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Setting up a PostGIS server
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- Written by charlie
- Category: GIS & Mapping
Setting up a postgres and PostGIS server is not always easy, especially on an headless server, but I found the following instructions helpful, even though the instructions were designed to install Mapnik. I just followed the Ubuntu instructions, and it worked flawlessly.
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Mapnik/PostGIS
The PostGIS 2.0 shp2pgsql Command Line Cheatsheet was also helpful with importing shapefiles.
http://www.bostongis.com/pgsql2shp_shp2pgsql_quickguide_20.bqg
Sackett v. EPA and Wetland Map
- Details
- Written by charlie
- Category: Latest
In this weeks Supreme Court case, Sackett, et al., v. EPA , the Sackett's, landowners backed by a "veritable who's who in American mining, oil, utilities, manufacturing and real estate development, as well as groups opposed to government regulation." argued that the EPA has overstepped its authority by forcing property owners into an administrative nightmare with no recourse or chance of appealing an EPA administrative order despite knowingly filling wetlands.
According to the Natural Resources Defense council, documents obtained from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under the Freedom of Information Act, show that the landowners disregarded the opinion of a wetlands expert they hired to evaluate their property in 2007 as well as ignoring overtures by the Army Corps of Engineers to file for a permit relatively easily and inexpensively.
Out of curiosity, I wondered if the property in question does contain wetlands as claimed by the EPA. An April 2011 NY Times article identifies a neighboring plot, so it was just a matter of plugging the address in the Wetland Mapper and freehanding the property boundaries in red. As seen below, the property is almost entirely comprised of Freshwater Forested wetlands (The code Code PSS1C is partially obscured by the box), and is also surrounded on three sides by wetlands.
While that the case also revolves around other issues than filling wetlands, it's apparent that the claim that wetlands weren't present is scarcely convincing at best.
Suggested reading:
Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency (Excellent General Summary)
When Property Rights, Environmental Laws Collide
Mike Sackett, Idaho Man, Fights EPA Compliance Order
Idaho couple's permit fight drags wetlands back to high court
Idaho couple puts wetlands rules to the test in U.S. Supreme Court
Wetlands in the News
24 April 2024
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Biden sets goal to protect wetlands, rivers and streams
The White House on Tuesday announced a new goal to protect millions of miles of wetlands, rivers and streams. As the White House hosts a “water summit” it announced that it wants to set a new national...
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Biden admin vows to restore 8M acres of wetlands
The new goal is part of a blitz of environmental actions the White House is announcing this week to coincide with Earth Day.
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US administration targets protecting three mln ha of wetlands by 2030
President Joe Biden’s administration has launched a programme to restore and protect 3 million hectares of wetlands and 160,000 kilometres of rivers in the US by 2030, with over...
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Biden-Harris Admin Pledges Over $1B for Tribal Water Projects, Aims to Revitalize 8M Acres of Wetlands
The White House announced a strategy to protect and restore U.S. freshwater, pledging over $1 billion for water projects in Tribal areas.
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Commentary: Millions of acres of Florida wetlands could lose federal protection
Almost a year after the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. EPA, which found that the Clean Water Act applied only to wetlands connected to federal waters, writers with the Environmental...