This week environmental groups brought a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its recent support of a company’s plan to pump 16.3 billion gallons of groundwater each year from a Mojave Desert aquifer to developments in South Orange County and other locations. Los Angeles-Based Cadiz Inc. seeks to build a pipeline that pumps the water […]
December 14, 2017 | Category:
California,
CEQA,
Land Use,
News | Tags:
California,
california land use,
CEQA,
environmental group,
Housing,
land use,
Land Use LawIn its latest update to the Housing Opportunity Index (“Index”), the National Association of Home Builders identified Los Angeles to be the most expensive housing market in the nation, overtaking San Francisco, who had held the dubious number ranking for nearly five years. According to the NAHB, just 9% of the homes sold in Los […]
This week, President Trump signed two proclamations, which reduced the size of two national monuments in Utah by 2 million acres and is now the largest rollback of federal land protection in U.S. history. Using the Antiquities Act, Trump formally downsized the Grand Staircase-Escalante Monument to about half its size (from 1.9 million acres to […]
November 10, 2017 | Category:
California,
CEQA,
Land Use,
Lawsuit | Tags:
appeal,
california land use,
CEQA,
court case,
land use,
Land Use Law,
lawsuitIn an unpublished decision filed November 6, 2017, the First district Court of Appeal upheld a County decision to approve a design review application for a market and grocery store renovation project. (Case No. A150043) The petitioner appealed from a trial court decision, which found application of the CEQA exemption proper. Marin County first issued […]
Last month (October 2017), the Senate narrowly rejected a proposal from Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) that would have removed intrastate species from federal jurisdiction under the ESA. Current jurisprudence from the Supreme Court extends federal jurisdiction to intrastate endangered species via a very broad interpretation of the interstate commerce clause. The vote to amend the ESA […]
November 4, 2017 | Category:
California,
CEQA,
Endangered Species,
Land Use,
Lawsuit | Tags:
California,
california land use,
court case,
Endangered,
endangered species,
land use,
Land Use Law,
lawsuitThis week a group of property owners and developers filed suit against the U.S. Department of Interior, alleging that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) violated federal procedure rules when it repeatedly found that the coastal California gnatcatcher is protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Filed in a D.C. federal court by the […]
November 1, 2017 | Category:
California,
Land Use,
NEPA,
News,
Oil and Gas | Tags:
BLM,
California,
mitchell chadwick llp,
NEPA,
oil,
oil & gas,
oil and gasLast week, California Representative Alan Lowenthal (D) introduced HR 4103 (2017), also known as the “Having Open Access to Relevant Data Act” or the “HOARD Act.” The legislation specifically targets applicants who have obtained Permits to Drill on federal lands, but had not begun timely drilling. The HOARD Act is in response to the Bureau […]
October 31, 2017 | Category:
Air Quality,
California,
CEQA,
Land Use,
Lawsuit,
News,
Noise | Tags:
california land use,
CEQA,
court case,
environmental group,
Land Use Law,
lawsuitIn an unpublished decision filed on October 24, 2017, the Third District Court of Appeal upheld a trial court’s denial of a CEQA challenge to a freeway interchange and arterial roadway project. The case, Eureka Village Homeowners Association v. City of Rancho Cordova (C082276) considers whether the EIR prepared by the city analyzed a reasonable […]
October 27, 2017 | Category:
Endangered Species,
Land Use,
Lawsuit,
NEPA,
News | Tags:
BLM,
california land use,
court case,
Endangered,
endangered species,
environmental group,
land use,
Land Use Law,
mitchell chadwick llp,
NEPAThis week the BLM announced its plans to hold public hearings in November to allow for public comment regarding the agency’s decision to reopen 98 federal land use plans that were put in place to protect the greater sage grouse. Meanwhile, a watchdog group filed a federal lawsuit against the Interior Department, claiming the agency […]
October 26, 2017 | Category:
California,
Endangered Species,
Land Use,
Lawsuit,
NEPA,
News | Tags:
BLM,
california land use,
court case,
endangered species,
environmental group,
EPA,
land use,
Land Use Law,
lawsuitOn October 16, 2017, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt issued an administrative order with the goal of ensuring that the Environmental Protection Agency is transparent when settling lawsuits – particularly those filed by environmental groups seeking to regulate through litigation. A press release accompanying the administrative order explains that the EPA has long been sued by […]
