Third District Court of Appeal Upholds Department of Conservation Program EIR Studying Hydraulic Fracturing and other Well Stimulation Activities.

In the unpublished opinion Center for Biological
Diversity v. California Department of Conservation, Division of Oil, Gas, and
Geothermal Resources et al. (2019 WL 2133616), the Third District Court of
Appeal upheld a program EIR prepared by the Department of Conservation to
consider the environmental effects of well stimulation treatments, such as
hydraulic fracturing. The Department was required to prepare ...Read More

Mitchell Chadwick LLP Win: Merced County Votes to Support a Vested Right to Surface Mining

Mitchell Chadwick attorneys G. Braiden Chadwick and John Wheat recently represented a client in a successful request for a determination of vested right to continue surface mining on a property in Merced County. The property, known as the Kelsey Ranch property, has been in the Kelsey family since the late 1800s, passed down from Erastus ...Read More

EPA: Landfill Emissions Guidelines and Performance Standards

Under the Obama administration, the EPA finalized the
Emissions Guidelines and New Source Performance Standards rules to address
changes in the landfill industry since prior rulemaking in 1996.  The EPA
was supposed to approve plans from states related to the implementation of the
emissions guidelines and create a federal plan but the Trump administration has
not done so.

On May 6, ...Read More

California considers: When can a utility be held responsible for wildfire?

California’s Commission on Catastrophic Wildfire Cost and
Recovery recently released a draft report recommending that California change
its current liability standards relating to when utilities can be held
responsible for wildfires. The report was called for by SB 901 which was
enacted last year to address the escalating danger that wildfires present to
California residents and utilities. As the liability ...Read More