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
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
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
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
A coalition of conservation groups filed a petition on Tuesday asking the California Fish and Game Commission to protect burrowing owl populations in five parts of the state including parts of the Bay Area and the Central...more
On March 5, 2024, the Center for Biological Diversity and several other groups submitted a petition to the California Fish and Game Commission (the Commission) to list the western burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea)...more
A San Jerardo cooperative in the Salinas area, together with environmental organizations, have sued the state, demanding stricter rules to govern the amount of fertilizer farmers can use. They allege that nitrate...more
On December 21, 2023, I published a post on the Center for California Water Resources Policy and Management’s DeltaCurrents blog discussing integration of resource optimization into endangered species policy to improve...more
Federal environmental regulators are taking action that eventually could transform the way motor vehicle tires are manufactured to reduce toxic runoff from 6PPD, a substance used in tire production that kills or harms some...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday proposed banning the cancer-causing chemical trichloroethylene (TCE), which can be found in consumer products including automobile brake cleaners, furniture care, and...more
The California 2023 Legislative Session ended on September 14, 2023 and presented Governor Gavin Newsom with several important changes to California’s water-related statutes. Newsom had until October 14, 2023 to sign all...more
On July 10, Governor Newsom signed five California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) reform bills (SB 145, 146, 147, 149 & 150) as part of an infrastructure streamlining plan that the Governor’s office has called the “the...more
On July 10, 2023, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 147 (SB147) into law, amending California’s “fully protected species” statutes. These laws were enacted in 1970 and currently protect 37 species native to California,...more
In June we reported that California Governor Gavin Newsom’s infrastructure permitting and CEQA reform legislation package was mostly dead, with the Legislature finding it too complex for last-minute consideration. But there’s...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
When ranchers violated an emergency order to stop pumping water from the Shasta River in 2022, state officials fined them $4,000, or roughly $50 each. Now California legislators are weighing a bill that would triple fines for...more
A bill introduced in the U.S. Senate seeks to protect composting, recycling, and garbage facilities from cleanup cost liability if they receive and manage solid waste or biosolids containing PFAS compounds....more
Housing advocates touted the “Builder’s Remedy” as a clever way to circumvent NIMBY politics and get more housing built. But in the two months since the law has been available to Bay Area developers, few have submitted...more
Recently, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a concerned citizen against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and National Marine Fisheries...more
The Biden administration called for regulatory changes this Wednesday to encourage voluntary conservation projects on private land, partly by shielding owners from punishment if their actions kill or harm small numbers of...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
Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday unveiled a 2023 state budget proposal that includes significant cuts to climate investments due to an estimated budget gap of $22.5 billion for the 2023-2024 fiscal year....more
Reversing the district court, a divided panel of the Ninth Circuit held that that the Bureau of Reclamation and a local water agency have discretion to release water from Twitchell Dam on the Santa Maria River on the Central...more
Governor Newsom signs SB 1137, creating a safety buffer between homes and oil wells in California Bullet Los Angeles Daily News – September 16 Governor Gavin Newsom on September 16 signed a package of environmental bills into...more
In June, I and many others took note of an opinion issued by the California Court of Appeal that concluded a bumble bee could be designated as a fish as defined by Section 45 of the California Fish & Game Code. Almond All. of...more