Environmental

Recent Posts

PA DEP Public Resource Proposed Rules – Will They Survive?
Posted on 31 Aug 2015 by Steptoe & Johnson PLLC

As reported in my June, 2015 article on this site, the DEP’s Chapter 78 rulemaking effort is not without its share of controversy and concern. Perhaps the biggest issue for the industry is the expansion of the “Public Resource” requirements... Read More

Pope Francis On Environmental Law
Posted on 14 Jul 2015 by Columbia Law - Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

By Michael B. Gerrard The remarkable Encyclical Letter issued last month by Pope Francis could be read as a primer on the importance and idealized operation of many of our environmental laws. The headings below are mine; the text is from the... Read More

Proposal to List the Big Sandy Crayfish and Guyandotte River Crayfish as Endangered
Posted on 20 Aug 2015 by Steptoe & Johnson PLLC

Coal, oil and gas, timber, and multiple other activities within the Guyandotte and Big Sandy watersheds in West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky will be subject to new restrictions if the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) proceeds with its... Read More

Challenge to Sage Grouse Protection Order
Posted on 5 Mar 2014 by Dianne Saxe

By Meredith James In December, the Federal Government followed through on its commitment (and obligation) to introduce an Emergency Protection Order for the Greater Sage Grouse, a species on the verge of extinction in Canada. Earlier this month... Read More

Sage-Grouse Protection Threatens Growth of Renewable Energy
Posted on 13 Nov 2014 by Columbia Law - Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is to decide whether or not to list the greater sage-grouse as threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.[1] The proposed listing has caused conflict between two groups of environmentalists: conservationists... Read More

Northern Long Eared Bat To Be Designated as Threatened, not Endangered – Litigation Immediately Begins
Posted on 18 May 2015 by Steptoe & Johnson PLLC

On April 2, 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced that it would be listing the northern long-eared bat as threatened , rather than endangered, as it had originally proposed in October of 2013. The listing gives the bat new protections... Read More