June 25, 2021 | Category:
NewsOn June 15, 2021, United States Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) reintroduced the Native Species Protection Act (“Bill”). The bill is cosponsored by United States Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), and Ted Cruz (R-TX). The Bill provides that non-commercial species (i.e., a species not part of a national market for any commodity) found entirely […]
June 5, 2021 | Category:
NewsOn May 17, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit reversed a decision from the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana regarding the USFWS’s regulatory requirement that state wildlife agencies receive 30-days’ notice of a petition to list a species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) prior to filing a […]
June 4, 2021 | Category:
NewsUnder the Trump Administration, Solicitor’s Opinion M-37050 was issued on December 22, 2017, which stated that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) prohibited purposeful killing of migratory birds but did not prohibit the accidental killing of said birds. (https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/interior-department-takes-steps-revoke-final-rule-migratory-bird-treaty-act-incidental.) Subsequently, on January 7, 2021, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) published a final rule […]
On May 20, 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law the “Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2021,” also known as SB 7, which is chaptered as Sections 21178 to 21189.3 of the Public Resources Code. (https://legiscan.com/CA/text/SB7/id/2401530SB.) SB 7 replaces a previous similar law, the “Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental […]
On May 25, 2021, the Biden Administration announced it has identified two areas along the central and northern coasts of California which the Administration plans to open for commercial scale offshore clean energy projects. This announcement is part of the Biden Administration’s larger and more ambitious goal of producing 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy […]
On May 21, 2021, the California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM) released a pre-rulemaking draft regulation that would prohibit CalGEM from approving applications for permits to conduct well stimulation treatments after January 1, 2024. This rulemaking comes in response to Governor Newsom’s recent decision to unilaterally ban fracking. Comments on the pre-rulemaking draft regulation are […]
The Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), under the Biden Administration, rescinded yet another Trump-era environmental regulation on May 14, 2021. This time, the Biden Administration took aim at the EPA’s rule promulgated under the Trump Administration entitled, “Increasing Consistency and Transparency in Considering Benefits and Costs in the Clean Air Act Rulemaking Process” (“Rule”), which prescribed […]
In the recent California Third District Court of Appeal decision, Alliance for Responsible Planning v. Taylor, — Cal.Rptr.3d —-, Case No. 085712 (May 4, 2021), the Court determined that an initiative measure requiring new development projects to mitigate both the individual project’s traffic levels of service (“LOS”) impacts, and also the cumulative traffic LOS impacts […]
May 18, 2021 | Category:
NewsOn April 26, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it is reconsidering the Trump Administration’s withdrawal of California’s federal Clean Air Act (CAA) waiver that previously allowed California to enforce emissions standards more stringent than set forth in the CAA and associated regulations. (https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-reconsiders-previous-administrations-withdrawal-californias-waiver-enforce.) In 2019, the EPA, under the Trump Administration, withdrew […]
May 17, 2021 | Category:
NewsLast month, President Biden announced the American Jobs Plan (the “AJP”). The 2.3 trillion-dollar plan is chock full of non-infrastructure spending, though it does include funding for highways, roads, bridges, ports, airports, and transit systems. There is money for the elimination of all lead pipes and service lines which make up the expansive nationwide drinking […]
