The California Sixth District Court of Appeal recently considered the case of Preservation Action Council of San Jose v. City of San Jose. There, the Preservation Action Council of San Jose (“PACSJ”) filed a petition challenging the City of San Jose’s certification of a final Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (“SEIR”) for the City View Plaza […]
On May 20, 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law the “Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2021,” also known as SB 7, which is chaptered as Sections 21178 to 21189.3 of the Public Resources Code. (https://legiscan.com/CA/text/SB7/id/2401530SB.) SB 7 replaces a previous similar law, the “Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental […]
On May 25, 2021, the Biden Administration announced it has identified two areas along the central and northern coasts of California which the Administration plans to open for commercial scale offshore clean energy projects. This announcement is part of the Biden Administration’s larger and more ambitious goal of producing 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy […]
On May 21, 2021, the California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM) released a pre-rulemaking draft regulation that would prohibit CalGEM from approving applications for permits to conduct well stimulation treatments after January 1, 2024. This rulemaking comes in response to Governor Newsom’s recent decision to unilaterally ban fracking. Comments on the pre-rulemaking draft regulation are […]
The Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), under the Biden Administration, rescinded yet another Trump-era environmental regulation on May 14, 2021. This time, the Biden Administration took aim at the EPA’s rule promulgated under the Trump Administration entitled, “Increasing Consistency and Transparency in Considering Benefits and Costs in the Clean Air Act Rulemaking Process” (“Rule”), which prescribed […]
In the recent California Third District Court of Appeal decision, Alliance for Responsible Planning v. Taylor, — Cal.Rptr.3d —-, Case No. 085712 (May 4, 2021), the Court determined that an initiative measure requiring new development projects to mitigate both the individual project’s traffic levels of service (“LOS”) impacts, and also the cumulative traffic LOS impacts […]
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced plans to ban hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as ‘fracking,’ by 2024 in an April 23 press release. As part of his personal longer-term goal to end all oil extraction in the state by 2045, the governor directed the California Department of Conservation’s Geologic Energy Management (CalGEM) Division to immediately […]
On Friday, April 23, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied Dakota Access LLC’s request for a rehearing on a three-judge panel ruling that the Dakota Access Pipeline (the “DAPL”) is operating without a key federal permit. By denying the petition, the appeals court stood by its January decision, which upheld the […]
On Wednesday, April 21, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced it would not hold its second quarter oil and gas lease sales amid ongoing review of the federal oil and gas leasing program, including potential climate impacts. The pause does not affect current operations or permits for existing leases, which can still be reviewed. […]
President Biden hosted a virtual climate change summit of world leaders on April 22, 2021, during which he pledged to decrease U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52 percent from 2005 levels no later than 2030 – supposedly putting the U.S. on track to achieve a net-zero carbon economy by 2050. In furtherance of this commitment, […]
