Earlier this week, the decision in Bartell Ranch v. McCullough generally supported the Bureau of Land Management’s review under NEPA and related statutes of a lithium mine near Thacker Pass, Nevada. If approved, Thacker Pass would be the largest lithium mine in the United States. The decision and the entire review of the mine are
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OSHA Reiterates Concerns About Occupational Hearing Damage and Loss
By A. Scott Hecker, Adam R. Young, Patrick D. Joyce, Brent I. Clark, Daniel R. Birnbaum, and Craig B. Simonsen
Seyfarth Synopsis: Occupational noise exposure is common in certain industries across the United States, such as construction, manufacturing, and even warehousing and logistics. According to OSHA, the “Center for Disease Control…
“Waters of the United States,” an Overview of the New Rule
Under the Clean Water Act (CWA), the U.S. federal government is responsible for regulating the discharge of pollutants into the “navigable waters of the United States” and has discretionary power to formulate the regulatory details and geographical scope of federal jurisdiction over those “navigable waters.”
The manner in which the government should define these “navigable…
First District Upholds Use of Government Code Section 65457 CEQA Exemption For Downtown Livermore Affordable Housing Project, Roundly Rejects Meritless Arguments of NIMBY Opposition
In an opinion in a much-publicized case, filed December 28, 2022, and later ordered published on January 26, 2023, the First District Court of Appeal (Div. 3), upheld the City of Livermore’s (“City”) approval of a 130-unit affordable housing project on a downtown infill site and its accompanying determination that the project was CEQA-exempt under…
NJDEP’s Direct Oversight Authority Broadly Defined
A recent decision by the state Appellate Division has affirmed the broad statutory authority of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (“NJDEP”) to oversee the remediation of contaminated sites and invoke compulsory direct oversight in remediation matters under the Site Remediation Reform Act (“SRRA”).
In the matter of In Re New Jersey Department of…
Announcement: Recent Regulatory Agendas Show Numerous Delayed Awaited Agency Actions on PFAS and TSCA Chemicals
In January 2023, federal agencies released their “Fall 2022” Regulatory Agendas that provide roadmaps for upcoming and long-term regulatory actions on chemicals that could have significant implications for the regulated community. These agendas make clear that the Biden Administration continues to prioritize regulatory actions to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) across multiple agencies. And…
Anticipated Changes to FTC Green Guides Portend New Areas of Potential Litigation
Companies interested in the scope of environmental marketing claims and mitigating potential litigation risks should act fast as the window for comments is closing soon.
By Paul Davies, Robin M. Hulshizer, Jacqueline Y. Zhang, Danny Dvorak, Julia Hatcher, and Tony Kim

Latham & Watkins presents a blog series on the…
You can Participate in our Survey on GHG Emission Measurement
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—February 6, 2023
International Trade: U.S. Requests Second USMCA Arbitration Over Canada’s Dairy Tariff-Rate Quotas
On January 31, 2023, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced that the U.S. has requested—for the second time—that an arbitration panel adjudicate the U.S.’s claim that Canada’s administration of its dairy tariff-rate quotas (TRQ) violate the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).…
The EU’s Green Deal Industrial Plan for the Net-Zero Age
The EU’s Green Deal Industrial Plan for the Net-Zero Age
The US Inflation Reduction Act (the IRA) has raised concerns in the EU about the potential impact on international investment – particularly the possibility that such investment will be pulled into the US, rather than directed to the EU and may encourage ‘green industries’ to…
