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A regional water board is not required to estimate the compliance costs for individual permittees before issuing a permit. City of Duarte v. State Water Resources Control Board, 60 Cal....
To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) on February 25, 2021, approved a new regulation formally prohibiting high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF), or fracking, in the Delaware River Basin. The final rule makes permanent a drilling moratorium imposed by the DRBC in 2010. In a release announcing the ban, the DRBC declared that the hydraulic fracturing ban was imposed “to control future pollution, protect the public health and preserve the waters of the Basin” for uses outlined in the DRBC’s Comprehensive Plan and Water Co...
To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: “The more I know, the less I understand/All the things I thought I’d figured out, I have to learn again” – Don Henley, “ The Heart of the Matter” One of CEQA’s bedrock principles is that environmental review must precede project approval. (E.g., POET, LLC v. California Air Resources Board (2013) 217 Cal.App.4th 1214; CEQA Guidelines, § 15004(a).) To reverse the order and “put the cart before the horse” would be anathema, i.e., to sanction uninformed and undemocratic lead agency decision making, and to encoura...
To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has taken various actions and posted guidance to help regulated entities address operational issues and environmental noncompliance that resulted from power outages, water supply disruptions, and other weather-triggered challenges from the extended period of sub-freezing temperatures throughout Texas in February 2021. Along with other actions, the Commission obtained approval from the Governor, per the Governor’s February 12 disaster Proclamation, for the suspension of specifi...
On February 18, 2021, the First Appellate District issued an opinion in Sweeny et al. v. California Regional Water Quality Control Bd., San Francisco Bay Region et al. (Case No. A153583) (“ Sweeny”). The opinion is much anticipated given its relevance to the continued validity of the State Water Resources Control Board’s recently adopted State Procedures for Discharges of Dredged and Fill Material (“Procedures”). The Appellate Court reversed the lower court in the entirety, substantially deferring to the actions and prosecutorial discretion of the State Water Resources Control ...