David Smith Journalist Profile

Articles

Warren says Trump’s ‘unprecedented’ actions during transition risk security

Nov 22, 2024 | yahoo.com | David SMith |David Smith

Donald Trump’s refusal to cooperate with the outgoing Biden administration is putting national security at risk and weakening safeguards against corruption, the US Senator Elizabeth Warren has warned. The president-elect has broken from precedent by refusing to sign memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with the current White House team and failing to release a comprehensive ethics plan.
Fortifying The Future: Ensuring Dam Safety With A Solid Foundation

Nov 8, 2024 | mondaq.com | David SMith |David Smith |Ester Calavia Garsaball |Neil Gunn

To effectively manage reservoir risks and protect their reputations, operators should review risk management solutions. Climate change is stressing large reservoirs, recent failures and near misses are encouraging countries to update their regulatory approaches. A comprehensive risk assessment can help dam owners and operators in identifying, quantifying and managing associated risks, enabling analytically informed decisions and increasing confidence with regulators and insurers.
Fortifying the future: Ensuring dam safety with a solid foundation

Nov 5, 2024 | wtwco.com | David SMith |David Smith |Neil Gunn |Ester Calavia Garsaball

Climate change is stressing large reservoirs, recent failures and near misses are encouraging countries to update their regulatory approaches. A comprehensive risk assessment can help dam owners and operators in identifying, quantifying and managing associated risks, enabling analytically informed decisions and increasing confidence with regulators and insurers. Dams help to regulate water levels, protect land from flooding, and provide water for drinking, industrial processes and irrigation.
Early AI Use Cases and Lessons for Utilities, Grid Operators and Regulators

Nov 4, 2024 | gridforward.org | David SMith |David Smith

A recap from GridFWD 2024 by Tom Brim, AVP and Brett Lyon, Manager in North Highland Consulting’s utility practiceHow far we have come. Just think, for those of us at the GridFWD 2023, many ohh’ed and ahh’ed with great curiosity as Microsoft demonstrated the power of its AI engine during a morning keynote at Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, WA. Turn the clock forward one year, and AI is the “unavoidable fact” of the electric grid. We are no longer in the era of sub-1% ho-hum load growth era.
David Smith: Opencut Act is a reclamation act

Aug 29, 2023 | missoulian.com | |David Smith

At a time when the nation and state are celebrating epic investments in infrastructure, including water and sewer projects, roads, bridges, broadband, EV stations and alternative energy projects, it is important to understand the role gravel plays. Gravel is a material that is critical to accomplish all the above listed infrastructure needs. It is also critically important for the construction of new housing.
Guest column: How the Opencut Act really works

Aug 18, 2023 | bozemandailychronicle.com | |David Smith

At a time when the nation and state are celebrating epic investments in infrastructure, including water and sewer projects, roads, bridges, broadband, EV stations and alternative energy projects, it is important to understand the role gravel plays. Gravel is a material that is critical to accomplish all the above listed infrastructure needs. It is also critically important for the construction of new housing.
LETTER: Nevada lawmakers are bought and paid for

Jun 24, 2023 | reviewjournal.com | David SMith |David Smith

It is now official that the Nevada Legislature is bought and paid for. We are no longer living in a state where the opinion of the electorate counts. The taxpayers of Clark County were overwhelming against footing the bill for the A’s stadium. According to the legislative website, the taxpayers’ opposition was at 88 percent, but to no avail. We have regressed 250 years to “taxation without representation.” Nevada has become the bought and sold “big sucker” state.
LETTER: Nevada lawmakers are bought and paid for

Jun 24, 2023 | carsoncitycurrent.com | David SMith |David Smith

It is now official that the Nevada Legislature is bought and paid for. We are no longer living in a state where the opinion of the electorate counts. The taxpayers of Clark County were overwhelming against footing the bill for the A’s stadium. According to the legislative website, the taxpayers’ opposition was at 88 percent, but to no avail. We have regressed 250 years to “taxation without representation.” Nevada has become the bought and sold “big sucker” state.
The Supreme Court Provides Clarity And Contraction On Regulation Of Waters Of The United States

Jun 5, 2023 | mondaq.com | David SMith |David Smith

For the first time in modern history, the scope of federal regulation of wetlands and waters is strikingly clear . . . and narrow. In Sackett v. EPA, the U.S. Supreme Court drew the brightest and most narrow regulatory boundary to date as to which resources are subject to regulation under the federal Clean Water Act (CWA).
Berkeley's Natural Gas Ban In New Housing And Businesses Not Allowed, Says Ninth Circuit

May 24, 2023 | mondaq.com | David SMith |David Smith

Local or state regulations seeking to decarbonize new buildings by banning natural gas appliances or infrastructure are preempted under federal law according to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Cities from San Francisco to New York have adopted natural gas curtailment or ban measures as a means of cutting greenhouse gas emissions from new buildings, a critical sector of focus in climate action regimes.