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Washington Supreme Court Strikes a Blow to Vested Rights
Jan 19, 2017
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In a blog post dated February 17, 2016, we wrote about a decision of the Washington Court of Appeals in Snohomish County v. Pollution Control Hearings Board favorable to developers. At issue in the case was the Washington State Department of Ecology’...
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Washington State Sets Carbon Dioxide Emission Reduction Requirements for Major Sources
Today the Washington State Department of Ecology adopted a new rule to limit carbon dioxide emissions from major sources.
Beginning in 2017, entities that emit more than 100,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year must reduce their emissions by 1...
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Smelter Not Liable Under CERCLA as an Arranger for Disposal
A Ninth Circuit panel reversed a district court’s denial of a smelter owner’s motion to dismiss, holding that the owner/operator of a facility that emits airborne hazardous substances cannot be held liable as an arranger for disposal under CERCLA.
Th...
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Lead in Drinking Water: What Schools Need to Know
There's no doubt that some attention has been given to the water quality at Oregon schools in the past month. But the issue has been around for some time. Since the late 1980s, concerns have been raised about lead leaching from pipes and faucets into...
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SCOTUS Provides Pathway to Courts' Challenging Army Corps' Wetlands Calls
Access to courts to resolve disputes early on in a permitting process is critical for land use projects in terms of time- and cost-savings. In Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes, issued on May 31, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court effectively agreed by rul...
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BiOp on the Oregon National Flood Insurance Program: A Case for Levee Accreditation
If there was ever a case to be made for levee accreditation in Oregon, it would be the biological opinion ("BiOp") that the National Marine Fisheries Services ("NMFS") issued in April 2016.
The BiOp seeks to protect and conserve certain salmon and st...
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