» Land Use

On April 12, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a guidance memorandum stating that point source discharges to groundwater, which subsequently migrate or are conveyed to surface water, are excluded from the Clean Water Act’s NPDES… Read More

A recent opinion by California’s Third Appellate District holds that even if a project conforms to county historic design guidelines, lay opinions relating to the aesthetics may support a fair argument of substantial impacts on the environment. Read More

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that an Oregon state law which prohibited certain in-stream mining methods was a reasonable environmental regulation and thus was not preempted by federal law. Read More

August 2018 A recent unpublished opinion by California’s First Appellate District highlights the risk that CEQA lead agencies face when they approve projects with potential visual or traffic impacts based on a negative declaration.  In Protect Nil… Read More

July 2018 Oglala Sioux Tribe v. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 20215 The District of Columbia Circuit recently held that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s practice of leaving licensing decisions in effect while under… Read More

 July 2018 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“Service”) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (together “Agencies”) have jointly proposed revisions to regulations that implement p… Read More

July 2018 The California Natural Resources Agency has released another round of proposed revisions to the CEQA Guidelines. The draft changes to the guidelines were originally published in January 2018 and followed by public hearings in March 2018. Th… Read More

Public Resources Code §§ 2774, 2774.2.5 June 2018 On June 27, 2018, Governor Brown approved changes to the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act (Pub. Resources Code § 2710, et seq [“SMARA”]) relating to how certain mine-related information is su… Read More