Category Archives: Permitting

Air District Targets Southern California Logistics Industry

A local air district is developing a rule that would require both existing and proposed warehouses to reduce trucking emissions or pay a mitigation fee. By Joshua T. Bledsoe The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD or District) is developing a so-called Indirect Source Rule (ISR) that would require Southern California warehouses to reduce … Continue Reading

California Court of Appeal Agrees Two Activities Constitute One CEQA Project

By Latham & Watkins LLP on January 16, 2019 Posted in California, CEQA, Environmental Litigation, Environmental Regulation, Permitting

CEQA Case Report: Understanding the Judicial Landscape for Development[I] By Christopher W. Garrett, Daniel Brunton, James Erselius, and Derek Galey In a published decision issued June 12, 2018, County of Ventura v. City of Moorpark, Case No. B282466, the California Court of Appeal rejected part of the County of Ventura and the City of Fillmore’s … Continue Reading

California Court of Appeal Dismisses Time-Barred Challenge to Development Phase

By Latham & Watkins LLP on December 10, 2018 Posted in California, CEQA, Environmental and approvals, Environmental Litigation, Permitting

CEQA Case Report: Understanding the Judicial Landscape for Development[i] By Christopher W. Garrett, Daniel P. Brunton, James A. Erselius, and Christopher Adam Martinez In an unpublished opinion issued October 22, 2018, Tennis Club Preservation Society v. City of Palm Springs, Case No. E068896, the California Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s decision dismissing the … Continue Reading

California Appeals Court Determines Threshold and Scope for EIR Requirement

By Latham & Watkins LLP on December 7, 2018 Posted in California, CEQA, Environmental and approvals, Environmental Regulation, Finance and project development, Permitting

CEQA Case Report: Understanding the Judicial Landscape for Development[i] By Christopher W. Garrett, Daniel P. Brunton, James A. Erselius, and Robert C. Hull In an unpublished opinion issued May 31, 2018, Save Adelaida v. County of San Luis Obispo, Case No. B279285, the California Court of Appeal partially affirmed the trial court’s decision and held … Continue Reading

California Appeals Court: Petitioner Must Show Prejudice for Brown Act Violation

By Latham & Watkins LLP on August 28, 2018 Posted in CEQA, Environmental and approvals, Permitting

CEQA Case Report: Understanding the Judicial Landscape for Development[i] By Christopher W. Garrett, Daniel P. Brunton, Robert C. Hull, and Natalie C. Rogers In an unpublished opinion issued January 31, 2018, Citizens for Open & Public Participation v. City of Montebello, Case No. B277060, the California Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s denial of … Continue Reading

CEQ Seeks Input on Potential Revisions to NEPA Regulations

By Latham & Watkins LLP on June 25, 2018 Posted in Environmental and approvals, Permitting

Trump Administration is weighing potentially comprehensive overhaul to regulations governing federal environmental review to cut red tape and avoid excessive delay to process. By Janice M. Schneider, Tommy P. Beaudreau, Jennifer K. Roy, Bobbi-Jo B. Dobush, and Diego Enrique Flores The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) recently published an Advance Notice of Proposed … Continue Reading

Dismissal of Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) Case Appealed Amidst Program Extension

By Latham & Watkins LLP on April 3, 2018 Posted in Environmental and approvals, Permitting

Appeal in POET II could complicate California Air Resources Board’s proposed LCFS amendments. Joshua T. Bledsoe, Kimberly D. Farbota In the case commonly referred to as POET II, petitioner POET, LLC, a biofuels manufacturer, challenged the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) and Alternative Diesel Fuels (ADF) regulations which the California Air Resources Board (ARB) adopted … Continue Reading

BLM Begins Scoping Process to Consider Amendments to Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan

By Latham & Watkins LLP on March 13, 2018 Posted in Finance and project development, Permitting

DRECP under review in an effort to alleviate burdens on energy development. By Marc T. Campopiano, Joshua T. Bledsoe, Jennifer K. Roy, and James Erselius The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently issued a notice of intent to review the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP) for potential burdens on domestic energy production in California. … Continue Reading

