Focus
The CEQ has no clothes: The end of CEQ’s NEPA regulations and the future of NEPA practice
Allen Matkins – February 21
On February 20, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) posted a pre-publication notice on its website of an Interim Final Rule rescinding its regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which, in one form or another, have guided NEPA practice since 1978. This action represents the final blow to CEQ’s NEPA regulations, coming in the wake of two recent federal court decisions that foreshadowed their impending demise. In light of those decisions, CEQ is unlikely to issue new regulations, even under a future presidential administration, without express congressional authorization. Our recent alert discusses the recission of these regulations and how the CEQ Interim Final Rule might affect development projects.
News
Trump administration releases $315 million in blocked funding for two new California reservoir projects
The Mercury News - February 27
The Trump administration has announced that two key California reservoir projects will receive $315 million in federal funding to help the state store more water in wet years to reduce shortages in dry years. The funds will go towards constructing the massive new Sites Reservoir, proposed for Colusa County, and raising the height of the dam at San Luis Reservoir, east of Gilroy, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said on Tuesday. The Trump administration had previously blocked the funding, which was initially announced under the Biden administration. Although unblocking the funds was viewed positively, the move has caused widespread confusion among state, local, and federal water planners. And it left unanswered what will happen to other federal money — potentially totaling hundreds of millions of dollars — that the two key reservoir projects were already promised during the Biden administration.
California and federal government set to increase water deliveries after storms
Los Angeles Times – February 25
Cities in Southern California and other agencies that depend on water delivered from Northern California via the State Water Project are projected to receive 35% of requested water supplies, up from the estimated 20% projected last month, the state Department of Water Resources said on Tuesday. Additionally, the federal Bureau of Reclamation said agricultural irrigation districts south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta are expected to receive 35% of their full contract amounts from the federal Central Valley Project — more than double the 15% they were allocated at this time last year.
EPA asks to miss key California deadline, blames ‘budget and staffing’
San Francisco Chronicle – February 21
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking to postpone a deadline for a long-awaited plan to reduce pollution at Yosemite, Sequoia, and other national parks in California. The agency filed court documents this week asking a judge to push the deadline to August 29 to give administrators at EPA’s Pacific Southwest Region more time to evaluate California’s Regional Haze Plan. The agency cited “current budget and staffing levels” as reasons for its inability to meet the statutory deadline. The haze plans, required under the Clean Air Act, are developed by states to improve air quality at federal parks and wilderness areas.
L.A. County Board of Supervisors unanimously approves controversial plan to increase daily wildfire debris dumping at landfills
CBS News – February 25
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors this Tuesday unanimously approved a controversial plan that will increase daily dumping limits at three county landfills in Calabasas, Lancaster, and Granada Hills, as crews continue to process debris from the Palisades and Eaton Fire burn zones. According to county and federal officials who joined Tuesday’s meeting, hazardous wastes removed from the fire zones by the EPA were not being taken to any of the landfills and were instead being taken to landfills capable of handling such debris.
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