Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., et al., v. County of Los Angeles, et al. 2013 DJDAR 10619 In a recent decision, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal ruled that pollution exceedances at mass-monitoring stations at the Los Angeles and San Gabriel… Read More

An “S&S” denotation can turn a minor MSHA citation into a major problem. A recent Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (“Commission”) case underscores the subjectivity, and persistence, of the S&S elevation, and provides n… Read More

Lead agencies should be aware that the public comment period on a proposed new State Mining and Geology Board (SMGB) regulation ends today, September 30, 2013, at 5 p.m. The proposed regulation would add new Article 16 to the SMGB regulations that im… Read More

On September 20, 2013, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a law that will establish a comprehensive regulatory program for a natural gas and oil extraction process known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” Fracking involves inject… Read More

California Building Industry Association v. Bay Area Air Quality Management District (2013) ___ Cal.App.4th ___ A California Appellate Court has ruled that thresholds of significance are not a “project” under the California Environmental… Read More

Great Northwest, Inc. v. United States Army Corps of Engineers 2010 WL 9499372 In an unpublished decision, a federal court sitting in Alaska has ruled that the Corps lacked authority under the Clean Water Act to regulate a mining operation because th… Read More

Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Inc. v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (2013) ___ F.3d ___ Against the background of an impaired watershed subject to Section 303(d), the Fourth Circuit has affirmed a decision by the Army Corps of Engineers’ to i… Read More

The California Legislature has passed a bill providing an automatic 24-month extension for subdivision maps approved after January 1, 2000. Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill on July 11, 2013. The bill is an “urgency” measure and therefore take… Read More