Latham & Watkins is pleased to present a complimentary 45-minute webcast on Thursday, November 13 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: Vapor Intrusion – or EPA’s Foray into the … Continue Reading
By Claudia O’Brien and Bart Kempf For the first time since California established its cap-and-trade market for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has proposed canceling over 230,000 tons of offset credits due to a facility’s alleged potential failure to comply with unrelated environmental laws.[1] CARB is proposing the invalidation even … Continue Reading
By Jennifer Roy, Marc Campopiano and Joshua T. Bledsoe On September 23, 2014, the California Energy Commission (“CEC”), California Department of Fish and Wildlife (“CDFW”), US Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”), and US Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) released the Draft Environmental Impact Report (“EIR”)/Environmental Impact Statement (EIS”) for the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan … Continue Reading
By Michael J. Gergen and Tyler Brown On September 8, 2014, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (“Fifth Circuit”), in a 2-1 decision, reversed an opinion by the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas (“District Court”) and held that the Public Utility Commission of Texas (“PUCT”) acted within … Continue Reading
By Ann Claassen As reported in a previous blog, EPA in June extended the compliance and attest engagement reporting deadlines for the 2013 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to September 30, 2014 and January 30, 2015 (respectively). Today, EPA published a direct final rule that indefinitely extends reporting deadlines. 79 Fed. Reg. 46353 (Aug. 8, 2014) … Continue Reading
By JP Brisson, Joshua Bledsoe and Michael Dreibelbis Today, the US Supreme Court denied certiorari regarding the constitutionality of California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) in Rocky Mountain Farmers Union v. Corey. The Court’s decision effectively affirms the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s recent ruling that the LCFS does not facially violate the dormant … Continue Reading
By Michael J. Gergen, Jared W. Johnson, and David E. Pettit On June 19, 2014, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”) conditionally accepted revisions to the California Independent System Operator Corporation’s (“CAISO”) FERC Electric Tariff to implement the CAISO’s proposed Energy Imbalance Market (“EIM”) that will allow neighboring balancing area authorities (“BAAs”) in … Continue Reading
By Michael G. Romey, Aron Potash and Gregory Fuoco (summer clerk) On June 2, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would not review a decision by the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit allowing state common law tort claims against sources of air pollutants. This spells uncertainty for emitters, who now must look … Continue Reading
By Julia E. Stein and John C. Heintz On June 3, 2014, partially in response to lingering drought conditions throughout the state, the California State Water Resources Control Board (“SWRCB”) will consider adopting a “general” waste discharge requirements (“WDR”) permit for the use of treated recycled water for non-potable uses such as agricultural irrigation, landscape irrigation, … Continue Reading
By Paul Singarella, Claudia O’Brien and David Amerikaner The proposed rule to revise the definition of “waters of the United States” under the federal Clean Water Act, which originally was announced on March 25, 2014 by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and United States Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), formally was published in the Federal … Continue Reading
By Joel Mack, Eli Hopson and Ben Lawless On March 28, 2014 the White House announced its Methane Reduction Strategy (“MRS”) containing the broad outlines of a multi-agency strategy to reduce methane emissions from four major sources: the oil and gas industry, cattle and dairy farming, coal mining, and landfills. The MRS is part of … Continue Reading
By Christopher W. Garrett, Daniel P. Brunton and Taiga Takahashi On March 25, 2014, in The Protect Our Communities Foundation et al. v. Jewell et al. [Click here to view the opinion], the US District Court for the Southern District of California issued a decision on a challenge to the Tule Wind Project and found in … Continue Reading
By Joshua T. Bledsoe and Christopher W. Garrett The strongly worded opinion in Center for Biological Diversity v. California Department of Fish and Wildlife (Case Number B245131)(CBD v. CDFW) by the Court of Appeal of California, Second Appellate District has confirmed that analyzing a project’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) … Continue Reading
By Christopher W. Garrett, Daniel P. Brunton and Taiga Takahashi On March 14, 2014, in Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility et al. v. Beaudreu et al. [click here to view opinion], the US District Court for the District of Columbia issued a decision on multiple challenges to the Cape Wind Offshore Wind Farm based on alleged violations of … Continue Reading
By Andrew H. Meyer The United States has no comprehensive climate legislation for regulating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. But in recent years, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has acted under its existing Clean Air Act (CAA) authority to regulate GHG emissions from mobile sources, and is in the process of formulating and finalizing a number of … Continue Reading
By Christopher Garrett, Daniel Brunton and Andrew Yancey On February 18, 2014, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected challenges under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), and the Department of Transportation Act to the Federal Transit Administration’s approval of a 20-mile high-speed rail project through downtown Honolulu, Hawaii. … Continue Reading
Latham & Watkins is pleased to present a complimentary 45-minute webcast on Wednesday, January 22 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 the recently released 2012 data … Continue Reading
By Michael S. Feeley, John C. Heintz, Bobbi-Jo Dobush and James J. Chang On December 17, 2013, Judge Evelio Grillo of the Alameda County Superior Court ordered the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to finalize regulations establishing drinking water standards for hexavalent chromium (Cr-6) by Spring 2014. The court held that CDPH must submit … Continue Reading
By Christopher Garrett, Daniel Brunton, and Taiga Takahashi On November 6, 2013, in The Protect Our Communities Foundation v. Salazar, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California rejected a challenge to the Ocotillo wind-energy project based on the National Environmental Policy Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The Court’s holding on … Continue Reading
By Laura Godfrey Zagar and Andrew Yancey On October 31, 2013, U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell issued Order No. 3330 to establish a Department-wide mitigation strategy that focuses on mitigation opportunities at the landscape level. Order No. 3330 is part of a larger effort required by President Obama’s May 17, 2013 Memorandum for all federal agencies … Continue Reading
By Michael S. Feeley, John C. Heintz, Bobbi-Jo Dobush and James J. Chang On October 31, 2013, Judge Evelio Grillo of the Alameda County Superior Court held a hearing in the ongoing case of NRDC v. California Department of Public Health, Cal. Super. Ct. No. RG12643520 to take evidence regarding the quantity and nature of … Continue Reading
By Joshua T. Bledsoe and Christopher W. Garrett In Friends of Oroville v. City of Oroville, 218 Cal. App. 4th 1352 (2013) (Friends of Oroville), the Court of Appeal of California, Third Appellate District, recently confirmed that analyzing a project’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) via a threshold-of-significance derived from … Continue Reading
By Michael S. Feeley, John C. Heintz, Julia E. Stein and Bobbi-Jo Dobush On August 23, 2013, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) released a draft Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of 10 parts per billion (ppb) for hexavalent chromium (Cr-6).[1] The Clean Water Act is a federal law, which regulates water pollution.[2] It authorizes the states to … Continue Reading
By Ann Claassen and Eli Hopson Last week EPA finalized the Renewable Fuel Standard (“RFS”) levels for 2013.[1] Although EPA missed the statutory deadline of November 30, 2012, for setting levels for the 2013 RFS, EPA notes that the statute does not provide any penalty for missing the deadline, nor does it remove the general … Continue Reading
