Alaskans should prepare for major changes to the unique legal framework governing tribal lands in Alaska. In mid-November, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) announced that it can acquire lands in trust for Alaska’s...more
The U.S. Supreme Court delivered near-term relief to project developers on June 6, reinstating one of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ key nationwide Clean Water Act permits in U.S. Army Corps of Eng’rs v. Northern Plains...more
Pressing ahead on his efforts to reduce delays in federal approvals necessary for major infrastructure projects, President Donald Trump on June 4 called for more streamlining in another executive order, Accelerating the...more
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers announced a proposed rule to redefine the term “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act on December 11, 2018. The proposed rule, which awaits...more
12/18/2018
/ Bright-Line Rule ,
Certiorari ,
Clean Water Act ,
Clean Water Rule ,
Comment Period ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Jurisdiction ,
NEPA ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Proposed Rules ,
SCOTUS ,
Trump Administration ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Water ,
Waters of the United States
The Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a proposed rule on June 27, 2017, that will rescind the Obama administration’s 2015 Clean Water Rule and recodify the pre-2015 regulations that...more
6/30/2017
/ Clean Water Act ,
Clean Water Rule ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Jurisdiction ,
Inland Waterways ,
Jurisdiction ,
Navigable Waters ,
Obama Administration ,
Rapanos v US ,
Rescission ,
Trump Administration ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waters of the United States
In NRDC v. Pritzker, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit confirmed that the Marine Mammal Protection Act’s (MMPA) incidental take authorizations will be construed narrowly and conservatively, giving the benefit of...more
The Environmental Protection Agency issued a decision on July 5, 2016, that declined to regulate discharges from forest roads for regulation under Section 402 of the Clean Water Act. As such, it remains the case that...more
A majority panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently dismissed the State of Alaska’s challenge to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s authority to acquire land in trust for Alaska...more
7/8/2016
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Alaska ,
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Department of the Interior ,
Due Process ,
Environmental Policies ,
Equal Protection ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
Native American Issues ,
Tribal Lands
In 2007, National Park Service rangers stopped John Sturgeon from travelling by hovercraft on the Nation River within the boundaries of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. Park Service regulations ban the use of...more
4/1/2016
/ Alaska ,
ANILCA ,
Conservation ,
Land Preservation ,
National Park Service ,
National Parks ,
Native American Issues ,
Navigable Waters ,
Public Land ,
SCOTUS ,
Tribal Lands
In a decision that could result in significant new restrictions on development activities in the Arctic as well as set important Endangered Species Act (ESA) precedent in the Western United States, the U.S. Court of Appeals...more
On February 11, 2016, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service jointly published final regulations and a final policy addressing critical...more
After decades of interpreting the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA) to preclude the federal government’s acquisition of land in trust for tribes in Alaska, on May 1, 2014, the Bureau of Indian Affairs...more
On April 21, 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers jointly published a proposed rule to define those waters that fall under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act as “waters of the United...more