by Patrick J. Paul On August 20, 2020, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act (AMMA) required the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) to issue at least one medical marijuana license in counties without a dispensary. The AMMA requires that an individual or entity must apply to ADHS for a […]
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by Patrick J. Paul Traditionally, Labor Day weekend in the United States means “back-to-school.” In this pandemic year, however, many schools remain closed indefinitely to in-person learning, while others opened early with the goal of completing the semester coincident with Thanksgiving break in November, thus limiting travel and the potential for future spread. As educational […]
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by Raymond S. Heyman We are just weeks away from the national Presidential election. The two major party candidates, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joseph Biden, could not be farther apart philosophically than they are on the important issues of climate change and environmental stewardship. President Trump’ s position is summarized in the […]
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by Amanda Reeve As of August 10, 2020, with the signing of Secretary’s Order 3382 by the U.S. Secretary of Interior David Bernhardt, Grand Junction, Colorado is officially the new home to the headquarters for the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”). Since its inception in 1946, the BLM has been headquartered in Washington, DC; yet […]
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by Lucas J. Narducci and Amanda Reeve There is no question that the Coronavirus Disease 19 (“COVID-19”) pandemic has been taking its toll on public health, and it is doing so in more ways than some folks may be aware. Environmental programs which are instrumental in protecting the public health in Arizona; but are statutorily […]
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by Graham J. Gilbert On June 22, 2020, the Utah Division of Water Rights (also referred to as the State Engineer’s Office) released a new tool to assist with tracking permanent water right change applications. Change applications propose modifications to existing water rights. For instance, a change application may modify a water right’s point of […]
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by Fred Breedlove On Thursday, June 25, 2020, Arizona’s Lower Basin Drought Contingency Plan (“LBDCP”) Steering Committee (aka the “Drought Contingency Plan Committee”) is scheduled to reconvene and take on a new name and a new task. The LBDCP will become the Arizona Reconsultation Committee (the “ARC”) to develop a consensus among Arizona’s Colorado River […]
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by Patrick Paul As we reported previously, researchers at Arizona State University in Tempe have been evaluating the possible link between wastewater and the spread of the coronavirus in local communities. Similar research is also being conducted in Northern Arizona and throughout the world. More particularly Crystal Hepp, an assistant professor at the Northern Arizona […]
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by Patrick Paul, Chris Colyer, Michael Ford In prior blogs (available here and here), we’ve reported on changes to certain federal and state environmental enforcement policies related to COVID-19. In a nutshell, these policies essentially clarified the enforcement priorities of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and certain other state agencies like the Arizona Department […]
by Patrick J. Paul Having recently been granted an emergency Part 107 waiver from the Federal Aviation Administration, Novant Health, Inc., a not-for-profit, integrated healthcare system headquartered in North Carolina, in partnership with San Francisco-based drone delivery company, Zipline, has commenced medical drone delivery for the first time in the United States. Novant announced the […]
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