But California backstop will maintain expansive definition of wetlands in the state. >>read more

Also: Statute of limitations on the Mitigation Fee Act, a request to depublish the Millenium Hollywood case, and the U.S. Supreme decline to hear a takings case from Massachusetts involving a local wetlands ordinance. >>read more

How the Supreme Court nominee interprets the Endangered Species Act is likely to have a profound impact on land-use patterns in California. >>read more

Planners thought strategy to protecting wetlands and promoting development was good enough -- but enviros thought otherwise. >>read more

The Supreme Court nominee takes a narrow view of administrative agencies' power -- but is likely to apply that view in a nonpartisan way. >>read more

His WOTUS executive order instructs federal agencies to ignore Kennedy's deciding vote on wetlands regulation. >>read more 

End of signature Obama policy could put more pressure on California state environmental laws. >>read more

The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling gives property owners the ability to challenge the Army Corps' "jurisdictional determination" of wetlandsbefore seeking a permit. >>read more

The federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday issued a nationwide stay blocking enforcement of the new federal rule defining "Waters of the United States". For now the stay applies in all states, including California. While it lasts, the "Waters Of..." definition returns to the jumbled but familiar state it was in before the new rule took effect on August 28. Although the stay is only a temporary measure, it strengthens legitimacy and buys time for opponents of the Obama Administration's approach to clean water regulation. >>read more

The definition of wetland would seem to be self-evident: wet land. If only it were that easy in California. 

From vernal pools that slowly diminish in the Central Valley heat to brackish estuaries separating ocean from land, California's topography includes some of the most varied types of wetlands imaginable. Their numbers and varieties baffle that which governmental regulations such as the federal Clean Water Act describe.