Recent Updates to Federal Environmental and Natural Resource Regulations
Stoel Rives Deeply Rooted Podcast Season 3 Episode 2: Forest Management, Endangered Species, and Regulatory Frameworks with Galen Schuler, General Counsel for Green Diamond Resources
The New Cold War: Risk, Sanctions, Compliance Episode 24: “Elephants and the Mafia: Combatting Criminal Wildlife Trafficking”
[VIDEO] The Price of an Aging Infrastructure on the Environment
On September 17, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) proposed listing the Kentucky creekshell (Villosa ortmanni) as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and designating critical habitat...more
On September 5, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas held in General Land Office v. U.S. Department of the Interior, that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) improperly denied a petition to...more
On September 4, 2024, the Center for Biological Diversity, along with more than 20 other groups, (collectively, CBD) delivered a petition (Petition) to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) in which CBD requested the...more
Updates to federal environmental and natural resource regulations and recent consequential decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court have resulted in a significant shift to the federal environmental and natural resource landscape...more
As part of its responsibilities under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released its final Herbicide Strategy to address potential impacts of conventional herbicides on...more
Climate change threatens to dramatically shrink the amount of water California can deliver over the next 20 years and could significantly reduce supplies available from the State Water Project according to new projections...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) released on July 25th a document titled: Draft Insecticide Strategy to Reduce Exposure of Federally Listed Endangered and Threatened Species and Designated...more
when it assesses the potential for exposure to pesticide drift when it reviews new active ingredient pesticide registrations or makes decisions on new use directions for existing pesticide registrations. EPA states it will...more
On June 27, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) issued a final rule listing the Suwannee alligator snapping turtle (Macrochelids suwanniensis) as a threatened species with a 4(d) rule under the Endangered...more
As detailed in our previous Legal Alert, six conservation groups filed a petition with the California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) on March 5, 2024 to request the implementation of legal protections for five...more
On May 20, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) issued a final rule listing the dunes sagebrush lizard (“DSL”) as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”).1 The change in the DSL listing status, which...more
On April 12, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) published notice in the Federal Register of a final rule (89 Fed. Reg. 26070) that amends regulations regarding the issuance of enhancement of survival and...more
Recently, the California Assembly passed Assembly Bill 1889, the “Room to Roam Act.” If enacted without changes, the Room to Roam Act would amend Section 65302 of the Government Code to add certain “fish, wildlife, and...more
On March 5, 2024, six conservation groups filed a petition with the California Fish and Game Commission (the Commission) to request the implementation of legal protections for five populations of the western burrowing owl...more
In companion rulings favoring offshore wind developers and federal agencies, the First Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed rulings issued by the District Court (D. Mass.) and dismissed challenges brought by two...more
On May 20, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) published a final rule listing the dunes sagebrush lizard (DSL) as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). The DSL is a small, spiny lizard...more
On May 20, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) published a final rule listing the dunes sagebrush lizard (Scleroperus arenicolus) (DSL) as endangered (Final Rule) under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In the...more
On May 8, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it will hold a virtual public meeting of the Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee (PPDC) on June 5 and June 6, 2024, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m....more
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (together the Services) have issued three final rules effective May 6, 2024...more
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
Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) and Center for Biological Diversity entered into a settlement agreement wherein the Service agreed to submit to the Federal Register final listing decisions on the following...more
Officials broke ground Monday on a new high-speed rail system that will connect Southern California and Las Vegas. The Brightline West system will average speeds of about 115 miles per hour and reach a top speed of around 200...more
On Friday, April 5, 2024, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (the “Service”) finalized a rule clarifying the procedures and criteria for listing, reclassifying, and delisting species on the Lists of Endangered and Threatened...more
On April 5, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (collectively, the Services) finalized three sets of revisions to the regulations implementing the Endangered...more