March 23, 2018 | Category:
WaterScott Pruitt, EPA Administrator promoted a goal of “investing in infrastructure . . . to eradicate lead in our drinking water within a decade” in testimony before the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works. Some commentators have expressed skepticism as to whether the so-called War on Lead is a political ploy and whether […]
At a forum on March 8, 2018 in Sacramento, Newsom said California must break down barriers to building because it ranks “49th out of 50 in the United States in per capita housing units. Only Utah can lay claim to being lowest in per capita production.” “California ranks 49th among the 50 US states for […]
In an unpublished opinion, Bussard v. City of Santa Rosa, the First District Court of Appeal upheld the City’s approval of a small infill housing project. (Case No. A148882, Feb. 6, 2018.) Project opponents argued that the development violated the Santa Rosa General Plan and the Santa Rosa City Code. The trial court denied the […]
The Little Hoover Commission released its report, “Rethinking Forest Management in the Sierra Nevada.” In this report, the Commission recommends a series of actions to address the crisis surrounding California’s forests. Poor management policies that interrupted the natural and historical cycle of fire, combined with a changing climate, have left forests in California vulnerable to […]
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Weyerhaeuser Company’s, a timber company, challenge to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services’ decision to designate approximately 1,500 acres of private property in Louisiana as “critical habitat” for the endangered dusky gopher frog. The frog does not actually live on the property and the property as it […]
February 26, 2018 | Category:
California,
CEQA,
Land Use,
Lawsuit,
News | Tags:
california land use,
CEQA,
concrete,
environmental group,
land use,
Land Use LawProposed Assembly Bill (“AB”) 1905 by Assemblyman Tim Grayson aims to make it harder for lawsuits filed under the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) to stop construction of roads and public transit. This legislation is specifically aimed at the road or transit projects that are included in state-approved regional growth plans. These projects have already […]
Mitchell Chadwick LLP Monthly Report February 2018 Safer Consumer Products. DTSC has proposed listing paint and varnish strippers that contain methylene chloride as a priority product under the safer consumer products program. U.S. EPA recently moved the proposed federal rule addressing certain uses of methylene chloride, TCE and NMP from active to long term action […]
This week the Bureau of Reclamation announced that most customers would receive all of their contracted water supplies from the Central Valley Project (“CVP”). However, because of a dry winter in California, approximately 10 percent of customers have yet to even receive a supply estimate and large areas of farmland south and east of the […]
Do you want to shock someone today? Show them this new report from the California Association of Realtors on housing affordability in California and the Bay Area for the fourth quarter of last year. According to the report, a household in San Francisco needs to make a minimum income of just more than $303,000 a […]
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a final rule on February 15, 2018, aimed at increasing participation of energy storage sources in organized wholesale electric markets. The final rule, Order No. 841, requires Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) and Independent System Operators (ISOs) to develop a new “participation model” that includes electric storage resources. The […]
