Tenth Circuit Overturns BLM’s Mancos Shale Oil and Gas APD Approvals
Dine’ Citizens Against Ruining our Environment, an environmental non-governmental organization (NGO) and other environmental groups (collectively, Dine’ CARE), brought suit against the United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Secretary of the Interior, challenging the BLM’s compliance with the National…
Annual Environmental Law Update
This paper was originally published by the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation in the Proceedings of the 64th Annual Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Institute (2018) This chapter highlights…
Executive Order Expediting Environmental Reviews and Approvals for High Priority Infrastructure Projects
On his second day in office, President Trump issued several executive orders and memoranda intended to overhaul the environmental review and approval process for pipeline and other infrastructure projects. Among them was EO 13755, intended to expedite environmental reviews and approvals for…
Wind River Reservation Held Diminished: EPA’s Contrary Determination Set Aside Despite EPA Reliance on Solicitor Opinion
On February 22, 2017, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision finding that the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, established by, as relevant here, an 1896 treaty, was diminished by a 1905 Act of Congress in which the Eastern Shoshone…
EPA Publishes Final Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Hazardous Waste Generator Improvements Rule
On November 28, 2016, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) published the final RCRA Hazardous Waste Generator Improvements Rule (“HWGI Rule”). See 81 FR 85732, November 28, 2016. The HWGI Rule is one of the most significant and comprehensive hazardous waste rulemakings that…
New Rules and Draft Policy on Critical Habitat Designations
On February 5, 2016, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (“NOAA”) finalized two rules and a draft policy that renovate how the agencies implement critical habitat designation requirements under the…
New Mexico Mining Commission Narrowly Expands Minimal Impact Permitting Opportunities for Certain Mining Operations
On April 20, 2016, the New Mexico Mining Commission (“NMMC”) conducted a hearing to consider a rule change to the New Mexico Mining Act Reclamation Program (“MARP”) regulations. The New Mexico Mining Association (“NMMA”) proposed the rule change to expand eligibility for…
Deal or no Deal? – Partial Dismissal of CERCLA Claims Against United States and Tribal Entities
Three companion decisions in Atlantic Richfield Co. v. U.S. et. al., Case No. 1:15-cv-00056, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, provide insight on the CERCLA statute of limitations, potential pitfalls in pleading CERCLA claims, and the defense of…
The FAST Act Seeks to Expedite Multi-Agency NEPA Compliance for Large Infrastructure Projects
A new law offers the prospect of faster Federal approvals and limitations on judicial challenges for certain large infrastructure projects that must comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”). In December 2015, Congress enacted and President Obama signed into law the…
Scientific Opinions: Differences Between Federal and New Mexico Law
In a recent opinion, Acosta v. Shell Western Exploration & Production, Inc., No. S-1-SC-33884, slip op. (N.M. Sup. Ct. March 3, 2016), the New Mexico Supreme Court reversed a decision by a state district court to exclude expert opinion testimony in a toxic…