Natural Resources
In addition to working with CEQA and NEPA, the firm frequently is engaged in enforcing the California Coastal Act, the Public Trust Doctrine, the Clean Air Act, the federal and state Endangered Species Act, and the Clean Water Act. On behalf of clients such as the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, Audubon, the Center for Biological Diversity, and various land trusts, Chatten-Brown & Carstens has helped ensure that the precious flora and fauna of California are protected, as required by state and federal law. In many cases, the firm has assisted in the creation of parks or conservation easements that have ensured protections for natural resources above and beyond those protections that would be provided by the state and federal Endangered Species Acts, or by other applicable laws, including CEQA.
Examples of our work in the area of natural resources includes:- The Firm represented Center for Biological Diversity in challenging the California Fish and Game Commission’s failure to determine that the listing of the California Tiger Salamander as an endangered or threatened species may be warranted and therefore requires an in-depth evaluation. Center for Biological Diversity had submitted a petition for listing the Tiger Salamander with overwhelming evidence that the species is in serious peril of becoming extinct. In a published decision, the Court of Appeal’s Third District up held the trial court’s issuance of a writ of mandate requiring the Commission to accept the Center’s petition to list the Tiger Salamander and advance the species to candidacy because there was no scientific evidence in the record that could support rejecting the petition. Center for Biological Diversity v. California Fish and Game Com'n (2008) 166 Cal.App.4th 597.
- The Firm represented the States of New York and Connecticut in suing the Environmental Protection Agency to require promulgation of effluent limitation guidelines that would apply to the construction and development industry pursuant to the Clean Water Act. The district court issued, and the Court of Appeal upheld, an order requiring the EPA to promulgate the guidelines. Natural Resources Defense Council v. U.S. E.P.A. (2008) 542 F.3d 1235.
- The Firm represented the Center for Biological Diversity in challenging three Timber Harvest Plans proposed by Sierra Pacific Industries and approved by the State on the grounds that they failed to address the global warming impacts of clearcutting forests. After the three lawsuits were filed, Sierra Pacific Industries withdrew each of the Timber Harvest Plans.
