On-Demand Webinar | Recent Updates to Federal Environmental and Natural Resource Regulations
On-Demand Webinar | Linear Infrastructure Redux: Adapting Your Projects to Meet the New Regulatory Climate
The Trump administration changes course on regulatory interpretations relating to the scope of protections for endangered and threatened species and migratory birds. ...more
The incoming Trump Administration is expected to prioritize the rollback of Biden-era endangered species regulations, aiming to reduce the regulatory burden on land-intensive businesses and enhance energy independence. This...more
At its October 10 meeting, the California Fish and Game Commission (the Commission) unanimously found that a petition to list the western burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) as an endangered or threatened species in...more
The Center for Biological Diversity and two other organizations (collectively “CBD”) submitted a June 8th Petition to the United States Department of Interior and United States Fish and Wildlife Service (collectively “USFWS”)...more
On Oct. 4, 2021, the Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) issued a final rule, effective Dec. 3, 2021, restoring the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (“MBTA”) to prohibit the incidental take of migratory birds. The interpretation and...more
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service revoked its January 7, 2021, rule defining the scope of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act as it applies to conduct that results in the injury or death of protected migratory birds. Revocation of...more
After a brief hiatus, incidental take of migratory birds will again be a federal crime beginning December 3, 2021. Less than 10 months after instituting a final rule declaring that incidental take of birds is not subject to...more
The regulation of protected wildlife is likely to undergo a seismic shift as a result of the change in administrations. Whereas the Trump Administration took several actions to narrow the reach of wildlife protection...more
Recent news that the Democrats flipped both U.S. Senate seats in Georgia’s run-off election means that the Democrats have enough votes to add the Congressional Review Act (CRA)[1] to the tools that could be used to advance...more
On January 20, 2021, President Biden announced his administration will review regulatory actions taken between January 17, 2020 and January 20, 2021 in accordance with an Executive Order titled “Protecting Public Health and...more
On 7 January 2021, the Trump administration finalized a new rule that limits the scope of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA or the Act). Under the new rule (which President Biden has already directed the Department of the...more
A federal court recently struck down the Trump administration’s 2017 memorandum that had narrowly interpreted the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA or Act) to exclude incidental bird deaths....more
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a proposed rule on January 30, 2020, that narrowly interprets the protections afforded by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The new rule would provide that the MBTA prohibits only the...more
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (the “Service”) on February 3, 2020 issued a proposed rule that for the first time would supply a uniform regulatory definition of the scope of liability under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act...more
On January 30, 2020, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) proposed a regulation formalizing its previously announced interpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). Prior to this administration, the MBTA had been...more
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) recently released two guidance documents that have the potential to streamline project development requirements related to endangered species and migratory birds: • First, FWS...more
On December 22, 2017 the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (“DOI”) Office of the Solicitor issued Memorandum M-370501 (the “M-Opinion”) interpreting the take prohibition of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act2 (“MBTA”) to apply...more
On April 11, 2018, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) issued a Memorandum titled “Guidance on the recent M-Opinion affecting the Migratory Bird Treaty Act” (the “Memorandum”), giving field advice to its enforcement...more
This article is a follow-up to our January 29, 2018 article which discussed the United States Solicitor’s December 22, 2017 Memorandum Opinion, M-37050 (the “M-Opinion”). To provide a quick recap of that article, the...more
On December 27, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit partially reversed and remanded a decision by the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii, delaying if not derailing an expansion in...more
Report on the agencies’ review of programs provides a roadmap to understanding which energy policies the Trump administration will revise. Several federal agencies have now issued reports responding to Executive Order (EO)...more
On October 25, 2017, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) released a report entitled “Review of the Department of the Interior Actions that Potentially Burden Domestic Energy” identifying agency actions that potentially...more
On September 4, 2015, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a ruling in United States v. CITGO that a “taking” subject to prosecution under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) does not include the...more
On September 4, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held in United States v. CITGO Petroleum Co. that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act’s take prohibition does not include the unintentional take of migratory...more
For years, Federal Courts have held that individuals can be held criminally liable under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) for the death of birds regardless of whether they intended to harm them. While several courts have...more