News & Analysis as of

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Environmental Review

Downey Brand LLP

Downey Brand Compilation of Published CEQA Cases in 2023

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2023 served up roughly the same number of published appellate CEQA cases as 2022 with a defense win percentage of over 80 percent, which has been the case in many, if not all, of the past ten years. A prominent theme of...more

Allen Matkins

Renewable Energy Update 12.04.23

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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is proposing to ease environmental reviews for certain energy storage, solar, and rebuilt or upgraded transmission projects on federal land. Those types of projects — given their limited...more

Jones Day

Environmental Reviews Under NEPA to Include More Thorough Consideration of Climate Change Risks

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Several recent proposals impacting implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA") demonstrate a renewed focus on considering climate change in federal decision-making. In July, the Council on Environmental...more

Downey Brand LLP

Trial Court’s Jurisdiction over CEQA Case is Lost after Writ is Satisfied by Rescission of Project Approvals

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In McCann v. City of San Diego (2023) 94 Cal.App.5th 284 (McCann II), the Fourth District Court of Appeal held the trial court exceeded its jurisdiction by failing to discharge a writ of mandate. The writ was issued for the...more

Foley Hoag LLP - Energy & Climate Counsel

Biden Expands Consideration of Social Cost of Carbon by Federal Agencies

On September 21, 2023, the Biden administration outlined plans to expand federal agencies’ consideration of the social cost of carbon—a metric for the economic cost of each additional ton of carbon dioxide emitted to the...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Montana Court Finds State Energy Policy Unconstitutional

As we touched on last week, on August 14, the Montana First Judicial District Court, Lewis and Clark County, entered its Findings of Facts and Conclusions of Law in Held v. State of Montana, et al. striking down certain...more

Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law

Proposed NEPA Rules Address Climate Change, Environmental Justice, and Efficiency of Environmental Reviews

On July 28, 2023, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) proposed reforms to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations governing how federal agencies review the environmental effects of major federal...more

Jones Day

Fourth Circuit Denies Appeal of Trump-Era Changes to NEPA; CEQ Issues Interim Guidance on Analyzing Climate Change Effects in...

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In December 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit denied an appeal by environmental groups to revive their challenge to the 2020 amendments to the Council on Environmental Quality's ("CEQ") National...more

Downey Brand LLP

Court Finds Use of Addendum Improper as Project’s GHG Emissions Likely Outside the Scope of Prior Programmatic EIR and Unusual...

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In IBC Business Owners for Sensible Development v. City of Irvine et al. (Feb. 6 2023, Case No. G060850) ___ Cal.App.5th ___, the Fourth District Court of Appeal held that the City of Irvine (“City”) violated CEQA when it...more

Stinson LLP

White House Announces New Guidance on Evaluating Greenhouse Gas Emissions

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On January 6, 2023, the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) announced new interim guidance for evaluating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change under the National Environmental Policy Act...more

Farella Braun + Martel LLP

[Webinar] How New Climate Change CEQA Thresholds Will Impact Bay Area Development Projects - September 22nd, 10:00 am - 11:00 am...

On April 20, 2022, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) adopted, updated – and significantly changed – thresholds of significance under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for determining when a...more

Allen Matkins

Sustainable Development and Land Use Update - June 2022 #3

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California legislators propose helping people buy homes in exchange for partial ownership Bullet KQED – June 16 State legislators are proposing to create a billion-dollar fund in this year’s state budget that would provide...more

Perkins Coie

EIR’s Statement of Project Objectives Was Unduly Narrow

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The EIR for a bottling plant in Siskiyou County withstood challenges to the project description and impacts analysis, but the EIR’s stated project objectives were unreasonably narrow and the County should have recirculated...more

Downey Brand LLP

New NEPA Rule Restores Demanding Environmental Review Practices for Major Federal Projects

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On April 19, 2022, the Biden administration finalized a new rule (“Final Rule”) rolling back the Trump administration’s 2020 changes limiting the scope of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The Final Rule...more

Troutman Pepper

FERC Overhauls Existing Pipeline Project Analysis, Creates Separate Interim GHG Policy for Gas Infrastructure Projects

Troutman Pepper on

On February 17, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) announced two new, significant policies that may have a profound impact on both natural gas pipeline projects before the Commission and the...more

Allen Matkins

California Environmental Law & Policy Update - December 2021 #4

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Walmart sued for alleged dumping of hazardous waste in California landfills - Los Angeles Times – December 20 - A lawsuit filed last Monday in Alameda County Superior Court by the California attorney general and a...more

Perkins Coie

All Projects—Including Non-Occupancy Structures—Require Climate Action Plan Consistency Analysis to Benefit from Streamlined GHG...

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The City of San Diego’s approval of underground utility lines was incomplete because its Climate Action Plan checklist improperly allowed certain non-occupancy projects to avoid greenhouse gas emission (GHG) consistency...more

Holland & Knight LLP

FERC Chairman Signals Enhanced Environmental Review

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In a recently published letter, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Richard Glick indicated that the commission would strengthen its scrutiny of greenhouse gas emissions when evaluating certificate...more

Cozen O'Connor

Democratic AGs Seek Strict Environmental Review Of Proposed Petrochemical Plant

Cozen O'Connor on

The Democratic AGs of New York, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, and New Jersey submitted a comment letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) for its reevaluation of the Clean Water Act Section 404...more

Allen Matkins

Sustainable Development and Land Use Update - December 2020 #2

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Green buildings 'unheralded hero' in emissions fight, experts say - Bullet Smart Cities Dive – December 10 - President-elect Joe Biden's plan to upgrade the buildings sector and make it more energy efficient could be...more

Nossaman LLP

CEQA Amended to Expedite Transit and Sustainable Transportation Projects

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Governor Newsom recently signed into law Senate Bill 288 (the “Sustainable Transportation COVID-19 Recovery Act”), which will temporarily add new exemptions to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) statute. The...more

Allen Matkins

California Environmental Law & Policy Update - September 2020 #3

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Montage Healdsburg resort faces $6.4 million fine for construction stormwater-related violations - Bullet The Press-Democrat – September 15 - The developer of the Montage Healdsburg hotel in Sonoma County is facing...more

Allen Matkins

California Environmental Law & Policy Update - August 2020 #4

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California targets diesel trucks, ships for biggest pollution reductions in over a decade - Bullet Los Angeles Times – August 27 - The California Air Resources Board this Thursday adopted its biggest pollution-cutting...more

King & Spalding

NEPA Modernization Promises Significant Change

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Agency consideration of climate change curtailed in update to decades-old policy - On January 9, 2020, President Trump’s Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”) proposed to “update” the nearly forty-year-old regulations...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

Feds Propose Overhaul of Environmental Reviews for Controversial Projects

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The Trump Administration is proposing significant revisions to the implementing regulations of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) in an overhaul effort that the Administration is touting as a “modernization”...more

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