a six-pack? One of those nice D-lines?00:29:47.000 --> 00:29:51.000brian norton: Yeah, I'm sure that's what it would be at a minimum, yeah.00:29:49.000 --> 00:29:51.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:29:51.000 --> 00:29:56.000Stuart Winchester: Okay, do you like the bubbles, like the one you have at CANC and up at Sunday River?00:29:55.000 --> 00:30:17.000brian norton: The bubbles are awesome for all the reasons they're awesome, but there are some hidden challenges with them as well, particularly when they come into the terminal. They're aerodynamic when the chairs are on the line, but when they come into the terminal, if the wind's blowing the wrong way and the bubbles opening and the wind wants to shut it or vice versa.00:29:58.000 --> 00:29:59.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:30:17.000 --> 00:30:26.000brian norton: Uh, there's a little give and take there. I… we'd probably end up with bubbles, I think, but, um, yeah, there are… it's not all… it's not all easy with them.00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:24.000Stuart Winchester: That's that.00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:34.000Stuart Winchester: It's Boyne style, right? I was surprised, actually, when I got out to Brighton, and the, uh… their new Sixer, their D-Line out there does not have bubbles. I was like, oh, this.00:30:27.000 --> 00:30:28.000brian norton: Yep.00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:42.000brian norton: Or footrests, or footrests, which is the only one that I think doesn't have footrests, and as a snowboarder, I appreciated that when I rode that.00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:36.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:52.000Stuart Winchester: Right, right, right. Yeah, well, the Utah guys don't want to bring the bar down anyway so So, you know, I always think of this expansions like this first, Brian, as a skier.00:30:52.000 --> 00:31:10.000Stuart Winchester: Unless as a customer or as someone, you know, doing a business, I'm really curious. Loon has already historically been the busiest skier in New Hampshire and the pub, the skier visits aren't public anymore. But I would imagine that's still the case. It is busy, busy, busy all the time. It is the idea here.00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:18.000Stuart Winchester: Is it to bring in more skiers, or is it to create more variety at a mountain that…00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:28.000Stuart Winchester: I really think has traditionally had the reputation as a good intermediates family mountain. To maybe start to nudge that a little bit more toward a…00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:40.000Stuart Winchester: uh, more of a Killington profile, where there's… where there's more than one kind of skier? Like, the whole family can have fun there. So is it… is it more skiers, or more terrain for the same amount of skiers to spread them out better?00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:46.000brian norton: Um, both, and I'll clarify more skiers, because, um.00:31:47.000 --> 00:31:58.000brian norton: as the ski resort develops, and as the town develops, we inch closer to destination ski resort instead of day ski resort. I think we're still a day ski resort, but we're working our way towards destination.00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:55.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:31:58.000 --> 00:32:18.000brian norton: Um, and as you become a destination, your skier visits spread equally over the 7-day week, right? We're heavily skewed to weekends right now. We're not talking about more skiers on the weekends. We're already managing tickets and limiting sales to keep guest experience where we want it. I think we can have more visits mid-week, or early season, late season.00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:33.000brian norton: this will certainly help with that, but on your peak Saturday in January, like, no, we don't… we're… we're not having more skiers here. We're… we're happy with where we're at. Um, in terms of terrain, yeah, I mean, you and I talked about it, I think, the last time we were together talking about glade skiing here.00:32:33.000 --> 00:32:40.000brian norton: We need more of it. Variety of terrain, um, is important, and this is a huge step in the right direction.00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:48.000Stuart Winchester: So I think in New England, when you talk about more skiers, more capacity, reflectively, we think parking, but you have this interesting project going on.00:32:48.000 --> 00:33:05.000Stuart Winchester: Where a pulse gondola is set to leave from near the new Timbertown quad that you put in 2023, go over the river, uh, and land, not exactly in the town of Lincoln, but to service some resorts there. Uh, I thought that project was gonna open.00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:15.000Stuart Winchester: This winter, it doesn't look like that's gonna happen. Tell us about that Pulse Gondola, Brian, what you hope to achieve with it, and kind of where you're at with approvals and permits.00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:33.000brian norton: Um, yeah, me too. I was hoping it was gonna open this winter, too. Um, yeah, we've said with that project all along that we're not really in a rush, and we want to do it right. More importantly, we want to get buy-in from all the current stakeholders, and that's where the project, um, lives. It's a really unique thing where.00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:48.000brian norton: you've got three different parties that are involved, two different completely owned land, uh, landowners, plus Loon being the easement and holders on some of that land, and, um, just working with the town currently and trying to.00:33:48.000 --> 00:34:08.000brian norton: none of us have been through this. I can't think of another example where you've got so many different entities trying to get one project approval. I actually have a planning board meeting tonight, and we're on the docket. So if you're if you're not doing anything at 6 o'clock tonight, feel free to join the zoom. Yeah. So we're we're still working on that. We've gotten essentially approval on one side. And now we're working on the loon side.00:33:56.000 --> 00:33:57.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:23.000brian norton: our hope is that that project still comes through in the next year. It's unique in the sense that it doesn't need to happen, like, for day one of ski season. It can be built during the ski season, because it's not replacing something, it's a true add to the ski resort, so…00:34:21.000 --> 00:34:22.000Stuart Winchester: Right.00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:38.000brian norton: the Daubmeyer team that would do the lift is kind of excited that, you know, they have a project that they can work on out of cycle, keep their team busy year-round, have the electricians there when they'd otherwise, you know, not be doing anything, because the crew's still standing steel somewhere else, that kind of thing.00:34:38.000 --> 00:34:39.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, okay.00:34:39.000 --> 00:34:44.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, Boyne's had a lot of success doing those sorts of lifts at Big Sky, and it's amazing what.00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:59.000Stuart Winchester: Even if it's a low capacity, low use lift, like the one and only gondola or the lift that connects to the montage out there in Big Sky, it really gives the skiers a lot of freedom. And I think it really would make a big difference in being able to connect to the town. So let's talk about a lift.00:34:59.000 --> 00:35:01.000Stuart Winchester: That would not be easy.00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:18.000Stuart Winchester: Let's talk about that. Uh, the four passenger gondola you have, I believe it's the last four passenger Gandhi left in the east. It is a monster. This is a 1738 vertical foot lift, 6970.00:35:18.000 --> 00:35:30.000Stuart Winchester: foot long, uh, and recently Loon filed an application with the Forest Service to replace it, so tell us, Brian, what you want to do with the White Mountain Gondola.00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:32.000brian norton: Yeah, so, um…00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:44.000brian norton: a really cool old lift. You probably know better than me, but one of the oldest detachables in New England. It's one of the highest utilized lifts in Boyne's network.00:35:44.000 --> 00:36:00.000brian norton: around this 10-plus months out of the year, you know, between winter and summer. Uh, two years ago, I got a text message from our lift mechanic showing me the hour meeting that was 8675309. Um, it's nearing… it's nearing 100,000 hours now, so yeah, it's due for replacement.00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:10.000brian norton: Um, we filed some paperwork with the Forest Service to get in the queue. We're still working out the details of that project, that's why we haven't really addressed it publicly.00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:23.000brian norton: Try to figure out how it fits, where it goes. It will be a D-line Omega 10, you know, 10-person cabins. Boeing style, as you like to say, you know, we're gonna do it right. It's a pivotal lift for us.00:36:19.000 --> 00:36:20.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, okay.00:36:23.000 --> 00:36:29.000brian norton: the main base area that opens first and closes last, and, um, yeah, we want to make sure we do it right. So, we will.00:36:29.000 --> 00:36:48.000Stuart Winchester: One detail I thought was really cool in the permit, Brian, was, and obviously I'm not holding you to this, the permit is, you know, the application is the application, but this notion of moving the load terminal, it gets set 100 feet or 80 feet up the hill, away from the Octagon Lodge, I imagine that opens all kinds of possibilities for you.00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:52.000Stuart Winchester: Talk about what you have in mind there and how that would change just the whole flow of Loon.00:36:52.000 --> 00:37:02.000brian norton: Yeah, the problem is that the current lift is inside of a building, and the new one, you know, without tearing the building down, is not going to go inside of the same building, so…00:36:56.000 --> 00:36:57.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, thank you.00:37:01.000 --> 00:37:03.000Stuart Winchester: Right.00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:21.000brian norton: how do we handle that? And, you know, I'd say there's a couple options on the table. Some of them is, you know, partially modifying that building, putting the lift against it, and or the polar opposite of that is just pushing it into the hillside as far as you can, and, um, you know, using the building for something else, which we have some cool ideas for.00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:36.000brian norton: Um, this lift is gonna need parking. That's a big space constraint that we don't necessarily have. I mean, those cabins aren't small, and you're talking, you know, another Kank 8 size. Probably not that big, but close to Kank 8 size, you know, parking structure to park all the cabins in, and.00:37:36.000 --> 00:37:42.000brian norton: Is parking at the top? Is parking at the bottom? You know, how do we, uh… how does our… if we put it…00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:57.000brian norton: upslope, not in the building, how does our food and beverage team that uses that as their main, you know, mover up the mountain, get food and everything else up, how do they get their food to the Summit Cafe now in the winter? And so, there's a lot of challenges with that, and that's why we haven't, you know.00:37:57.000 --> 00:38:13.000brian norton: really detailed the project, because we're… I mean, just this morning, I was walking out there, driving stakes in the ground, like, trying to visualize, okay, if we did this, how would it work? How would that work? So, yeah, ongoing, um, super exciting project, and I can't wait till we have that nailed down, and we can really start.00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:15.000brian norton: Showing people what we're doing.00:38:14.000 --> 00:38:20.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, that would be huge, and maybe quiet at the Peanut Gallery, because I know a big storyline.00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:31.000Stuart Winchester: when the cant gate went in was, why'd they do that before the gondola? And I know there's a lot of reasons for that, but… and I love the cant gate, but I'm sure you heard those same narratives. You know.00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:40.000Stuart Winchester: Out with the old, I guess. Quick note, Brian, the little sister, a 1966 Hall double.00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:57.000Stuart Winchester: has taken its last ride. I just made this connection prepping for this podcast. That's actually an original lift from Loon's opening, right? So tell us about Little Sister. It was a small lift, a hall lift, but you took it out this summer. Why was it time to retire Little Sister?00:38:57.000 --> 00:39:01.000Stuart Winchester: And what are you doing with the lift, the chairs, the pieces, the parts?00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:07.000brian norton: Yeah, so, um, Old Lyft, um, couple things. One…00:39:07.000 --> 00:39:10.000brian norton: When we installed Seven Brothers.00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:21.000brian norton: the skiers really stopped using that lift, because… sorry, when we upgraded Seven Brothers Triple to the Seven Brothers Quad, which was the old Kank Quad and got rebuilt.00:39:13.000 --> 00:39:14.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:21.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:39:21.000 --> 00:39:37.000brian norton: the lap time off Seven Brothers was just as quick as Little Sister, but you got more vertical, and we had more uphill PPH. So, um, no one was really using it for skiing. We maintained it for tubing for a while, we got out of the tubing business.00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:56.000brian norton: Um, we'll maybe be back in the tubing business in the future, but not in that location. So, um, at the same time, it needed some maintenance work. Our friends at Cypress, one of the other Boyne properties, um, needed some spare parts to one of their lifts. We had them in the drive here at Little Sister, so…00:39:56.000 --> 00:40:13.000brian norton: Um, plus, in a base area that's crammed for space, when that thing eventually, you know, physically moves away, it'll be additional space, it'll open up skiing possibilities, it'll open up more space for our seasonal programs that are in that base area, or that part of the base area over there. Uh, in terms of what we're doing with the lift.00:40:13.000 --> 00:40:30.000brian norton: Um, towers are still standing right now, the terminals are still standing, we'll hopefully get that down next summer. The chairs were all auctioned off recently, we sold a few to employees, like myself, I bought one, I'll have that hanging on my porch at my house.00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:27.000Stuart Winchester: Nice.00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:44.000brian norton: Um, the rest of… I think we sold… there was 20, or there was 31 chairs… 30 or 31 chairs, and um, we sold some to employees. We're keeping 5 for spare parts, maybe future auction-type stuff. The rest of them…00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:50.000brian norton: were auctioned off to the public, and they're benefiting two incredible local charities, one, the Pemi Valley.00:40:51.000 --> 00:41:07.000brian norton: Uh, Upper Pemi Valley Historical Society, um, who's, you know, I saw some really cool historic stuff, check out their Instagram feed, there's some cool stuff about the Riverwalk Gondola, and then they just put a couple posts. Um, and then, uh, Lincoln Friends Iraq, which, you know, one of our purposes is making sure.00:40:57.000 --> 00:40:59.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. Okay.00:41:07.000 --> 00:41:15.000brian norton: That we're connected to the community and doing everything we can for the youth of the community, and so that's what we're doing with the money, and we're proud to say that.00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:30.000Stuart Winchester: So don't go looking for Little Sister Lift this year. It is gone. That leaves you with one haul lift, a 1968 East Basin. I didn't see a map for that gondola proposal. Brian, is part of that proposal removing that East Basin haul lift?00:41:18.000 --> 00:41:20.000brian norton: And it's gone.00:41:31.000 --> 00:41:39.000brian norton: I started at East Basin and as long as I'm here, East Basin will, you know, I shouldn't say that. And maybe it'll go away, but it's not going away as part of.00:41:33.000 --> 00:41:34.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:41:34.000 --> 00:41:37.000Stuart Winchester: Okay, I love it.00:41:39.000 --> 00:41:55.000Stuart Winchester: Love that. All right, Brian, hey, I really appreciate you joining us today on the New Look Pod. You're my second guest ever, and I really want to make this timely, so the fact that we could talk about this new expansion at Loon is awesome, and I hope I can be up there on opening day.00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:57.000Stuart Winchester: And I hope that's next winter.00:41:57.000 --> 00:42:00.000brian norton: Yeah, and I hope to get out there on Black Ridge with you.00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, yeah, definitely. Well, good luck at your planning board meeting tonight, Brian. Talk to you.00:42:04.000 --> 00:42:05.000brian norton: All right. Thanks, Stuart.00:42:04.000 --> 00:42:06.000Stuart Winchester: Thanks so much. Bye.00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:06.000brian norton: Bye.00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:10.000Stuart Winchester: All right, so…00:42:11.000 --> 00:42:17.000Stuart Winchester: That is Brian Norton, President and General Manager of Loon Mountain.00:42:17.000 --> 00:42:25.000Stuart Winchester: Before we move on to the closing segment, I want to tell you about my friends at Profile Search International.00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:31.000Stuart Winchester: A lot of you come to this podcast to hear from the best minds in skiing, guys like Brian Norton.00:42:31.000 --> 00:42:41.000Stuart Winchester: Managing mountains that are making big moves like Loon. But, what if you want to find one of these great leaders for your own mountain team? Brian is pretty happily employed.00:42:41.000 --> 00:42:46.000Stuart Winchester: I'd like to introduce you to the folks at Profile Search International.00:42:46.000 --> 00:42:59.000Stuart Winchester: Profile Search are ski industry talent acquisition experts, and they are the only executive search and recruitment firm in the world that is 100% focused on the ski industry.00:42:59.000 --> 00:43:05.000Stuart Winchester: ProfileSearch has used their intimate understanding of skiing and related industries.00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:14.000Stuart Winchester: and of available candidates worldwide to place hundreds of transformational leaders at the best and most progressive ski areas over the past 30 years.00:43:14.000 --> 00:43:21.000Stuart Winchester: With offices in the US and Canada, they find and negotiate with the right leaders for your team.00:43:21.000 --> 00:43:33.000Stuart Winchester: You can reach out to Profile Search directly at profilesearch.com, or contact them by email or phone, or send me a note, and I will connect you directly with this expert team.00:43:33.000 --> 00:43:40.000Stuart Winchester: Alright, I'm really looking forward to this next segment. As promised, I am going to use this segment.00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:52.000Stuart Winchester: to read reaction to the previous podcast. I'm not at a point where I can do the podcast live, maybe someday, but right now, we are…00:43:52.000 --> 00:44:08.000Stuart Winchester: Read and react the next day. So, uh, the way that you can interact with the podcast is to make a comment on the article that accompanies this podcast on stormskeeting.com. Only paid subscribers can do that.00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:23.000Stuart Winchester: You can upgrade to the paid tier of the storm, which is the very best way to support the product@stormskiing.com. That will get you 100% of the content below the paywall, and it will also allow you to interact with the podcast, but.00:44:23.000 --> 00:44:31.000Stuart Winchester: everyone can listen to the podcast. The podcast has always been for everyone, and my intent is to keep it that way. So…00:44:31.000 --> 00:44:40.000Stuart Winchester: Some reaction to yesterday, and a lot of this is just reacting to… So yesterday, as a reminder, Joe Hessian came on, talked about…00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:43.000Stuart Winchester: The Snow Pass, uh, talked about…00:44:43.000 --> 00:44:51.000Stuart Winchester: Indy Pass and Snow Pass, both claiming Snow King and the confusion around that.00:44:51.000 --> 00:45:00.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, and I talked a little bit about, just in general, uh, the Indy Pass and the fact that smugglers not to join. So…00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:14.000Stuart Winchester: Reading the comments from top to bottom. And again, these are all paid subscribers, so thank you very much, and a lot of these folks I have been in dialogue with for years, so they're not necessarily new to me, but perhaps new to the community.00:45:14.000 --> 00:45:17.000Stuart Winchester: Starting with Peter Schlachtes.00:45:17.000 --> 00:45:21.000Stuart Winchester: So, just under an hour, in the short format?00:45:21.000 --> 00:45:27.000Stuart Winchester: I liked it. I had heard the backstory on Hessian and didn't need to hear it again.00:45:27.000 --> 00:45:30.000Stuart Winchester: It focused on the compelling stuff.00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:44.000Stuart Winchester: But remember that your growing audience, I hope, consists over time of more and more people who won't have heard or remember that context and texture and won't necessarily seek it out on an old podcast that features your speaker.00:45:44.000 --> 00:45:59.000Stuart Winchester: By the way, though, you really must make a point of steering people to relevant past podcasts that provide the backstory on guests and mountains you cover in the new format. Mention it, flash it on the screen, put it in a subtext, and leave it there, because people won't know they're interested in learning more until…00:45:59.000 --> 00:46:00.000Stuart Winchester: They are.00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:08.000Stuart Winchester: Yes, Peter, I appreciate the short comment, and short has never been my…00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:25.000Stuart Winchester: Strength. So expect some experimentation. Uh, expect me to play around with this a little bit. Expect some episodes to be longer than others. I truly will try to get some bite size episodes out there, but I, I find that the podcasts that I listen to that are news focused are usually right around an hour and.00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:34.000Stuart Winchester: And I don't run out of steam with that, as long as what they're talking about is interesting to me. As far as your point about linking to past podcasts, look.00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:38.000Stuart Winchester: One of the reasons that…00:46:38.000 --> 00:46:42.000Stuart Winchester: I had to move to a different podcast format.00:46:42.000 --> 00:46:43.000Stuart Winchester: Was that…00:46:43.000 --> 00:47:03.000Stuart Winchester: the old podcast was becoming too laborious, and part of the reason was I was too concerned with building a big story around it, and making sure that everything I mentioned had some context that a reader could go back to. And what that… and it was great, and a lot of people appreciated that, and again, I'll still do some long-form product…00:47:03.000 --> 00:47:17.000Stuart Winchester: Podcasts and I'm still doing plenty of writing, but it actually gummed things up to the point where I was just not making as many podcasts as I should be. So my goal here with the new short format podcast, keep it light, keep it moving.00:47:18.000 --> 00:47:33.000Stuart Winchester: The trend is toward search, right? So with all the AI tools and everything available, it's pretty easy to find my old podcast. I do have a master list that I linked to from the homepage, uh, and, and.00:47:33.000 --> 00:47:38.000Stuart Winchester: As much as I agree with you, it would be nice, I think that most people…00:47:38.000 --> 00:47:50.000Stuart Winchester: will just Google Joe Hessian Storm Skiing Podcast, and it will pop right up. But, we'll see how it evolves. Next comment from Mimi Ma, another long-time paid subscriber. Shout out to Mimi.00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:57.000Stuart Winchester: Like the format, especially good that I can skim read if needed, and then jump to the sections of interest. Keep up the good work. I want to make that point.00:47:57.000 --> 00:48:09.000Stuart Winchester: there is a transcript for every single episode. You can click on the transcript, and when you're reading it, you click to any section, and it will go to that section of the podcast, if you're on Substack.00:48:09.000 --> 00:48:22.000Stuart Winchester: If you're on YouTube, you won't have that capability, so you can always check out the video version on Substack. Again, if you're listening via audio on Apple or Spotify or something, you also won't have that. So, go to stormskiing.com to get that capability.00:48:22.000 --> 00:48:36.000Stuart Winchester: Comment from Robert. Quote, I think Joe's comment about Eric self-describing himself as the, quote, anti-collaborator, and I'm curious to hear what his, Eric's, answer is.00:48:36.000 --> 00:48:39.000Stuart Winchester: To what is apparently a self-reference.00:48:39.000 --> 00:48:58.000Stuart Winchester: I don't see how you can't be anti collaborative and run a ski area, not to mention operating what is effectively a business to business service business and to Benny and the need to work with all their customers. What's the business justification for not wanting to collaborate outside the sphere he controls?00:48:58.000 --> 00:49:14.000Stuart Winchester: The ski Cooper thing was a bit different in many ways. Here we're talking about two third party systems meant to drive skier visits, and at least at the moment, given the portfolios, I think it is a relatively small percentage of skiers that are most likely choosing between the snow pass and Indy.00:49:14.000 --> 00:49:27.000Stuart Winchester: Most of them, I would assume, are likely NYC Metro-based. Good stuff on the new format. Looking forward to its evolution. Look, Joe was referencing a conversation that he had with Eric. It wasn't…00:49:27.000 --> 00:49:39.000Stuart Winchester: a publicly available conversation, so this is why I'm going to get Eric on the podcast tomorrow, to give his reaction to it. I… you know, Eric, from my point of view.00:49:39.000 --> 00:49:55.000Stuart Winchester: Look at the explosive growth of IndiePass under his tenure, right? He's, he purchased the pass, I believe in 2023, and, and I believe the number of partners, and I can double check this, uh, has more than tripled since Eric took it over, and he's really done a phenomenal job.00:49:56.000 --> 00:50:08.000Stuart Winchester: transforming Black Mountain and 10x-ing revenue at a ski area, which is simply unheard of in the ski business, and making it to Benny, which is a platform that people use.00:50:08.000 --> 00:50:19.000Stuart Winchester: As with any person doing a lot of things, Eric sometimes runs into controversies, but that's what this podcast.00:50:19.000 --> 00:50:34.000Stuart Winchester: Is here for is to give folks an opportunity to air their sides of the stories. Uh, I have a lot of respect for Joe and for Eric, and I think they're both doing really cool things in the ski industry. So, so we'll, we'll see. We'll see what Eric's.00:50:34.000 --> 00:50:51.000Stuart Winchester: answer is to that. From Scott Abraham, another long-time reader, I presume your hair is still standing out from being present at the Hail Mary. Quack, he's a Ducks fan. Alright, Scott, I'm gonna move right past that one. Eric Morris, great new format. You've written great stuff on walkable ski areas. How did you develop those thoughts?00:50:51.000 --> 00:51:00.000Stuart Winchester: Are you aware of strong towns? Are you aware of the Congress of New Urbanism? Eric, thank you. Yes, that is a running theme.00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:03.000Stuart Winchester: We threw out the storm.00:51:03.000 --> 00:51:19.000Stuart Winchester: I'll say this. There's a reason I live in New York City, and it's not because I think it's the greatest place in the world. It's because I value living in a walkable community. I value a pedestrian environment. I like that I don't need to get in my car.00:51:19.000 --> 00:51:26.000Stuart Winchester: Every time I need to go to the grocery store to get a box of pancakes. And New York City offers a really.00:51:26.000 --> 00:51:30.000Stuart Winchester: Great environment for that sort of lifestyle.00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:32.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, and when you travel around Europe.00:51:32.000 --> 00:51:45.000Stuart Winchester: those sorts of communities are everywhere, including in the ski towns. And our ski areas, being developed post-World War II, were mostly developed as most of America was at the time, which is around the automobile.00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:47.000Stuart Winchester: And…00:51:47.000 --> 00:51:49.000Stuart Winchester: I don't think that…00:51:49.000 --> 00:52:04.000Stuart Winchester: Car-centric mountain towns are necessarily the best way to evolve our towns into the future. So I think there's a rethinking in order. And yes, I am familiar with the schools of new urbanism and read frequently.00:52:04.000 --> 00:52:09.000Stuart Winchester: I'm not claiming these are ideas I'm coming up with mysel

