May 02, 2024
State Board Completes Three-Day Workshop Regarding Proposed Bay-Delta Voluntary Agreements
The State Water Resources Control Board’s (State Board) three-day workshop to evaluate the proposed Voluntary Agreements, held from April 24 through 26, was the latest step in the State Board’s process to update the Water Quality Control Plan for the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary (Bay-Delta Plan). Specifically, the agreements discussed relate to the Sacramento, Feather, American, Yuba, Tuolumne and Mokelumne Rivers, Putah Creek, and the Delta. … Read More
Written by Ellen M. Moskal
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May 02, 2024
Biden Administration’s Final Endangered Species Act Regulations Set to Take Effect on May 6
On March 28, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (collectively, the “Services”) finalized revisions to regulations that implement Section 4 and Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Additionally, FWS reinstated its “blanket rule” under Section 4(d) that applies the ESA’s “take” prohibition to threatened species. The final rules conclude the Biden Administration’s review of the previous revisions to the ESA regulations completed in 2019. The final rules include no changes to the proposed revisions for the Section 7 consultation process published in June 2023; the Services did make changes in response to comments on the proposed rules that implement Section 4. The final rules become effective on May 6, 2024 … Read More
Written by Brittany K. Johnson and Krisha Yadav-Ranjan