Editor’s Note…

by Scott B. Birkey

As you scan the table of contents for this issue, I think you’ll see that we’re trying to cover the most recent issues across the full spectrum of environmental law. Each article reflects current trends and challenges, from dealing with the relentless and record-breaking drought to understanding the recent changes to requirements for consultation with California Native American Tribes under the California Environmental Quality Act. Environmental law is multi-dimensional, and we hope that all of our Section members will find something worthwhile and interesting to read in these pages. Our first article is a look at the state’s efforts to cope with the drought, and probes the question of whether those efforts will be successful. The next article takes on implementation of the Low-Carbon Fuel Standard and cap-and-trade for transportation fuels to reduce carbon emissions. Keeping with the theme of reducing carbon emissions, the next article addresses the intersection between solar energy and efforts to protect agricultural lands under the Williamson Act. Those articles are followed by an article on the current status of public and private brownfield redevelopment, particularly in this post-redevelopment agency era, which is then followed by an article on the increasingly "steep climb" to get regulatory closure for contaminated sites. Next up is an article on a recent case involving the constitutionality of the federal Endangered Species Act, and how that case may bear on the implementation of the Act in California, and then an article on the new tribal consultation requirements under AB 52. All of this is rounded out with an article recapping last year’s California legislative session, subtitled somewhat ominously "An Election Year Drought." We hope you enjoy this issue of Environmental Law News. If you have suggestions for topics that you would like to see covered in upcoming issues, please feel free to contact me at SBirkey@coxcastle.com.