On June 30, 2025, Governor Newsom signed AB 130 and SB 131 into immediately effective law as budget trailer bills, marking a historic effort to accelerate housing production and to reform the CEQA review process that has been stifling housing and other essential projects across California. These landmark laws effect substantial changes intended to streamline
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—July 15, 2025
Today—Tues. July 15 @ Noon: Quarterly Dairy Legal Webinar: 2025 Federal Milk Marketing Order Reforms
New: Why Aren’t PFAS Compounds in Land Applied Biosolids Regulated By EPA?, Brook Duer
International Trade: Canada Passes Law Prohibiting Import Quota Increases, Tariff Reductions on Dairy, Poultry, Eggs 
On June 26, 2025, King Charles III assented to Canadian
Shale Law Weekly Review—Week of July 14, 2025
National Energy Policy: Department of Energy Revises NEPA Regulations 
On June 30, 2025, the Department of Energy (DOE) published an interim rule removing its current National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations and issuing new guidelines. NEPA requires federal agencies to prepare environmental impact statements before approving major projects. This rule would remove NEPA obligations for
Federal Agencies Roll Out New NEPA Regulations
Several federal agencies have released modified National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing regulations.
FERC Revises Regulations Implementing NEPA; Adopts Two Hydropower-Related Categorical Exclusions
On July 3, 2025, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a final rule revising its regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) to remove references to the recently rescinded regulations implementing NEPA originally promulgated in 1978 by the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). On the same day, FERC issued
Financial Assurance for Cleanup in Perpetuity
When a responsible party agrees to clean up a contaminated site under many programs, the government often demands that it provide financial assurance for the completion of the work. When hazardous substances will remain on the site, the site may require response in perpetuity. Can one specify an amount of financial assurance to secure the
Powering the Grid: South Korea’s 2025 ESS Auction
South Korea launched the 2025 1st ESS Central Contract Market auction, offering 540 MW of capacity for energy storage projects across the mainland and Jeju.
“Double Counting” or Redundant Mitigation? Second District Holds CEQA Guidelines’ Additionality Requirement Precludes Applying Upstream Energy or Fuel Providers’ Obligatory Cap-and-Trade Compliance To Offset Land Use Project’s Estimated GHG Emissions, Invalidates “Prejudicially Misleading” EIR For Massive LA County Centennial Project On That And Other Grounds
In a partially published 102-page opinion filed June 26, 2025, the Second District Court of Appeal (Div. 7) resolved cross-appeals by affirming the trial court’s judgment invalidating Los Angeles County’s 2019 EIR certification and project approvals for the Centennial Specific Plan, a 12,323-acre development on the historic Tejon Ranch in the County’s Antelope Valley Area
An EU Biodiversity Market by 2027? The new EU’s Roadmap towards Nature Credits.
On July 7, 2025, the European Commission presented its Roadmap Towards Nature Credits, setting the blueprint for biodiversity certification in the EU. The Communication was also accompanied by a Q&A and a call for feedback by 30 September 2025.
Nature Credits: Practical Uses Across Sectors
In short, nature credits will constitute quantifiable and fungible
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—July 8, 2025
Next Week: Tues. July 15—Quarterly Dairy Legal Webinar: 2025 Federal Milk Marketing Order Reforms
New! Progressive Dairy Podcast with Center Staff Attorney Brook Duer: How to Proactively Prepare and Protect Your Workforce Amid ICE Raids, I-9 Audits and Other Immigration Concerns
Agricultural Labor: DOL Publishes Proposed Rule to Rescind 2024 ‘Temporary Ag Worker Protections’