In the past two weeks, six federal permitting agencies — the U.S. Departments of Interior (USDOI), Agriculture (USDA), Energy (DOE), Commerce (DoC), Defense (DoD), and Transportation (USDOT) — withdrew most of their National...more
7/10/2025
/ Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Department of the Interior ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Deregulation ,
Environmental Policies ,
Executive Orders ,
Final Rules ,
Government Agencies ,
NEPA ,
New Guidance ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Trump Administration ,
USDA
On June 17, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a proposed rule to approve Texas’s application for primary permitting and enforcement responsibility (primacy) for carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration wells...more
6/25/2025
/ Carbon Capture and Sequestration ,
Drinking Water ,
Energy Projects ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Permits ,
Proposed Rules ,
Railroads ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
State and Local Government ,
Tax Credits ,
Texas ,
Underground Injection Wells
Much has been written in recent weeks about how the renewable energy industry in Texas dodged a bullet — several bullets actually — when three high-profile bills targeting the industry failed to pass in the recent legislative...more
6/24/2025
/ Coastal Real Estate ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Projects ,
Energy Reform ,
Environmental Policies ,
Infrastructure ,
Offshore Wind ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Renewable Energy ,
State and Local Government ,
Texas ,
Wind Power
On Monday, June 9, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) opened a short, 30-day public comment period soliciting information and comments to, “improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness” of Section 10(a) take...more
6/11/2025
/ Comment Period ,
Critical Habitat ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Environmental Policies ,
Government Agencies ,
Habitat Conservation Plan ,
Permits ,
Public Comment ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Trump Administration ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service
On May 29, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado that dramatically changes the way courts scrutinize federal agencies’ environmental reviews under the...more
6/2/2025
/ Chevron Deference ,
Energy Projects ,
Environmental Impact Report (EIR) ,
Environmental Litigation ,
Infrastructure ,
Judicial Authority ,
NEPA ,
Oil & Gas ,
Railways ,
Rulemaking Process ,
SCOTUS ,
Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v Eagle County Colorado ,
Statutory Interpretation
On April 17, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (together Services) published a proposed rule to rescind the long-standing definition of “harm” under the Endangered Species...more
4/21/2025
/ Chevron Deference ,
Endangered Species ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Environmental Policies ,
Government Agencies ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
National Marine Fisheries Service ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Trump Administration ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service
On Wednesday, April 16, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum directed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to order Equinor to “stop work” on its 812 megawatt Empire Wind 1 project just outside of New York Harbor....more
4/21/2025
/ Biden Administration ,
BOEM ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Construction Project ,
Department of the Interior ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Projects ,
Executive Orders ,
Government Agencies ,
Net Zero ,
New York ,
Offshore Wind ,
Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act ,
Permits ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Renewable Energy ,
Secretary of the Interior ,
Stop Work Orders ,
Trump Administration
On the evening of April 9, 2025, the Trump administration released a pair of deregulatory executive actions that could have major implications for any industry subject to federal rules — and are also likely to be a magnet for...more
4/11/2025
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Chevron Deference ,
Climate Change ,
Deregulation ,
Energy Policy ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Policies ,
Executive Orders ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration
On February 19, the White House unveiled an interim final rule (IFR) to rescind all National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing regulations that the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has promulgated since 1977....more
2/21/2025
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Audubon Society ,
CEQ ,
Energy Projects ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Review ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ,
Final Rules ,
Interim Final Rules (IFR) ,
NEPA ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration
This past Monday, the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota issued its ruling in the closely watched case of Iowa v. Council on Envtl. Quality, 1:24-cv-089 (D.N.D. Feb. 3, 2025), vacating the Biden...more
Newly confirmed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum wasted little time implementing many of President Trump’s initial energy executive orders (EOs), unleashing a round of Secretary’s Orders (SOs) this past Monday that push fossil...more
2/6/2025
/ Energy Policy ,
Environmental Policies ,
Executive Orders ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Infrastructure ,
Mining ,
Offshore Drilling ,
Oil & Gas ,
Outer Continental Shelf ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Renewable Energy ,
Secretary of the Interior ,
Trump Administration
Among President Donald Trump’s directives issued on his first day in office was a Presidential Memorandum targeting wind energy, which has been a significant source of new electricity generation in the United States over the...more
1/23/2025
/ Clean Water Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of the Interior ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Reform ,
Executive Orders ,
NEPA ,
Offshore Wind ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Renewable Energy ,
Trump Administration ,
Wind Power
On December 5, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit handed the U.S. offshore wind industry a decisive win in its eagerly awaited ruling on the remaining challenges to the Vineyard Wind 1 project’s federal...more
Going into 2024, the Biden Administration was primed to hold four offshore wind lease sales during the one-year window established by the Inflation Reduction Act. But the recent announcement by the Bureau of Ocean Energy...more
Fast on the heels of a small but successful sale of two leases off Delaware and Virginia, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has issued a Call for Information (“Call”) to kick off another round of leasing in the...more
On August 14, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) held its long-awaited Central Atlantic lease sale, auctioning leases off Delaware and Virginia to Norwegian energy giant Equinor and utility Dominion Energy...more
The one-two punch of the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (“Loper Bright”) and Corner Post, Inc. v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“Corner Post”) this past week spun...more
On April 30, 2024, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) and the U.S. Treasury Department (“Treasury”) published Final Treasury Regulations (T.D. 9993) (the “Final Regulations”) providing guidance relating to the election...more
On May 20, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) published a final rule listing the dunes sagebrush lizard (DSL) as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). The DSL is a small, spiny lizard...more
Introduction On May 1, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”) published its Final Rule implementing revisions to the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”)—better known as Phase 2 (the “Final Rule”)....more
If the offshore wind industry is going to come close to meeting the Biden Administration’s goal of deploying 15 GW for floating wind by 2035, it’s going to require a lot of turbines spinning in the Gulf of Maine and off a...more
Last week, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) jointly finalized a long-awaited overhaul of their offshore wind leasing and permitting regulations, which...more
UPDATE:
A recent lawsuit against Dominion Energy’s approved Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project off the coast of Virginia underscores our prediction in our March 8 QuickStudy that plaintiffs will craft their...more
On April 5, 2024, The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (“USFWS”) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (“NMFS”) (collectively, the “Services”) finalized a series of rules reversing certain revisions to the Services’...more
On March 22, 2024, the IRS issued additional guidance (Notice 2024-30) on the energy communities provision of the Inflation Reduction Act. This latest guidance is narrowly focused on two topics: (1) expanding the “hook” by...more