California Farmer Facing Almost $3 Million in Fines for Plowing Own Field

A California farmer is facing a $2.8 million fine and a trial in federal court this summer for failing to get a permit to plow his own field. John Duarte, of Duarte Nursery, bought 450 acres of land near Modesto in 2012, where he planned to grow wheat. While ...Read More

EPA halts landfill standards

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it would put a stop to two Obama-era rules for new and existing dumps meant to cut methane emissions at landfills.

The EPA will reconsider the rules after industry groups protested the Obama Administration’s final rules for both rules: “Standards of Performance for Municipal Solid Waste Landfills” and Emission Guidelines and ...Read More

Supreme Court Justices Ask Trump Administration to Weigh In on California Mining Prohibition

The U.S. Supreme Court is requesting that the Trump administration evaluate the extent to which states can prohibit mining activity on federal lands. Earlier this week, the Justices asked the acting solicitor general to weigh in on a case brought by a part-time prospector who hopes to knock down a specific California ...Read More

Legal Tempest in a Teapot: Rapanos Being Re-fought by Opponents of the Trump CWA Executive Order

Environmental groups are taking issue with President Trump’s executive order instructing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to consider interpreting the term “navigable waters” in a manner consistent with the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s opinion in Rapanos v. United States. In his opinion Justice Scalia concluded that the Clean Water Act only applies to relatively permanent ...Read More