The Trump administration is moving to effectively eliminate a crucial protection in the half-century-old federal Endangered Species Act by redefining a single word: harm. A proposed rule, issued this Wednesday from the U.S....more
4/18/2025
/ California ,
Clean Water Act ,
Critical Habitat ,
Deregulation ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Energy Policy ,
Environmental Policies ,
Government Agencies ,
Habitat Conservation Plan ,
NOAA ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pollution Control ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Health ,
Refineries ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service
President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) plans to terminate lease contracts at nearly two dozen California offices relating to science, agriculture, and the environment, according to its federal...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced this Wednesday that it will narrow the definition of waters that can be federally regulated to comply with the Supreme Court's 2023 Sackett v. EPA ruling. This...more
On Tuesday, in a 5-4 opinion authored by Justice Samuel Alioto, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a pivotal ruling that the Clean Water Act (CWA) provisions authorizing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to impose...more
3/7/2025
/ California ,
City and County of San Francisco v Environmental Protection Agency ,
Clean Water Act ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Logging ,
NPDES ,
Permits ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
SCOTUS ,
Sewer Systems ,
Trump Administration ,
Wastewater
On Tuesday, March 4, 2025, the Supreme Court issued an opinion in City and County of San Francisco, California v. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. No. 23-753 in which the City and County of San Francisco (San Francisco)...more
Newly-appointed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote in a memo this Wednesday that the Justice Department will reverse a Biden-era directive to prioritize enforcement of environmental laws in disadvantaged and low-income...more
2/7/2025
/ Attorney General ,
Bureau of Land Management ,
California ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Federal Funding ,
Oil & Gas ,
PFAS ,
SCOTUS ,
Trump Administration ,
Water ,
Wildfires
In a settlement approved by the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board on November 13, the City of Oceanside agreed to pay a $1.5 million fine for two separate spills that sent raw sewage into the Buena Vista Creek...more
11/25/2024
/ Agricultural Land ,
California ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Groundwater ,
Hazardous Substances ,
State and Local Government ,
Toxic Spills ,
Union Pacific ,
Water Quality Control Boards ,
Water Supplies
Regional Boards’ enforcement of the Construction General Permit (CGP) and Industrial General Permit (IGP) continues to yield high penalty figures; transition to 2022 CGP brings new requirements; and the forthcoming...more
9/12/2024
/ Best Management Practices ,
California ,
Clean Water Act ,
Construction Contracts ,
Construction Industry ,
Construction Project ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
General Permit ,
Land Owners ,
Real Estate Development ,
Water Control Board ,
Water Quality Control Boards
An environmental advocacy organization on July 23 filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles over the Port of L.A.'s stormwater treatment system. At issue is a 53-acre portion of the port on Terminal Island where...more
7/29/2024
/ Air Pollution ,
California ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Clean Water Act ,
Desalination ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Storm Water ,
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) ,
Waste Treatment Facilities ,
Water Pollution
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to consider whether federal and state agencies must clearly define limits on wastewater pollution when issuing discharge permits. The high court took up the City of San Francisco’s...more
6/3/2024
/ Activist ,
Biden Administration ,
California ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Clean Water Act ,
Climate Change ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Habitat Conservation Plan ,
Oil & Gas ,
Plastics ,
SCOTUS ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service ,
Wastewater
The Biden administration on Tuesday announced a goal to protect and restore 8 million acres of wetlands over the next six years in an effort to counter development pressures and recently weakened federal regulations. The new...more
4/29/2024
/ California ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Clean Water Act ,
Coal Mines ,
Dams ,
Department of the Interior ,
Electric Vehicles ,
Endangered Species ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
State and Local Government ,
Wetlands
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a rule that will provide the agency, its partners, and the public with a dataset of certain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) manufactured and used in the...more
10/9/2023
/ Air Quality Standards ,
California ,
Clean Water Act ,
Drinking Water ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Hazardous Waste ,
Oil Wells ,
PFAS ,
State and Local Government ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service ,
Wastewater
The Biden administration is restoring significant state and tribal authority over water resources and expanding their leverage on infrastructure permitting decisions, including for pipelines. With a final rule announced this...more
9/21/2023
/ California ,
Clean Water Act ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Gas Leaks ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Hazardous Substances ,
Kaiser Permanente ,
Oil & Gas ,
State and Local Government ,
Tribal Lands
Monterey County's voter-approved ban on new oil and gas wells is invalid because state law authorizes and promotes oil and gas production, the state Supreme Court ruled unanimously last Thursday. Next year, California voters...more
Municipalities, landowners, developers, and others engaged in construction activities in California have faced increasing regulatory scrutiny over alleged stormwater discharge violations in recent years, including a record...more
Twenty-two attorneys general, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, urged a federal court this Wednesday to reject a proposed $10.3 billion settlement over contamination of U.S. public drinking water systems with...more
The California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) is accepting public comment through July 28 on new recommendations to expedite permits for seawater desalination plants in the state....more
Federal officials on Wednesday announced $52 million in new funding for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to perform two dozen projects around San Francisco Bay to restore wildlife, expand wetlands, and reduce...more
7/3/2023
/ California ,
Clean Water Act ,
Conservation ,
Cross-Border ,
Endangered Species ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Rehabilitation and Restoration Plans ,
State and Local Government ,
Water Pollution ,
Wetlands ,
Wildlife Protection
In last year’s update, we provided an overview of federal and California regulatory actions designed to protect public health and the environment from the impacts of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). These actions...more
5/2/2023
/ California ,
CEQA ,
CERCLA ,
Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Environmental Site Assessment ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Housing Developers ,
Office Space ,
Offshore Wind ,
PFAS ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Safe Drinking Water Act ,
State and Local Government
A federal judge in North Dakota on Wednesday temporarily blocked implementation of a Biden administration rule establishing protections under the federal Clean Water Act for seasonal streams and wetlands in 24 states....more
Relying on the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to block recently adopted executive branch regulations, Congress on Wednesday approved a resolution to overturn the Biden administration’s planned protections for...more
4/3/2023
/ California ,
CERCLA ,
Clean Water Act ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Drinking Water ,
Drought ,
Joe Biden ,
PFAS ,
State and Local Government ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waters of the United States
Idaho has joined a Texas lawsuit over a new interpretation of the Clean Water Act’s “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule, alleging that it is too vague, oversteps the bounds of federal authority, and puts the liberties...more
3/6/2023
/ Air Pollution ,
Clean Water Act ,
Contaminated Properties ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Oil Spills ,
Soil ,
Storm Water ,
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) ,
Water Pollution ,
Waters of the United States ,
Wetlands
A Ninth Circuit panel on Tuesday revived a Trump-era Clean Water Act regulation, finding that U.S. District Judge William Alsup erred when vacating a Trump administration revision of the “Clean Water Act 401 Certification...more
The fossil fuel industry is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve a legal battle over hydraulic fracturing off the California coast — a fight companies say carries “enormous practical and legal significance.”...more
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and numerous industry associations on Wednesday filed lawsuits in Texas district court over the new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ definition of...more
1/23/2023
/ California ,
Clean Water Act ,
Contamination ,
Drought ,
Endangered Species ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Fishing Industry ,
Natural Gas ,
PFAS ,
State and Local Government ,
Waters of the United States