by Jeffrey Reeser On September 21, 2017, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) issued a public version of its most recent classified annual report to Congress on covered transactions for CY 2015. CFIUS is the multi-agency governmental committee established to evaluate and clear foreign acquisitions of U.S. businesses based on national security grounds. […]
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 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” […]
by Stephen Smithson The Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) has released its final Planning 2.0 rule for publication in the Federal Register. It will be effective 30 days after publication. The rule is here. The rule represents a comprehensive change to the planning process because it focuses on planning on a landscape scale. One of […]
by Denise A. Dragoo On October 17, 2016, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia granted summary judgment to Murray Energy Corporation and its subsidiary coal companies, including UtahAmerican Energy, Inc. The decision requires the U.S. EPA to follow the mandate of Section 321 of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. […]
by Mark D. Johnson Change is inevitable. Many times between project approval and project construction fluctuations in market conditions, financing terms or other factors mandate project changes. Do the changes require a further or modified California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) analysis? A new California Supreme Court case, Friends of the College of San Mateo Gardens […]
by Maribeth M. Klein While speaking at a recent conference on natural resource damages, the Secretary of the New Mexico Environment Department, Ryan Flynn, outlined New Mexico’s grievances against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and the State of Colorado in the wake of the disastrous release from the Gold King Mine into the Animas […]
by Cynthia M. Chandley In the wake of actions taken on August 5, 2015 by contractors for the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that resulted in the Gold King Mine Spill, western states that rely on water from the Animas River, the San Juan River, and the Colorado River may be left with long-term […]
by Megan H. Tracy On Tuesday, May 4, 2016, the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs chair, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), and committee member, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) formally requested a federal criminal investigation into the Gold King Mine spill. In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Sens. Barrasso and McCain stated that […]