While wild animals—from horses roaming the free range to seals, sea lions, and walruses—are a beloved part of American culture and identity, the federal agencies that protect these animals must also kill them. To prevent overpopulation and intrusion onto other wildlife, these agencies must conduct “removals,” i.e. coordinated and deliberate killings of animals. This responsibility that creates an inherent tension between preserving ecological collectives and protecting the well-being of individual animals underlies Professor Natalie Jacewicz's piece, "Crafting a New Conservationism." On today's episode, Professor Jacewicz—an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of San Diego School of Law—joins us to unpack agency decision making in the field of environmental law and conservationism. Through insights gleaned from analyzing over one hundred National Environmental Policy Act reviews, Professor Jacewicz proposes a new conservationism, suggesting changes to conservation-based removals that agencies could adopt to further maximize the well-being of animals. This piece was published in Volume 113 in August 2025. Guest: Natalie Jacewicz (Assistant Professor of Law at the University of San Diego School of Law) Host, Script, Transcript: Juliette Draper (Volume 114 Podcast Editor) Production: Jonah Smith (Volume 115 Senior Technology Editor); Petra Hilton (Volume 115 Technology Editor) Soundtrack: Composed and Performed by Carter Jansen (Volume 110 Technology Editor) Introductory Quote: Judge Thelton E. Henderson

This Day in Legal History: Wallace Stands in the Schoolhouse DoorOn this day in 1963, Alabama Governor George Wallace physically stood in the doorway of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama to block the registration of Vivian Malone and James Hood, the two Black students whose enrollment had been ordered by a federal district court. Wallace's “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door” was the culmination of a long campaign of state defiance of federal desegregation orders that ran from Brown v. Board in 1954 through Cooper v. Aaron in 1958 — the case in which a unanimous Supreme Court told the Little Rock school district, and by extension every state actor, that federal constitutional rulings are the supreme law of the land and that state officials may not nullify them.President Kennedy responded to Wallace's stand by issuing Executive Order 11111, which federalized the Alabama National Guard, and ordering Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach down to Tuscaloosa to confront the governor. Wallace gave a long speech invoking states' rights and Tenth Amendment sovereignty, then stepped aside, and Malone and Hood walked in and registered. That night, Kennedy went on national television and delivered the civil rights address that put the Civil Rights Act of 1964 onto the national agenda. The legal and political throughline matters: the schoolhouse door, the executive order federalizing the Guard, the televised address, and the omnibus civil rights legislation that followed were a single coordinated federal response to massive resistance, and the institutional habit they built — the willingness of the federal political branches to back federal court orders with whatever force is necessary — is the substrate on which the modern enforcement of civil rights law sits. Whether that habit holds up under contemporary pressure is one of the live constitutional questions of our moment.The “Anti-Weaponization Fund” saga we have been following all week reached at least a partial resolution on Wednesday when Judge Leonie Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia declined to extend her temporary restraining order against the program into a preliminary injunction. The reason, in essence, is that the Justice Department has now formally represented to the court, in writing and through acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, that the $1.8 billion fund is “not going forward.” Brinkema took DOJ at its word for present purposes and dissolved the TRO, which under standard mootness doctrine is the right call when a defendant credibly commits to abandoning the challenged program. But she also did something practical: she warned the government in plain terms not to “play possum with this court,” language that gives the plaintiffs a built-in mechanism to come back fast if the fund quietly re-emerges under a different name.The substantive theory the plaintiffs were pressing — that the fund is an unappropriated expenditure of public money, that the underlying Trump-IRS settlement was a litigation in which the United States was never really adverse to the President in his personal capacity, and that the program's payout criteria are based on political characterizations of past prosecutions rather than any neutral standard — is now preserved for another day rather than litigated to judgment. The practical lesson is the durability of voluntary-cessation doctrine: a government defendant who is willing to abandon a program in court usually wins on mootness, but the cost is real, because future revivals get scrutinized against the prior representation. Watch the Federal Register and the DOJ component-level budget submissions for the next six months — if there is a successor program coming, those are where the first signal appears.Judge declines to halt “anti-weaponization fund” since Blanche says it's dead, but warns DOJ not to “play possum” | CBS NewsA coalition of environmental and tribal-nation plaintiffs filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Wednesday seeking to block a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-approved land exchange that would transfer 715 acres of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge to SpaceX, in return for 683 acres of privately owned land elsewhere. The plaintiffs are the Center for Biological Diversity, Save RGV, the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas, and the South Texas Environmental Justice Network.The legal theory of the case is unusually multi-statute: the complaint alleges violations of the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997, the National Historic Preservation Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act, with the central administrative-law argument being that the Fish and Wildlife Service's environmental analysis failed to grapple seriously with impacts on endangered ocelots, aplomado falcons, and a long list of migratory species whose habitat the refuge was designed to protect when Congress created it in 1979. The plaintiffs describe this as one of the largest national-wildlife-refuge land exchanges outside Alaska, and the suit asks for vacatur of the exchange decision rather than damages — the standard APA remedy.The political and infrastructural backdrop is hard to miss: SpaceX's Starbase facility at Boca Chica has been expanding into the Lower Rio Grande Valley for years now, and the exchange would consolidate the company's footprint on land previously held for the protection of one of the last remaining ocelot ranges in the country. The merits of the case will turn on the rigor of the FWS environmental analysis. Expect a request for a preliminary injunction within weeks.Lawsuit challenges Trump administration's land swap with SpaceX in Texas | The Washington PostA Los Angeles County jury on Wednesday added $22 million in punitive damages to the $176 million compensatory verdict already entered against socialite and former philanthropist Rebecca Grossman and former Major League Baseball pitcher Scott Erickson, bringing the total civil award to the Iskander family to roughly $198 million.The underlying facts of the case are stark: in September 2020, Grossman and Erickson left a Westlake Village restaurant after drinking and street-raced separate Mercedes SUVs through a residential neighborhood, with Grossman striking and killing two young brothers, Mark and Jacob Iskander, then 11 and 8, as they crossed a marked crosswalk with their parents.Grossman was convicted of two counts of murder in 2024 and is serving 15 years to life. The civil case the family brought is the wrongful-death companion, and the punitive damages award the jury added on Wednesday is the part that does the most policy work: the jury split the punitive award $21 million against Grossman, $1.17 million against Erickson, which under California's reprehensibility-and-net-worth framework reflects both the much greater direct culpability of Grossman as the driver and the substantial disparity in their respective financial positions.The case is notable beyond the parties involved because of how clean it is on the standard punitive-damages analysis the Supreme Court laid out in BMW v. Gore and State Farm v. Campbell: high reprehensibility, a relatively modest single-digit ratio of punitive-to-compensatory damages, and an underlying compensatory award that itself was supported by the gravity of the loss. Watch for an appeal that focuses on the compensatory rather than the punitive number — that is where the appellate leverage actually is.Jury Ups Philanthropist, Ex-Pitcher Crash Verdict To $198M | Law360 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

