About Andrew Bell

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So far Andrew Bell has created 45 blog entries.

CEQA Update: A Bridge Too Far – Seeking and Accepting a Permit to Implement an Approved Project is Not a “Project” Under CEQA

By |2024-04-17T21:45:37+00:00May 21st, 2020|California Environmental Quality Act, Uncategorized|

On 18 May 2020, California’s Sixth District Court of Appeal unsurprisingly confirmed that a lead agency’s seeking and accepting a discretionary approval from a responsible agency to implement an approved project is not a CEQA event in its own right. The decision, Willow Glen Trestle Conservancy v. City of San Jose, involves an interesting fact pattern and creative arguments from the project’s opponents, but ultimately does not break new ground.

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Court Reconsiders Nationwide Permit 12 Overturn, Limits to Pipelines Only

By |2024-04-17T21:45:45+00:00May 12th, 2020|Clean Water Act, Wetland and riparian permitting|

On 11 May 2020, the federal district court in Montana partially walked back its 15 April 2020 order vacating U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (Corps) Nationwide Permit 12 (NWP 12), allowing renewable energy developers and other non-pipeline projects to continue using NWP 12 while the Corps conducts further environmental review.

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Does the Supreme Court’s New “Functional Equivalent” Test Clear the Way for Trump’s Clean Water Act Rule?

By |2024-04-17T21:45:50+00:00April 30th, 2020|Clean Water Act, Wetland and riparian permitting|

April was a busy month for the Clean Water Act (“CWA”). On April 21, 2020 the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and U.S. Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) formally published their Navigable Waters Protection Rule, which limits the scope of the CWA by redefining “waters of the United States.”

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How Will Nationwide Permit 12’s Overturn Affect Renewable Energy Projects?

By |2024-04-17T21:45:54+00:00April 27th, 2020|Clean Water Act, Endangered Species, Wetland and riparian permitting|

On 15 April 2020, a federal district court in Montana issued a sweeping decision to vacate the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (Corps) Nationwide Permit 12 (NWP 12) authorization in response to a challenge to the Keystone XL Pipeline.

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Trump’s NEPA Overhaul

By |2024-04-17T21:45:24+00:00January 21st, 2020|National Environmental Policy Act|

On January 10, 2020, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) published a proposal to comprehensively overhaul regulations adopted over forty years ago to implement the federal government’s flagship environmental impact disclosure statute known as the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA).

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