On April 10, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, in a very important ruling, held that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Jurisdictional Determination (“JD”) that the property under review was a wetland that constitutes “waters of the United States” and thereby subject to the permitting…
Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog
Federal Court Refuses to Enjoin Renovation of Historic Railroad Tunnel in Washington, DC
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has denied a request for a preliminary injunction to stop the U.S. Department of Transportation from granting necessary permits to begin the reconstruction and repair of the Virginia Avenue Tunnel, a tunnel which for 111 years has facilitated rail transportation through…
EPA Revises its RCRA Rules to Accord with DC Circuit Rulings Vacating Two Solid Waste Regulatory Exclusions
Following two adverse rulings by the DC Circuit, issued in 2014 and reported at Sierra Club v. EPA, 755 F.3d 968 (D.C. Cir. 2014) and Natural Resources Defense Council v. EPA, 755 F.3d 1010 (D.C. Cir. 2014), EPA has removed two exclusions from the list of regulatory exclusions located at…
Are “Narrative Water Quality Standards” Incorporated into NPDES Permits and Enforceable as Permit Conditions?
Federal district courts are often confronted with the issue of whether “Narrative Water Quality Standards” are incorporated into National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)permits and enforceable as permit conditions as they preside over citizen suits filed under the Clean Water Act (CWA). Two District Court’s recently weighed in on this…
House Small Business Bill Could Have a Large Impact on Small Businesses
Yesterday, we published our client alert titled House Small Business Bill Could Have a Large Impact on Small Businesses. The Alert discusses the House Small Business Committee’s recent approval of The Small Contractors Improve Competition Act of 2015 (H.R.1481) (“SCICA”). SCICA would amend the Small Business Act and the National…
Is FOIA A Tool In Your Tool Belt? District Court Weighs In With Long Opinion On FOIA Obligations
The Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552 (FOIA), is a federal law that allow for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States government. FOIA defines agency records that are subject to disclosure, outlines mandatory disclosure procedures and grants exemptions…
Smith versus Swampbuster
The implementation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Highly Erodible Land Conservation and Wetland Conservation Compliance provisions (aka “Swampbuster”) program, designed to protect wetlands located on farming property, was the focus of a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. On April 1, 2015, the Court…
TX Court of Appeals Issues Ruling re Environmental Indemnities
A state Court of Appeals sitting in Houston, Texas, on March 26, 2015, ruled that environmental indemnities, which were a component of an exchange of Louisiana oil and gas properties in 1994, could be enforced today by and against the corporate successors to the original companies that negotiated these provisions.…
Note Cal/OSHAB’s Amended Personal Protective Devices and Safeguards Regulations
Effective April 1, 2015, employers are required to comply with the California Department of Industrial Relations, Occupational Safety & Health Standards Board’s amended Personal Protective Devices and Safeguards regulations. Among other amendments, Subdivision (d) of Sections 1514 (Construction Safety Orders) and 3380 (General Industry Safety Orders) of Title 8, Division…
Ninth Circuit Sends District Court Back To The Drawing Board On Allocation Of Cleanup Costs
On April 2, 2015, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided a complex Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) contribution cost recovery case in AmeriPride Services Inc. v. Texas Eastern Overseas Inc. (TEO), a dissolved Delaware corporation. The Ninth Circuit vacated this District Court’s rulings on several grounds.…