State Protections of Nonfederal Waters: Turbidity Continues
This Comment examines the legal framework for state protection of nonfederal waters and its implications for cooperative federalism. After a brief overview and legal background, it identifies some recent state actions that attempt to fill gaps in coverage created by changes in federal interpretations of the Clean Water Act. It then summarizes the current scope of state regulation of waters in every state, in order to discern the likely impact of changes at the federal level on the status of waters in the states.
California State Water Resources Control Board v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
The Ninth Circuit vacated FERC orders that held the California Water Resources Control Board had waived its authority to ensure certain hydroelectric projects complied with state water quality standards. The Board and environmental groups petitioned the court to review FERC's findings that the Board...
Bridges to a New Era: A Report on the Past, Present, and Potential Future of Tribal Co-Management on Federal Public Lands
This abstract is adapted from Monte Mills & Martin Nie, Bridges to a New Era: A Report on the Past, Present, and Potential Future of Tribal Co-Management on Federal Public Lands, 44 Pub. Land & Resources L. Rev. 49 (2021), and used with permission.
Audubon Society of Portland v. Haaland
The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for FWS in a challenge to its combined EIS and comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) concerning the continued leasing of refuge land for farming in the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex. Environmental groups argued the EIS/CCP violated the Nat...
Salisbury, North Carolina v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
The D.C. Circuit upheld FERC's approval of a dam operator's flood protection plan for a nearby water pump station in North Carolina. A city petitioned for review of FERC's approval of the plan, a state-imposed condition of its water quality certification under the CWA, which involved raising the pum...