Litigation
Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Wins Big in Ninth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals Rejects Challenge to TRPA’s Regional Plan
This week the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) won a major legal victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. A unanimous three-judge panel of that court rejected environmentalists’ challenge to TRPA’s adopted Regional Plan for the Lake Tahoe Basin in Sierra Club v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. The Ninth Circuit decision effectively …
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CONTINUE READINGA Century of Bipartisan Effort
Over 110 years, Presidents of both parties have worked to save national monuments.
Let’s take a break from the bitter partisan warfare and celebrate a bipartisan triumph: preserving numerous national monuments by presidents of both parties. This effort includes creation of 1.6 million square miles of marine preserves by Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. It’s impressive just how many of our Presidents have been involved in …
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CONTINUE READINGWhat’s The Future Of California’s High Speed Rail System?
Join My KALW Radio Conversation Tonight With Authority Chair Dan Richard At 7pm
California’s high speed rail system has been moving at a low speed since voters approved a bond issue to launch it in 2008. That ballot measure authorized a bullet train from San Francisco to Los Angeles and eventually Anaheim, at speeds of 220 miles per hour and stops in Central Valley cities like Fresno and …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Clean Power Plan Oral Arguments
After marathon hearing, EPA comes out on top
Greetings, Legal Planet readers! As many of you know, I left the UCLA Law community several months ago for a new position in the environmental law world. But today, I emerge from blog-retirement for one very special post: insights from Tuesday’s oral arguments in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals over EPA’s Clean Power Plan. …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Clean Power Plan: Obama’s Easy Mandate
States Complaining About the CPP Are On Pace to Hit Emissions Targets
Back around the turn of the 20th century, New York’s Republican machine was run by Senator Thomas Platt, whose ability to bridge factional gaps gave him the title of “The Easy Boss.” Even though President Obama has attempted the same thing, he will have no such luck. Witness, for example, the states — virtually all …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Clean Water Act, Federalism, Big Money and the California Supreme Court
Ill-considered Supreme Court Decision Threatens California’s Administration of Clean Water Act Permit Program
The California Supreme Court recently issued a little-noticed decision on a seemingly arcane state public finance issue that could well wind up having a dramatic, negative effect on California’s continued ability to administer the federal Clean Water Act’s permit program in the Golden State. The case is Department of Finance v. Commission on State Mandates. In …
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CONTINUE READINGUpcoming Regulatory Takings Conference 2016
Nation’s Top Annual Takings Event Set for November 4th in New Orleans
One of the most important issues in modern environmental law and policy is the extent to which constitutionally-protected property rights limit environmental regulatory programs at the federal, state and local levels. Indeed, the U.S. Supreme Court has focused more attention on this question over the last four decades than any other aspect of modern environmental …
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CONTINUE READINGWhither the 2016-17 Court on Environmental Cases?
Docket so far limited to a significant takings case, Murr v. Wisconsin
So far, the docket for the U.S. Supreme Court’s term beginning in October includes no significant statutory environmental case. It does include an important takings case that could limit or expand the land use powers of all levels of government to protect wetlands, endangered species habitat, and other ecologically sensitive parcels. Whether the Court ultimately …
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CONTINUE READINGMajor Settlement Announced in Volkswagen Emissions Fraud Litigation
$14.7 Billion Civil Enforcement Settlement is a Victory for Consumers, Environmental Prosecutors
Federal and state environmental prosecutors today announced a proposed settlement of government civil enforcement litigation they’ve pursued against Volkswagen in response to the automaker’s acknowledged efforts to cheat federal and state auto emission standards and defraud consumers. The complex settlement, lodged with the assigned U.S. district court judge in San Francisco, requires Volkswagen to pay …
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CONTINUE READINGStatutory Standing After the Spokeo Decision
A non-environmental case opens the door to new arguments about standing.
One of the recurring questions in standing law is the extent to which Congress can change the application of the standing doctrine. A recent Supreme Court opinion in a non-environmental case sheds some light – not a lot, but some – on this recurring question. The Court has made it clear that there is a …
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