From the Ground Up
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Plan Now So That Excess Water Isn't Trouble Later
Water is a frequent topic of conversation these days, with valid concern over the growing scarcity of this resource. In the past few years, however, concerns about too much water have also arisen. From Hurricane Katrina to Superstorm Sandy to our own...
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A Washington Court of Appeals Reaffirms State's Strong Vested Rights Doctrine
The Washington Department of Ecology issued the 2013-2018 Phase I Municipal Stormwater Permit, which required certain counties and cities to adopt local regulations for controlling stormwater sewer systems for new development, redevelopment, and cons...
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EPA Adopts Clean Power Plan
Earlier this week, the EPA adopted rules under the Clean Air Act intended to ensure that by 2030, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from existing power plants will be 32 percent below 2005 levels. The rule establishes emission performance rates for foss...
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As a Matter of Fact, Raisins Are Protected By the Fifth Amendment
Earlier this year we wrote about the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals case of Horne v. Department of Agriculture (here). In that case, the court of appeals ruled that a Department of Agriculture marketing order that required raisin farmers to divert a...
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Housing Crisis in Central Oregon—What a Difference Five Years Makes
Central Oregon's residential property values rose faster in the mid-2000s' housing bubble and fell harder in the 2008 crash than those in other Oregon areas. Bend, especially, has been a boom-and-bust kind of town since at least the late 1970s. The b...
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Neighbor Loses Right to Use Driveway: Part II
Last year, we wrote about the Gamboa v. Clark case, in which Division III of the Washington State Court of Appeals set a high bar for proving the existence of prescriptive easements. A prescriptive easement arises when one openly and adversely uses t...
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