November 2011

A legal update from our colleagues Michael O’Connell and Stephen Kelly:

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) on November 29, 2011 published proposed regulations for leasing tribal and individual Indian trust land for business and residential uses. The comment period runs through January 30, 2012. It will take the BIA some time to review and…

This week the California Energy Commission’s PIER program released a comprehensive report titled "2020 Strategic Analysis of Energy Storage in California."  The report discusses the state of technology, policy, barriers to deployment and suggested reforms.  A staff workshop related to the report will be held on November 15, 2011 at 10 am at the CEC located at…

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is exercising its authority and enforcing the requirements of the Clean Air Act’s renewable fuel standard (RFS) program. The EPA issued twenty-four notices of violation on November 7, 2011, to petroleum refiners, importers and exporters of renewable fuel.

Following a filing last month of criminal charges of wire fraud, money…

On November 3, 2011, the proposed Avenal Energy Project, a 600-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant proposed in the city of Avenal near Kettleman City in Kings County, California, encountered another legal challenge to providing electricity to the southern San Joaquin Valley. Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, and Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice challenged the…