March 22, 2020 On March 20, 2020, the State Water Resources Control Board and the Regional Water Boards issued an update advising that facilities must continue to comply with all water board orders and requirements notwithstanding any “shelter-in-p…
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March 20, 2020 Last night Governor Newsom issued Executive Order N-33-20, which requires “all individuals living in the State of California to stay home or at their place of residence except as needed to maintain continuity of operations of the fed…
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March 2020 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) has issued a proposed rule to interpret the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (the “Act”) to prohibit only intentional killing or harming of migratory birds and not actions that only incidentally…
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March 2020 On July 1, 2020, new guidelines will go into effect marking a fundamental shift in how transportation impacts are analyzed under the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”). The new guidelines, adopted at 14 CCR § 15063.4, will…
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February 2020 On April 2, 2019, State Water Resources Control Board (“Water Board”) adopted a rule that defined a “wetland” and provided procedures for wetland delineation, wetland determinations, and for obtaining Water Quality Certification…
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February 2020 In just the last year this firm litigated and successfully defended two Section 105(c) complaints filed under the federal Mine Safety and Health Act (the “Mine Act”). (30 USC § 801, et seq.) This section prohibits mine operators fr…
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On January 23, 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finalized the Navigable Waters Protection Rule defining “waters of the United States.”
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On July 18, 2019, the California Department of Industrial Relations, Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (“Board,” also known as “Cal/OSHA”), adopted emergency regulations designed to protect outdoor workers from wildfire smoke.
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Tags: air quality, AQI, emergency, employee protection, hazard, regulations, respiratory, smoke, threat, training, US EPA, wildfires
June 2019 On June 27, 2019, the State Auditor affirmed that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (“DFW”) “is not fulfilling its responsibilities under the California Environmental Quality Act [(“CEQA”)].” In response to a Joint…
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On April 12, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a guidance memorandum stating that point source discharges to groundwater, which subsequently migrate or are conveyed to surface water, are excluded from the Clean Water Act’s NPDES…
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