Today, my colleague Norman Carlin published an interesting piece discussing a pair of recent decision issued by the Fourth District Court of Appeal upholding a public-private partnership (P3) water project against two California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) challenges. The two decisions are Delaware Tetra Technologies, Inc. v. County of San Bernardino, 247 Cal. App.…
Recently there have been some interesting developments in environmental and regulatory law, including litigation, administrative and regulatory actions, and legislation. I’ve provided you with a little lite reading to ease into your week: Litigation The Supreme Court will review a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decision, in NLRB…
In Texas Extends ‘Accommodation Doctrine’ To Groundwater, I provide a broader analysis of the issue presented in my earlier blog When Contract is Silent, Accommodation Doctrine Applies to Water Rights Disputes. Pillsbury summer associate Brittney Sandler made significant contributions to this article. Sandler is currently enrolled at Georgetown University Law Center where…
On June 20, 2016, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California held, in Center for Environmental Health, et. al. v. Vilsack, that a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidance document, intended to provide guidance with respect to the Organic Foods Act, was a legislative rule, not merely an…
Chevron deference was an important factor in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s 180-page ruling, in United States Telecom Assoc. v. FCC, et al., on June 14 (Flag Day), upholding the Federal Communications Commission’s “Open Internet” rule. The Court of Appeals’ notes that “[f]or the third time in seven years, we confront an…
In EPA Doubles Down with Expansive New Methane Regulation, Pillsbury attorneys Sheila McCafferty Harvey, David Lewis, Amanda Halter, Matthew Morrison, and Brendan Hennessey discuss President Obama’s administration’s two recent, major steps in implementing its comprehensive climate change strategy. The Administration has set the first-ever methane emissions standards for new, reconstructed and modified sources and simultaneously begun a process to…
On June 10, 2016, the Supreme Court of North Carolina, in Kirby, et al., v. North Carolina Department of Transportation, issued a unanimous ruling affirming the decision of the intermediate Court of Appeals that the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s (NCDOT) use of the state’s Roadway Corridor Official Map Act (Map…
In A New Day in Chemical Regulation, Pillsbury attorneys Matt Morrison, Sheila McCafferty Harvey, Reza Zarghamee, and Brendan J. Hennessey discuss what you need to know about the “Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act”. The Act makes sweeping amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).…
On June 6, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts released an opinion of considerable importance to petroleum retailers in Massachusetts. In Peterborough Oil Company, LLC v. Department of Environmental Protection, the Court interpreted the term “Oil” as used in the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) regulation (the “Oil exemption”) implementing the Massachusetts…
On June 1, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued an interesting ruling in Beatrice Boyer, et al., v. BNSF Railway Company dba Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company. It ordered plaintiffs’ counsel to compensate BNSF almost $35,000. The Court of Appeals’ ruling was premised on…