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In a 6-3 decision penned by Justice Breyer, the United States Supreme Court held on April 23 that discharges of pollutants to groundwater that reach surface water may require a Section 402 permit under the Clean Water Act. The decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund (No. 18-260) resolved a split of the circuit courts and established  a new “functional equivalent” test to determine when a permit is required. However, the Court explicitly left defining “functional equivalent” to…

We are very excited to announce that Carlyn Drivdahl and Peter Landreth have joined our firm as Counsel and that Rob Taboada has been elevated to Partner. Carlyn practices in the areas of land use, public contracting, and public ethics, with an emphasis on land use entitlements. After working at Best Best & Krieger, Carlyn spent twelve years as a Deputy County Counsel for the County of Tuolumne. Carlyn’s in-house county counsel experience gives Carlyn a deep understanding of the…

In the first published opinion to consider a Sustainable Communities Environmental Assessment (SCEA), the Third District upheld the City of Sacramento’s approval and streamlined CEQA review of a transit priority project that would build “significantly more housing” than otherwise allowed in the zoning code. The opinion strengthens charter city’sgeneral police powerto exceed density restrictions where “it is determined that the project provides a significant community benefit.” This will help cities seeking to densify their urban core beyond existing zoning and…

The Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) Human and Ecological Risk Office (HERO) released an update to its Human Health Risk Assessment Note (referred to as HERO Note 3 and available here) this week but did not provide more clarity on which soil vapor intrusion screening levels should be used to evaluate redevelopment of brownfield sites in California. In short, HERO Note 3 now recommends comparing soil vapor concentrations to both DTSC’s current screening levels (based on building specific attenuation factors)…