ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS
Contingency Plans: Executive Actions Available to President-Elect Biden on Climate Change81
California Governor Newsom Issues Executive Order to Conserve 30
Percent of California Lands and Resources by 203082
CLIMATE CHANGE SCIENCE
Recent Scientific Studies on Climate Change85
REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Sacramento River Contractors Coordinate and Delay Water Diversions to Benefit Chinook Salmon88
California Public Utilities Commission Adopts Decision to Re-Start ‘ReMAT’ Program89
PENALTIES AND SANCTIONS
Recent Investigations, Settlements, Penalties and Sanctions92
LAWSUITS FILED OR PENDING
Environmental Groups Challenge EPA Amendments to New Source Performance Standards97
RECENT FEDERAL DECISIONS
Circuit Court of Appeals:
Ninth Circuit Rejects NEPA Lawsuit Challenging EIS for Sheep Grazing Plan in Grizzly Bear Habitat99
Cottonwood Environmental Law Center v. U.S. Sheep Experiment Station, Unpub., Case 19-35511 (9th Cir. Oct. 28, 2020).
D.C. Circuit Finds District of Columbia’s Water Pollution Control Act Is Discretionary100
District of Columbia v. Miss Dallas Trucking, LLC, ___F.3d___, Case No. 19-CV-540 (D.C. Oct. 22, 2020), as amended (Nov. 12, 2020).
Fourth Circuit Addresses Inconsistent EPA and DOE Criteria for Scoring Renewable Fuel Standard Exemption Applications102
Ergon-West Virginia, Incorporated v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ___F.3d___, Case No. 19-2128 (4th Cir. Nov. 17, 2020).
Eighth Circuit Finds North Dakota Did Not Encroach on EPA’s Non-Delegable Authority to Interpret the Clean Air Act in Issuing Minor Source Per-
mit104
Voigt v. Coyote Creek Mining Company, LLC, ___F.3d___, Case No. 18-2705 (8th Cir. Nov. 20, 2020).
District Court:
District Court Vacates Department of the Interior’s Memorandum Removing Incidental Take Protections for Migratory Birds106
Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., et al v. U.S. Department of the Interior, et al., ___F.Supp.3d___, Case No. 1:18-cv-04596-VEC (S.D. NY 2020).
District Court Denies Motion to Dismiss Clean Water Act Citizen Suit—Finds Sufficient Pleading of Continuing or Intermittent Violations108
Okanogan Highlands Alliance, et al. v. Crown Resources Corporation, et al., ___F.Supp.3d___, Case No. 2:20-CV-147-RMP (E.D. Wash. Oct. 5, 2020).
District Court Reverses EPA’s Narrow Jurisdictional Delineation by Applying Contemporary Judicial Scope of the Clean Water Act Jurisdiction109
San Francisco Baykeeper et al. v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ___F.Supp.3d___, Case No. 3:19-cv-05941-WHA (N.D. Cal. 2020).
RECENT STATE DECISIONS
Oregon Supreme Court Declines Broad Expansion of Public Trust Doctrine for Climate Change112
Chernaik v. Brown, 367 Or.143 (2020).
