On October 10, 2024, the California Fish and Game Commission accepted a petition to list western burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA) and designated the species as a candidate species. Threats facing burrowing owls in California are direct mortality and permanent habitat loss caused by urbanization and reduction or […]
We are pleased to share that G. Braiden Chadwick and Patrick G. Mitchell have again been recognized as 2024 Northern California Super Lawyers by Super Lawyers, which is a part of Thomson Reuters, for their high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Only a few attorneys from each state are selected to Super Lawyers […]
Today, June 28, the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) issued an opinion (link HERE) overruling Chevron deference in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless v. Department of Commerce. Chevron deference call referred to the prior rule that courts should defer to an agency’s reasonable interpretation of ambiguous statutes. Chief Justice John Roberts, writing the opinion of […]
From The Hill: The Biden administration on Thursday announced a finalized update to Endangered Species Act (ESA) rules that advocates say reverses some Trump administration rollbacks but fails to fully restore them. In 2019, the Trump administration made a number of alterations to the ESA rules, including adding language to protection criteria to allow consideration […]
March 26, 2024 | Category:
News | Tags:
2008 Mitigation Rule,
Army Corps,
CWA,
EPA,
ERBA,
Sackett,
Water Law,
water rule,
Waters Of The U.S.,
Watershed Approach,
WOTUSERBA Applauds Corps Guidance on Watershed Approach and Mitigation Post-Sackett From ERBA: Last Friday, on World Water Day, Assistant Secretary for the Army Michael Connor issued guidance affirming the position of the 2008 Compensatory Mitigation Rule (“Rule”) that restoration of non-jurisdictional waters and wetlands at compensatory mitigation sites may offset impacts to jurisdictional […]
A federal court decided in February that in the rush to transfer wetlands permitting authority to Florida in the final days of the Trump administration, federal agencies and officials had violated the Endangered Species Act and other federal laws. Florida took over permitting under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act in December 2020. The […]
The Biden administration’s plan to slash offshore oil and gas leasing drew fire from both the fossil fuel industry and environmentalists on Friday, with energy companies saying it will raise fuel prices and greens saying it undermines efforts to stop global warming. The criticism from both sides reflects the difficulty Biden’s White House has had […]
From our friends at the Pacific Legal Foundation: Chris Heaton, a sixth-generation rancher, is suing the Biden administration for abusing the Antiquities Act to designate a million acres of land in Arizona as a national monument. “The Antiquities Act exists to protect Native American archeological sites, not to give presidents unlimited power to declare vast […]
From our friends at Courthouse News: LOS ANGELES (CN) — The U.S. Chamber of Commerced claims that two recent California laws requiring large businesses to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and to report their climate-related financial risk amount to “compelled speech” in violation of the First Amendment. On Tuesday the chamber, joined by several other […]
WASHINGTON, Oct. 16, 2023 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued more than $1.77 billion this year to agricultural producers and landowners through its Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), a critical piece of the Department’s efforts to support climate-smart agriculture and forestry on working lands. Right now, CRP’s more than 667,000 participants received payments from […]