Interview with Hugh Agro, President & CEO of Revival Gold Inc.Debra Struhsacker, US Permitting & Public Policy AdvisorOur previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/revival-gold-tsxvrvg-funded-to-2028-decision-targets-2029-output-up-to-350m-cash-flow-10284Recording date: 27th May 2026Revival Gold, a Canadian-listed junior mining company, is advancing two gold projects in the United States—Mercur in Utah and Beartrack-Arnett in Idaho—with a combined resource of approximately 6 million ounces. Despite an estimated net asset value of around $1.3 billion, the company's market capitalization remains near $200 million, highlighting a significant valuation gap that underpins its investment case.The Mercur project is the company's primary near-term focus and is positioned as a potential low-cost, high-cash-flow operation. Located on private land in Utah, Mercur benefits from simplified permitting under state jurisdiction, reducing regulatory complexity and timelines. The project also has strong infrastructure advantages, including existing power, road access, and water resources. Revival Gold is targeting a preliminary feasibility study by the first quarter of 2027, followed by a full feasibility study by year-end and a construction decision in early 2028. At current gold prices, Mercur is to generate annual free cash flow of $300–$350 million.The broader regulatory environment in the United States has become increasingly supportive of domestic mining. Recent reforms to the National Environmental Policy Act, alongside federal policy shifts prioritizing mineral security, have streamlined permitting processes and improved project visibility. These changes are expected to benefit companies like Revival Gold operating in mining-friendly jurisdictions.Beartrack-Arnett, the company's second asset in Idaho, already has a completed feasibility study and existing infrastructure. However, management believes it is largely unrecognized in the current valuation, offering additional upside potential as exploration continues to expand the resource at depth.With a clear development timeline, favorable jurisdictional dynamics, and significant leverage to rising gold prices, Revival Gold represents a leveraged play on U.S.-based gold development, with substantial re-rating potential as key milestones are achieved.View Revival Gold's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/revival-gold-incSign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com

Share your Field Stories!We're LIVE from NAEP 2026 in Anchorage! Nic leads a special on-stage episode featuring Anna Kohl, Carolyn Nelson, and Fred Wagner as they dive into Alaska's unique environmental landscape, NEPA challenges, and the realities of project delivery. With candid insights, legal perspectives, and memorable field stories, this live recording captures the humor, complexity, and energy of environmental work in action.Welcome back to Environmental Professionals Radio, Connecting the Environmental Professionals Community Through Conversation, with your hosts Laura Thorne and Nic Frederick! Help us continue to create great content! If you'd like to sponsor a future episode hit the support podcast button or visit www.environmentalprofessionalsradio.com/sponsor-form Please be sure to ✔️subscribe, ⭐rate and ✍review. This podcast is produced by the National Association of Environmental Professions (NAEP). Check out all the NAEP has to offer at NAEP.org.Connect with Anna Kohl at https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-kohl-cep-8184159/Guest Bio:Anna Kohl was born and raised in Anchorage and left for college before realizing there was much to explore back home. She obtained a BA in Geology from Mount Holyoke College and worked in coffee shops and remediation before landing at HDR Engineering in 2004, where she has been ever since. Anna's technical background is in the NEPA and impact analysis/environmental science fields, though she currently is the Operations Manager for 150 engineers, planners, scientists, GIS professionals, and other smart folks who make up HDR in Alaska. An active member of NAEP and a Trustee of ABCEP, she obtained a certificate in NEPA from the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment in 2012 and her CEP in 2017.Connect with Carolyn Nelson at https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolyn-nelson-p-e-02768977/Guest Bio:Carolyn Nelson is responsible for providing technical assistance for NEPA compliance and other related environmental laws and Executive Orders as Director of Environmental Analysis & Compliance Division of PHMSA.  Carolyn has over 30 years' experience as a geometric design engineer and NEPA practitioner.  She was Co-Chair of the White House Interagency Council (IAC), NEPA Committee and is recognized as a national expert for NEPA compliance. Carolyn has worked at Headquarters of the FHWA and also in the FHWA Michigan Division Office. Prior to FHWA, she worked for the Michigan DOT and CH2M Hill (now Jacobs).Connect with Fred Wagner at https://linkedin.com/in/fred-wagner-59043019Guest Bio:Fred Wagner focuses on environmental and natural resources issues concerning major infrastructure, including surface transportation, energy, mining, and commercial project development. Fred advises clients on environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act or equivalent state statutes. He also helps secure permits and approvals from regulators under a variety of federal programs, including Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act. Fred provides strategic counseling regarding implementation of the full spectrum of federal environmental programs, as well as U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) surface transportation grant management and safety regulations. Prior to joining Jacobs, Fred represented a wide variety of developers, public entities, and businesses in environmental, land use, and natural resources litigation in federal trial and appellate courts across the country, from citizen suits to government enforcement actions and Administration Procedure Act (APA) challenges. Most recently, Fred was counsel of record in the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition NEPA case before the U.S. Supreme Court.Music CreditsIntro: Givin Me Eyes by Grace MesaOutro: Never Ending Soul Groove by Mattijs MullerSupport the showThanks for listening! A new episode drops every Friday. Like, share, subscribe, and/or sponsor to help support the continuation of the show. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and all your favorite podcast players. 

America is facing an energy supply crisis created by surging demand for electricity from data centres. A transition to a lower-carbon system requires massive investment in new clean energy infrastructure. But legal and regulatory structures mean that developing projects in the US is often an uncertain, drawn-out and expensive process.To take just one example, new transmission infrastructure is vital for connecting renewable generation to concentrations of electricity demand. But the last time the US added more than 1,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines in a year was 2016.In this episode, host Ed Crooks is joined by Representative Scott Peters to discuss what Congress can do to help fix that. Scott is a Democratic member of the House of Representatives and a co-sponsor of the bipartisan CERTAIN Act, a new bill that attempts to take some of the risk and unpredictability out of the legal procedures for project development.Along with regular contributor Melissa Lott, Partner for Energy Technologies at Microsoft, they discuss whether reform of the permitting system can really help expedite investment in new energy projects. And they assess how likely it is that Congress will be able to make a deal and get a more streamlined system passed into law. The conversation starts with NEPA, the National Environmental Policy Act. Passed in 1970, it is the bedrock for environmental permitting for infrastructure projects. It is also the most litigated environmental statute in the US. A major project can take four years to prepare an environmental impact statement, with another four years of litigation to follow. As Scott points out, when NEPA was written there were few other environmental protections. Now there are dozens, yet the review process has only grown more burdensome.Melissa frames the core tension: NEPA was designed to inform decisions, not make them. But open-ended review processes have effectively become the decision, determining which projects live or die.Scott explains the current state of the legislative landscape. There are three key elements of a potential bipartisan agreement on reform. The CERTAIN act sets regular permitting milestones and protects issued permits from arbitrary revocation. The SPEED Act, which has already passed in the House, limits the need for environmental reviews, shortens timetables, and restricts the scope for subsequent challenges in the courts. And there are moves for new legislation specifically to support development of electricity transmission. A final deal in Congress is likely to include all three elements. Melissa discusses whether federal reform alone can transform the pace of delivery. Ed raises the question of whether the legal rights and political authorities enshrined in the US system mean that infrastructure development must always be a costly and protracted business. He cites Wood Mackenzie data showing US solar costs are more than double those in China. Scott counters with Texas, where a free-market approach has driven rapid renewable deployment, not because of climate concerns but because the market demanded it.The politics of permitting reform have shifted. Republicans wanted to limit the federal government's ability to block oil and gas projects. Now many Democrats support curbs on the executive's power to obstruct renewable energy development. The issue has risen up the political agenda after the Trump administration moved to block offshore wind projects already under construction, and delayed permits for onshore wind.Scott closes by arguing that this is the best opportunity for lasting permitting reform that he has seen in his 14 years in Congress. This episode is sponsored by Bechtel.Nuclear is back — and Bechtel is helping build what comes next. For more than 70 years, Bechtel has helped shape the nuclear industry, from work on the world's first commercial nuclear reactor to designing, constructing, and servicing more than 150 nuclear plants worldwide. Bechtel has helped bring more than 76,000 megawatts of nuclear power online globally. Today, Bechtel is helping deliver the next generation of nuclear energy — from large-scale plants to small modular and advanced reactors — using the company's decades of mega-project delivery experience to bring new nuclear online safely, reliably, and at scale. Learn more at bechtel.com/nuclear See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episode SummaryThe latest episode of the “The Stream by AASHTO” podcast features Russell McMurry – commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation – discussing his emphasis areas as 2025-2026 president of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials; emphasis areas focused on safety, National Environmental Policy Act or NEPA compliance, ways to improve project delivery, and federal surface transportation funding reauthorization.Episode NotesThis podcast series is part of the AASHTO Environmental Management technical service program operated by AASHTO. It explores a wide array of environmental topics that affect state departments of transportation and the infrastructure programs they oversee.In this episode, McMurry – who graduated cum laude from Georgia Southern University with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering – traces his career path at Georgia DOT; starting as an intern in 1990 and then progressing all the way up to his appointment as commissioner in 2015.McMurry also shares what he's learned over the more than three decades he's spent at Georgia DOT in a wide variety of roles, such as construction project manager, district engineer, director of engineering, chief engineer, and planning director. McMurry also discusses his emphasis areas as AASHTO president, especially in terms of how he selected them. His focus areas include surface transportation reauthorization, improvement of project delivery, and safety. “Until there are zero deaths on our nation's highways and roadsides, we all have work to do,” he said.Finally, McMurry details what federal surface transportation funding reauthorization legislation could look like if passed by Congress this year; a bill he hopes will contain strong formula funding programs to support state transportation needs and how he wants it to be easier for states to take on NEPA assignment duties from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Share your Field Stories!Welcome back to Environmental Professionals Radio, Connecting the Environmental Professionals Community Through Conversation, with your hosts Laura Thorne and Nic Frederick! On today's episode, we talk with Fred Wager, Principal Environmental Regulatory Advisor with Jacobs about The Endangerments Clause, Updates to ESA, and the Future of WOTUS.   Read his full bio below.Help us continue to create great content! If you'd like to sponsor a future episode hit the support podcast button or visit www.environmentalprofessionalsradio.com/sponsor-form Showtimes: 0:29 - Cute animal facts!1:28 - Navigating travel chaos10:39 - Interview with Fred Wagner starts16:15 - Unpacking the Endangerment Clause and Major Questions Doctrine 27:47 - The future of WOTUS and endangered species act interpretations37:44 - Examining Section 106 and historic preservation challenges40:53 - Optimism, regulatory resilience, and concluding thoughtsPlease be sure to ✔️subscribe, ⭐rate and ✍review. This podcast is produced by the National Association of Environmental Professions (NAEP). Check out all the NAEP has to offer at NAEP.org.Connect with Fred Wagner at linkedin.com/in/fred-wagner-59043019Guest Bio:Fred Wagner focuses on environmental and natural resources issues concerning major infrastructure, including surface transportation, energy, mining, and commercial project development. Fred advises clients on environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act or equivalent state statutes. He also helps secure permits and approvals from regulators under a variety of federal programs, including Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act. Fred provides strategic counseling regarding implementation of the full spectrum of federal environmental programs, as well as U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) surface transportation grant management and safety regulations. Prior to joining Jacobs, Fred represented a wide variety of developers, public entities, and businesses in environmental, land use, and natural resources litigation in federal trial and appellate courts across the country, from citizen suits to government enforcement actions and Administration Procedure Act (APA) challenges. Most recently, Fred was counsel of record in the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition NEPA case before the U.S. Supreme Court.Music CreditsIntro: Givin Me Eyes by Grace MesaOutro: Never Ending Soul Groove by Mattijs MullerSupport the showThanks for listening! A new episode drops every Friday. Like, share, subscribe, and/or sponsor to help support the continuation of the show. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and all your favorite podcast players.

One of the country's most fundamental environmental laws is under threat. President Trump is rolling back the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA.NEPA requires federal agencies to consider a project's potential environmental impacts before deciding whether to approve it. The Trump administration says scaling back NEPA would bring infrastructure and energy projects to life without unnecessary delays.  Ron Eckstein is very familiar with NEPA. He's a retired state DNR wildlife biologist who spent his career in northern Wisconsin. He saw firsthand how NEPA helped with management of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. Eckstein is also a founding member of Wisconsin's Green Fire, a group that promotes science-based management of our state's natural resources. He joins WUWM environmental reporter Susan Bence.  

A Minneapolis reporter speaks on covering the federal immigration crack down there. Why Wisconsin's Republican-led legislature is getting new constitutional amendments on the ballot. What the National Environmental Policy Act is supposed to do.

Three legal expert jointed the podcast to discuss the Land Use Cases of the Year. Reed Asselbaye is a Law Clerk at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, Craig Notte is a Partner at Borah, Goldstein, Altschuler, Nahins & Goidel, P.C., and Scott Hazelton is the Owner of Sunflower Peak Planning. They discussed impactful land use cases related to the National Environmental Policy Act, rent control, eminent domain, and affordable housing. Host: Dan Bolin

