On September 24, 2018, the 6th Circuit issued rulings in two cases over the question of how direct a connection there must be between the source of pollution and waters that were allegedly polluted for the Clean Water Act (“CWA”) to apply. The 6th Circuit rulings created a split in the circuits on issue of […]
A federal judge for the D.C. Circuit reinstated two oil and gas leases on Monday, in an area of Montana deemed sacred to the local Blackfeet Tribe. (W.A. Moncrief, Jr. v. U.S. Dep’t of interior (Sept. 24, 2018) D.C. Circuit Civil Case No. 17-609 and Solenex LLC v. Sally Jewell et al. (Sept. 24, 2018) […]
The Waters of the United States Rule (“WOTUS Rule”) implemented under the Obama administration in 2015 has gone through much back and forth since the beginning. Numerous states and industry groups sued to stop implementation of the WOTUS Rule in 2015. The Sixth Circuit consolidated various challenges and issued a nationwide stay of the WOTUS […]
A U.S. District Court in Northern California reinstated protections for the bi-state sage grouse in California and Nevada. Environmental groups such as the Center for Biological Diversity and the Western Watersheds Project had filed a motion against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for withdrawing the bi-state distinct population of greater sage groups as a […]
On Tuesday morning the EPA revealed its proposed plan for replacing the Obama-era “Clean Power Plan.” The EPA says the new rule will give states more authority and create new jobs, taking the place of the “overly prescriptive and burdensome” Clean Power Plan. The new plan, titled the “Affordable Clean Energy” or “ACE” Rule, would […]
The U.S. State Department has given preliminary environmental approval to a proposed alternative route through Nebraska for the Keystone XL pipeline, a route that is currently being challenged by landowners and other project opponents in the Nebraska Supreme Court. The State Department, which has already issued a cross-border permit for TransCanada Corp.’s project found that […]
As of July 24, the BLM has taken an updated position on the issue of compensatory mitigation. The BLM states in a new policy: “Except where the law specifically requires, the BLM must not require compensatory mitigation from public land users.” The BLM will still, in limited circumstances, consider voluntary proposals for compensatory mitigation, but […]
It was not a surprise last Thursday, when U.S. District Judge John F. Keenan dismissed with prejudice New York City’s lawsuit against ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP, and Royal Dutch Shell. The city’s lawsuit sought to hold these oil companies accountable for infrastructure damage related to climate change, claiming that the defendants knew that their production […]
Rumors swirling around Washington D.C. indicate that the Department of the Interior (“DOI”) may release a statement rescinding the fairly recently published USFWS Service-Wide Mitigation policy and Endangered Species Act-Compensatory Mitigation Policy, without replacing either policy. Further, the agency may also take the position that, in the absence of further congressional directive, the DOI is […]
President Trump on Tuesday pardoned a pair of Oregon cattle ranchers who had been serving sentences for arson on federal land — sentences that set off the armed occupation of a wildlife refuge in 2016. Dwight L. Hammond, now 76, and his son, Steven D. Hammond, 49, became a cause célèbre that inspired an antigovernment […]
