Resisting Regulatory Rollback in the Trump Era: The Case for Preserving CZMA Consistency
On March 11, 2019, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking to amend regulations that implement the Coastal Zone Management Act’s (CZMA’s) consistency requirement. This Article places the notice in context, focusing on the CZMA’s role in state review of offshore oil and gas development and its evolution to provide a predictable framework that balances coastal state interests with the nation’s energy needs.
Advisory Opinion to the Attorney General re Right to Competitive Energy Market For Customers of Investor-Owned Utilities; Allowing Energy Choice
In an advisory opinion to Florida's attorney general, the Florida high court concluded that a proposed initiative to amend the Florida Constitution to restructure the state's electricity markets should not be placed on the ballot. The attorney general argued that the initiative's title and summary f...
Native Village of Nuiqsut v. Bureau of Land Management
A district court denied a request to invalidate BLM's approval of exploratory drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). Environmental groups and a Native village first argued that BLM's EA failed to account for significant impacts to caribou and subsistence activities, in violation ...
Louisiana v. United States
The Fifth Circuit held that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had not waived its sovereign immunity from Louisiana's lawsuit alleging that the Corps failed to maintain the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway within authorized parameters under the River and Harbor Improvements Act (RHIA). Louisiana argued that...
Reuse, Restore, Recycle: Historic Preservation as an Alternative to Sprawl
Our country's landscape has changed dramatically over the last 50 years as a result of numerous governmental policies and subsidies that encourage low-density development commonly referred to as "sprawl." Sprawl results in environmental problems ranging from air pollution to wetland degradation. Our countryside is disappearing and becoming more fragmented, while urban areas are simply neglected. Moreover, this type of growth, which has gone unchecked for the latter half of this century, increases traffic congestion, strains public budgets, and deteriorates our quality of life.
Center for Biological Diversity v. Bernhardt
The Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court's dismissal of an environmental group's request to compel DOI to reinstate the Refuges Rule, which prohibited Alaska's predator-control methods on national wildlife refuges as well as certain methods of hunting bears and wolves. The group argued that Congr...
El Paso, Texas v. Trump
The Fifth Circuit blocked a preliminary injunction issued by a district court that had barred the Trump Administration from using military funds to build portions of a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. The district court had found that the Consolidated Appropriations Act expressly forbade th...