Before leaving town for the holidays, the House votes 221-196 to pass the SPEED Act, which would accelerate construction projects that need federal permits under the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA.  How much difference could the legislation make, and does it have a shot at 60 votes in the Senate? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wednesday, December 17th, 2025Today, Pete Hegseth refuses to release the full video of the double tap boat strike in the Caribbean; Mike Johnson refuses to hold a vote on extending the Affordable Care Act subsidies; the Trump administration says the White House East Wing destruction is a matter of national security; enforcement of Texas' bathroom bill draws challenges; Trump sues the BBC for $10B over edited January 6th insurrection speech; Kushner abandons his plan to build a hotel in Serbia amid backlash; Denver rejects the Key Lime Air airport lease because of ICE flights; election thief Tina Peters' lawyer demands Colorado honor Trump's pardon; Pulitzer Board members hit Trump with discovery in his lawsuit; Vanity Fair publishes a two-part expose on Trump Chief of Staff Susie Wiles; and Allison and Dana deliver and your Good News.Thank You, Naked WinesTo get 6 bottles of wine for $39.99, head to http://nakedwines.com/DAILYBEANS and use code DAILYBEANS for both the code and password. Guest: Isabela Dias - Reporter at Mother Jones https://www.motherjones.comhttps://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/11/dreamers-daca-trump-deportation-detention-betrayal-big-feature/https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/12/noem-trump-dhs-ice-year-of-hell-immigrants-punitive-theatre-cecot/Subscribe to the MSW YouTube Channel - MSW Media - YouTubeStoriesHegseth says he won't publicly release video of boat strike that killed survivors in the Caribbean | PBS NewsHouse Republican leaders ditch vote on ACA funding, all but ensuring premiums will rise | NBC NewsTrump sues BBC for billions | POLITICOTina Peters' lawyers citing Trump pardon launch new efforts to free her | Colorado NewslineAfter Backlash, Jared Kushner Drops Plan to Build a Trump Hotel in Serbia | WSJPulitzer Prize Board members dump broad discovery demands on Trump for tax returns, psych records, and 'any' prescription meds history | Law and CrimeTrump administration says White House ballroom construction is a matter of national security | AP NewsEnforcement of Texas' bathroom bill draws challenges | Texas TribuneICE flights cited in Denver's denial of Key Lime airport lease | Colorado NewslineTakeaways From Susie Wiles's Vanity Fair Interviews Describing Trump World | NYTGood Trouble - https://near.tl/sm/ik-ZushRaJOIN IT GETS BETTER FOR QUEER-A-THON live on Twitch - their year-end fundraising stream and safe celebration space for LGBTQ+ youth! On Wednesday, December 17th starting 2:15pm ET/11:15am PT - ItGetsBetter - TwitchAllison is donating $20K to It Gets Better and inviting you to help match her donations. Your support makes this work possible, Daily Beans fam.http://itgetsbetter.org/dailybeansdonate From The Good NewsThe Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition (PIRC) https://pircoregon.org/Voices United On the Road Forward - https://voicesunitedrr.orgAdopt Camila (HANNA CITY, IL  61536) - https://www.samsrescue.org/contact-us.html→Go To https://DailyBeansPod.com Click on ‘Good News and Good Trouble' to Share Yours Our Donation Linkshttps://www.nationalsecuritylaw.org/donate, https://secure.actblue.com/donate/msw-bwc, http://WhistleblowerAid.org/beansJoin Dana and The Daily Beans and support on Giving Tuesdayhttp://onecau.se/_ekes71Federal workers - email AG at fedoath@pm.me and let me know what you're going to do, or just vent. I'm always here to listen. Dr. Allison Gill - https://www.muellershewrote.com, https://bsky.app/profile/muellershewrote.com, https://instagram.com/muellershewrote, https://www.youtube.com/@MSWMediaPodsDana Goldberg - https://bsky.app/profile/dgcomedy.bsky.social, https://www.instagram.com/dgcomedy, https://www.facebook.com/dgcomedy, https://danagoldberg.comMore from MSW Media - https://mswmedia.com/shows, Cleanup On Aisle 45 pod, https://www.muellershewrote.comReminder - you can see the pod pics if you become a Patron. The good news pics are at the bottom of the show notes of each Patreon episode! That's just one of the perks of subscribing! patreon.com/muellershewrote Listener Survey:http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=BffJOlI7qQcF&ver=shortFollow the Podcast on Apple:https://apple.co/3XNx7ckWant to support the show and get it ad-free and early?https://patreon.com/thedailybeanshttps://dailybeans.supercast.com/https://apple.co/3UKzKt0 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tuesday, December 16th, 2025Today, prolific actor, writer director and producer Rob Reiner and his incredible wife Michelle were found murdered in their home in Brentwood California; authorities are releasing the suspect they had in custody for the shooting at Brown University in Rhode Island; a national preservation group is suing to stop Trump's construction of the now demolished East Wing of the White House; a jet blue plane avoided a near mid air collision with a military plane near Venezuela; and Allison and Dana deliver and your Good News.Thank You, Helix20% Off Sitewide, when you go to http://HelixSleep.com/dailybeansGuest: Brian Wenke Executive Director of It Gets Betterhttps://itgetsbetter.orghttps://www.instagram.com/itgetsbetter, https://bsky.app/profile/itgetsbetter.bsky.social https://www.tiktok.com/@itgetsbetter, https://www.tumblr.com/itgetsbetterhttps://www.twitch.tv/itgetsbetter/ItGetsBetter | TwitchJOIN IT GETS BETTER FOR QUEER-A-THON live on Twitch - their year-end fundraising stream and safe celebration space for LGBTQ+ youth! On Wednesday, December 17th starting 2:15pm ET/11:15am PT - ItGetsBetter - TwitchAllison is donating $20K to It Gets Better and inviting you to help match her donations. Your support makes this work possible, Daily Beans fam.http://itgetsbetter.org/dailybeansdonateSubscribe to the MSW YouTube Channel - MSW Media - YouTubeStoriesRob Reiner's Son Nick Arrested in Deaths of Director and His Wife: Live Updates | NYThttps://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/12/15/us/rob-michele-reiner-deadAuthorities will release person detained in Brown University shooting | AP Newshttps://apnews.com/article/brown-university-shooting-suspect-search-1da03b12b2eac2b530172667d3df30c4JetBlue plane near Venezuela avoids ‘midair collision' with US Air Force aircraft | CNNhttps://www.cnn.com/2025/12/14/politics/jetblue-venezuela-us-air-forceNational preservation group sues to halt East Wing ballroom construction | POLITICOhttps://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/12/trump-east-wing-ballroom-lawsuit-00689260Good Trouble - https://near.tl/sm/ik-ZushRaOur Good Trouble Today Comes From Jess Craven over at Chop Wood Carry WaterIn the wake of yet another Mass Shooting at a School - Call your Senators and House Reps and call to reopen the Gun Violence Prevention Office which Trump Shut down in his first week of office. She provides a handy script to follow:Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.I'm calling to demand that Congress act on gun violence NOW. Australia saw a horrific mass shooting this weekend and their government is already in action, preparing a special session in which they will tighten their gun laws. What are we doing here? 46,000 people die from gun violence every year in our country and Congress keeps refusing to act. It's unconscionable. We want an assault weapons ban. We want universal background checks. We want safe storage laws. And we want the office of Gun Violence Prevention, which Trump shut down in his first week in office, to be reopened immediately. Nothing less will do.”More at Chop Wood, Carry Water 12/15 - by Jess CravenContacting U.S. Senators, Find Your Representative | house.gov From The Good Newshttps://www.wirth4congress.comhttp://ssa.govhttps://www.queermunitymn.comtwitch.tv/miss_serenity13→Go To https://DailyBeansPod.com Click on ‘Good News and Good Trouble' to Share Yours Our Donation Linkshttps://www.nationalsecuritylaw.org/donate, https://secure.actblue.com/donate/msw-bwc, http://WhistleblowerAid.org/beansJoin Dana and The Daily Beans and support on Giving Tuesdayhttp://onecau.se/_ekes71Federal workers - email AG at fedoath@pm.me and let me know what you're going to do, or just vent. I'm always here to listen. Dr. Allison Gill - https://www.muellershewrote.com, https://bsky.app/profile/muellershewrote.com, https://instagram.com/muellershewrote, https://www.youtube.com/@MSWMediaPodsDana Goldberg - https://bsky.app/profile/dgcomedy.bsky.social, https://www.instagram.com/dgcomedy, https://www.facebook.com/dgcomedy, https://danagoldberg.comMore from MSW Media - https://mswmedia.com/shows, Cleanup On Aisle 45 pod, https://www.muellershewrote.comReminder - you can see the pod pics if you become a Patron. The good news pics are at the bottom of the show notes of each Patreon episode! That's just one of the perks of subscribing! patreon.com/muellershewrote Listener Survey:http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=BffJOlI7qQcF&ver=shortFollow the Podcast on Apple:https://apple.co/3XNx7ckWant to support the show and get it ad-free and early?https://patreon.com/thedailybeanshttps://dailybeans.supercast.com/https://apple.co/3UKzKt0 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tell us what you think of the show! This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm's Mike Casey.This week's episode features special guest Jael Holzman from Heatmap News, who wrote about several senators who came out against the SPEED Act, a bill that would change the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA.This week's "Cleantecher of the Week" is Ryan Johnson, the CEO of Culdesac Tempe, a rental development outside of Phoenix. He modeled a blueprint for living in a walkable place, so residents don't need to use cars. Johnson said quote, “It's one of the best things we can do for climate, health, happiness, low cost of living, and even low cost of government.” Congratulations, to Ryan!This Week in Cleantech — December 12, 2025 Federal judge throws out Trump order blocking development of wind energy – AP NewsHow a Nuclear-Fossil Fuel Alliance Is Winning the Fight for Energy Dominance — BloombergDriving Xiaomi's Electric Car: Are we Cooked? — Marques BrownleeWill the Self-Driving Cars of the Future Lower Emissions? — The New York TimesExclusive: Key Senate Democrats Oppose Permitting Bill — Heatmap NewsWant to make a suggestion for This Week in Cleantech? Nominate the stories that caught your eye each week by emailing Paul.Gerke@clarionevents.com

Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.   In this episode, Justin interviews Julia Anna Potts, President and CEO of the Meat Institute, about her career, background, lifelong interest in agriculture and food, and how she joined the Meat Institute following a career in environmental law. The discussion covers the role of the Meat Institute in the food supply chain and how it serves member companies and the food industry in general, through its food safety best practices and a free online course, "The Foundations of Listeria Control." Julia reveals the Protein PACT initiative and explains how food safety relates to risk management with their shared values. She tells how meat processors are good community members. Listen for advice on the culture of safety and how it starts at the very top of the organization.   Key Takeaways: [:01] About RIMS and RIMScast. [:17] About this episode of RIMScast. We will be joined by Julia Anna Potts, the CEO of the Meat Institute. We'll discuss food safety and education, and risk frameworks that the Institute uses to ensure that our food and supply chains are clean. But first… [:47] The next RIMS-CRMP-FED Exam Prep with AFERM will be held on December 3rd and 4th. The next RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep with PARIMA will be held on December 4th and 5th. These are virtual courses. [1:03] Links to these courses can be found through the Certifications page of RIMS.org and through this episode's show notes. [1:11] RIMS Virtual Workshops! On November 19th and 20th, Ken Baker will lead the two-day course, "Applying and Integrating ERM." [1:24] "Managing Data for ERM" will be led again by Pat Saporito. That session will start on December 11th. Registration closes on December 10th. RIMS members always enjoy deep discounts on the virtual workshops. [1:40] The full schedule of virtual workshops can be found on the RIMS.org/education and RIMS.org/education/online-learning pages. A link is also in this episode's notes. [1:52] This episode is released on November 18th, 2025, Day Two of the RIMS ERM Conference in Seattle, Washington. We've covered a lot of ERM ground in the last few episodes. For more ERM, click the link to the RIMS ERM Special Edition of Risk Management magazine in the notes. [2:18] RIMScast ERM coverage is linked as well. Enhance your ERM knowledge with RIMS! [2:24] On with the show! Our guest is Julie Anna Potts. She is the President and CEO of the Meat Institute. She leads the Institute in implementing programs and activities for the association. [2:38] She is an agricultural veteran, previously serving the American Farm Bureau Federation as its Executive Vice President. [2:47] With Thanksgiving coming up next week in the U.S., I thought this would be a great time on RIMScast to talk about food safety, food production, and what another not-for-profit is doing to ensure the safety of our products and the speed and efficiency of our supply chain. [3:07] We're going to have a lot of fun and talk turkey, so let's get to it! [3:12] Interview! Julie Anna Potts, welcome to RIMScast! [3:27] Julie Anna Potts and RIMS CEO, Gary LaBranche, are both part of the Committee of 100 with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. They get together with other association heads across industries. Julie Anna says it is very valuable. [3:44] Julie Anna and Gary were talking in the summer about food safety and about what the Meat Institute does, and Gary invited her to be on RIMScast. [3:57] Justin notes that it is the week before Thanksgiving in the U.S. Juliana says they are doing so much in Washington now, and food safety is always top-of-mind around the holidays. There are lots of turkeys and turkey products being sold in the United States. [4:45] Julie Anna says turkey is cultural for Thanksgiving, and poultry, and how you cook it and handle it in the kitchen is incredibly important for food safety. [5:01] Justin asks, Is fish meat? Julianna says fish is protein, but we don't classify it as meat or poultry. Justin wants to keep the argument going with his family at Thanksgiving. [5:31] Julie Anna says they have lots of arguments around the Meat Institute, like whether ketchup belongs on hot dogs. Julie Anna says the answer to that is no. [5:41] Julie Anna has been at the Meat Institute for a little over seven years. She came in as President and CEO. She has been in Washington for most of her career, since undergrad. She graduated from law school in D.C. and worked at a firm. [5:59] Julie Anna has been in agriculture, representing farmers for years. She went to the Senate as Chief Counsel of the Senate Agriculture Committee. She has been at the Meat Institute for the last seven years. [6:19] Food and agriculture have been central to Julie Anna's career and also to her family life. Her husband grew up on a farm. Julie Anna is two generations off the farm. [6:32] They love to cook, dine out, and eat with their children; all the things you do around the holidays, and gather around the Thanksgiving table. They have passed to one of their three children their love of food traditions. She's their little foodie. [6:52] Julie Anna has a career and a personal life that is centered around food. [7:11] The Meat Institute members are the companies that slaughter animals and do further processing of meat. They are in the supply chain between livestock producers and retail and food service customers. [7:35] To be a general member of the Meat Institute, you have to have a Grant of Inspection from the Food Safety Inspection Service of the USDA. The Federal Grant of Inspection is a requirement to be able to operate and to sell into the market. [7:56] When we look at the capacity we have at the USDA, in the last several months, we're not seeing a decline in capacity, but more emphasis on our Food Safety Inspection Service. [8:18] Through DOGE, voluntary retirements, through additional resources coming in with the One Big Beautiful Bill, and through recruiting, the Meat Institute is seeing its member companies have staffing, even through this government shutdown. They're considered essential, as always.  [8:54] The Meat Institute was established in 1906 for the purpose of addressing food safety and industry issues. Those are Jobs One, Two, and Three, every day. The Meat Institute has all kinds of education it offers to its members. [9:15] The members of the Meat Institute have strong food safety programs. They have HASSA Plans and third-party audits. The Meat Institute helps any member company of any size, from 25 employees to global companies, with education on, for example, Listeria training.   [9:53] The Meat Institute has just launched an online platform that has had great uptake. If you have associates in your business who have never had food safety training, for all levels of folks, there is online, free, and freely available training on how to deal with Listeria. [10:19] All the Meat Institute member companies have significant Food Safety staffing and Food Safety Quality Assurance Programs. Julie Anna praises the people throughout the industry who work in Food Safety for their companies. It's a life-or-death matter. [10:45] Food Safety staff are always seeking to become better, so the Meat Institute has a Food Safety Conference and Advanced Listeria Training (an in-person module). They interface with the regulators, who are partners with the Meat Institute in this.  [11:14] The Meat Institute is always striving for better Best Management Practices across everyone's programs, which are never just the minimum. A philosophy of doing just what is compliant does not get you into the best space. [11:36] The Meat Institute is here to encourage Best in Class, always. Food Safety is non-competitive in the Meat Institute. Everyone across the different-sized companies, from 25 employees to 100,000, can feel comfortable sharing what's working for them. [12:06] That is important when it comes to conferences and other things they do. Let's be candid with each other, because nobody can get better if you're not. [12:17] The Meat Institute has seen cultural issues where CEOs don't think about Food Safety and Quality Assurance because they have great people taking care of it. That's true a lot of the time, until it isn't. [12:42] The tone that needs to be set at the very top of the organization is that this is hugely important for risk management. Hugely important for your brand and your ability to operate. [12:56] The Meat Institute board asked, if we are pushing culture down through the organization, what kinds of questions do I need to ask, not just my Food Safety Team, but everyone, and demonstrating my knowledge, understanding, and commitment to governance of this big risk? [13:31] The Meat Institute created a template of a set of questionnaires for executives. It is a C-Suite document and documentation. [13:47] It's a voluntary questionnaire for a CEO, regardless of company size, indicating that you understand how important this is in ensuring that everything that you push down through your organization, culturally, is focused on Food Safety. [14:05] The link to the Listeria Safety Platform is in this episode's show notes. [14:11] Justin says the structure of the Meat Institute is very similar to the structure of RIMS, with open communications and knowledge-sharing, or else the industry does not grow or improve. [14:27] Justin says it sounds like the industry executives are stepping up their game amid the tumult coming out of Washington. Julie Anna agrees. [14:47] Julie Anna says the Meat Institute has been driving that progress. It is incredibly important. Julie Anna thinks that in a lot of industries, there is a pull and tug between the companies and regulators. [15:07] In the case of meat and poultry inspection and what the Meat Institute does with FSIS, it is a collaboration. The inspectors verify for consumers what the companies are doing to keep food safe. [15:28] It is up to the company to decide how it is going to do this effectively and successfully and get better at it. [15:41] Numerous third parties do audits and help customers across the supply chain, but the responsibility rests with the companies. [15:59] The Meat Institute staff has highly technical people who come out of academia, out of the plant, having done FSQA, Legal, and safety regulations. There are folks who have been in inspection in the government at FSIS. [16:29] The Meat Institute has several staff whose job it is to stay on top of the latest improvements and ensure that everybody knows what those are, and in dialogue with our FSIS inspection leadership here in Washington, D.C. [16:46] The Meat Institute looks to FSIS to make sure that consumer confidence is there. It does nothing for our industry if consumers think that FSIS isn't being an effective regulator. [17:11] The Meat Institute companies have to be the ones that do more than the bare minimum to ensure they're doing the best they can. The Meat Institute's philosophy is always to push further and further. [17:25] There is an expense associated with that. The Meat Institute does its best to help manage that risk for its companies by giving them everything they need to be the best that they can be. [17:40] The Meat Institute has 36 employees. They are very transparent in the Food Safety world. They want non-members to take advantage of all their resources in Food Safety. A lot of the things they offer on education and regulations can be accessed without being a member. [18:14] The Meat Institute has recently joined an alliance to stop food-borne illness and is looking to get more engaged in that organization. That's across several segments, not just meat and poultry. [18:35] The Meat Institute has committed and re-committed over the years to the efforts it makes with its companies. The Meat Institute looks for its companies to be leaders in the Food Safety space. [18:53] Quick Break! The RIMS CRO Certificate Program in Advanced Enterprise Risk Management is our live virtual program led by the famous James Lam. Great news! A third cohort has been announced, from January through March 2026! [19:14] Registration closes January 5th. Enroll now. A link is in this episode's show notes. [19:22] Save the dates March 18th and 19th, 2026, for The RIMS Legislative Summit, which will be held in Washington, D.C. [19:31] Join us in Washington, D.C., for two days of Congressional Meetings, networking, and advocating on behalf of the risk management community. Visit RIMS.org/Advocacy for more information and updates and to register. [19:45] We've got more plugs later. Let's return to our interview with Meat Institute CEO Julie Anna Potts! [19:56] Julie Anna says a lot of our companies are also regulated by the FDA because they do further processing. For example, pizzas with pepperoni, or any number of mixed products that have both FDA and USDA regulatory personnel on site. [20:20] FSIS is, by far, more present and more in tune with what member companies are doing than the inspectors at the FDA. [20:30] Justin asks if restaurants can be members of the Meat Institute. There is a segment of membership called Allied Members, which includes restaurants and grocery stores. If they are not processors, but they are procuring meat and poultry for sale, they are in the meat industry. [21:09] The Meat Institute has had a great deal of interaction on many issues with its retail and food service customers. [21:25] Shortly after she joined the Meat Institute, Julie Anna was handed a mandate from the board to be proactive and lean in on the things consumers are interested in with an initiative to continue to maintain or rebuild trust. [21:48] These are things like food safety, animal welfare, environmental impact, and worker safety. They call this initiative Protein PACT (People, Animals, and the Climate of Tomorrow). Food Safety is front and center in Protein PACT. [22:13] The Meat Institute has a way of focusing its efforts through this lens of improvement in five areas that work together to reassure consumers. When they know that you're working on all these issues and trying to improve, it increases trust in all the above issues. [22:54] Retail and Food Service customers in the industry want to know more and more. They want to know upstream, what are you doing to get better? [23:05] They want to know how they can take the data that you are collecting anonymously and in the aggregate to communicate at the point-of-sale area to ensure that their customers, collectively, are getting what they need? [23:23] Julie Anna saw this recently at H-E-B, a popular grocer in Texas. Julie Anna walked through one of their huge, beautiful, newly renovated stores. The engagement the ultimate customer has is in the store, asking questions of the butcher. [24:07] It's wonderful to be able to say, If you have food safety concerns, we have a relationship that we can give you the knowledge you need to answer those concerns, and it's coming very consistently across the industry. [24:40] Justin asks, When the Meat Institute members lean in, are they leaning in at 85% or 93%? You'll only get ground beef jokes here, on RIMScast! Julie Anna says, it's all good. Justin says those kinds of jokes are called The Manager's Special. [25:17] One Final Break! RISKWORLD 2026 will be held from May 3rd through the 6th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. RISKWORLD attracts more than 10,000 risk professionals from across the globe. Guess what! Booth sales are open now! [25:37] This is the chance to showcase your solutions, meet decision-makers face-to-face, and expand your global network. Connect, Cultivate, and Collaborate with us at the largest risk management event of the year. The link to booth sales is in this episode's show notes. [25:53] Let's Return to the Conclusion of My Interview with Meat Institute CEO Julie Anna Potts! [26:16] Julie Anna was an environmental lawyer in private practice. Her work involved the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and Superfund. One of her clients was the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF). [26:42] When Julie Anna left the firm, she moved in as General Counsel to the AFBF, the largest general farm organization in the U.S. Besides environmental law, she worked there in lots of other types of law as General Counsel. [27:06] At the Meat Institute, Julie Anna collaborates with the AFBF. The ag sector in Washington, D.C., is very collaborative. The Meat Institute works closely with the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the National Pork Producers Council, and the commodity groups. [27:35] Everybody is connected. If you are working on an animal issue, you're going into crop groups and animal health companies. The Meat Institute works with everyone. Their philosophy is, We all get better when we share knowledge. [28:03] That's the basis of the conversation Julie Anna and Gary LaBranche had in the summer about this podcast. The Meat Institute has resources it would love to share on the risk management of food safety issues. [28:20] The Meat Institute also knows consultants and other help outside of the meat industry that they can point people to, as needed. The Meat Institute would love to be a resource to the listeners of RIMScast. You can check out the contact information in the show notes. [29:02] Julie Anna is familiar with risk professionals. She serves on the board of Nationwide Insurance. Nationwide Agribusiness has Food Safety expertise. When Julie Anna practiced law, she worked with clients on helping them manage risk and assess potential outcomes. [30:09] Julie Anna says risk management is one of her favorite topics. How do you plan to recover from a flood after a hurricane? How do you plan for farm animal disease? There are now three animal disease outbreaks that are constantly on their minds at the Meat Institute. [30:31] The Meat Institute helps run tabletop exercises with its companies, sometimes involving government officials, as well. It's New World Screwworm to the South. It's High Path Avian Influenza, which has crossed over from poultry to dairy and beef cattle.  [30:48] Julie Anna continues, We have African Swine Fever, which has not gotten to the United States, thank goodness! All of these require a certain level of preparedness. So we work on it as a policy matter, but we also need to operationalize what happens when this happens. [31:16] The pandemic is a good recent example of what happens when things fall apart. Member companies have a very limited ability to hold live animals if they're not going to slaughter. They don't have anywhere to go. [31:44] The pandemic was an example of what happens when something reduces capacity and the animals start backing up. It's incredibly important that things work. The pandemic was unimaginable to a lot of people. It tested our risk management models. [32:10] Once we were there, dealing with it, we had incredible adaptability to the circumstances we were facing. That only happens if you face certain problems every day to keep that plant running. For member companies, if the plants don't run, the animals don't have a place to go. [32:37] Farmers get a lower price for their animals, consumers have the perception that there's not going to be enough food, and there's a run on the grocery stores. During the pandemic, it righted itself really quickly, once we got some PPE, etc. in place, and some guidance. [32:59] The member companies relied heavily on the CDC to tell them how to get people in so the plants could run. It was difficult for everyone. Julie Anna thinks that we learned a lot from that experience on how to help your company troubleshoot in the moment to keep going. [33:37] Julie Anna addresses how PFAS issues are being handled. It's an EPA issue and a state's issue for regulations on packaging and recycling. The state issues are predominant. Environmental issues are being addressed at the state level. We could end with 50 regimes. [35:04] That's where there's more risk for the Meat Institute and its members, especially companies that sell nationwide. There is very little state regulatory work that the Meat Institute does directly. [35:26] The Meat Institute is examining how to utilize other resources to figure out, with a small staff, how to monitor and stay ahead of these things for our members. That's very much on their minds. The EPA's work has been swinging back and forth between administrations. [36:02] It's hard to convince a business of a good recommendation if the rules are going to change with the next administration. It's a problem of where to invest in things like measuring emissions and what to do to satisfy customers when the rhetoric changes dramatically. [37:04] Justin says we've had a different administration every four years for the last 16 years. He says if he were a business owner, he would do everything he could to make sure the water coming in and going out is clean to avoid verdicts. Nuclear verdicts are through the roof. [37:27] Julie Anna speaks of social inflation by juries wishing to send a message to big corporate entities. She says member companies are dealing with these issues all the time. What's the right amount of rulemaking for effluent limitation guidelines? [38:20] The Meat Institute had opposed what the Biden administration had proposed, given that the number of companies it estimated would not be able to stay in business was close to 80. The Trump administration has backed off and is leaving in place what was there before. [38:52] That's all part of the Federal policy debate in D.C. It does not diminish the commitment its members have to be good community members. They work in their communities. Julie Anna was just down in East Tennessee at a wonderful family company, Swaggerty Sausage. [39:16] They do water treatment. They are beloved in the community because of how they take care of people. They bring in pigs from North Carolina and turn them into sausage. Julie Anna met the fifth generation. He is eight months old. [39:40] Julie Anna had a great visit with people, understanding how their commitment to the environment and animal welfare, and the things they can show their community members that they are doing, works for them. Julie Anna saw how the sausage is made, Justin adds. [40:28] Justin says, You've been such a delight to speak with, and we've learned so much. Is this the busiest time of year for your members, with Thanksgiving coming up, the religious holidays coming up, and then New Year's? Are they keeping Safety at the top of their risk radar now? [40:59] Julie Anna says Our members, and we, keep Safety at the top of the risk radar every single day. It does not get harder during high-volume days. [41:15] There's a spike around Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day. There's a lot more turkey happening around Thanksgiving and possibly Christmas, but certainly, hot dogs, hamburgers, sausages, brisket, and all kinds of things. It's cyclical. [41:49] Julie Anna wishes Justin could come into a plant with her, walk through, and see the number of times there are interventions for food safety. X-rays for foreign material. Sprays for certain types of pathogens, and the ways in which the hide is treated. [42:14] It is such a huge part, and they are so proud of what they do. They are happy to show anybody how we continue to hold that up as the most important thing. Worker Safety is also hugely important. We're talking about our humans and what we do to protect them. [42:42] Safety is really important, and it does not receive any less attention at busy times. [42:50] Justin says that's a great sentiment to close on. It has been such a delight to speak with you, and I'm so glad we had the chance to do this. It's going to be especially impactful now, just ahead of Thanksgiving and the religious holidays, and the New Year. [43:16] Special thanks to Julie Anna Potts of the Meat Institute for joining us here on RIMScast just ahead of Thanksgiving 2025. Links to the Meat Institute resources are in this episode's show notes, as is RIMS coverage of Food Safety and related topics. [43:34] Plug Time! You can sponsor a RIMScast episode for this, our weekly show, or a dedicated episode. Links to sponsored episodes are in the show notes. [44:02] RIMScast has a global audience of risk and insurance professionals, legal professionals, students, business leaders, C-Suite executives, and more. Let's collaborate and help you reach them! Contact pd@rims.org for more information. [44:20] Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information. [44:38] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today's risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more. [44:54] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com. It is written and published by the best minds in risk management. [45:09] Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. Please remember to subscribe to RIMScast on your favorite podcasting app. You can email us at Content@RIMS.org. [45:21] Practice good risk management, stay safe, and thank you again for your continuous support!   Links: RIMS-CRO Certificate Program In Advanced Enterprise Risk Management | Jan‒March 2026 Cohort | Led by James Lam RISK PAC | RIMS Advocacy | RIMS Legislative Summit SAVE THE DATE — March 18‒19, 2026 RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP) Reserve your booth at RISKWORLD 2026! The Strategic and Enterprise Risk Center RIMS Diversity Equity Inclusion Council RIMS Risk Management magazine | Contribute RIMS Risk Management Magazine: "USDA Budget Cuts Present Food Safety Risks" (May 2025) Meat Institute Meat Institute — Foundations of Listeria Control RIMS Risk Management magazine ERM Special Edition 2025 RIMS Now Upcoming RIMS Webinars: RIMS.org/Webinars   Upcoming RIMS-CRMP Prep Virtual Workshops: RIMS-CRMP-FED Exam Prep with AFERM Virtual Workshop — December 3‒4 RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep with PARIMA — December 4‒5, 2025 Full RIMS-CRMP Prep Course Schedule "Applying and Integrating ERM" | Nov 19‒20, 2025 | April 4, 2026 "Leveraging Data and Analytics for Continuous Risk Management (Part I)" | Dec 4. See the full calendar of RIMS Virtual Workshops RIMS-CRMP Prep Workshops   Related RIMScast Episodes: "Recipes for Success with Wendy's CRO Bob Bowman" "Franchise Risks with Karen Agostinho of Five Guys Enterprises" "Risk Insight with AAIN Leadership and Panda Express"   Sponsored RIMScast Episodes: Secondary Perils, Major Risks: The New Face of Weather-Related Challenges | Sponsored by AXA XL (New!) 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RIMS Virtual Workshops On-Demand Webinars RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP) RISK PAC | RIMS Advocacy RIMS Strategic & Enterprise Risk Center RIMS-CRMP Stories — Featuring RIMS President Kristen Peed!   RIMS Events, Education, and Services: RIMS Risk Maturity Model®   Sponsor RIMScast: Contact sales@rims.org or pd@rims.org for more information.   Want to Learn More? Keep up with the podcast on RIMS.org, and listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.   Have a question or suggestion? Email: Content@rims.org.   Join the Conversation! Follow @RIMSorg on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.   About our guest: Julie Anna Potts, CEO, The Meat Institute   Production and engineering provided by Podfly.  

