Federal Efficiency/Streamlining: CEQ Issues New NEPA Guidance Documents
The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) released two handbooks under the federal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on March 5, 2013, that provide regulatory guidance to "encourage more...
View ArticleIntegrating NEPA and NHPA Section 106 Reviews: New Guidance Document Provides...
The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), as part of its effort to modernize and reinvigorate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), released two handbooks on March 5, 2013, that provide...
View ArticleThe Sun is Shining on Solar: Deference to Lead Agency Given in Panoche Valley...
In a recent California appellate decision addressing a challenge under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the Williamson Act to the Panoche Valley Solar Project, a photovoltaic solar...
View ArticleCity of Ceres: California Appeals Court CEQA Decision Complicates Whether...
On July 8, 2013, the Fifth District of the California Court of Appeal issued Citizens for Ceres v. Super. Ct. of Stanislaus County (Case No. F065690 (Cal. Ct. App. 5th, July 8, 2013)) (Ceres), a...
View ArticleCalifornia's New Hydraulic Fracturing Regulations: Implications and Next Steps
California's Senate Bill 4 (SB 4) is one of the first laws in the United States to regulate hydraulic fracturing (or "fracking"). On November 15, 2013, the state's Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal...
View ArticleBay Delta Conservation Plan and Draft EIR Released for Public Comment:...
The Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), an ecosystem plan designed to restore habitat and help endangered fish species recover while also keeping water flowing to customers through construction of the...
View ArticleThe 30-Year Programmatic Eagle Take Permit: How Much Certainty Does It Provide?
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a final rule that takes limited action to extend the maximum life of programmatic eagle take permits to 30 years, provides for permit transferability, and sets...
View ArticleObama Administration Releases Proposed Rule on "Waters of the United States"
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a proposed rule that will impact many segments of the U.S. economy, greatly expanding future permitting...
View ArticleProposed Endangered Species Act Regulations Would Revise Rules And...
HIGHLIGHTS - - The proposed regulations would considerably change the regulatory definitions related to "critical habitat" and "adverse modification," increasing agency discretion to designate and...
View ArticleNEPA Revised Draft Guidance on Consideration of GHG Emissions: Version 2.0 -...
Nearly five years after issuing its initial draft, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) continues to revise its draft guidance on conducting greenhouse gas (GHG) impact analyses under...
View ArticleObama Administration Issues Final Rule on “Waters of the United States” - The...
On May 27, 2015, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (collectively, the “agencies”) issued a final rule revising the regulatory definition of...
View ArticleNew Regulations Could Expand CEQA Review of Impacts to Common Birds -...
The California Department of Fish & Wildlife (CDFW) published draft regulations interpreting California laws that protect birds of prey, and the nests and eggs of birds generally. These draft...
View ArticleWill FAST Act Make Permitting Faster? Streamlining Offered for Infrastructure...
The new federal highway funding legislation, the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act), signed into law by President Obama on Dec. 4, 2015, provides long-term funding certainty for...
View ArticleNew ESA Regulations Expand Impact of "Critical Habitat" Designations
Two new rules and one new policy from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service (the Services) relating to the process of designating and protecting "critical...
View ArticleFish and Wildlife Service Issues Draft 30-Year Programmatic Eagle Take Permit...
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) on May 6, 2016, issued a draft rule that would extend to 30 years the maximum life of permits authorizing the incidental take of bald and golden eagles...
View ArticleSupreme Court: Clean Water Act Jurisdictional Determinations Challengeable in...
The Supreme Court of the United States ruled on May 31, 2016, in United States Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co., Inc., No. 15-290, slip op., 578 U.S. ___ (2016) that approved jurisdictional...
View ArticleWhite House Issues Final Guidance on Consideration of Greenhouse Gas...
After more than six years of review and the issuance of several draft guidance documents, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) published on Aug. 5, 2016, its final guidance on...
View ArticleProjecting the Future: Court Upholds Listing for Bearded Seals - Ninth...
In Alaska Oil & Gas Ass'n v. Pritzker, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently upheld a rule listing two species of seals as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)...
View ArticleClean Water Act Nationwide Permits Reissued: Permit Streamlining Remains Intact
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) on Jan. 6, 2017, published a final rule reissuing its Clean Water Act Nationwide Permits (NWPs) with some modifications (88 Fed. Reg. 1860). The NWP program...
View ArticleCalif. High Court: U.S. Rail Law Doesn't Categorically Pre-empt CEQA on...
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), Cal. Pub. Res. Code §21000 et seq., imposes significant procedural and substantive requirements on private and public projects throughout the state....
View ArticleCalifornia Attempts to Fill the Clean Water Act Breach - State Water Board...
Although the federal government under the Trump Administration is stepping back from regulations under the Clean Water Act (CWA) – see President Donald Trump's Executive Orderand proposed federal rule...
View ArticleMigratory Bird Treaty Act and the Sword of Damocles
• A U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) legal memo has found that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) applies only to purposeful "take" and does not apply to otherwise lawful activities. • The memo...
View ArticleSupreme Court Makes Jurisdictional Determination on Clean Water Act Rule -...
• U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously – on narrow procedural grounds – that the courts of appeals do not have original jurisdiction to hear challenges to the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Obama...
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