Insight and Information for the Environmental & Natural Resource Industry
On August 28, Earthjustice filed a petition with the State Water Resources Control Board (“Water Board”) seeking to overturn a Central Valley Regional Water Board (“Regional Board”) order allowing an oil and gas wastewater disposal company to maintain their ongoing waste water operations, which can employ unlined disposal pits in Kern County.
Valley Water Management…
The clamor over hydraulic fracturing continued Wednesday as environmental activists filed another lawsuit to limit oil and gas development in California. The lawsuit, filed by Earthjustice on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity and Los Padres ForestWatch, challenges a plan to open portions of federal land in California to oil and gas operations.
The groups claim that the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) did not consider the environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing when it approved a Resource Management Plan, which could potentially open a large area of federal land in the state’s most oil-rich regions to leasing. The plan found that “overall, in California, for industry practice of today, the direct environmental impacts of well stimulation practice appear to be relatively limited.”
In 2013, a federal judge ruled that the BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it issued oil leases in Monterey and Fresno counties without considering the environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing. This ruling has led to a de facto moratorium on new leasing in California on federal lands.
Continue Reading Yet Another Lawsuit Seeking to Limit California Oil Development
The California High Speed Rail Authority’s (the “Authority”) Board of Directors unanimously voted on Wednesday to certify the Final Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement for the Fresno to Bakersfield alignment of the high-speed rail project (the “Project”) and approve the selected alignment. Click HERE for a map of the approved alignment. The Federal Railroad Administration…
A new deputy district supervisor for District 4 of the Department of Oil, Gas & Geothermal Resources (“DOGGR”) will take the helm on May 1 of this year. Dan Wermiel – a geologist and previously DOGGR’s technical program manager – will head the Bakersfield district office in Kern County.
As with all new leadership changes…
On December 11, 2013, Stoel Rives and BSK Associates will host a complimentary breakfast seminar in Bakersfield, CA to share observations and strategies for complying with SB 4. Breakfast will begin at 7:30 a.m., with the program beginning at 8:00 a.m.
The office of Jason Marshall, Deputy Director of the Department of Conservation, has confirmed…
The High-Speed Rail Authority’s (the “Authority”) monthly Board of Directors meeting in Sacramento is scheduled for tomorrow, June 6, 2013. Many supporters and opponents of the High-Speed Rail Project (the “Project”) have been waiting anxiously for this meeting because the previously released agenda indicated that the Board would approve a rail alignment between Fresno and…
The California High Speed Rail Authority (Authority) convened last Thursday, April 7 at Fresno City Hall to discuss the high-speed rail project’s (Project) alternative routes in the Central Valley.
Project planners presented a recommendation for the Fresno-to-Bakersfield route that will follow the BNSF Railway track until it heads west to Hanford and passes through Corcoran…
In the face of growing opposition and concern over soaring costs, the California High Speed Rail Authority Board (“Authority”) is betting that the answer to this question will be “yes.” The Authority met yesterday for its August board meeting and focused on laying more groundwork for the “Initial Construction Segment” or “ICS” in the San…
The California High Speed Rail Authority (“Authority”) announced yesterday that it has received $300 million in additional funding from the federal government. The money has been reallocated from the $2 billion that was set aside for the Florida high speed rail project, which was rejected by their governor earlier this year. In addition to the…
Late last week, the California High-Speed Rail Authority (“Authority”) approved the submission of an additional funding application to the Federal Railroad Administration (“FRA”) that would, if approved, extend the “starter” segment of the High-Speed Rail Project (“HSR”) north to Merced and south to downtown Bakersfield, making the segment fully operational after construction. The first segment…
