News

DOT Issues Regulatory Bulletin For Abandoned Oil & Gas Pipelines

DOT Issues Regulatory Bulletin For Abandoned Oil, Gas Pipelines On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Transportation, through the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, issued a bulletin mandated under the recently enacted Protecting Our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety Act of 2016 clarifying the regulatory requirements for abandoned pipelines that at one time carried […]

Jury Convicts PG&E In San Bruno Pipeline Explosion Trial

Jury Convicts PG&E In San Bruno Pipeline Explosion Criminal Trial A California federal jury found Pacific Gas & Electric Co. guilty Tuesday of five criminal counts alleging it violated pipeline safety standards leading up to the 2010 San Bruno gas-line explosion and a separate count alleging it obstructed a subsequent federal investigation into the explosion.  […]

NEPA Greenhouse Gas Guidance Released by CEQ

NEPA Greenhouse Gas Guidance Released by CEQ This week, the White House Council on Environmental Quality released final guidance for Federal agencies intended to clarify when and how they conduct GHG analyses as part of National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) reviews.  GHG guidance was first drafted in 2010, and revised in 2014.  Previous draft versions […]

When Will Affordable Housing Advocates Push For More Supply, Fewer Rules?

When Will Affordable Housing Advocates Push For More Supply, Fewer Rules? A Forbes magazine article highlighted what is perhaps the largest affordable housing solution that everyone should know, but no one talks about–especially here in California: If you increase the supply of something, the cost goes down.  Hence, if home prices are too high, increase […]

CLIFTON MCFARLAND LEAVES DOWNEY BRAND, JOINS MITCHELL CHADWICK

CLIFTON MCFARLAND leaves Downey Brand, joins Mitchell Chadwick LLP Roseville, California | Mitchell Chadwick is pleased to announce that Clifton McFarland has left Downey Brand LLP and joined Mitchell Chadwick LLP in Roseville. Prior to joining Mitchell Chadwick, Clif practiced environmental law at Downey Brand LLP in Sacramento, California, and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher in […]

Bay-Delta Conservation Plan Invalidated: Delta Management in Flux

Bay-Delta Conservation Plan Invalidated: Delta Management in Flux On June 24, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael P. Kenny invalidated the entirety of the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan because several central provisions were too vague. The decision has wide-reaching effects on the management of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which is both a sensitive ecosystem and an important […]

‘Water windfall’ beneath California’s Central Valley

‘Water windfall’ beneath California’s Central Valley A study led by Stanford scientists Robert Jackson and Mary Kang found that California’s Central Valley has three times more groundwater than previously estimated.  Previous estimates of California’s groundwater supply were based on decades-old data and only extended to a maximum depth of 1,000 feet.   Due to technological restraints, […]

Alert: New Regulations and Permit Requirements for Wetlands and Waters of the State

State Water Resources Control Board: New Regulations and Permit Requirements for Wetlands and Waters of the State On June 17, 2016, the State Water Resources Control Board (“State Water Board”) proposed a regulatory and permitting framework for wetlands not otherwise covered by the federal Clean Water Act. The State Water Board had previously recognized that […]

Wyoming Judge To BLM: Hands Off Oil and Gas Development

      Wyoming Judge To BLM: Hands Off Oil and Gas Development A federal judge in Wyoming struck down the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s fracking rule for federal and Indian lands, finding that BLM lacked congressional authority to issue the regulations. The Obama fracking rule added a permit requirement for hydraulic fracturing on BLM lands, […]

Feds Issue First-Ever Technical Guidance For Environmental Justice

Feds Issue First-Ever Technical Guidance For Environmental Justice On June 7th, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued a technical guidance document Tuesday covering how to incorporate environmental justice principles when evaluating development projects. (Press Release HERE.) According to the EPA, the Technical Guidance for Assessing Environmental Justice in Regulatory Actions outlines approaches and methods to […]

Contact Us

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.