The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a Final Rule on April 19, 2024, designating two of the most common per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—PFOA and PFOS, including their salts and structural...more
The U.S. Supreme Court, on May 25, 2023, narrowed the reach of the Clean Water Act, in the latest judicial effort to define the “waters of the United States” that Congress intended to regulate. Sackett v. Environmental...more
Land Use and Development Case Summaries 2023 Land Use and Development Law Briefing (Short Form)
1. Planning And Zoning -
OLD EAST DAVIS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION V. CITY OF DAVIS 73 Cal. App. 5th 895 (2022)
The court...more
2/17/2023
/ California ,
CEQA ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Environmental Review ,
Fully Protected Species ,
Land Developers ,
Land Use Restrictions ,
State and Local Government ,
Urban Planning & Development ,
Wetlands ,
Zoning Laws
The Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) recently released a focus sheet that provides Ecology’s recommended soil and groundwater cleanup levels for a group of chemical compounds known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl...more
On November 3, 2021, the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) published its final PFAS Chemical Action Plan (Plan), which provides a roadmap for addressing uses and releases of those chemicals in Washington State to...more
11/11/2021
/ Contamination ,
Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) ,
Drinking Water ,
Environmental Policies ,
New Guidance ,
PFAS ,
Public Health ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
State Legislatures ,
Toxic Chemicals ,
Washington ,
Waste Management
In response to a petition from New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on October 26, 2021, that it will take steps toward regulating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances...more
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers published in the Federal Register changes to its Clean Water Act Nationwide Permits (NWPs). The final rule, published on January 13, 2021, reissues 12 existing NWPs and issues four new NWPs....more
The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, on November 6, 2020, introduced a proposed Protected Surface Water Program, which would regulate certain state surface waters that are newly excluded from the regulatory scope...more
EPA is currently reviewing comments on its November 14, 2018 proposed rule to exempt livestock farms from reporting routine farm air emissions under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and intends...more
A federal jury last week returned a $473.5 million verdict against the world’s largest pork producer for nuisances caused by three industrial-scale hog farms. The verdict is the largest of three matching verdicts against...more
8/10/2018
/ Damages ,
Farm Animals ,
Farms ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Jury Awards ,
Jury Verdicts ,
Nuisance ,
Property Owners ,
Punitive Damages ,
Right to Farm Act ,
Waste Management
In California Sportfishing Protection Alliance v. Shiloh Group, LLC, Case No. 16-CV-06499-DMR, 2017 WL 3136443 (N.D. Cal. Jul. 24, 2017), the United States District Court for the Northern District of California held that the...more
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 the latest chapter of the seemingly never-ending controversy over the Clean Water Act’s reach, on February 28, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order directing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S....more
3/3/2017
/ Clean Water Act ,
Clean Water Rule ,
Deregulation ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Jurisdiction ,
Navigable Waters ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Trump Administration ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Water Pollution ,
Waters of the United States ,
Wetlands
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
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on May 31, 2016 that an approved jurisdictional determination issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under the Clean Water Act is a final agency action subject to judicial review. Hawkes Co.,...more
6/2/2016
/ Administrative Appeals ,
Administrative Procedure Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Hawkes Co v United States Army Corps of Engineers ,
Judicial Review ,
Jurisdictional Determination (JD) ,
Land Developers ,
Permits ,
Property Owners ,
SCOTUS ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waters of the United States ,
Wetlands
The U.S. Supreme Court decided last week to review a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit that jurisdictional determinations under the Clean Water Act are final agency actions subject to judicial...more
In an attempt to “temporarily silence[] the whirlwind of confusion that springs from uncertainty,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has blocked the new rule defining “waters of the United States” under the...more
On August 27, 2015, Chief Judge Ralph Erickson of the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota granted a preliminary injunction that stops EPA’s and the Army Corps of Engineers’ new rule defining federal...more
Community Ass’n for Restoration of the Envt. v. Cow Palace, The Dolsen Companies, and Three D, Case No. 13-3016 (E.D. Wash.)
On January 14, 2015, Judge Thomas O. Rice of the Eastern District of Washington ruled that...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