Environmental Law, Zoning, Planning & Land Use, Commercial Real Estate

The EPA Reaches Back in Time: Appeals Court Allows Government to Veto 404 Permits Issued Years Earlier

by James Potter | Nexsen Pruet, PLLC on 5/16/2013

Both public and private landowners have to obtain Section 404 discharge permits for the discharge of dredged materials from navigable waters. The Army Corps of Engineers is the permitting authority for the Section 404...more

New Stormwater Fees in Maryland

by Matthew Kimball | Niles, Barton & Wilmer, LLP on 5/14/2013

During the 2012 legislative session, the Maryland General Assembly passed HB 987, a bill which mandated that the ten separate EPA-licensed storm sewer system (“MS4”) jurisdictions in Maryland (Baltimore City and nine...more

Boston Joins the Building Disclosure Bandwagon: Ordinance Will Require Reporting in 2014

by Seth Jaffe | Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law on 5/10/2013

On May 8, the Boston City Council approved an ordinance requiring building owners to report annual energy and water use. The final ordinance is slightly different from the one about which we posted in February. Highlights...more

Towards Not Reinventing The CEQA Wheel: Resources Agency Adopts New CEQA Guidelines For Streamlined Review of Urban Infill...

by Arthur F. Coon, Matthew Henderson | Miller Starr Regalia on 5/9/2013

Repetitive CEQA review and analysis is expensive, unnecessary, unproductive, and inimical to the goals of certainty and finality in the environmental review process. In 2011, to address these concerns in the infill...more

New Jersey Takes Emergency Action To Speed Rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy

by Barbara Casey, Ronald Varnum, Harry Weiss | Ballard Spahr LLP on 5/7/2013

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) took emergency action to reduce approval backlogs and to make it easier for those seeking to rebuild in wake of Hurricane Sandy to obtain regulatory approvals by...more

Maryland to Impose New Stormwater Remediation Fee; Virginia Enacts Congestion Relief Fee

by Roberto Garcia | Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP on 5/6/2013

Lawmakers in Maryland and Virginia have approved the imposition of certain new fees on property owners in various jurisdictions. Maryland property owners in nine counties and one city face the imposition of a Stormwater...more

Site Assembly

by Hopkins & Carley on 5/2/2013

The “good old days” of formal redevelopment are over. Real estate developers no longer can negotiate to assemble development sites under the threat of condemnation. Silicon Valley developers now face serious challenges in...more

BLM Issues Right-of-Way Application Rule In An Effort To Spark Renewable Energy Development

by Ben Rubin | Nossaman LLP on 5/1/2013

As reported earlier today by a number of news outlets (see for example this KCET article by Chris Clarke), the Bureau of Land Management ("BLM") will be issuing a Final Rule to facilitate right-of-way applications for lands...more

Earth Matters - April 2013: Recent Decision Highlights Distinction Between Compliance With Multiple Environmental Programs

by Kimberly Barnashuk, Adam Walters | Phillips Lytle LLP on 4/26/2013

A recent New York Court of Appeals decision, Bronx Committee for Toxic Free Schools v. New York City School Construction Authority, 20 N.Y.3d 148 (2012), highlighted the interplay between the compliance process for the State...more

EPA Draft Vapor Intrusion Guidance Is Now Subject To Public Comment

by William J. Walsh | Pepper Hamilton LLP on 4/22/2013

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released and is seeking comments on draft general guidance on methods of addressing indoor vapor intrusion (VI) from contaminated soil and groundwater plumes (Draft VI Guidance)...more

Late Filing Of Appeal Of Environmental Impact Report And Project Approval Is Not Excused Under Code Of Civil Procedure Section 473

by Jeffrey L. Massey, Leslie Z. Walker | Kronick, Moskovitz, Tiedemann & Girard on 4/11/2013

An organization sought to challenge a county’s project approval and certification of an Environmental Impact Report for a 155,000-square-foot building, but filed the case three days late. The trial court dismissed the case. ...more

Watt’s New? Michigan Energy Newsletter - March 2013

by Laura Chappelle, Matthew B. Eugster, Bruce Goodman, Randall Kraker, Timothy J. Lundgren, Toni Newell, David Preston, Jack Sage, Eric Schneidewind, Matthew Zimmerman | Varnum LLP on 4/9/2013

