CLIMATE CHANGE NEWS
New Research Study Attempts to Quantify the Cost of Climate Change and Flood Risk in the United States—for the Individual Homeowner219
LEGISLATIVE DEVELOPMENTS
Update of Climate Change Related Bills in the California Legisla-
ture221
CLIMATE CHANGE SCIENCE
Recent Scientific Studies on Climate Change223
REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS
Council on Environmental Quality Rescinds Trump Administration Draft Guidance that Limited the Consideration of Greenhouse Gas Emissions During Environmental Reviews under NEPA227
PENALTIES AND SANCTIONS
Recent Investigations, Settlements, Penalties and Sanctions 229
RECENT FEDERAL DECISIONS
U.S. Supreme Court Finds FOIA’s Deliberative Process Exemption Protected Draft Biological Opinions from Public Disclosure238
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club, 592 U.S.___, 141 S.Ct. 777 (Mar. 4, 2021).
Ninth Circuit Rejects NEPA/ESA Challenges to Roadbuilding and Timber Harvesting Plan in Eastern Idaho239
Friends of Clearwater v. Higgins, Unpub., Case No. 20-35623 (9th Cir. Feb 22, 2021).
Fifth Circuit Addresses Diversity Jurisdiction Where Landowner Sued Petroleum Company under Louisiana State Conservation Laws over Legacy Site Contamination241
Grace Ranch, L.L.C. v. BP America Production Company, ___F.3d___, Case No. 20-30224 (5th Cir. Feb. 26, 2021).
District Court Rules EPA Must Determine Whether a Clean Water Act Discharge ‘May Affect’ Water Quality in Another State244
Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa v. Wheeler, ___F.Supp.3d___, Case No. 19-CV-2489 (D. Minn. Feb. 16, 2021).
District Court Allows Clean Water Act Citizens Suit to Proceed Despite Previous Settlement with State Agency over the Same Violations245
Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper and the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association v. Keystone Protein Company, ___F.Supp.3d___, Case No. 1:19-cv-01307 (M.D. Pa. Feb. 18, 2021).
District Court Rules Environmental Analysis of GHGs Insufficient under NEPA247
Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, et al. v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management, ___F.Supp.3d ___, Case No. 2:19-cv-00256-DBB (D. Utah Mar. 24, 2021).
RECENT STATE DECISIONS
Minnesota Enters into the Regulation of Groundwater via NPDES Permitting250
In re Reissuance of an NPDES/SDS Permit to United States Steel Corp., 954 N.W.2d 572 (Minn. Feb. 10, 2021).
