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Drones and Environmental Monitoring

Aerial drones are emerging as an effective tool for environmental monitoring and enforcement because of their ability to reach areas that would be otherwise inaccessible or cost-prohibitive. However, the regulatory framework has not developed as fast as the technology, raising concerns. As EPA and other agencies consider using drones to monitor industrial sites and farmland, many landowners claim it would be an invasion of privacy. Using drones for inspections also raises legal questions about information obtained from drone flyovers and the associated evidentiary requirements.

Great Basin Resource Watch v. Bureau of Land Management

The Ninth Circuit held that BLM violated NEPA when it approved a proposed molybdenum mining operation near Eureka, Nevada. Environmental groups filed suit against BLM, challenging the agency's analysis of the project's cumulative air impacts and the baseline levels of certain air pollutants, and the...

Syngenta Seeds, Inc. v. County of Kauai

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision that the Hawaii Pesticides Law impliedly preempts a county ordinance that seeks to regulate pesticides and genetically engineered plants. The ordinance would have required commercial farmers to maintain “buffer zones” between crops to which pesti...

Robinson Township v. Commonwealth

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional portions of a 2012 law governing oil and gas operations in the Marcellus Shale. This is the second time the law, known as Act 13, has been reviewed by the court: in 2013, the court struck down provisions that limited the zoning powers of...

People v. Rinehart

The Supreme Court of California held that the state's moratorium on the use of suction dredges to mine gold from rivers was not preempted by federal mining law. The case arose after an individual challenged his conviction for the possession and unpermitted use of a suction dredge. He argued that the...