California Air Resources Board Clarifies 2018 LCFS Targets and POET II Case Approaches Major Milestone

By Latham & Watkins LLP on December 21, 2017 Posted in Environmental and approvals, Permitting

By Joshua Bledsoe and Kimberly Farbota Recent guidance published by the California Air Resources Board (ARB) clarifies the treatment of diesel fuels under the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) in light of the Court of Appeals’ May 30, 2017 decision in POET I. Meanwhile, in POET II, ARB recently filed a Motion for Judgment on … Continue Reading

California’s Supreme Court Denies ARB Petition To Review LCFS Case

By Latham & Watkins LLP on August 29, 2017 Posted in Finance and project development, Permitting

By Joshua T. Bledsoe and Kimberly Farbota In a previous post, we described how potential delays in the resolution of the case commonly known as POET I could create uncertainty regarding the future of the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). On August 23, 2017, the Supreme Court of California issued an order: (1) denying California … Continue Reading

Uncertainty Looms with Delays to Resolution of California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard Program Challenges

By Latham & Watkins LLP on July 24, 2017 Posted in Environmental and approvals, Finance and project development, Permitting

By Joshua Bledsoe and Kimberly Farbota Two recent developments in the interrelated legal challenges commonly known as POET I and POET II may create additional uncertainty for the future of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard Program (LCFS). Earlier this year, the California Court of Appeal for the Fifth Appellate District (Court of Appeal) issued two … Continue Reading

Court Reissues LCFS Opinion Per ARB Petition For Reconsideration

By Latham & Watkins LLP on June 8, 2017 Posted in Finance and project development, Permitting

By Joshua T. Bledsoe and Max Friedman As discussed in a previous post, the California Court of Appeal for the Fifth Appellate District (Court of Appeal) ruled on April 10, 2017 that the California Air Resources Board (ARB) had failed to properly follow a writ of peremptory mandate (the Writ) requiring ARB to remedy violations … Continue Reading

Proposed Amendments to Cap-and-Trade Extension Bill Could Undermine Program

By Latham & Watkins LLP on April 24, 2017 Posted in Environmental and approvals, Permitting

By Bob Wyman, JP Brisson, Joshua Bledsoe, Andrew Westgate, and Brittany Dryer On April 18, 2017, California Assembly Members Garcia, Holden, and Garcia proposed amendments to Assembly Bill No. 378 (AB 378) that are intended to extend but significantly reshape California’s Cap-and-Trade Program.[1] This post briefly summarizes the backdrop against which AB 378 has been … Continue Reading

U.S. Army Corps Reissues Fifty Existing and Two New Nationwide Permits

By Latham & Watkins LLP on April 12, 2017 Posted in Energy regulatory, Environmental and approvals, Permitting

By Janice Schneider, Joel Beauvais, Stacey VanBelleghem, Jennifer Roy, and Francesca Bochner On March 19, 2017, 52 new or reissued nationwide permits (NWPs) for discharges into “waters of the United States,” issued pursuant to Section 404(e) of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act went into effect. The … Continue Reading

California State Court Poised to Destabilize Low Carbon Fuel Standard

By Latham & Watkins LLP on March 28, 2017 Posted in Environmental and approvals, Finance and project development, Permitting

By Joshua T. Bledsoe and Max Friedman Big changes appear to be imminent for California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). As discussed in greater detail in our recent post, the LCFS currently is the subject of two interrelated legal challenges commonly known as POET I and POET II. Here we provide an update on recent proceedings before … Continue Reading

US Fish and Wildlife Service Finalizes Eagle Rule Revision

By Latham & Watkins LLP on January 5, 2017 Posted in Environmental and approvals, Permitting

By Sara Orr, Jennifer Roy and Francesca Bochner On December 14, 2016, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) finalized its proposed revisions to the Eagle Rule (Final Rule) and released its Record of Decision (ROD). The Final Rule allows companies and others to obtain 30-year incidental take permits under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection … Continue Reading

