Culminating a process that began 11 years ago, the California State Water Resources Control Board last week unanimously adopted a revised policy to protect wetlands in the State. The policy creates a new definition of wetlands peculiar to California, gives a framework to determine a water of the state (nearly everything), and clarifies requirements for […]
The National Resources Management Act was approved yesterday by Congress in a landslide 363-62 vote. The Act is a sweeping public lands conservation package that will protect millions of acres of land and rivers across the country. It also designates over 1 million acres of new wilderness land, with almost 700,000 acres reserved for recreation […]
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently reported that oil and natural gas lease sales produced more than $1.1 billion in 2018, shattering the previous record of $408 billion in 2008. The revenue was generated by 28 sales amounting to around 1,412 parcels of land and covering about 1.5 million acres. The BLM offers lease […]
The below excerpt from Scotusblog can be found HERE. The Clean Water Act bars the discharge of any pollutant into “navigable waters” without a permit. In its lone grant on today’s order list, the Supreme Court agreed to decide whether a violation of the CWA occurs only when a pollutant is released directly into navigable […]
On December 28, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and the Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) published a revised Waters of the U.S. (“WOTUS”) to clarify the scope of waters federally regulated under the Clean Water Act (“CWA”). The proposed rule is open for a 60-day comment period. The proposed rule is intended to […]
The Fourth District Court of Appeal upheld application of a Class 1 categorical exemption for a restated facilities lease in the case San Diegans for Open Government v. City of San Diego (2018) 31 Cal.App.5th 349. The case also addressed whether the lease violated city-specific requirements and found that it did not. The lease at […]
Bowing to the reality of delays, out-of-control costs, and accusations of corruption, payback, and favoritism, California Governor Gavin Newsom reversed former Governor Jerry Brown’s steadfast support of the doomed rail system in his first State of the State speech on February 12, 2019. Newsom stated that the high-speed rail project (a saga which began with […]
In a January 16, 2019 decision made public this past Wednesday, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) sustained Bristol Environmental Remediation Services, Inc.’s (“Bristol”) bid protest, ruling that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) unfairly rejected Bristol’s proposal for an environmental cleanup and munitions response contract. Despite presenting the cheapest proposal among the other […]
Colorado mineral owners filed a federal lawsuit against the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (the “COGCC”) this past Wednesday, asserting that the COGCC’s authority to allow companies to drill on objecting residents’ land is unconstitutional. Colorado Rising, the activist group backing the lawsuit, recently suffered defeat of its November ballot measure that would have […]
The transportation sector in California accounts for 40% of greenhouse gas emissions. To combat this, on December 14, 2018, California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) adopted a regulation that sets a statewide goal for public transit agencies to transition to fully zero-emission bus fleets by 2040. There are currently 150 zero-emission buses operating in California. Under […]
