Introduction - Continuing the regulatory whiplash over greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions from power plants, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently proposed repealing the Biden administration’s GHG...more
On Wednesday, 20 April, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) finalized its first of two phases of rulemaking updates to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations (the 2022 Rule). The 2022 Rule unwinds a...more
On 7 January 2021, the Trump administration finalized a new rule that limits the scope of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA or the Act). Under the new rule (which President Biden has already directed the Department of the...more
Late Sunday, President Trump signed into law H.R. 133, the legislative package containing Coronavirus relief, the Fiscal Year 2021 Omnibus bill, and the Energy Act of 2020—the largest energy package to be enacted into law in...more
In her opening statement to an August 11 opinion, United States District Court Judge Valerie Caproni writes: “It is not only a sin to kill a mockingbird, it is also a crime.” Judge Caproni’s literary reference is the...more
INTRODUCTION - On 15 July 2020, the Trump administration—through the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ)—released its long-anticipated overhaul to the regulations that implement the National Environmental Policy Act’s...more
The Trump administration issued two executive orders (EOs) in the past month seeking to encourage economic development through regulatory reform and relief as the United States navigates the reopening of business and...more
On January 23, 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) finalized the Navigable Waters Protection Rule (Rule) to define “waters of the United States” (WOTUS). ...more
The Trump administration recently issued three final rules revising several key aspects of the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”), including: (1) listing species and designating critical habitat under § 4 of the ESA; (2)...more
Last month the Trump Administration announced a proposed rule that would dramatically reduce the scope of federal authority under the Clean Water Act (“Act”). If finalized in its current form, the rule would eliminate federal...more
Advancing President Trump’s campaign promise to end the “war on coal,” on August 21, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) proposed a new rule to replace the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan (“CPP”). ...more
On Monday, October 16, 2017, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register, marking the start of the formal process to repeal the Clean Power Plan (“CPP”)....more
President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order on March 28, 2017, entitled “Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth” (“Order”), which is designed to prompt reconsideration, and in some cases revocation, of the...more