In This Issue: - Highlights of MPSC Annual Report - Good Neighbor Fund Payments Made - Coal Plants Sued for Pollution Exceedances - Pure Michigan Solar Panel - New Grant for Efforts to Remove Barriers to...more

Changes in TPDES General Construction Permit Require Endangered Species Act Consideration

by Alan Glen, Brooke Wahlberg | Sedgwick LLP on 4/9/2013

On February 19, 2013, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) issued a revised Texas Pollution Discharge Elimination System (TPDES) Construction General Permit TXR150000 (Permit). This new Permit, effective...more

CEQA Reform Update

by Douglas Aikins | Hopkins & Carley on 4/2/2013

This year has seen more momentum for CEQA reform than in many previous years. California’s economy has placed a spotlight on the burdens that environmental regulations and litigation, particularly CEQA litigation, impose on...more

Q&A With Bilzin Sumberg's Howard Nelson

by Howard Nelson | Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod LLP on 3/29/2013

Originally Published in Law360 on March 28, 2013. Howard Nelson, chairman of the environmental practice group at Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod LLP, has experience in environmental and land use law and zoning and...more

Integrating NEPA and NHPA Section 106 Reviews: New Guidance Document Provides Useful Advice, But Leaves Some Questions Unanswered

by Elizabeth Lake | Holland & Knight LLP on 3/21/2013

The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), as part of its effort to modernize and reinvigorate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), released two handbooks on March 5, 2013, that provide regulatory guidance to...more

CEQA: Reforming California's Landmark Environmental Law

by Michelle Ouellette | Best Best & Krieger LLP on 3/5/2013

California has always been on the cutting edge when it comes to environmental protection. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the adoption and implementation of the California Environmental Quality Act, frequently referred...more

Without any night light, will France save energy or fall asleep?

by Stéphane Illouz | Reed Smith on 3/1/2013

As of 12 July 2013, and applicable to all buildings that are used for professional activities, the lights will need to be switched off after working hours....more

EPA Lifts Threat of CERCLA Liability for Some Tenants of Brownfields

by Thomas Hogan, Christopher Marraro | BakerHostetler on 2/18/2013

Tenants who lease currently or formerly contaminated property can now benefit from protections from cleanup liability that were once available only to purchasers of such property. EPA announced its new policy in a December...more

Supreme Court Will Review CEQA Decision From Fifth District In Wal-Mart Citizen Initiative Case

by Arthur F. Coon | Miller Starr Regalia on 2/18/2013

After receiving three separate petitions for review, including petitions from real parties Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and the City of Sonora, the California Supreme Court voted unanimously on February 13, 2013 to grant review of...more

CEQA Update: Some Good News for Developers

by Hopkins & Carley on 2/18/2013

As compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) has grown increasingly more burdensome, costly and litigious over the past decade or so, 2012 brought some tangible good news. ...more

Recent Ruling Confirms That Cost of Compliance with a PRP Letter Is Insured Under CGL Policies

by Revelle Gwyn, Elizabeth Hamrick, Katherine Henry, Sid Trant | Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP on 2/8/2013

In a recent ruling of interest to any company named as a potentially responsible party (“PRP”) at a Superfund site anywhere in the country, the Alabama Supreme Court has followed the majority of state courts and held that a...more

Perfect Storm for CEQA Reform In 2013? Former Govs Weigh In

by Arthur F. Coon | Miller Starr Regalia on 2/6/2013

Hot on the heels of Governor Jerry Brown’s 2013 State of the State address, which raised the need for CEQA reform (as noted in my immediately-preceding blog post), a trio of former California governors has echoed and...more

Are Courts Actively Limiting CEQA’s Scope In The Absence Of Meaningful Legislative Reform?*

by Arthur F. Coon | Miller Starr Regalia on 2/6/2013

While no California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) reform was achieved by the California Legislature in its last session, Senate President Pro-Tem Darrell Steinberg has indicated in a recently-issued statement that it...more

No Need To Address Adjacent Project In EIR Because Projects Are Separate, Have Different Proponents, And Serve Different Purposes

by Jeffrey L. Massey, Daniel J. O'Hanlon, Leslie Z. Walker | Kronick, Moskovitz, Tiedemann & Girard on 1/28/2013

A city certified an environmental impact report (“EIR”) for development of a park. A conservancy group claimed the city wrongly defined the project to exclude a residential and commercial development project that was pending...more

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Environmental Law › Zoning, Planning & Land Use › Commercial Real Estate