A California appellate court reversed a lower court decision upholding a county's adoption of an oak woodland management plan and mitigation fee program without preparing an environmental impact report (EIR) under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The county issued a negative decl...

A New York trial court held that the state environmental agency's general permit for stormwater discharges from municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4) violates the CWA and state law. By allowing discharges based on an applicant's notice of intent (NOI) to discharge, the permitting scheme c...

A district court held that oil and gas companies should not be criminally charged under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) for the death of migratory birds found in North Dakota oil fields. The MBTA, as broadly interpreted by the U.S. government, offers unlimited potential for criminal prosec...

A California appellate court upheld a lower court decision dismissing a petition to compel the state's parks and recreation department to ban off-highway vehicle recreation on certain leased portions of the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreational Area. It is too late to review the 1982 coastal...

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A California appellate court affirmed a lower court decision dismissing a petition challenging an air district's abatement order directing the owners of an open-pit mining operation to cease operation of the central plant equipment and all internal combustion engines with a rating greater than 5...

New York's highest court upheld regulations promulgated by the state's environmental agency that require inactive hazardous waste disposal sites to be restored to pre-disposal conditions. A coalition of commercial property owners argued that the regulations are ultra vires and impermissibly allow th...