The Department of Energy’s Simplified IIP Process Goes Into Effect in November

By Latham & Watkins LLP on November 16, 2016 Posted in Energy regulatory, Finance and project development, Permitting

By Sara Orr, Bobbi-Jo Dobush and Francesca Bochner On November 28, 2016, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) simplified Integrated Interagency Pre-Application (IIP) Process will go into effect.[i] The IIP is a voluntary, pre-application process intended to streamline and improve the permitting and siting process for qualifying electric transmission projects. In an effort to increase efficiency, the … Continue Reading

US Fish and Wildlife Service Moves Forward With Proposed Eagle Rule Revision

By Latham & Watkins LLP on September 27, 2016 Posted in Environmental and approvals, Permitting

By Sara Orr, Jennifer Roy and Francesca Bochner On July 5, 2016, the public comment period closed for the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) proposed revisions to the rules authorizing eagle take permits under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (Eagle Act) and accompanying Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS), paving the way for … Continue Reading

BLM Moves Forward with Phase I of Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan

By Latham & Watkins LLP on September 22, 2016 Posted in Permitting

By Marc Campopiano, Josh Bledsoe, Jennifer Roy, and James Erselius Phase I of the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP) has now been approved, paving the way for streamlined permitting and environmental review of qualified renewable energy projects on Bureau of Land Management (BLM)-administered lands in the Mojave and Colorado/Sonoran desert regions of Southern California. … Continue Reading

White House Issues Final NEPA Guidance on Climate Change

By Latham & Watkins LLP on August 4, 2016 Posted in Energy regulatory, Finance and project development, Permitting

By Joshua Bledsoe, Sara Orr and Stacey VanBelleghem On August 2, 2016, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) issued its final guidance for federal agencies to assess the impact of their decisions on greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and also how such decisions may be impacted by a changing climate (e.g., future sea level … Continue Reading

US FWS Announces Record of Decision Streamlining Wind Energy Permitting for the Upper Great Plains

By Latham & Watkins LLP on July 21, 2016 Posted in Energy regulatory, Finance and project development, Permitting

By Sara Orr and Bobbi-Jo Dobush On July 7, 2016, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced its Record of Decision (ROD) for the Upper Great Plains Wind Energy Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS).[1] This is the final step in a process that US FWS, along with Western Area Power Administration (Western), embarked upon in … Continue Reading

California Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument in Case Challenging 2010 Bay Area Air Quality Management District Air Quality Thresholds

By Latham & Watkins LLP on October 14, 2015 Posted in Environmental and approvals, Permitting

By Chris Garrett, Shivaun Cooney and Shannon Lankenau On October 7, 2015, the California Supreme Court heard oral argument in California Building Industry Association v. Bay Area Air Quality Management District (Supreme Court Case No. S213478), a case which calls into question the “continued vitality” of a line of appellate cases holding that the “reverse … Continue Reading

Obama Administration Releases Infrastructure Permitting Guidance

By Latham & Watkins LLP on September 28, 2015 Posted in Energy regulatory, Environmental and approvals, Finance and project development, Permitting

By Marc Campopiano, Andrea Hogan and Joshua Marnitz On September 22, 2015, the White House, through the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), issued guidance to the heads of certain federal departments and agencies[1] (the Agencies) establishing metrics for the permitting and environmental review of infrastructure projects in … Continue Reading

Legislative Update: California Passes Groundbreaking Legislation Increasing Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Mandates, But Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Measures Fail

By Latham & Watkins LLP on September 18, 2015 Posted in Energy regulatory, Energy storage, Finance and project development, Permitting, Smart grid technologies, Solar PV/Rooftop solar

By Marc T. Campopiano, Joshua T. Bledsoe, Douglas Porter, Danny Aleshire, Jennifer Roy and Andrew Yancey The end of the California State Legislature’s regular session for the year culminated in a frenzy of action, with Assembly members scrambling to pass dozens of bills before midnight on September 12, 2015. The California Legislature voted on a package … Continue Reading