Authors: Sara Orr and Jennifer Roy On August 11, 2015, the US District Court for the Northern District of California remanded a US Fish & Wildlife Service’s (FWS) 2013 final rule that had extended the maximum duration of eagle take programmatic permits under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (Eagle Act) from 5 years … Continue Reading
By Marc Campopiano and Max Friedman Following the May 28, 2015 release by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) of 14 final Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) for land use plans designed to provide greater protection to the greater sage-grouse on approximately 50 million acres of BLM-managed land in 10 different western states, more than 40 … Continue Reading
By Christopher Garrett & Daniel Brunton On May 27, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the US Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) grant of a right-of-way over federal land for a road (the Road Project) for a wind energy project developed by North Sky River Energy, LLC (North Sky) on … Continue Reading
By Marc Campopiano, Joshua Bledsoe, Jennifer Roy, James Erselius Phase I of the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (“DRECP”) is underway on the 9.8 million acres of public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”). As discussed in our previous post, the four lead agencies responsible for the plan introduced a phased approach to … Continue Reading
By Marc Campopiano, Max Friedman and Gunnar Gundersen On Thursday, May 28, 2015, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released fourteen final Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) that incorporate greater-sage-grouse conservation measures into the land-use plans for about 50 million acres of BLM-managed land in 10 western states. The population of the sage-grouse has declined by more … Continue Reading
By Andrea Hogan, Mark Campopiano, Sara Orr, and Daniel Brunton On May 26, nine western states filed an amicus brief in People for the Ethical Treatment of Property Owners (PETPO) v. United States Fish and Wildlife Service urging the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to limit the reach of the Endangered Species Act. At issue … Continue Reading
By Benjamin Hanelin, Jennifer Roy, and Natalie Rogers On May 26, 2015, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced its intent to prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) to evaluate the potential impacts of permits authorizing the incidental take of migratory birds under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). The PEIS will address, among … Continue Reading
By Ann Claassen and Eli Hopson On May 29, EPA took long-awaited action on the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), with the unusual step of proposing standards for several years at once. EPA is reproposing the 2014 RFS—its original proposal of November 2013 having been heavily criticized—and is proposing, for the first time, the 2015 and … Continue Reading
By Marc Campopiano and Max Friedman On May 18, 2015, the federal agencies that oversee the enforcement of the Endangered Species Act, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service proposed significant changes to the process by which parties can petition for the listing of species as protected under the Act or … Continue Reading
By Marc Campopiano and Gunnar Gundersen On April 21, 2015, Sally Jewell, the Secretary of the Department of the Interior, announced that a sub-population of greater sage-grouse along the California-Nevada border does not require Endangered Species Act protection. In 2010, the US Fish and Wildlife Service declared the bi-state population of greater sage-grouse a “distinct … Continue Reading
By Marc Campopiano and Max Friedman On April 1, 2015, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) announced that it would list the northern long-eared bat as a “threatened species” under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”). The listing comes in response to a sharp drop of more than 90 percent of the northern long-eared bat’s … Continue Reading
By Chris Garrett, Cindy Starrett, Jim Arnone, John Morris On April 8, 2015, the California Supreme Court heard oral argument in California Building Industry Association v. City of San Jose (Affordable Housing Network of Santa Clara County et al.), S212072, a case with statewide significance for local affordable housing measures. At issue is the City … Continue Reading
By Paul Davies and R. Andrew Westgate This document is a translation of the recently released Tentative Measures for the Administration of Trading of Carbon Emissions Rights promulgated by the National Reform and Development Commission (“NDRC”) on December 10, 2014. As discussed in a recent article by Latham & Watkins partner Paul Davies, this development represents the … Continue Reading
Joshua Bledsoe and Michael Dreibelbis of Latham & Watkins, recently co- wrote a LCFS Fact Sheet with the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA). The article is available on IETA’s website and below: The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (aka Assembly Bill 32 or “AB 32”) mandates a reduction in California statewide greenhouse gas … Continue Reading
By Paul Singarella, Lucas Quass and John Morris On Wednesday April 1, 2015, in the wake of the state’s four-year drought and a winter that brought record-low snowfalls, Governor Brown issued an executive order mandating statewide water use restrictions for the first time in California’s history (the “Executive Order”). The Executive Order follows on the … Continue Reading
By Paul Singarella, Daniel Brunton and Lucas Quass California Legislature Enacts Bill Package on Drought On Thursday March 26, 2015, the California Legislature adopted legislation which it describes as allocating approximately $1 billion to emergency drought relief in the state. As more than 50 percent of the new appropriations target flood control, it remains to … Continue Reading
By Michael Scott Feeley and Aron Potash There is no shortage of environmental matters to navigate when buying a company or facility. Environmental counsel must first lead a diligence effort that delineates the target’s environmental footprint and then suss out the environmental risks and liabilities attendant to the deal. This diligence process often involves Phase … Continue Reading
By Marc Campopiano and Max Friedman On March 6, 2015, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) updated its Guidance Manual for Preparation of Health Risk Assessments (HRAs) for the purpose of better characterizing exposure risks to children from air toxics. Using the new Guidance Manual, HRAs are expected to estimate risks that … Continue Reading
By Marc Campopiano, Josh Bledsoe, Jennifer Roy, and James Erselius Concerns from local agencies, industry, and environmental groups over the long-awaited Draft Environmental Impact Report (“EIR”)/Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”) for the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (“DRECP”)—a renewable energy and conservation plan covering 22.5 million acres of desert located in seven Southern California counties—have caused … Continue Reading
By Joshua T. Bledsoe and Stacey L. VanBelleghem On December 18, 2014, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) released revised draft guidance on the consideration of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change in National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review.[1] The CEQ previously issued this guidance in draft form in February 2010.[2] Rather … Continue Reading
Latham & Watkins is pleased to present a complimentary 45-minute webcast on Thursday, December 11 at 9:00 am pacific/12:00 pm eastern. The webcast is presented by the Air Quality and Climate Change Practice and will address the following current air quality and climate change regulatory and policy updates: Implications of EPA’s Newly Proposed Ozone Standard EPA’s Aggressive … Continue Reading
By Claudia O’Brien and Bart Kempf On November 14, 2014, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) released a final determination invalidating almost 89,000 previously-issued offset credits due to CARB’s conclusion that the facility at issue failed to comply with a permit issued under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).[1] CARB reached this conclusion even … Continue Reading
By Chris Garrett, Daniel Brunton, Taiga Takahashi, Andrew Yancey, and Natalie Rogers On October 29, 2014, the Fourth District Court of Appeal of California upheld the Sierra Club’s challenges to the County of San Diego’s (“County”) approval of a climate action plan (“CAP”) and related significance thresholds under the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”). In … Continue Reading
By Joshua Bledsoe, Michael Dreibelbis, Michele Leonelli, and Aron Potash I. LCFS Readoption The California Air Resources Board (“ARB”) is on the cusp of readopting the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (“LCFS”) regulation to remedy legal defects in the initial adoption process found by the California Court of Appeal on July 15, 2013. In conjunction with the … Continue Reading
