The Governor’s office proposed broad changes to logging rules in California to allow landowners to cut larger trees and build temporary roads without obtaining a permit. This proposal is a way to encourage the thinning of forests to alleviate wild fire threats. The timber industry is supportive of the changes, while most environmental groups are […]
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 July 11, 2018 the Air Resources Board announced that California’s greenhouse gas emissions dropped below 1990 levels in 2016. At the time AB 32 was passed, the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 was to be achieved by 2020. Governor Jerry Brown and other State officials said that the results prove the […]
On May 30, 2018, the California Public Utilities Commission (“CPUC”) approved wide-ranging proposals from the State’s large investor-owned utilities to expand electric vehicle infrastructure and rebate programs with a total budget of over $738 million. The order stems from the 2016 directive ordering investment owned utilities to propose projects that would advance the electrification of […]
The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (“OEHHA”) proposed a regulation that would exempt coffee from Prop 65 warnings. According to OEHHA, there is scientific evidence that indicates that drinking coffee does not increase the risk of cancer and may reduce the risks of some types of cancers. The International Agency for Research on Cancer […]
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 […]
The case World Business Academy v. California State Lands Commission (2018, Case No. B284300) involves PG&E’s Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in San Luis Obispo County, and a dispute regarding the State Lands Commission’s decision to approve a lease extension via a CEQA categorical exemption. The Diablo Canyon nuclear plant as been operating since 1985 […]
A federal judge on Monday threw out a lawsuit brought by the cities of San Francisco and Oakland against fossil fuel companies over the anticipated costs of dealing with future climate change. The decision should raise a warning for other local governments around the United States that have filed similar suits, including New York City. […]
The median price for a home in California has topped the $600,000 mark for the first time ever, according to the latest report from the California Association of Realtors. You can blame the Bay Area and other red hot high-cost areas for the increase. There are now five counties out of the nine-county Bay Area […]
On June 19, a California appellate court upheld LA County’s approval of a new 1,800 acre land-use plan, rejecting the argument that additional environmental assessment was warranted. The County approved the new plan as a “modification” to the existing 2015 Antelope Valley Area Plan, and stated that the changes weren’t significant enough to require an […]
