Navigating Environmental Restrictions on Alternative Project Delivery for Complex Infrastructure Projects
On-Demand Webinar | Charting a Course for Offshore Wind Energy in California
[WEBINAR] Update on the California Environmental Quality Act: What’s New for 2018
On July 30, 2025, Brazil’s National Environmental Council (CONAMA) published Resolution No. 508/2025 (the Resolution), amending Article 5 of Resolution No. 428/2010. The updated provision addresses the procedures for...more
Welcome to “CEQA News You Can Use,” a quarterly production of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP’s Natural Resources lawyers. This publication provides quick, useful bites of CEQA news, which we hope can be a resource for...more
Several high-profile species — including the burrowing owl, Crotch’s bumble bee, western Joshua tree, western spadefoot toad, and the monarch butterfly — have recently been elevated to candidate status under either the...more
On October 10, 2024, the California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) unanimously voted to designate the western burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) as a candidate species under the California Endangered Species...more
Los Angeles County - Executive Order Streamlines Path to Rebuild Homes, Businesses, and Communities Destroyed by Los Angeles Firestorms - In response to the multiple firestorms in Los Angeles County that started on January 7,...more
A California Court of Appeal upheld the California Department of Conservation Geologic Energy Management Division’s determination that a project to convert a plugged oil well into a wastewater disposal well fit within the...more
A split panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit landed an unexpected blow on the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) on November 12, ruling that CEQ lacked authority to promulgate its umbrella...more
In a terse opinion filed September 13, and modified and ordered partially published on October 3, 2024, the Third District Court of Appeal upheld an award of reasonable record preparation cots to prevailing lead agency County...more
To address the diminishing capacity of our region’s electric grid, a New Jersey-based corporation known as the Public Service Enterprise Group (“PSEG”) is set to build 70 miles of aboveground power lines through Baltimore,...more
State and federal officials move forward plans and policies for water conservation, conveyance, and climate resilience. The winter of 2022-23 brought historic levels of precipitation to California after years of deep...more
In the Fall of 2023, the Interagency Working Group on Mining Laws, Regulations, and Permitting (“IWG”) released its final report containing recommendations to reform how mining is conducted on public lands (the “Final...more
City of Los Angeles - The Processes and Procedures Ordinance Becomes Operative January 22, 2024 - The city council adopted the Processes and Procedures Ordinance amending the Los Angeles Municipal Code (LAMC) to...more
The reform mainly focuses on streamlining and narrowing the scope of environmental review at the federal level. On June 3, 2023, President Biden signed legislation implementing the bipartisan debt ceiling and budget...more
After more than a year of work, MassDEP has proposed regulations that would require applicants to perform cumulative impact analysis prior to issuance of certain air emissions permits. The regulations were required by the...more
On May 11, 2022, the Third District Court of Appeal published its opinion in We Advocate Through Environmental Review v. City of Mount Shasta (2022) 78 Cal.App.5th 629, reversing the decision below and ordering the trial...more
The Court of Appeal held that the City of Mount Shasta violated CEQA by approving a wastewater permit for a water bottling plant without making specific findings as to each potentially significant impact identified as...more
Friends, Artists and Neighbors of Elkhorn Slough v. California Coastal Commission, 2021 WL 5905714 (No. H048088, 6th Dist., December 14, 2021) The court of appeal found that the California Coastal Commission erred by...more
In an opinion filed November 15, and later ordered published on December 14, 2021, the Sixth District Court of Appeal reaffirmed the basic CEQA principle that required environmental review and analysis must precede project...more
On May 6, 2021, members of Nossaman’s Coastal Development and Environment & Land Use Groups along with some special guest speakers discussed current proposals and pending regulations concerning offshore wind development along...more
As a follow up to a previous post the Minnesota Supreme Court issued its decision on April 21, 2021, reversing the Minnesota Court of Appeals and remanding the matter for further review. In so doing, the Court concluded that...more
Please join members of Nossaman’s Coastal Development and Environment & Land Use Groups on May 6, 2021 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. PT as we present “Charting a Course for Offshore Wind Energy in California” to discuss...more
We are pleased to once again present Land Use Matters, our publication that provides updates on new CEQA court decisions as well as planning developments for the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles. We realize...more
The Third District Court of Appeal held that CEQA and permitting challenges to an expansion project were moot because defendants had already completed construction and did not build the project in violation of any court...more
On December 23, 2019, the Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed and remanded a decision by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (the “Commission”) approving affiliated-interest agreements permitting Minnesota Power and its...more
The year 2019 comes to an end with some positive news on the advanced reactor licensing front, including the upcoming issuance of a US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Early Site Permit, grant of a US Department of Energy...more