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Getting “Power to the People” – Challenges to Providing Transmission Capacity for Renewable Energy

August 2, 2010
Steve Jones
Alyssa Moir

Introduction

The Western Governors Association (“WGA”) recently unveiled a “Roadmap”[1] for navigating the regulatory and permitting hurdles for much-needed renewable energy facilities in the west. More »

House Enacts Amendments to Oil Pollution Act, Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act; Measure Awaits Senate Action

August 2, 2010
Svend Brandt-Erichsen
Adam Orford

Under pressure to respond to the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, both houses of Congress have been holding hearings which have led to proposed legislation to amend the liability and spill response portions of the1990 Oil Pollution Act (OPA), and the leasing provisions of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), along with a potpourri of other reforms. More »

Of Boiler Rules and Biofuels: Biomass Energy Faces New Emissions Restrictions, Regulation Under Waste Laws

July 22, 2010
Adam Orford

Air emissions rules proposed for boilers and waste incinerators threaten to disrupt the burgeoning biomass energy industry. Currently, biomass accounts for about 10 gigawatts of installed U.S. energy capacity. More »

Coal Bed Methane Drillers Required to Treat Produced Water

July 22, 2010
Jeff Kray

The Montana Supreme Court has held that Montana’s largest producer of coal bed methane (CBM) must treat salty water extracted with the gas before discharging the produced water to surface water. The decision in Northern Cheyenne Tribe v. More »

A Day at the Beach: Supreme Court Plurality Recognizes Concept of Judicial Taking; Court Unanimously Concludes No Taking Occurred

July 14, 2010
Linda Larson

A plurality of the United States Supreme Court, purporting to redefine the application of the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, recently concluded that a decision by a state court of last resort may constitute a “taking” of private property without just compensation. More »

Design and Management of Stormwater System Enough to Impose CERCLA “Arranger” Liability, District Court Holds

July 14, 2010
Meline MacCurdy

In an apparent first, a federal judge in Washington has held a state agency that manages highway stormwater runoff liable under CERCLA[1] as an “arranger” for disposal of hazardous substances. In United States v. More »

EPA Issues Guidance for CAFOs on Scope of Clean Water Act Permitting, Plans Further Rulemaking

July 1, 2010
Meline MacCurdy

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently issued guidance to clarify the permitting obligations of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) under the Clean Water Act (CWA). More »

Ninth Circuit Overturns District Courts, Becomes Third Circuit to Allow Intervention in CERCLA Settlement Proceedings

June 28, 2010
Russell Prugh

On June 2, 2010, the Ninth Circuit held that a non-settling potentially responsible party (“PRP”) may intervene, by right, in settlement proceedings under the Comprehensive Environmental Recovery, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA”). This decision overturned the opposite position taken by district courts in the Ninth Circuit, and aligned the Ninth Circuit with two other U.S. More »