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Biden administration finalizes reversal of Trump Endangered Species Act rollback

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 […]

The Ecological Restoration Business Association Issues Statement Regarding Army Corps Guidance Post Sackett

ERBA 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 […]

EPA Broke Federal Law By Delegating Wetland Permitting to States?!

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 […]

Biden Makes Everyone Mad with Offshore Drilling Plan

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 […]

AZ Rancher Sues To Stop Biden Administration Abuse of Antiquities Act

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 […]

US Chamber of Commerce calls California’s new climate legislation ‘compelled speech’

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 […]

USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program Pays More Than $1.77 Billion to America’s Producers in Support of Conservation and Climate-Smart Agriculture

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 […]

EPA’s New WOTUS Definition: Ripe for Litigaiton?

Does the EPA’s revised definition of “Waters of the United States” conform with the U.S. Supreme Court’s May 25, 2023, decision in the case of Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency? Background Leading to EPA’s Revised Definition of Waters of the United States “WOTUS” Prior to the May 25, 2023, Sackett decision, the 2023 WOTUS Rule was finalized by […]

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