by Patrick J. Paul On Friday, May 19, 2017, less than a month after the National Park Service’s first use of a drone in a Grand Canyon search and rescue mission, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rule requiring owners of small unmanned aircraft operated for […]
By Maribeth M. Klein By executive order, President Trump directed the Department of Interior to review national monuments designated since 1996 under the Antiquities Act of 1906. The Antiquities Act grants the President authority to designate “historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest” on federal lands as national […]
by Richard J. McNeil The California Supreme Court’s recent decision in Banning Ranch Conservancy v. City of Newport Beach, ___ Cal. 4th ___ (2017) (Case No. S227473, Mar. 30, 2017) serves as a cautionary reminder that–as stated by the Court (citing Laurel Heights Improvement Association v. Regents of University of California, 47 Cal. 3d 376, […]
by Mitchell J. Klein In a recent unpublished case, the Superior Court of New Jersey held that the Plaintiff in a CERCLA case had committed spoliation when, during the course of the remedial activity, it disposed of various contaminated materials. See Pollitt Drive, LLC v. Harvey Engel. While the case does not establish any precedent, […]
By Stephen Smithson At its core, agency deference – as enshrined in the United States Supreme Court’s decision, Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984) – is both reasonable and necessary. Indeed, in City of Arlington v. FCC, 133 S.Ct. 1863, 1868 (2013) (citations omitted), Justice Scalia explained why […]
by John D. Burnside On February 17, 2017, the U.S. Senate confirmed President Trump’s nominee Scott Pruitt as the new administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Senate confirmation followed weeks of partisan and public attacks against Mr. Pruitt’s fitness to serve as the nation’s chief regulator of clean air, water, and land, as well […]
by Karlene Martorana Drought on the Colorado River. Although the winter snowpack in the Rockies is off to a good start and California has seen heavy rainfall this winter, the drought in the southwest is not over. One wet season cannot overcome the water deficit in reservoirs along the Colorado River caused by the prolonged […]
by Patrick J. Paul In a demonstration that not all regulations solve the problems they were intended to, and a testament to the power of market conditions, owners of the controversial Navajo Generating Station (NGS) power plant near Lake Powell announced their intention to terminate their interest in the three unit, 2,500 megawatt facility following expiration […]
by J. Matthew Derstine While the two Presidential Memoranda expediting review and approval of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines grabbed much recent attention, an Executive Order issued the same day could have a broader impact by expediting the environmental review and approval of infrastructure projects nationwide. But whether this Executive Order will truly […]
by Rachel M. Lynn On January 6, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the Denbury Green Pipeline-Texas LLC (“Denbury Green”) could take private property by eminent domain. In Denbury Green Pipeline-Texas LLC v. Texas Rice Land Partners Ltd., the decision turned on the question of whether or not Denbury Green qualified as a “common carrier” […]
