Digging Into Land Use Law Nossaman LLP

In the latest episode of Digging Into Land Use Law, Nossaman’s Brian Ferrasci-O'Malley and John O’Meara explore the Department of the Interior’s (Interiors) proposed rule to change the way agencies evaluate injuries to natural resources at contaminated sites and how much restoration will cost. They examine Interior’s new “Type A” rule for streamlined natural resource damage assessments, the first changes to that rule in more than 27 years, and discuss who will be affected by the proposed revisions.

According to California’s projections, the miles of highways susceptible to coastal flooding in a 100-year storm event will triple from current levels to 370 miles by 2100, with more than 3,750 miles exposed to temporary flooding. Coastal erosion and flooding also threatens California’s rail system and utility infrastructure. In this episode of Digging Into Land Use Law, Nossaman’s Shant Boyajian, Liz Klebaner, Ben Rubin and Mary Lynn Coffee discuss state climate resiliency and environmental justice policies relating to coastal transportation and water infrastructure projects and available funding for such projects under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

Notwithstanding its protected status as a listed species under the federal Endangered Species Act, the Southern California steelhead population is proposed for listing under the California Endangered Species Act. During a time of unprecedented drought and storm activity resulting from climate change, this move to list the species in California is likely to have major impacts on the provision of water and recycled water supply, flood control and storm water treatment and management.

Congress enacted the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known also as Superfund, in 1980 to address the horror of sites like Love Canal where discarded toxic chemicals began oozing into neighboring backyards and basements, contaminating air, soil and water, and endangering human health and the environment. Many people were sickened and hundreds of homes that were found to be uninhabitable were bulldozed as a part of the cleanup. Since its enactment, CERCLA has become the predominant site remediation vehicle and its reach has expanded far beyond the typical landfill sites to include factories, waterways, mining sites and recreational areas. Moreover, CERCLA’s impacts extend beyond contaminated sites into many aspects of commerce. In this episode of Digging Into Land Use Law, Nossaman Environment & Land Use partners Leslie Nellermoe and Reed Neuman discuss some places to look for the CERCLA monster and offer possible strategies to harness the beast.

In this episode of Digging Into Land Use Law, Nossaman Real Estate Group Co-Chair David Graeler and associate Maya Hamouie discuss myriad problems that may arise when a market rent adjustment provision in a long-term ground lease is stated unclearly. David and Maya, along with guest speaker Scott Delahooke, MAI, review a recent market rent adjustment arbitration concerning a long-term ground lease, the key California case law at issue in the dispute, the different valuation approaches taken by the ground lessor and ground lessee, the differences in approaching valuations in California versus other jurisdictions and how the arbitration panel ruled. They also discuss ways to draft rent-adjustment provisions to more clearly lay out the adjustment process and to hopefully reduce the likelihood of litigation.​

In this episode of Digging Into Land Use Law, Nossaman Environment & Land Use partner Mary Lynn Coffee and associate Stephanie Clark explore the eternal question – at least under federal and California law – what’s in a wetland? In recent years both the federal government and California have taken steps to provide a specific definition of what is a jurisdictional wetland. In this episode, we give a broad overview of what the current lay of the land is at both the federal and state levels, and offer some predictions for how that might change in the coming years.