On July 3, 2025, several federal agencies published Interim Final Rules or Final Rules freeing themselves of legally and statutorily conflicting regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in...more
7/9/2025
/ Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Executive Orders ,
Final Rules ,
Government Agencies ,
NEPA ,
New Legislation ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Rulemaking Process ,
SCOTUS ,
Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v Eagle County Colorado ,
Statutory Interpretation
On April 23, 2025, the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) announced newly adopted emergency permitting procedures it is implementing to accelerate the review and approval of projects in relation “to the identification,...more
5/8/2025
/ Department of the Interior ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Projects ,
Environmental Impact Statements ,
Government Agencies ,
NEPA ,
NHPA ,
Permits ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements
As referenced in last month’s publication, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of the Army (Army) will be hosting numerous separate listening sessions with key stakeholders starting next...more
4/22/2025
/ Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Government Agencies ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Sackett v EPA ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waters of the United States
On March 20, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) directing his administration to immediately implement measures bolstering the production of America’s critical minerals, including uranium, copper, potash,...more
3/25/2025
/ Defense Production Act ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Executive Orders ,
Exports ,
Federal Funding ,
Government Agencies ,
Imports ,
Investment ,
Mineral Exploration ,
Mining ,
National Security ,
Permits ,
Regulatory Reform ,
SBA ,
Supply Chain ,
Trump Administration
On March 12, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced that the agency is undertaking 31 significant actions in furtherance of the President’s Inaugural Day Executive Orders....more
The Waters of the United States (WOTUS) Rule is an ongoing conundrum to all those subject to it, most especially in trying to ascertain exactly which water ways qualify under the Rule. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency...more
National security is the focus of an Executive Order (EO) signed by President Donald J. Trump on February 25, 2025, entitled “Addressing The Threat To National Security From Imports of Copper.” As the EO asserts, copper is a...more
3/3/2025
/ Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
Executive Orders ,
Imports ,
International Trade ,
National Security ,
Section 232 ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Expansion Act of 1962 ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Commerce Department
“We will drill, baby, drill!”
This was an emphatic promise from President Donald J. Trump during his Inaugural Address on January 20, 2025; but also his campaign mantra that, in part, contributed to his electoral and...more
On February 11, 2025, the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Federal Lands, held an Oversight Hearing on “Restoring Multiple Use to Revitalize America’s Public Lands and Rural Communities.”...more
2/24/2025
/ Antiquities Act ,
Bureau of Land Management ,
Climate Change ,
Conservation ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Policies ,
Federal Land ,
FLPMA ,
Natural Resources ,
New Legislation ,
Proposed Legislation
President Donald J. Trump, in December 2017, discussed the number of regulations eliminated in his first Administration’s “far-reaching regulatory reform,” known as the “two-for-one rule.” Eleven months earlier, Trump had...more
The Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act of 2024 (S. 2781) was signed into law on December 17, 2024, by President Joe Biden. This was a bipartisan measure consisting of 21 Republicans, 17 Democrats, and...more
The U. S. House Committee on Natural Resources hearing held on Thursday, June 15, 2023, was singularly focused on H.R. 3397, sponsored by Rep. John R. Curtis (R-UT-3), which requires the Director of the Bureau of Land...more
On Wednesday, May 24, 2023, the Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee of the House Committee on Natural Resources held a hearing titled “Examining the Biden Administration’s Efforts to Limit Access to Public Lands.” In...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) issued a Request For Applications (RFA) on January 10, 2023, for projects “supporting community-based nonprofit organizations (CBO’s) in their efforts to collaborate and...more
Further building upon its Environmental Justice (EJ) Legal Tools, on January 11, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) released the Cumulative Impacts Addendum updating its existing legal guidance for...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) announced on January 6, 2023, that it is proposing to modify the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5). The current annual primary...more
On May 5, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (“USDOJ”) announced the launch of a new comprehensive environmental justice (“EJ”) strategy. The three-prong strategy, as laid out by the U.S. Attorney General in an internal...more
On February 7, 2022, Sierra Club, et al. filed a Notice of Intent to File Suit (“NOI”) over the Unites States Environmental Protection Agency’s (“USEPA”) supposed failure to perform its duties under the Clean Air Act (“CAA”)...more
Arizona’s Senior U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema is credited as being instrumental in negotiating the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package, H.R. 3684, entitled “Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface...more
8/11/2021
/ Airports ,
Broadband ,
Clean Energy ,
Contamination ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Drinking Water ,
Drought ,
Energy Sector ,
Infrastructure ,
Infrastructure Financing ,
Legislative Agendas ,
PFAS ,
Power Grid ,
Power Infrastructure ,
Transportation Industry ,
Wastewater ,
Water ,
Wildfires
On January 9, 2020, the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest (“ACLIPI”), on behalf of several individuals, filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (“Court”) a Petition for Review (“Petition”) of the United...more
In its June 25, 2021 Press Release, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“USEPA”) presented its plan for utilizing $50 million dollars, allocated to the agency under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021/Covid-19 stimulus...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (“USEPA”) Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (“OECA”) released July 1, 2021 guidance establishing a process on which it will rely upon to advance its’ Environment Justice...more
We all have been waiting to see what new course or approach will be taken by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“USEPA”) in regard to environmental justice. Rather than a major new program or enforcement initiative,...more
The Arizona’s First Regular Session of the 55th Legislature has been moving along at a pretty fast and steady pace. A total of 40 bills have already been sent to the Governor’s desk; and 32 of those have been signed into law...more
3/1/2021
/ Air Quality Standards ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Policies ,
Groundwater ,
Mining ,
Natural Resources ,
Permits ,
Underground Injection Wells ,
Underground Storage Tanks ,
Water ,
Water Conservation ,
Water Supplies
As of August 10, 2020, with the signing of Secretary’s Order 3382 by the U.S. Secretary of Interior David Bernhardt, Grand Junction, Colorado is officially the new home to the headquarters for the Bureau of Land Management...more