Environmental Impacts and Historic Preservation
Our lawyers are experienced in guiding land developers, mining and timber companies, telecommunications providers, and other clients through the complex environmental planning and historic review requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). We also defend those planning efforts when they are challenged by citizen groups, neighboring landowners, and other entities in court. Representative projects have included:
- Successfully defending a gold mining company before the Interior Board of Land Appeals against a neighboring landowner’s challenge to the adequacy of its environmental impact statement and plan of operation for a gold mine expansion in Nevada.
- Counseling a major land developer in California regarding the applicability of NEPA to the relocation of military training routes above its property as part of settlement negotiations with the U.S. Navy.
- Counseling clients on the application of NEPA to projects on tribal lands.
- Counseling various clients as to the meaning of “undertaking” under the NHPA to determine whether that Act applies to land development activities on public and private lands.
- Counseling a major city in New Mexico regarding the applicability of the NHPA and the Clean Water Act (CWA) to bridge and highway construction projects.
- Negotiating historic preservation agreements under the NHPA for logging roads, telecommunications facilities, and other development projects on federal lands.