California governor Gavin Newsom is in Brazil for the United Nations' COP30 climate summit, touting the Golden State's climate initiatives — with no President Donald Trump in sight. POLITICO's Debra Kahn digs into Newsom's climate showcase and how he's being received on the world stage. Plus, the Interior Department says National Environmental Policy Act does not apply to offshore federal oil and gas lease sales mandated by Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Josh Siegel⁠ is an energy reporter for POLITICO and the host of POLITICO Energy.  Debra Kahn is the California Policy Editor for POLITICO. ⁠Nirmal Mulaikal⁠ is the co-host and producer of POLITICO Energy.   Kara Tabor is an audio producer for POLITICO.  ⁠Ben Lefebvre⁠ is the deputy energy editor at POLITICO.  ⁠Matt Daily⁠ is the energy editor for POLITICO.  For more news on energy and the environment, subscribe to Power Switch, our free evening newsletter: ⁠https://www.politico.com/power-switch⁠  And for even deeper coverage and analysis, read our Morning Energy newsletter by subscribing to POLITICO Pro: ⁠https://subscriber.politicopro.com/newsletter-archive/morning-energy⁠  Our theme music is by Pran Bandi.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This Day in Legal History: Organic Act Establishes the National Park ServiceOn August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Organic Act, formally establishing the National Park Service (NPS) as a federal bureau within the Department of the Interior. This act marked a foundational moment in U.S. environmental and administrative law, as it created a centralized agency responsible for protecting and managing the country's growing number of national parks and monuments. Prior to this, national parks were overseen in a disjointed manner by various federal departments, often with limited resources or clear guidance. The Organic Act provided legal authority for the NPS to “conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein,” while ensuring they remained “unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”This statutory language introduced a lasting legal standard—the dual mandate of conservation and public enjoyment—that has guided U.S. park policy ever since. The law empowered the federal government to enforce regulations, manage visitor access, and develop infrastructure while preserving natural and cultural resources. Over time, this act laid the groundwork for the modern administrative state's role in environmental regulation. It also reflected an early recognition that public land could and should serve both ecological and civic functions.The NPS Organic Act helped inspire future legislation, including the Wilderness Act of 1964 and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. It also fueled legal debates around resource extraction, tribal land claims, and federalism. With the stroke of Wilson's pen, the United States committed itself to a legal philosophy of stewardship, enshrining the idea that public lands are a shared national trust. This day in legal history commemorates the birth of a legal and cultural institution that continues to shape American land use and environmental governance.Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom advised Intel Corp. in securing an $8.9 billion government investment deal, which includes granting the U.S. a 10% equity stake in the chipmaker. The agreement, announced by President Trump, comes months after Skadden and eight other major law firms pledged nearly $1 billion in free legal services in coordination with the White House. These services support causes such as veterans' advocacy, fighting antisemitism, and promoting justice system fairness. The firms reportedly entered the arrangement, in part, to avoid being targeted by executive orders that had been used against competitors.Skadden's role reflects its ongoing alignment with the administration's industrial and legal policy efforts, particularly as Intel seeks revitalization. The Federal Circuit also recently ruled that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) wrongly dismissed one of Intel's patent invalidity arguments against a competitor, bolstering Intel's broader legal position. Separately, Kirkland & Ellis, another participating firm, has been involved in U.S. trade negotiations with Japan and Korea, facilitated by Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn. The president has indicated he may rely further on these firms for legal matters related to tariffs, coal, and defense of law enforcement. Skadden's leadership emphasized internally that the firm retains full autonomy in client and case decisions.Skadden Steers Intel in Deal With Trump to Boost ChipmakerKilmar Abrego, a 30-year-old migrant whose wrongful deportation to El Salvador had made national headlines, was detained again by U.S. immigration authorities in Baltimore just days after being released from criminal custody in Tennessee. His 2019 asylum protections had barred deportation to El Salvador due to threats from gangs, but he was nonetheless removed in March in what officials later admitted was an “administrative error.” After months in a harsh Salvadoran prison, he was brought back to the U.S. in June to face criminal charges for transporting undocumented migrants, to which he has pleaded not guilty.Upon checking in with ICE in Baltimore, Abrego was arrested again and is now facing possible deportation—this time to Uganda, a country with no connection to him. U.S. officials have reportedly offered Costa Rica as a destination if he agrees to a guilty plea, but without that, Uganda remains the likely alternative, a move his legal team argues is unconstitutional and coercive. His lawyer described the tactic as the government using “Costa Rica as a carrot and Uganda as a stick.”Abrego has filed a federal lawsuit to prevent deportation without judicial review and is currently protected by a Maryland court order requiring 72-hour notice before any removal to a third country. His legal team is also seeking to dismiss the federal charges, alleging selective and retaliatory prosecution tied to his earlier challenge of the unlawful deportation. A Tennessee federal judge previously found him neither a flight risk nor a public threat, supporting his release. The case continues to spotlight the legal complexities and rights violations emerging under the Trump administration's immigration policies.Wrongly deported migrant Abrego again detained by US immigration officials | ReutersA U.S. federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump's administration from withholding federal funds from over 30 sanctuary cities and counties, including Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, and Baltimore. The ruling, issued by U.S. District Judge William Orrick, expands a previous injunction from April that protected 16 jurisdictions. These cities had challenged two executive orders signed by Trump earlier in the year, arguing they unlawfully threatened to strip funding unless local authorities cooperated with federal immigration enforcement.Sanctuary jurisdictions typically limit how much local police assist with federal civil immigration arrests. Judge Orrick ruled that the executive orders posed an unconstitutional, coercive threat by conditioning federal funding on compliance with federal immigration preferences. His new order extends protections to additional cities that recently joined the lawsuit. He emphasized that any further actions or executive orders pursuing the same goal are likewise blocked under his injunction.The Trump administration had already appealed the earlier ruling, and the White House has not commented on the latest expansion. Separately, California Governor Gavin Newsom is suing over Trump's deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles following protests related to federal immigration enforcement.Judge blocks Trump from withholding funds from Los Angeles, other sanctuary cities | ReutersA recent legal dispute between Apple and medical device maker Masimo is testing the boundaries of U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) authority in enforcing patent-related import bans. The case began when CBP seized five Apple Watches in Chicago due to an International Trade Commission (ITC) exclusion order, issued after Masimo successfully argued that Apple's blood-oxygen sensor infringed its patents. However, CBP later approved Apple's software workaround—which shifts blood-oxygen processing to a paired iPhone—without notifying Masimo, prompting the company to sue.Masimo argues CBP overstepped its enforcement role by effectively ruling on a patent dispute without an adversarial process, thereby undermining the ITC's authority. The lawsuit claims the workaround still infringes under the "doctrine of equivalents," which treats minor design changes as infringing if they achieve substantially the same result. Legal experts note that CBP is not equipped to handle complex questions of indirect or contributory infringement, which could occur when a product only violates a patent when used in combination with another device.The case raises due process concerns, especially as CBP's later ruling was issued ex parte—without Masimo's input—despite an earlier inter partes process. Legal observers see this as part of a larger structural flaw in how CBP and the ITC coordinate enforcement of exclusion orders. The ITC has acknowledged the lawsuit and may intervene, signaling that the dispute could influence broader agency practices. If successful, Masimo could seek enforcement penalties from the ITC, potentially up to $100,000 per day. This litigation follows a rare legal path similar to a 2013 Microsoft case against CBP that ended in settlement.Apple Watch Import Ban Work-Around Suit Tests Customs' IP Role This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

Just keeping up with the Trump administration's all out war against our environment is exhausting.  Fortunately, we in the northwest are blessed with incredible activists, organizers, and more relevant to today, environmental attorneys to help us understand the attacks so we can fight back effectively.One of the best of those attorneys is Brenna Bell, formerly of 350pdx and now with the Crag Law Center.  This episode features a recent presentation Brenna gave  along with Lauren Anderson of Oregon Wild and Grace Brahler from Cascadia Wildlands.They covered the seismic changes happening via the Executive Branch, including to the National Environmental Policy Act, how the definition of “harm” under the Endangered Species Act has changed to dramatically limit protections for species, and a lot more.https://www.instagram.com/coastrangeradio/

Tuesday, August 12th, 2025Today, Trump has federalized the Metropolitan Police Department and deployed the National Guard in the District of Columbia; Governor Gavin Newsom's lawsuit against Trump's deployment of the military in Los Angeles as a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act is underway in California; Senator Whitehouse has written to the Bureau of Prisons asking for documents regarding Ghislaine Maxwell's transfer to a minimum security facility; Judge Engelmayer denies Trump's motion to unseal the Ghislaine Maxwell grand jury transcripts; the Trump administration is going to put FBI agents on night patrol in Washington; and Allison and Dana read your Good News.Thank You, Daily LookFor 50% off your first order, head to DailyLook.com and use code DAILYBEANS.  StoriesTrump deploys National Guard to D.C., takes control of local police in crime crackdown | CBS NewsTrump Administration to Put F.B.I. Agents on Night Patrol in Washington | The New York TimesSenator Whitehouse has penned a letter to the head of the Bureau of Prisons asking for more information about the transfer of Ghislaine Maxwell  | Senate.govEXCLUSIVE: I Have Ghislaine Maxwell's Security Score, Custody Level, Transfer Code, and Sex Offender Waiver | MuellerSheWrote.comTrump's Use of the Military in Los Angeles Goes to Trial | What to Know | Democracy DocketGood Trouble “I offer you and all Leguminatti an opportunity to tell the TX legislators what you think of their re-districting plan.  Attached is a "birds-eye" view of what their district map COULD look like.  Representatives' contact info can be found on house.texas.gov, some of them list FAX numbers that would love to be awakened by the map; all list addresses and emails that you can send the bird-map to”.Texas House of Representatives From The Good NewsTexas House of RepresentativesIndivisibleWhat is the National Environmental Policy Act? | US EPADemocratic Action Club of ChicoReminder - you can see the pod pics if you become a Patron. The good news pics are at the bottom of the show notes of each Patreon episode! That's just one of the perks of subscribing! patreon.com/muellershewrote Our Donation LinksNational Security Counselors - DonateMSW Media, Blue Wave California Victory Fund | ActBlueWhistleblowerAid.org/beans Federal workers - feel free to email AG at fedoath@pm.me and let me know what you're going to do, or just vent. I'm always here to listen. Find Upcoming Actions 50501 Movement, No Kings.org, Indivisible.orgDr. Allison Gill - Substack, BlueSky , TikTok, IG, TwitterDana Goldberg - BlueSky, Twitter, IG, facebook, danagoldberg.comCheck out more from MSW Media - Shows - MSW Media, Cleanup On Aisle 45 pod, The Breakdown | SubstackShare your Good News or Good TroubleMSW Good News and Good TroubleHave some good news; a confession; or a correction to share?Good News & Confessions - The Daily Beanshttps://www.dailybeanspod.com/confessional/ Listener Survey:http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=BffJOlI7qQcF&ver=shortFollow the Podcast on Apple:The Daily Beans on Apple PodcastsWant to support the show and get it ad-free and early?The Daily Beans | SupercastThe Daily Beans & Mueller, She Wrote | PatreonThe Daily Beans | Apple Podcasts

EELP attorney Hannah Perls speaks with Professor Andrew Mergen, faculty director of Harvard's Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, about the latest updates to the National Environmental Policy Act, including new agency implementing procedures, the Supreme Court's recent opinion in Eagle County, and amendments included in the One Big Beautiful Bill recently passed by Congress. They talk about what these changes mean in practice for project developers, impacted communities, and the environment. Transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/CleanLaw_EP104-Transcript.pdf Links: NEPA overview https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/nepa-overview/ NEPA Regulatory Tracker page https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/tracker/nepa-environmental-review-requirements/ NEPA after Eagle County decision https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/the-future-of-nepa-and-federal-permitting-after-eagle-county/ CEQ's template and agencies' procedures https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/decoding-agencies-new-nepa-procedures/ "Energy emergency" declaration https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/the-trump-administrations-aggressive-anti-regulatory-pro-fossil-fuel-directives/

A record-breaking heat wave strained the U.S. power grid last week, highlighting the risks of rising electricity demand and extreme weather. POLITICO's Zack Colman breaks down how the grid held up and the Trump administration's plans for future heat waves. Plus, the Energy Department and FERC proposed slashing current environmental analysis procedures based off of the current National Environmental Policy Act on Monday and replacing them with new, more limited procedures. Zack Colman covers climate change for POLITICO.  Nirmal Mulaikal is the co-host and producer of POLITICO Energy.  Alex Keeney is a senior audio producer at POLITICO.  Gloria Gonzalez is the deputy energy editor for POLITICO.  Matt Daily is the energy editor for POLITICO. For more news on energy and the environment, subscribe to Power Switch, our free evening newsletter: https://www.politico.com/power-switchAnd for even deeper coverage and analysis, read our Morning Energy newsletter by subscribing to POLITICO Pro: https://subscriber.politicopro.com/newsletter-archive/morning-energy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode SummaryThe latest episode of the “The Stream by AASHTO” podcast features Ted Boling, a partner with Perkins Coie, with over 30 years of public service – who discusses recent changes to the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, and the removal of regulations by the Council on Environmental Quality, or CEQ.Episode NotesThis podcast series is part of the AASHTO Environmental Management technical service program operated by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. It explores a wide array of environmental topics that affect state departments of transportation and the infrastructure programs they oversee.In February 2025, the CEQ announced an Interim Final Rule that removes its longstanding NEPA implementing regulations from the Code of Federal Regulations. This shift places the responsibility for NEPA compliance directly on individual federal agencies, allowing them to follow their own procedures rather than a centralized set of rules.In this podcast episode, Boling delves into how, if NEPA is revoked, it removes a “universal framework” that will prevent federal agencies working in tandem on environmental reviews.Boling also outlines the potential impact of mass layoffs within the federal government, especially among senior leadership and recent hires, and how that could slow down decision-making regarding environmental reviews for infrastructure projects.

This week: An all-star roundtable with our favorite law wonks, wherein we try to figure out where the Supreme Court is taking the National Environmental Policy Act — the most important federal law regulating the environmental costs of development.Support the show

Did the Supreme Court just make it easier to build things in this country — or did it give a once-in-a-lifetime gift to the fossil fuel industry? Last week, the Supreme Court ruled 8-0 against environmentalists who sought to use a key permitting law, the National Environmental Policy Act, to slow down a railroad in a remote but oil-rich part of Utah. Even the court's liberals ruled against the green groups. But the court's conservative majority issued a much stronger and more expansive ruling, urging lower courts to stop interpreting the law as they have for years. That decision, written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, may signal a new era for what has been called the “Magna Carta” of environmental law.On this week's episode of Shift Key, Rob and Jesse talk with Nicholas Bagley, a University of Michigan law professor and frequent writer on permitting issues. He is also Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's former chief legal counsel. Rob, Jesse, and Nick discuss what NEPA is, how it has helped (and perhaps hindered) the environment, and why it's likely to change again in the near future. Shift Key is hosted by Jesse Jenkins, a professor of energy systems engineering at Princeton University, and Robinson Meyer, Heatmap's executive editor. Mentioned: The Supreme Court Just Started a Permitting RevolutionThe Supreme Court's Green Double Standard, By Nick BagleyBagley's article on the procedure fetishKey statistics about how NEPA works in the governmentJudge Skelly's 1971 Calvert Cliffs rulingHouse Republicans' NEPA reform proposal Jesse's downshift; Rob's downshift. --Music for Shift Key is by Adam Kromelow. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this case, the court considered this issue: Does the National Environmental Policy Act require an agency to study environmental impacts beyond the proximate effects of the action over which the agency has regulatory authority?The case was decided on May 29, 2025.The Supreme Court held that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires federal agencies to consider the environmental effects of federal projects by preparing a detailed environmental impact statement (E-I-S), but it does not impose substantive limits on agencies' decisions. NEPA only applies to the environmental consequences of the proposed project itself, not to impacts from future or geographically separate projects that the proposed project might cause. The Surface Transportation Board complied with NEPA by addressing the environmental effects of constructing and operating an 88-mile freight railroad in Utah. NEPA did not require the Board to evaluate environmental impacts from increased oil drilling in the Uinta Basin or increased oil refining along the Gulf Coast—both of which were separate activities outside the Board's regulatory control. Justice Brett Kavanaugh authored the 5-3 majority opinion of the Court, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Amy Coney Barrett.NEPA's role is procedural: it ensures agencies and the public are informed about potential environmental effects but does not direct agencies to reject projects with environmental downsides. Courts reviewing an E-I-S must apply a “rule of reason” and defer to the agency's decisions about the scope and detail of environmental analysis, recognizing that such decisions depend on scientific, technical, and policy judgments that fall within the agency's expertise. Agencies have discretion to omit analysis of speculative or weakly connected effects—particularly when those effects depend on future decisions by other entities or fall under the authority of other regulators. The Board's choice not to analyze upstream drilling or downstream refining effects was reasonable because those were not part of the project under review and because the Board lacks the authority to control such activities.A mere possibility that a project might lead to additional development does not impose an obligation under NEPA to assess all environmental impacts of hypothetical, unrelated projects. Even if a project's effects are foreseeable, NEPA does not make one agency responsible for evaluating the far-reaching environmental costs of others' conduct unless those effects are directly caused by the agency's decision and fall within its regulatory scope. Therefore, the Board's approval of the railway project, based on an E-I-S that focused on the rail line itself, satisfied NEPA's requirements.Justice Sonia Sotomayor authored an opinion concurring in the judgment, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, agreeing that the Board was not responsible for assessing the environmental effects of oil production because it lacked authority to regulate those downstream and upstream activities.The opinion is presented here in its entirety, but with citations omitted. If you appreciate this episode, please subscribe. Thank you. 

