lawsuit

California Farmer Facing Almost $3 Million in Fines for Plowing Own Field

A California farmer is facing a $2.8 million fine and a trial in federal court this summer for failing to get a permit to plow his own field. John Duarte, of Duarte Nursery, bought 450 acres of land near Modesto in 2012, where he planned to grow wheat. While his wheat was planted, it was […]

EPA halts landfill standards

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it would put a stop to two Obama-era rules for new and existing dumps meant to cut methane emissions at landfills. The EPA will reconsider the rules after industry groups protested the Obama Administration’s final rules for both rules: “Standards of Performance for Municipal Solid Waste Landfills” and Emission Guidelines […]

Supreme Court Justices Ask Trump Administration to Weigh In on California Mining Prohibition

The U.S. Supreme Court is requesting that the Trump administration evaluate the extent to which states can prohibit mining activity on federal lands. Earlier this week, the Justices asked the acting solicitor general to weigh in on a case brought by a part-time prospector who hopes to knock down a specific California ban on a […]

Legal Tempest in a Teapot: Rapanos Being Re-fought by Opponents of the Trump CWA Executive Order

Environmental groups are taking issue with President Trump’s executive order instructing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to consider interpreting the term “navigable waters” in a manner consistent with the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s opinion in Rapanos v. United States. In his opinion Justice Scalia concluded that the Clean Water Act only applies to relatively permanent […]

California Supreme Court Strikes Down EIR for Failure to Consider Potential ESHA on the Project Site

In a recent decision, the California Supreme Court added to the complexity of CEQA review for projects in coastal areas. On March 30, 2017, the Supreme Court issued its holding in Banning Ranch Conservancy v. City of Newport Beach (S227473), which struck down an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) prepared by the City of Newport Beach […]

U.S. Supreme Court will hear Waters of the United States Case Over Trump Objection

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that it will hear a case related to the Clean Water Rule, also known as the Waters of the United States rule, promulgated under the Obama administration. The Supreme Court denied the Trump administration’s motion to put the ligation on hold in light of President Trump’s February executive […]

Environmentalists Use Spotted Owl To Foil Forest Service—Again

Last Thursday California federal judge John A. Mendez found that the U.S. Forest Service didn’t take a hard enough look at the alternatives to a timber project in California’s Mendocino National Forest. Citing the Forest Service’s lack of a “hard look” at the project alternatives to avoid impacts on the northern spotted owl, including one […]

Army Corps Approves Dakota Access Pipeline

Today, the United States Army Corps of Engineers sent a Notification to Congress regarding the Dakota Access Pipeline, announcing the Corps’ intention to grant an easement for the oil pipeline to cross Lake Oahe. (Document HERE.) The easement is located north of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation and is the subject of the Standing Rock […]

BLM Reaches Settlement Agreement in Longstanding Utah Land Use Litigation

On January 13, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) filed a settlement agreement in U.S. District Court along with off-highway vehicle advocates and various conservation groups. If approved by the court, the agreement would end more than 8 years of litigation over land use and travel management plans on approximately 10 million BLM-administered acres in […]

Keystone XL and Dakota Access: President Trump Takes Action to Expedite Priority Energy and Infrastructure Projects

Full White House Press Release HERE. President Donald J. Trump today signed a series of Executive Orders and Presidential Memoranda in keeping with his promise to reduce the burden of regulations and expedite high priority energy and infrastructure projects that will create jobs and increase national security. Presidential Memorandum Regarding Construction of the Keystone XL […]

Contact Us

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