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Solicitor General Sides With Utilities, Asking Supreme Court to Block Common Law Climate Change Lawsuit

September 2, 2010
Steve Jones

In a brief filed last week, the Solicitor General has urged the Supreme Court to accept review of the Second Circuit’s decision in American Electric Power v. More »

Stormwater Discharges from Logging Roads Require Clean Water Act Permits, Ninth Circuit Holds

September 2, 2010
Meline MacCurdy

According to a recent decision from the Ninth Circuit, public and private forest owners and logging companies may be required to obtain permits for stormwater runoff that occurs on the countless logging roads in much of the west. The case, Northwest Environmental Defense Center v. More »

Proposed Washington State Stormwater Permit Imposes New Requirements for Construction Dischargers

August 20, 2010
Jeff Kray

Washington’s proposed new Construction Stormwater General Permit (“New Permit” or “Permit”) places additional requirements on construction permit holders and likely will increase their compliance costs.  The New Permit incorporates U.S. More »

Picking Up the Pieces – Western Climate Initiative Releases Cap-and-Trade Program Design

August 20, 2010
Dustin Till

On July 27, 2010, the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) released the Final Design for its regional cap-and-trade program. More »

Ninth Circuit Reasserts Sliding Scale Injunction Standard, Gives Great Weight To Environmental Harms

August 12, 2010
Jessica Ferrell

A Ninth Circuit panel has reasserted the viability of a “sliding scale” approach to injunctive relief, even though the Circuit had appeared to discard that test following the Supreme Court’s 2008 ruling in Winter v. More »

Sparks Continue to Fly Over Cooling Water Intake Structures as Fifth Circuit Approves Oil and Gas Phase III Rule and EPA Issues Contingent Valuation Survey

August 12, 2010
Russell Prugh

In the continuing saga of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) regulations governing cooling water intake structures (“CWIS”), the Fifth Circuit recently granted EPA’s request to voluntarily remand the portion of the “Phase III” rule governing existing non-utility facilities. More »

Landmark Settlement Balances Need for Power, Tribal Water Rights in Klamath

August 5, 2010
Douglas MacDougal

Oregon’s Klamath Basin comprises 5,600 square miles,[1] yet is one of the few basins in the State where water right claims have not been officially resolved or “adjudicated.” This has greatly complicated State management of this already notorious battleground over limited water resources.[2] Efforts to resolve competing c More »

EPA Proposes New Rules for Power Plant Emissions

August 5, 2010
Dustin Till

A new rule proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency would regulate emissions from coal-fired power plants in Eastern and Midwestern states.[1] Known as the Transport Rule, EPA’s proposed regulation replaces EPA’s Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), which would have established an interstat More »

Regional Cap-and-Trade Programs Issue Recommendations for Standardizing Offset Programs

June 10, 2010
Dustin Till

With the fate of federal climate change legislation uncertain, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), and the Midwest Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord (MGGRA) continue to collaborate on options for link More »

EPA Issues Final Rule Regulating Greenhouse Gases From New and Modified Sources

May 14, 2010
Svend Brandt-Erichsen
Dustin Till

With a one-two punch, EPA on May 13, 2010 issued permitting requirements for larger stationary sources of greenhouse gases (“GHGs”), just one day after Senators Kerry and Lieberman released cap and trade legislation in the Senate [see related article in this Newsletter]. More »

Senate Climate Bill Introduced Amid Considerable Fanfare, and an Uncertain Future

May 14, 2010
Svend Brandt-Erichsen
Dustin Till

Senators Kerry and Lieberman released their much-anticipated cap and trade legislation on May 12, 2010. The Kerry-Lieberman bill takes its place alongside H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (“ACES”), enacted by the House in June, 2009. More »

Fighting the Last War: The Relevance (and Irrelevance) of the Exxon Valdez Spill to the Deepwater Horizon Spill

May 5, 2010
Brad Marten

A number of us in the Pacific Northwest can remember the phone call that came in the spring of 1989 telling us to come to Alaska. There had been an oil spill, the caller said, and we had better get up there right away. We packed up and left, sometimes with just a couple of sets of clothes, and ended up staying for months, or years. More »

Post-Rapanos Rulings Continue To Bedevil Developers, Agencies, Courts and Congress

April 28, 2010
Brad Marten

It has been four years since the 2006 decision in United States v. More »

Congress To Consider Preemption of Regional Climate Pacts

April 19, 2010
Steve Jones

With Senators Kerry (D-Mass.), Graham (R-S.C.) and Lieberman’s (I-Conn.) climate change legislation reportedly set to be introduced later this month, a number of state officials have openly expressed concern about the effect the legislation might have on the existing cap and trade systems and regulations being developed by the regional climate change programs formed in the past few years by a n More »

EPA to Consider Ocean Acidification Under Section 303(d) of Clean Water Act

April 1, 2010
Linda Larson
Meline MacCurdy

EPA’s recent settlement of a lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity (Center) challenging the State of Washington’s failure to list coastal waters as “impaired” under § 303(d) of the Clean Water Act (CWA) due to reduced pH may put ocean acidification on the front line of emerging regulatory issues related to climate change. More »

Supreme Court Expands Intervention Rights to Private Water Users in Interstate Water Litigation

February 22, 2010
Jeff Kray

In a 5-4 decision, the United States Supreme Court opened the door last month to private water users to intervene in interstate water rights disputes. South Carolina v. North Carolina.[1] Over strong objections from Chief Justice John Roberts and U.S. More »

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