On-Demand Webinar | Charting a Course for Offshore Wind Energy in California
[WEBINAR] Update on the California Environmental Quality Act: What’s New for 2018
The Third District Court of Appeal upheld the Department of Water Resources’ EIR concerning State Water Project contract amendments against multiple CEQA challenges related to impact analysis, project descriptions, and...more
City of Los Angeles - Proposed Citywide Adaptive Reuse Ordinance - In 1999, the city council adopted the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance (ARO) that enabled the conversion of commercial buildings constructed in the downtown area in...more
State and federal officials move forward plans and policies for water conservation, conveyance, and climate resilience. The winter of 2022-23 brought historic levels of precipitation to California after years of deep...more
After releasing the final environmental report (EIR) for the Delta Conveyance Project on December 8, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) certified it on December 21, 2023. The certification of the final EIR is a...more
City of Los Angeles - The Processes and Procedures Ordinance Becomes Operative January 22, 2024 - The city council adopted the Processes and Procedures Ordinance amending the Los Angeles Municipal Code (LAMC) to...more
On February 27, 2023, in a much anticipated decision, California’s Second District Court of Appeal overruled the trial court by determining that the State Water Resources Control Board (“State Water Board”) did not violate...more
An environmental impact report need not discuss impacts that are too speculative in nature for proper evaluation or assess economic costs not linked to a physical change in the environment. County of Butte v. Dept. of Water...more
In a March 27, 2023 post found here, we wrote about the Second District Court of Appeal’s (Div. 1) decision concerning the Water Code section 13389 CEQA exemption for Regional Water Quality Control Board (“RWQCB”) issuance of...more
County and City of Los Angeles - Los Angeles City and County Ordinances to Ban Oil and Gas Drilling - There are 26 oil and gas fields and more than 5,000 oil and gas wells (active and idle) across the City of Los Angeles. On...more
A CEQA challenge to water allocations by the City of Los Angeles and its Department of Water and Power were barred by the statute of limitations because the allocations were under leases approved years earlier. County of Mono...more
The California Supreme Court issued the following decisions: County of Butte v. Department of Water Resources, et al., No. S258574: California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) operates the “Oroville Facilities,” an...more
A key priority of the Newsom Administration – the Delta Conveyance Project – has officially entered its next chapter. On July 22, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) released its draft environmental impact report (Draft...more
A California Court of Appeal held that the EIR for a public water authority’s river diversion and water storage project adequately described the unadjudicated waters to be diverted and adequately analyzed impacts to water...more
The EIR for a water ditch to underground pipeline conversion project withstood challenges to the project description and impacts analysis. The Third Appellate District held that the project description sufficiently disclosed...more
In a published opinion filed December 29, 2020, the First District Court of Appeal affirmed a judgment denying a petition for writ of mandate filed by the Santa Clara Valley Water District (District) challenging waste...more
The State of California recently sent a 60-day notice of intent to sue to the Secretaries of Commerce and the Interior and concurrently filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California...more
The Missouri Attorney General and Missouri Department of Natural Resources (collectively, “Missouri”) filed a Complaint in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri on February 5th against: -...more
For background information regarding open-loop scrubber environmental studies by the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportaiton and Tourism (MLIT) and the classification society Det Norske Veritas Germanischer...more
This BB&K webinar provides a brief review of the latest developments in CEQA compliance. This webinar addresses both new CEQA statutory and regulatory requirements, and also discusses recent case law interpretations affecting...more
On July 21, 2017, the California Department of Water Resources (“DWR”) certified the final environmental document and issued its Notice of Determination for the California WaterFix, a significant new water infrastructure...more
On Friday, July 21, 2017, the California Department of Water Resources (“DWR”) certified the Environmental Impact Report for the California WaterFix tunnels project and filed a Notice of Determination with the Governor’s...more
In early May, the Fourth District Court of Appeal took an important step toward helping to secure Orange County’s water supply. It issued several opinions in response to challenges to a proposed public-private partnership...more
Environmental and Policy Focus - Most California water agencies choose zero as conservation target San Jose Mercury News - Aug 17 - Governor Jerry Brown's administration two months ago dropped all mandatory water...more
Environmental and Policy Focus - Bill would limit communications with California Coastal Commission: Santa Barbara Independent - Mar 23 - State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson announced plans to introduce a bill...more
Environmental and Policy Focus - SoCal Gas Co. expects to cap Porter Ranch gas leak ahead of schedule - CBS Los Angeles - Jan 19 An ongoing natural gas leak that has affected residents in the Porter Ranch-area...more