wetlands
Oregon Governor Folds on Wetlands Law After Promise to Veto
Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed a bill Friday that environmentalists say will weaken protections of wetlands and intermittent streams, reversing course after announcing on Monday that she would likely veto the controversial bill.
Read moreWetland Protections
The Seventh Circuit ruled that the U.S. Department of Agriculture arbitrarily determined that a farm was no longer eligible for certain benefits, because a farmer cut down nine trees. The agency determined that the tree removal converted several acres of wetlands into croplands, but it did not present any evidence that the tree removal “altered the wetland hydrology.”
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California Vineyard to Pay $3.7 Million for Unapproved Construction
A Northern California vineyard will have to pay $3.7 million as part of a settlement agreement for its unauthorized construction that destroyed natural wetlands and threatened Mendocino County’s watershed.
Read moreCalifornia Water Board Faces Lawsuit Over New Wetlands Rules
Hoping to freeze the new wetlands rules, a coalition consisting of several California water suppliers and the city of San Francisco sued the water board late Wednesday.
Read moreFlorida High Court Urged to Nix Everglades Drilling Plan
The Florida Supreme Court has been asked to decide a years-long dispute over oil drilling in the Everglades that opponents say could lead to spills and hurt wildlife.
Read moreJudge Says Rail Repairs Didn’t Harm Wetlands
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — A state judge ruled against an environmental group’s objections to repairs to a rail line, paving
Read moreUpriver Dams Doing Damage to Coastal Ecosystems
Dams erode tropical coastlines at a rate that may outweigh the environmental benefits of clean hydroelectric energy, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.
Read moreCoastal Wetlands Crank Up Carbon Storage as Seas Rise
As rising seawater gives way to flooding, coastal wetlands will play an important role in managing carbon emissions and should be properly managed to offset atmospheric carbon emissions, according to a new study published Wednesday.
Read moreLouisiana Court OKs Pipeline Construction in Wetlands
A Louisiana appeals court ruled 4-1 Wednesday that the state’s Department of Natural Resources properly issued a permit for the construction of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline through fragile wetlands and an area known as “cancer alley” for its chemical plants and residents’ health problems.
Read moreMinnesota Issues Final Permits for Disputed Mine
Minnesota pollution regulators granted the final state permits Thursday for the operation of a contentious $1 billion copper-nickel mine and processing plant in the Superior National Forest.
Read moreWWF Says Tanzania Dam Project Could Hurt Key Wetland
A conservation group says Tanzania’s agreement with Egyptian companies to build a huge hydroelectric dam in the Selous Game Reserve risks damage to an important wetland and could hurt the livelihoods of over 200,000 people who live downstream.
Read moreTrump White House to Unwind Wetlands Protections
The Trump administration unveiled a plan Tuesday to drain federal protections for wetlands and other isolated bodies of water, doing away with the Obama-era Clean Water Rule opposed by farmers.
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Pipeline Company Trespassed, but Expropriation Is OK, Judge Rules
Bayou Bridge Pipeline trespassed on private land in the Atchafalaya Basin when it laid a pipeline without permission, a judge ruled Thursday, but he granted each of three property owners only $150 in damages and approved Bayou Bridge’s request to expropriate the land.
Read morePipeline Trial Focuses on Expropriation, not Environment
Attorneys for three landowners who say Bayou Bridge Pipeline LLC trespassed, cut down hardwood trees and buried a crude oil pipeline, effectively expropriating their land, expressed frustration Thursday at the conclusion of a trial that the judge will did not allow more discussion of the public and environmental toll of pipelines and oil and gas in general.
Read moreOutraged Landowners Face Bayou Bridge Pipeline Co. in Court
Attorneys representing landowners in the Atchafalaya Basin will meet in a pretrial hearing Friday with attorneys for Bayou Bridge Pipeline LLC, the corporation they say trespassed on their land, cut down hardwood trees, dug trenches and buried a crude oil pipeline without their permission. At issue, attorneys say, is the larger issue of why Louisiana allows corporations to expropriate private property by eminent domain in the first place.
Read moreCalifornia Water
Goose Pond Ag and Farmland Management Services, an affiliate of John Hancock Life Insurance, will perform mitigation and pay $5.3 million for disturbing streams and wetlands in the Sacramento Delta, under a 2-year-old settlement, the Department of Justice said Wednesday.
Read moreLandowners Celebrate Halt to Louisiana Pipeline Construction
In a win for landowners, Bayou Bridge Pipeline said it will stop construction of its crude oil pipeline through 38 acres of private property in Louisiana after an owner filed for an injunction to halt the project.
Read moreDamaged Wetlands
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power reached a $5.4 million settlement Wednesday with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for damaging 8 acres of wetlands in Granada Hills.
Read moreFeds Accuse Native American of Polluting Wetlands
The United States brought a federal complaint Monday against a Native American who it says has ignored a demand to clean up years of construction waste dumped into Long Island wetlands.
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