Live from Capital Turnaround in Washington, D.C., Leah, Kate, and Melissa wade right into the swamp, breaking down the (very weird, very disturbing) sexual harassment claims against Texas's ex-solicitor general, Judd Stone and holding their noses to read Coach Brett Kavanaugh's opinion on the National Environmental Policy Act. Then, the hosts welcome special guests Ambassador Norm Eisen and Emily Amick, author of the Substack, Emily in Your Phone, to talk about the avalanche of litigation against the Trump administration and reproductive rights (and wrongs), respectively.Hosts' favorite things:Leah: Taylor Swift's letter about buying back her art; Why Is This Supreme Court Handing Trump More and More Power?, Kate Shaw (NYT); Living by the Ipse Dixit, Steve Vladeck (One First); The New Dark Age, Adam Serwer (The Atlantic); Elon Musk's Legacy Is Disease, Starvation and Death, Michelle Goldberg (NYT)Kate: Beware: We Are Entering a New Phase of the Trump Era, M. Gessen (NYT), How YOU Helped Knock Musk Out of DC–& of Politics, Norm Eisen (Substack); On the Campaign Trail, Elon Musk Juggled Drugs and Family Drama, Kirsten Grind and Meghan Twohey (NYT); Cowboy CarterMelissa: Her incredible shoes from the show; seeing Cowboy Carter; the newest season of Just Like That; Original Sin by Jake Tapper and Alex ThompsonEmily: Nine Perfect Strangers (Hulu); Everyone Is Lying to You by Jo Piazza Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 6/12 – NYC10/4 – ChicagoLearn more: http://crooked.com/eventsOrder your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad VibesFollow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

On Thursday, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that federal agencies can conduct narrow environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act for projects they are considering permitting. POLITICO's Alex Guillén breaks down the details of the decision and how it will impact legal challenges by environmental groups and Donald Trump's anti-regulatory agenda. Plus, Tesla and Elon Musk have criticized the Republican megabill for gutting the clean energy tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act. Alex Guillén is an energy reporter for POLITICO Pro.  Nirmal Mulaikal is the co-host and producer of POLITICO Energy.  Alex Keeney is a senior audio producer at POLITICO.  Gloria Gonzalez is the deputy energy editor for POLITICO.  Matt Daily is the energy editor for POLITICO. For more news on energy and the environment, subscribe to Power Switch, our free evening newsletter: https://www.politico.com/power-switch And for even deeper coverage and analysis, read our Morning Energy newsletter by subscribing to POLITICO Pro: https://subscriber.politicopro.com/newsletter-archive/morning-energy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our recent SAM Huddle, Thinking Clearly in Uncertain Times, was recorded on April 21, 2025. With tensions around trade and cross-border relations rising, this conversation brought together industry and policy perspectives to delve into how these developments are reshaping the landscape for travel and resort operations throughout North America. This is episode two of our two-part series covering this conversation.  The J-1 visa program is facing potential cuts, prompting resorts to diversify recruitment strategies. While the program currently remains viable for the upcoming season, H-2B visas are being considered as a more stable—albeit costlier—alternative. Many resorts are preparing to use both to cover seasonal staffing needs.  Plus, efforts to streamline the National Environmental Policy Act or NEPA process are also underway, with more responsibility placed on project sponsors to prepare documentation. Staffing shortages at the federal level are causing some delays, leading to increased use of third-party contractors. But, projects that can align with forest health and wildfire mitigation goals may gain added momentum. Speakers: Dave Byrd, Director of Risk and Regulatory Affairs, NSAA Scott Prior, Senior Associate, Environmental and Permitting, SE Group Nate Riccardi, Pabian Law Listen to part 1 of the conversation here.

The Trump administration is pushing for more logging on public land, pledging to boost America’s domestic supply of wood products and increase wildfire resilience. In March, the President issued an executive order directing federal agencies to begin finding ways to expand timber production by 25% over the next few years. Last week, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins sent a memo establishing an “emergency situation determination” covering more than 112 million national forest acres. That includes five national forests in Washington state. Rollins identified these acres as having either high wildfire risk or declining forest health – allowing timber harvesting to be fast-tracked through environmental regulations. The USDA boasted the memo would “increase timber outputs, simplify permitting, remove National Environmental Policy Act processes” and “reduce implementation and contracting burdens.” Big picture, more than half of the land managed by the U.S. Forest Service is now opening for logging. Soundside spoke with Kristen Boyles from Earthjustice Northwest, Travis Joseph with the American Forest Resource Council, and Tom DeLuca from Oregon State University's College of Forestry to get their thoughts on the recent changes to federal forest management. Guests: Kristen Boyles, managing attorney for Earthjustice Northwest, a non-profit environmental law organization. Travis Joseph, president of the American Forest Resource Council, a trade association representing those who work with public timber in the Western United States. Thomas DeLuca, dean of the College of Forestry at Oregon State University. Related links: Trump proposed cutting the Northwest’s national forests. So what happens next? | The Seattle Times National forests face less protections, more logging, Trump admin says Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Debbie is a hardrock mining policy expert with over 30 years of hands-on expertise with the environmental and public land laws and regulations pertaining to mineral exploration and mine development.She provides environmental permitting and government relations consulting services to mineral exploration and mining clients. She has a proven track record of successfully representing clients in legislative and administrative issues on the state and federal levels and in securing project permits for exploration and mining projects.Since 1993, she has been an active participant in the legislative dialogue to change the U.S. Mining Law. She has provided testimonies at Congressional hearings on the National Environmental Policy Act, on abandoned mine policies, and the state and federal environmental regulatory framework applicable to modern mines. Most recently, she testified on behalf of the Women's Mining Coalition in July 2021 and May 2022 before the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources at hearings on the U.S. Mining Law.Her legislative work in Nevada includes playing a key role in repealing a special state tax on federal mining claims, helping persuade legislators to abandon a legislative proposal to tax minerals prior to severance, and convincing legislators not to raise the tax rate on mineral, oil and gas, and geothermal energy production.She is also one of the founders of the Women's Mining Coalition and currently serves on the Coalition's Board of Directors. She is a Certified Professional Geologist with the American Institute of Professional Geologists. Her professional memberships include the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America; the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc.; and the Geological Society of Nevada. She has served twice as a trustee of the Northwest Mining Association (now the American Exploration & Mining Association).

Fare enforcement starts on King County Metro buses, Washington leads a coalition to defend the National Environmental Policy Act, and Cornish College starts a new chapter with hundreds of layoffs this Spring. It’s our daily roundup of top stories from the KUOW newsroom, with host Patricia Murphy. We can only make Seattle Now because listeners support us. You have the power! Make the show happen by making a gift to KUOW: https://www.kuow.org/donate/seattlenow And we want to hear from you! Follow us on Instagram at SeattleNowPod, or leave us feedback online: https://www.kuow.org/feedback See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Trump Administration has made quick work dismantling aspects of the federal government it calls wasteful or inefficient. Caught up in those cuts is the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires the federal government to take environmental impacts into consideration.

The Trump Administration has taken a large whack at the National Environmental Policy Act (often better known by its acronym, NEPA). NEPA is the federal environmental law that requires that the federal government understand and acknowledge the environmental impacts of its actions and provide an opportunity for public engagement on projects. While a bedrock federal environmental law, the law itself is vaguely worded. Thus, implementing regulations (issued by the Council on Environmental Quality in 1978) have been important to its application. Through these regulations, we have NEPA as we know it—"major federal projects" and "cumulative impact analysis" and so on. All that changed on January 20th. Through Executive Order, Trump revoked the authority of the Council on Environmental Quality to issue regulations and the agency has withdrawn the long-standing rules. Now we are in a legal limbo: NEPA still exists (Trump can't veto a law that has already been approved) but the rules implementing NEPA are gone. What are we to do?Jan Hasselman of Earthjustice and Melodie Meyer of EPIC join the program to discuss this major turning point in federal environmental law. Support the show

The thousands of homes that burned in Los Angeles this January included the home of Marketplace Morning Report Host David Brancaccio. He shares what he's learning about the challenges of rebuilding with a limited supply and huge demand for contractors. David says there's an opportunity to rebuild a more wildfire-resistant Altadena, and to heal the community itself.  Also, sea otters were hunted out from Oregon and Northern California more than a century ago amid the fur trade, but the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians and conservation partners are now working to bring them back. How reintroducing sea otters can help revive the kelp ecosystem and restore a vital cultural connection for Native people. And major fossil fuel projects like LNG terminals could become harder to oppose on environmental grounds because of a Trump executive order that tries to weaken agency compliance with NEPA, the National Environmental Policy Act. Environmental concerns may take a backseat under the new project review process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump is fundamentally changing how the federal government conducts environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act, a landmark law enacted in 1970. Hannah Northey from POLITICO's E&E News breaks down why the president is changing this review process, what he is replacing it with and how this could impact America's environment. Plus, a bill that would require major oil companies to pay fees to cover climate damages based on their past emissions has been reintroduced in California. Hannah Northey covers the nexus of mining, environmental policy and politics for POLITICO's E&E News. Nirmal Mulaikal is a POLITICO audio host-producer. Annie Rees is the managing producer for audio at POLITICO. Alex Keeney is a senior audio producer at POLITICO. Gloria Gonzalez is the deputy energy editor for POLITICO.  Matt Daily is the energy editor for POLITICO. For more news on energy and the environment, subscribe to Power Switch, our free evening newsletter: https://www.politico.com/power-switch And for even deeper coverage and analysis, read our Morning Energy newsletter by subscribing to POLITICO Pro: https://subscriber.politicopro.com/newsletter-archive/morning-energy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Energy, transportation, housing — pro-growth advocates from Washington to Silicon Valley are calling for a revival of American infrastructure. They say, “It's time to build.”One massive problem, however: decades of environmental regulation, such as the National Environmental Policy Act, have slowed these efforts to a snail's pace, if not halted them altogether.Today on Political Economy, I talk with James Coleman about the kinds of policy reforms need before we can build.Coleman is a nonresident senior fellow here at AEI. Concurrently, he is also a scholar of energy law at the University of Minnesota, where he specializes in North American energy infrastructure, transport, and trade. He previously taught law at Southern Methodist University, the University of Calgary, and Harvard Law School.

Today, we're diving into everyone's favorite Statecraft topic: administrative law! The two court cases we're discussing could have huge ramifications for how we build things in America.We brought three of our favorite administrative law professors together: James Coleman is a professor at the University of Minnesota, Adam White is the Executive Director of the Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State at George Mason University, and Nicholas Bagley is a professor at the University of Michigan and was Chief General Counsel to Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.We discussed:* Why the National Environmental Policy Act is a problem* How a small White House office grew to wield power Congress never gave it* Why a seemingly simple environmental case has thrown environmental regulations into doubt* Why D.C. appellate lawyers don't challenge laws they believe are wrong* The potential for reforming environmental review This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.statecraft.pub

On this episode of Free Range, host Mike Livermore is joined by Natalie Jacewicz, a professor at the University of San Diego School of Law. Livermore and Jacewicz discuss here forthcoming paper, "Crafting a New Conservationism." In that paper, Jacewicz examines a fundamental tension in environmental law: the conflict between protecting ecological collectives like species and ecosystems, and safeguarding individual animals. Through analysis of over one hundred National Environmental Policy Act documents, she reveals how federal agencies navigate competing mandates when implementing wildlife management programs. The discussion explores how marquee conservation statutes, including the Marine Mammal Protection Act and Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, contain dual commitments to both collective and individual animal protection, yet provide little guidance for resolving conflicts between these goals. Jacewicz identifies systematic inconsistencies in how agencies approach these tensions, ranging from complete disregard for individual animals to positive duties of care. The conversation concludes by examining potential frameworks for incorporating animal welfare concerns into conservation policy more systematically.

QUESTION PRESENTED:Whether the National Environmental Policy Act requires an agency to study environmental impacts beyond the proximate effects of the action over which the agency has regulatory authority. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

On July 17, 2024, the White House Council on Environmental Quality released a landmark report on new digital tools for modernizing infrastructure permitting and environmental review. The report, which was mandated by the Fiscal Responsibility Act, builds on efforts of the Trump administration to modernize permitting under the National Environmental Policy Act. The report tackles the obstacles created by the lack of transparency in the federal permitting process which needlessly increases the risk to investors while obscuring accountability in the democratic process.Harmonizing and expanding data collection by agencies and making that data publicly accessible in a central repository has been a bipartisan commitment of Congress and presidents going back to the administration of George W. Bush. This report is an important step forward in that effort.During this event, our panel of experts will expound on the necessity of these changes, what the new digital tools add to the permitting process, and what we can expect from the permitting process going forward. Listen to other Heritage podcasts: https://www.heritage.org/podcasts Sign up for The Agenda newsletter — the lowdown on top issues conservatives need to know about each week: https://www.heritage.org/agenda

This week, Supreme Court justices heard arguments in a case that could limit how much federal agencies can consider the climate impacts of new infrastructure projects. POLITICO's Alex Guillén breaks down the details of the case and how the eventual ruling could dramatically transform the National Environmental Policy Act. Plus, President-elect Donald Trump is promising that anyone who invests at least $1 billion in the United States will be rewarded with expedited permits and environmental approvals. Alex Guillén is an energy reporter for POLITICO Pro.  Nirmal Mulaikal is a POLITICO audio host-producer.  Annie Rees is the managing producer for audio at POLITICO. Gloria Gonzalez is the deputy energy editor for POLITICO.  Matt Daily is the energy editor for POLITICO. For more news on energy and the environment, subscribe to Power Switch, our free evening newsletter: https://www.politico.com/power-switch And for even deeper coverage and analysis, read our Morning Energy newsletter by subscribing to POLITICO Pro: https://subscriber.politicopro.com/newsletter-archive/morning-energy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A case in which the Court will decide whether the National Environmental Policy Act requires an agency to study environmental impacts beyond the proximate effects of the action over which the agency has regulatory authority.

Environmental Law: Does the National Environmental Policy Act require an agency to study environmental impacts beyond the proximate effects of the action over which the agency has regulatory authority? - Argued: Tue, 10 Dec 2024 15:45:21 EDT

After touching on some shenanigans from the Federalist Society's National Lawyers Convention and Chuck Schumer's lousy deal on judicial appointments, Leah, Kate, and Melissa preview December's upcoming Supreme Court cases. The Justices will hear arguments in cases about gender-affirming care for minors, the FDA's denial of authorization to flavored e-cigarettes, and the National Environmental Policy Act.  Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

Each month, a panel of constitutional experts convenes to discuss the Court’s upcoming docket sitting by sitting. The cases covered in this preview are listed below. Food and Drug Administration v. Wages and White Lion Investments, LLC (December 2) - Federalism & Separation of Powers; Issue(s): Whether the court of appeals erred in setting aside the Food and Drug Administration’s orders denying respondents’ applications for authorization to market new e-cigarette products as arbitrary and capricious. U.S. v. Miller (December 2) - Bankruptcy; Issue(s): Whether a bankruptcy trustee may avoid a debtor’s tax payment to the United States under 11 U.S.C. § 544(b) when no actual creditor could have obtained relief under the applicable state fraudulent-transfer law outside of bankruptcy. Republic of Hungary v. Simon (December 3) - International Law & Financial Services; Issue(s): (1) Whether historical commingling of assets suffices to establish that proceeds of seized property have a commercial nexus with the United States under the expropriation exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act; (2) whether a plaintiff must make out a valid claim that an exception to the FSIA applies at the pleading stage, rather than merely raising a plausible inference; and (3) whether a sovereign defendant bears the burden of producing evidence to affirmatively disprove that the proceeds of property taken in violation of international law have a commercial nexus with the United States under the expropriation exception to the FSIA. U.S. v. Skrmetti (December 4) - Federalism & Separation of Powers& SOGI; Issue(s): Whether Tennessee Senate Bill 1, which prohibits all medical treatments intended to allow “a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex” or to treat “purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor’s sex and asserted identity,” violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. Kousisis v. U.S. (December 9) - Environmental Law & Financial Services; Issue(s): (1) Whether deception to induce a commercial exchange can constitute mail or wire fraud, even if inflicting economic harm on the alleged victim was not the object of the scheme; (2) whether a sovereign’s statutory, regulatory, or policy interest is a property interest when compliance is a material term of payment for goods or services; and (3) whether all contract rights are “property.” Feliciano v. Department of Transportation (December 9) - Federal Employment Law; Issue(s): Whether a federal civilian employee called or ordered to active duty under a provision of law during a national emergency is entitled to differential pay even if the duty is not directly connected to the national emergency. Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado (December 10) - Environmental Law & Financial Services; Issue(s): Whether the National Environmental Policy Act requires an agency to study environmental impacts beyond the proximate effects of the action over which the agency has regulatory authority. Dewberry Group v. Dewberry Engineers (December 11) - Civil Procedure; Issue(s): Whether an award of the “defendant’s profits” under the Lanham Act can include an order for the defendant to disgorge the distinct profits of legally separate non-party corporate affiliates. Featuring: Boyd Garriott, Associate, Wiley Rein LLP Eric N. Kniffin, Attorney, Kniffin Law PLLC, Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center Michael Pepson, Regulatory Counsel, Americans for Prosperity Foundation Alexandra Shapiro, Partner, Shapiro Arato Bach LLP Jeff Stier, Senior Fellow, Consumer Choice Center (Moderator) Tessa Shurr, Committee Staff, U.S. House of Representatives

In this episode, host Megan Berge talks to long time NEPA practitioner Tom Jackson about the D.C. Circuit's recent decision shaking the foundation of National Environmental Policy Act regulations across federal agencies. The decision is available here. Please reach out to Tom if you have questions about the decision's potential impact on current or planned projects or funding requests.

