The Council of the District of Columbia's Committee on Transportation and the Environment will hold a public hearing on March 18, 2024, regarding the Tree Preservation Enhancement Act of 2023 (Bill B25-0472)....more
California law sometimes adopts an odd view of the natural world. For example, California considers clams and crabs to be fish. Cal. Fish & Game Code § 45. Then the Court of Appeal declared a bumblebee to be a fish. Now,...more
A year ago I retired from the active practice and teaching of environmental law to pursue a lifelong dream of sailing a small boat around the world. For me, it is a way of seeing some of the great places on earth while...more
Trees provide building materials, firewood, food, beauty, shade, and pollen (at least for some of us). Falling trees and falling tree limbs are a source of danger and sometimes litigation. ...more
A recent Sixth Circuit decision holding unconstitutional a municipal tree ordinance that required mitigation or payment as a condition of tree removal has caused some consternation among municipal lawyers, who foresee the...more
Courts reviewing an agency’s environmental assessment under NEPA may not speculate about potential significant environmental effects that are not supported by the record — they must defer to the agency’s reasonable...more
Ernest “Big Daddy” Bux’s favorite old, majestic cypress tree “Cyrus” has a wide draping canopy near his property line adjoining his neighbor Sonny Gap. Gap recently complained that the roots and the canopy are growing into...more
Calif. Appellate Court Decision May Also Apply to Other Types of Water Providers - An irrigation district may adopt and enforce reasonable rules related to water service, and may terminate water delivery for failure to...more
A recent case from the Third Department, Shea v. Signal Hill Road LLC, involved a dispute about untrimmed trees that blocked the view of the adjoining property owner to Lake Placid and the surrounding mountains....more
Many public agencies and utilities have easements for water or gas pipelines or electric transmission lines. Those easements typically contain express rights to construct, operate, and maintain the facilities, including...more
The District of Columbia (“D.C.”) has a relatively long history of being known for its trees, stemming back to the planting of 60,000 trees initiated by the last Governor of D.C., Alexander “Boss” Shepard in the 1870s. While...more
Broadly construing Government Code § 65009, which establishes a 90-day limitations period for claims under the Planning and Zoning Law, an appellate court held that approval of an agreement allowing removal of trees...more
Earlier this month OSHA published a guidance document for the tree care industry, “Solutions for Tree Care Hazards.” The two page publication addresses five major hazards for the tree care industry, including traffic...more
Appalachia Underground NGL Storage Facility Clears Big Hurdle - "The Appalachia Storage & Trading Hub initiative got approval for the first of two application phases for a $1.9 billion U.S. Department of Energy loan, the...more
Everyone knows what a problem invasive species can be. Difficult problems require difficult solutions. In a recent case decided by the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, the scope of the government’s authority to address one...more
Many developers must remove existing trees in order to build new homes or buildings. Some cities have required developers to pay fees, known as tree mitigation fees, as a condition for permitting the removal of the trees....more
The South Carolina Court of Appeals’ recent opinion in Montgomery v. Spartanburg County Assessor provides an interesting discussion of the definition of “fair market value for agricultural purposes” in connection with South...more
The U. S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently released its Fall 2015 Regulatory Agenda, its semi-annual status report of all regulatory actions underway or being contemplated by the DOL’s agencies. Included in the agenda were...more
Environmental and Policy Focus - Senate votes to block EPA’s clean water rule: The Hill - Nov 4:: The U.S. Senate approved a bill Wednesday to block the Obama administration’s new regulation defining federal authority...more
The Pierce Atwood Environmental and Land Use Practice Group is pleased to provide the 2015 Summary of Key Maine Environmental Legislation enacted or carried over in the First Regular Session of Maine's 127th Legislature...more
In Albert v. Mid-Century Insurance Co. (No. B257792, filed 4/28/15, ord. pub. 5/20/15), a California Court of Appeal held that an insured’s trimming of a neighbor’s trees which allegedly damaged the trees was not an accident...more
In response to an act of illegal clear-cutting of roughly three acres of a Connecticut state forest, the offending company and the Commissioner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) entered into a...more
In Texas, more than your dog. Gilbert Wheeler, Inc. v. Enbridge Pipelines (East Texas), L.P. is good news for landowners. The Texas Supreme recognized the intrinsic-value-of-trees exception to the general rule for damages to...more
Why it matters: The 30 day statute of limitations for CEQA challenges was upheld to bar litigation alleging that a project, as constructed, was different from how that project was described in the CEQA document....more
In Citizens for a Green San Mateo v. San Mateo Cnty. Comm. College Dist. et al., No. A137612 (Cal. Ct. App. 1st Dist., June 17, 2014), the First District Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s decision and found that a...more