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Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog

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Second Circuit Addresses Commerce Clause/Dormant Commerce Clause

Legal arguments that the laws a state enacts which take into consideration the interests of its own citizens unfairly impede the free flow of interstate commerce are difficult to win, as demonstrated by two recent U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rulings. On March 29, the Second Circuit issued…

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Helping Geoengineering Research Navigate U.S. Law

Public discourse regarding climate change is becoming focused less on whether it is occurring, and more on what society can and should do to address or slow its progression. Geoengineering, which involves deliberately modifying the earth’s climate, is gaining traction in the scientific community and may prove to be a…

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New DoD Rules Enhance Offerors’ Rights

Today, our colleagues John Jensen, Dick Oliver and David Dixon published their Alert titled Defenders of the Debriefing, New DoD rules enhance contractors’ post-award debriefing rights. Takeaways include: New rules for all Department of Defense (DoD) agencies expand offerors’ rights in connection with post-award debriefings in federal procurements. Offerors now have 2 business days…

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Legalized Marijuana Resulting in Real Estate High: Is the Golden State a Green Mine?

California rang in 2018 as the largest legal marketplace in the country for recreational marijuana when it implemented the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulatory Safety Act (“MAUCRSA”). As we discussed in Part 1 and Part 2 of this blog series, while California’s real estate industry is budding with recreational marijuana,…

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Sixth Circuit Holds That Prolonged Permitting Processes Are Not A Final Action Warranting Judicial Review

On March 20, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit decided the case of Marquette County Road Commission v. U.S. EPA, et al. The opinion will not be published in the Federal Reporter. Both the trial court and the Sixth Circuit rejected the Marquette County Road Commission’s argument that…

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Court of Federal Claims Will Determine if U.S. is Liable for “Taking” Hundreds of Missouri River Properties Damaged by Severe Flooding

Many lawsuits have been filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims alleging that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (Corps) management of the Missouri River flood control system has resulted in the serious flooding of many properties located in several states that are located adjacent to the river, and that…

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Ninth Circuit Discusses “Point Sources” Under The CWA

On Friday, March 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued another significant ruling in a Clean Water Act (CWA) Citizen Suit case. Affirming the District Court, the Ninth Circuit held “pipes, ditches, and channels that discharge pollutants from non-concentrated aquatic animal production facilities are point sources…

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Second Circuit: FERC’s And State Agency’s Interpretations Of CWA Are Not Entitled To Chevron Deference

On March 12, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a decision interpreting Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 and the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission’s (FERC) permitting authority, which may have settled some lingering legal issues for the construction of pipelines. The case is New York State Department of…

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OFCCP Issues Directive Re: Consistent Use Of PDNs

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has issued its Directive (DIR) 2018-01 as part of ongoing efforts to increase transparency of preliminary findings with federal contractors, and to achieve consistency across regional and district offices, standardizing the use of Predetermination Notices (PDN). A PDN is a letter that OFCCP…