Acts, Violations and Strategies in Agriculture Johne's Disease in Cattle Demand and Consumption of Animal Protein   00:01:05 – Acts, Violations and Strategies in Agriculture: Roger McEowen, K-State and Washburn law professor, starts today's show by explaining the FARM Act, a National Environmental Policy Act violation and the Environmental Protection Administration's draft strategy. Kansas Income Tax Institute Roger on AgManager.info   00:12:05 – Johne's Disease in Cattle: Continuing the show is K-State veterinarian, Gregg Hanzlicek, as he discusses Johne's disease in cattle and how producers can help reduce risk of it in their herd. Johne's Disease: No Longer Just a Dairy Disease johnes.org ksvdl.org   00:23:05 – Demand and Consumption of Animal Protein: A portion of the Beef Cattle Institute's Cattle Chat podcast ends today's show as Brad White, Dustin Pendell, Bob Larson, Brian Lubbers, Phillip Lancaster and Ken Odde converse about meat demand and consumption. BCI Cattle Chat Podcast Bovine Science with BCI Podcast Email BCI at bci@ksu.edu     Send comments, questions or requests for copies of past programs to ksrenews@ksu.edu.   Agriculture Today is a daily program featuring Kansas State University agricultural specialists and other experts examining ag issues facing Kansas and the nation. It is hosted by Shelby Varner and distributed to radio stations throughout Kansas and as a daily podcast.   K‑State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well‑being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K‑State campus in Manhattan

We're making it easy for you to judge the job performances of your members of Congress! In this episode, Jen tells you about a list of single issue votes that were taken in the House and Senate during the 118th Congress. Most importantly, we gave you all the information you need to find your members' voting records in this episode's show notes. You can find your 2024 Congressional Election Study guide in the episode 301 show notes on www.congressionaldish.com. Happy voting! Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Contribute monthly or a lump sum via Support Congressional Dish via (donations per episode) Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Enacted Laws Congressional Dish Episode: ← find how your Representative voted here ← find how your Senator voted here Effects of H.R. 7888: Expands the number of people allowed to be legally spied on by the U.S. government and the number of people with information stored in the FISA database (which has information about Americans whose data has been collected along with information about foreigners). It does so by… Giving the Department of Justice (DOJ) permission to search the FISA database to vet foreigners who are applying for tourist visas to visit the United States and Expanding the definition of ‘foreign intelligence' to include counter narcotics targets. Expands the number of companies who get legal immunity for turning our information over to the government by expanding the definition of “electronic communications service provider”. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is no longer legally allowed to search the FISA database solely to find evidence of a crime. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is prohibited from using uncorroborated information from political groups or anonymous sources in press reports to get FISA warrants. Limits the number of people within the government who are allowed to search through the database. Background Sources for H.R. 7888: INTEL.gov. Michael Horowitz. April 27, 2023. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General. Jonathan Turley. December 14, 2019. The Hill. Conor Clarke. February 2014. Stanford Law Review. “The Biggs Amendment” to H.R. 7888 [failed] ← find how your Representative voted here Intended Effect of the Biggs Amendment: Would require U.S. government officials to get a warrant before searching through the FISA database for information about U.S. citizens or companies, with emergency exceptions. Congressional Dish Episode: ← find how your Representative voted here Effects of H.R. 7521: It is now illegal for companies to provide internet hosting services, distribute, and/or update “foreign adversary controlled applications”, websites, or games, which are partially owned by a foreign person and are determined by the President - with no proof required - to pose “a significant threat to the national security of the United States.” Establishes a process that allows companies to host, distribute, and/or update if the app, website, or game changes ownership. If companies host, distribute, and/or update the targeted apps, websites, or games, the companies are subject to fines that - depending on the user base of the targeted app, website, or game - can be hundreds of billions of dollars. ← find how your Representative voted here Intended Effects of H.R. 8034: Provide almost $26 billion to Israel. 64% of the money would be for war expenses 35% of the money would be for humanitarian purposes Less than 1% of the money would be for diplomatic expenses Provide $400 million for FEMA Background Sources for H.R. 8034: April 17, 2024. Al Jazeera. Fatima Al-Kassab. January 26, 2024. NPR. ← find how your Representative voted here Intended Effects of H.R. 8035: Provide over $60 billion for Ukraine (and other neighboring countries) 83% of the money would be for war expenses 16.5% of the money would be for humanitarian expenses Less than 0.5% of the money would be for diplomatic expenses Provide $341 million for production of nuclear weapons materials and nuclear nonproliferation programs House Bills ← find how your Representative voted here Intended Effects of H.R. 7023: Double the length of permits to discharge pollutants in waterways from 5 years to 10 years Removes the EPA administrators ability to prohibit discharges in specific disposal sites if he determines that the discharge of materials will have an unacceptable adverse effect on municipal water supplies, shellfish beds and fishery areas, wildlife, or recreational areas after a disposal permit has been issued. Creates nationwide permits to allow for transmission projects for people, water, wastewater, carbon dioxide, fuel, and oil and gas pipelines that do not result in a “loss greater than 1/2 acre of waters of the United States for each single and complete project” In reissuing these nationwide permits, the EPA would not be required to consult with a state nor any other Federal agency and these permits will get to short cut environmental assessments that are required by the National Environmental Policy Act. Limits judicial review Puts a 60 day time limit after the permit is issued for a judicial review Doesn't allow anyone who didn't file a comment during the public comment period to file a lawsuit. If someone did file a comment, they may not file a lawsuit about anything that they didn't address in their comment. Prohibits the court from vacating, revoking, or limiting the permit unless the court finds that the activities authorized “present an imminent and substantial danger to human health or the environment for which there is not other equitable remedy available under the law' Approves an end-of-Trump administration EPA approval for Florida to administer Clean Water Act permitting. Background Sources for H.R. 7023: Becky Bohrer and Patrick Whittle. January 31, 2023. PBS News. July 19, 2016. Earthjustice. Earthjustice. ← find how your Representative voted here Intended Effects of H.R. 1435: Prohibit states from banning fossil fuel burning internal combustion engines in cars and trucks. Effectively revokes the EPA waiver that allows California to ban the sale of fossil fuel burning cars. Background Sources for H.R. 1435: Jeff St. John. September 23, 2020. Greentech Media. ← find how your Representative voted here Intended effects of H.R. 7176: Give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission the “exclusive authority” to approve or deny applications to export natural gas from the United States to a foreign country, which eliminates requirements for Department of Energy approval and provisions to address free trade agreements. Deems exportation or importation of natural gas to be in the public interest. Background Sources for H.R. 7176: September 26, 2024. National Drought Mitigation Center. Zachary-Taylor Wright. September 17, 2024. MySA. Steven Santana. July 23, 2024. MySA. ← find how your Representative voted here Intended Effects of H.R. 6543: Requires providers of short term lodging (hotels and AirBnBs) and Internet platforms that advertise and sell short term lodging to display the total price including all mandatory fees, except for government taxes and fees. ← find how your Representative voted here Intended Effects of H.R. 3950: Requires ticket issuers and secondary market ticket issuers to clearly display the total ticket price, including all fees, at the time the ticket price is first displayed and provides an itemized list of charges before the ticket purchasing process is complete. Prohibits ticket issuers and secondary market ticket issuers from selling tickets that they do not physically possess at the time of sale. Prohibits secondary ticket issuers from using the word ‘official' or similar words implying a partnership in their marketing and search engine wording unless they have the consent of the venue, team, or artist. Requires ticket issuers to provide a refund or a similar ticket to a rescheduled event, with the approval of the customer, if an event is canceled or postponed (except for in case of a natural disaster or other event beyond the ticket issuer's control). ← find how your Representative voted here Intended Effects of H.R. 4639: Prohibits law enforcement or the intelligence community from buying customer or subscriber information directly from companies or from data brokers. Any information “illegitimately obtained” is not allowed to be used against us in court. Has exceptions for FISA surveillance of foreigners. Limits immunity for companies that comply with surveillance orders and do not stop the surveillance when a court order is denied. Background Sources for H.R. 4639: Carly Page. July 18, 2022. TechCrunch. Senior Advisory Group Panel on Commercially Available Information. January 27, 2022. Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Byron Tau. June 19, 2020. The Wall Street Journal. Senate Bills ← find how your Senator voted here Intended Effects of S. 316: Repeal the authorizations for US military operations in Iraq that were passed in 1991 and 2002. Background Sources for S. 316: Meghann Myers. January 25, 2024. Military Times. ← find how your Senator voted here Intended Effects of S. 4072: To prevent the enforcement of the , which would set stricter standards for fossil fuel burning cars and trucks that would be phased in between model year 2027 and 2032. Prohibits enforcement of any similar rule that could be written in the future. The standards could be met via the production of cleaner fossil fuel powered vehicles, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and electric vehicles. EPA estimates the air pollution reductions would provide ~$13 billion in reduced annual health care costs by preventing the emission of thousands of tons of particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds. EPA estimates the new standards would save Americans $46 billion per year in fuel costs and $16 billion per year due to reduced maintenance and repair costs for drivers, totaling ~$6,000 over the course of a new vehicle's lifetime. ← find how your Senator voted here Intended Effects of S. 4445: Guarantees an individual's rights to receive fertility treatment, make decisions regarding the donation, use, storage, and disposal of oocytes, sperm, fertilized eggs and embryos, and enter contracts with health care providers to enact those decisions. Guarantees a health provider's right to provide fertility treatments and provide for testing, use, storage, shipping, and disposal of genetic material including oocytes, sperm, fertilized eggs, and embryos. Guarantees a health insurance provider's right to cover fertility treatments. Guarantees a manufacturer's right to manufacture, import, market, sell, and distribute drugs and devices that are used for fertility treatments. Allows lawsuits against any State or individual who interferes with the right to fertility treatments by the Attorney General, health care providers, and individuals adversely affected. This would supersede any State law regardless of when it was enacted and prohibits enforcement of any state law that is in conflict with these rights. Requires the Department of Defense to provide fertility treatments (specifically three egg retrievals and unlimited embryo transfers) to active duty military members and their spouses. Requires health plans, Medicaid, and Medicare that cover obstetrical (child birth related) services to also provide coverage for fertility treatments. Background sources for S. 4445: Maya C. Miller. September 17, 2024. The New York Times. Alander Rocha. April 3, 2024. Alabama Reflector. Alander Rocha. February 19, 2024. Alabama Reflector. Audio Sources March 21, 2024 Clips Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA): My colleagues have criticized EPA's use of its Clean Water Act review or veto authority. Yet, the record shows EPA's use of this authority has been consistent with congressional intent. I see no reason for removing this authority. Since enactment of the Clean Water Act in 1972, EPA has only exercised this authority 14 times—most recently in relation to large-scale mining proposals in Alaska and West Virginia. EPA's use of this authority has, in fact, been bipartisan. EPA used it 2 times during Democratic administrations and 12 times during Republican administrations. Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO): This bill will cut red tape, strengthen the permitting process in favor of those seeking the permits, provide clarity to the EPA to ensure that they are following what the law intends, and, most importantly, fight back against the militant climate agenda. Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO): Our court system is already being attacked from every angle. Let's not let the environmentalists continue to manipulate the courts to push their climate religion. It should be an efficient and speedy process so businesses can build the infrastructure that our country depends on. Rep. David Rouser (R-NC): Mr. Chairman, in closing, I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this bill, which provides energy predictability and certainty that our utilities, energy, manufacturing, and agricultural industries need to succeed, which are so critical to American greatness in energy, food production, and the manufacturing necessary to improve the standard of living of every American. That is what this is about, Mr. Chairman. Music by Editing Production Assistance

Many of you will have heard of Zvi Mowshowitz as a superhuman information-absorbing-and-processing machine — which he definitely is. As the author of the Substack Don't Worry About the Vase, Zvi has spent as much time as literally anyone in the world over the last two years tracking in detail how the explosion of AI has been playing out — and he has strong opinions about almost every aspect of it. Links to learn more, summary, and full transcript.In today's episode, host Rob Wiblin asks Zvi for his takes on:US-China negotiationsWhether AI progress has stalledThe biggest wins and losses for alignment in 2023EU and White House AI regulationsWhich major AI lab has the best safety strategyThe pros and cons of the Pause AI movementRecent breakthroughs in capabilitiesIn what situations it's morally acceptable to work at AI labsWhether you agree or disagree with his views, Zvi is super informed and brimming with concrete details.Zvi and Rob also talk about:The risk of AI labs fooling themselves into believing their alignment plans are working when they may not be.The “sleeper agent” issue uncovered in a recent Anthropic paper, and how it shows us how hard alignment actually is.Why Zvi disagrees with 80,000 Hours' advice about gaining career capital to have a positive impact.Zvi's project to identify the most strikingly horrible and neglected policy failures in the US, and how Zvi founded a new think tank (Balsa Research) to identify innovative solutions to overthrow the horrible status quo in areas like domestic shipping, environmental reviews, and housing supply.Why Zvi thinks that improving people's prosperity and housing can make them care more about existential risks like AI.An idea from the online rationality community that Zvi thinks is really underrated and more people should have heard of: simulacra levels.And plenty more.Chapters:Zvi's AI-related worldview (00:03:41)Sleeper agents (00:05:55)Safety plans of the three major labs (00:21:47)Misalignment vs misuse vs structural issues (00:50:00)Should concerned people work at AI labs? (00:55:45)Pause AI campaign (01:30:16)Has progress on useful AI products stalled? (01:38:03)White House executive order and US politics (01:42:09)Reasons for AI policy optimism (01:56:38)Zvi's day-to-day (02:09:47)Big wins and losses on safety and alignment in 2023 (02:12:29)Other unappreciated technical breakthroughs (02:17:54)Concrete things we can do to mitigate risks (02:31:19)Balsa Research and the Jones Act (02:34:40)The National Environmental Policy Act (02:50:36)Housing policy (02:59:59)Underrated rationalist worldviews (03:16:22)Producer and editor: Keiran HarrisAudio Engineering Lead: Ben CordellTechnical editing: Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic ArmstrongTranscriptions and additional content editing: Katy Moore