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By Paul Singarella, Daniel Brunton and Lucas Quass

California Legislature Enacts Bill Package on Drought 

On Thursday March 26, 2015, the California Legislature adopted legislation which it describes as allocating approximately $1 billion to emergency drought relief in the state.  As more than 50 percent of the new appropriations target flood control, it remains to be seen to what extent the legislation will mitigate drought conditions.

The legislation consists of two appropriations bills (Assembly Bill 91 and Senate Bill…

By Michael Scott Feeley and Aron Potash

There is no shortage of environmental matters to navigate when buying a company or facility.  Environmental counsel must first lead a diligence effort that delineates the target’s environmental footprint and then suss out the environmental risks and liabilities attendant to the deal.  This diligence process often involves Phase I environmental site assessments, environmental, health and safety compliance evaluations, interviews of target personnel, and review of seller-provided permits, reports, and other documentation.  The knowledge…

By Marc Campopiano and Max Friedman

On March 6, 2015, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) updated its Guidance Manual for Preparation of Health Risk Assessments (HRAs) for the purpose of better characterizing exposure risks to children from air toxics.  Using the new Guidance Manual, HRAs are expected to estimate risks that are two to five times greater than HRAs using the former methodology—even assuming no changes in air toxics exposure.  As a result, once the updated…

By Marc Campopiano, Josh Bledsoe, Jennifer Roy, and James Erselius

Concerns from local agencies, industry, and environmental groups over the long-awaited Draft Environmental Impact Report (“EIR”)/Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”) for the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (“DRECP”)—a renewable energy and conservation plan covering 22.5 million acres of desert located in seven Southern California counties—have caused the responsible state and federal agencies to shift to a more limited phased approach.  In a March 10 statement, the four lead…

By Joshua T. Bledsoe, Michael Dreibelbis, and Max Friedman

I. LCFS Readoption

On February 19, 2015, the California Air Resources Board (ARB) will take feedback on proposed regulations implementing the readoption and updating of California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), with formal readoption targeted for the Summer of 2015.  Triggered by legal defects during the original adoption of the LCFS Program, ARB initiated the rulemaking after the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari regarding the constitutionality of the program. …

By Joshua T. Bledsoe and Stacey L. VanBelleghem

On December 18, 2014, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) released revised draft guidance on the consideration of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change in National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review.[1]  The CEQ previously issued this guidance in draft form in February 2010.[2]  Rather than finalize that draft, the CEQ opted to issue significantly revised draft guidance and open a 60-day public comment period, which closes on…

By Michael Gergen and Eli Hopson

In response to poor performance by many generation resources in the PJM region during the 2014 “Polar Vortex” and concerns over the increasing reliance on natural gas-fired generation resources in the PJM region, PJM filed under Section 205 of the Federal Power Act (“FPA”) proposed “Capacity Performance” rules to revise its capacity market, known as the “Reliability Pricing Model” or “RPM”, with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”) on December 12, 2014. …

Latham & Watkins is pleased to present a complimentary 45-minute webcast on Thursday, December 11 at 9:00 am pacific/12:00 pm eastern. The webcast is presented by the Air Quality and Climate Change Practice and will address the following current air quality and climate change regulatory and policy updates:

  • Implications of EPA’s Newly Proposed Ozone Standard
  • EPA’s Aggressive Enforcement of GHG Requirements: the Settlement With Kia and Hyundai
  • EPA’s Clean Power Plan: Comments on the Proposal and Implications of the Recent US-China Climate

…

By Claudia O’Brien and Bart Kempf

On November 14, 2014, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) released a final determination invalidating almost 89,000 previously-issued offset credits due to CARB’s conclusion that the facility at issue failed to comply with a permit issued under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).[1]  CARB reached this conclusion even though it determined that “the [GHG] emission reductions represented by the offsets at issue here are real, quantified, and verified reductions.”[2]  CARB’s decision comes following a months-long investigation, and leaves open a number of questions about how California will exercise its discretion to investigate and invalidate offsets in the future.

By Chris Garrett, Daniel Brunton, Taiga Takahashi, Andrew Yancey, and Natalie Rogers

On October 29, 2014, the Fourth District Court of Appeal of California upheld the Sierra Club’s challenges to the County of San Diego’s (“County”) approval of a climate action plan (“CAP”) and related significance thresholds under the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”).  In Sierra Club v. County of San Diego, No. D064243, 2014 WL 5465857 (Cal. Ct. App. Oct. 29, 2014), the Court held that the County’s CAP did not ensure the necessary greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions reductions and that the County failed to meaningfully analyze the environmental impacts of the CAP.  This opinion was certified for publication on November 24, 2014.