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News Articles

New Proposed Rule and Pending Supreme Court Case Have Potential to Limit Designation of Unoccupied Areas as Critical Habitat under Federal Endangered Species Act

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and, together with FWS, the Services) have proposed revisions to one…

Read More 2018-11-20

California Court of Appeal Invalidates County’s CEQA Guidance For Greenhouse Gas Impacts

Affirming a trial court judgment, the Fourth District Court of Appeal invalidated a document adopted by the County of San Diego that was intended as…

Read More 2018-11-20

IPCC Issues Special Report Cautioning Against the Impact of Global Warming Above 1.5 Degrees Celsius

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a panel of scientists convened by the United Nations, issued a special report on the impact of global…

Read More 2018-11-20

Ninth Circuit Finds EPA Properly Approved Montana’s 2015 State Implementation Plan

The Ninth Circuit denied the Montana Environmental Information Center’s (MEIC) petition for review of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA or agency) approval of a…

Read More 2018-11-20

U.S. Senate Bill Seeks to Mandate Public Companies’ Climate Risk Disclosures

In the past few years, a lawsuit was filed by Exxon Mobil Corporation (Exxon) shareholders alleging that Exxon failed to properly disclose climate-related risks to…

Read More 2018-11-20

Arizona Supreme Court Finds State Department of Water Resources Need Not Consider Unquantified Federal Reserved Water Rights in Determination of Land Use Development

One of Arizona’s last free-flowing streams, the San Pedro River, which provides critical habitat to millions of birds and is home to over 80 species…

Read More 2018-10-01

U.S. District Court finds District Engineers Within Army Corps Have Discretion to Approve Reductions In Mitigation Banks Size Established under the Clean Water Act

Interpreting the regulations under which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) may approve mitigation banks for use by permit holders under the federal Clean…

Read More 2018-10-01

D.C. Circuit Blocks EPA’s Use of Rulemaking Authority to Delay Effective Date of Clean Air Act Accidental Release Regulations Beyond Statutory Limitations

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit determined it is improper for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to use its general rulemaking…

Read More 2018-10-01

California Court of Appeal Holds Public Trust Doctrine Applies to Extraction of Groundwater Affecting a Navigable Stream—SGMA Does Not Occupy the Field

The Third District Court of Appeal has ruled that the public trust doctrine imposes a duty on the state and its political subdivisions to consider…

Read More 2018-10-01

Federal Government and Center For Biological Diversity Reach Settlement over ‘Wild And Scenic’ Rivers

The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) settled a lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) regarding certain…

Read More 2018-10-01