In the world of offshore wind, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (“BOEM”) Gulf of Mexico region is known for its independent streak. The proposed sale notice (PSN) for its second Gulf of Mexico wind sale in two years...more
Of the four lease sales the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) expects to hold this year, the Gulf of Maine is shaping up to be the Big Dance. With some of the strongest winds on the East Coast, the Gulf of Maine is...more
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: a group of local residents or businesses opposes a renewable energy project for aesthetic, economic, or ideological reasons. But when filing lawsuits challenging project approvals,...more
As interest and investment in carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects grows, spurred by the availability of tax credits and investor interest in the energy transition, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s)...more
On February 12, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“USFWS” or “Service”) issued a long-awaited final rule revising its eagle permit program under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 668-668d) (“BGEPA”)....more
On February 13, 2024, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) designated two final Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) for the development of floating offshore wind energy projects off the southern coast of Oregon. This...more
On November 22, 2023, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) and the U.S. Treasury Department (“Treasury”) published Proposed Treasury Regulations (REG-132569-17) (the “Proposed Regulations”) providing long-awaited guidance and...more
On November 17, 2023, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) and the U.S. Treasury Department (“Treasury”) issued Proposed Treasury Regulations (REG-132569-17) (the “Proposed Regulations”) providing guidance and amending...more
Last week, at the American Clean Power Association’s Offshore WINDPOWER Conference, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey announced that Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut have entered into a first-of-its-kind,...more
On July 3, 2023, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“the Service”) proposed to list the dunes sagebrush lizard (Sceloporus arenicolus) (“DSL”), a species found only in southeastern New Mexico and west Texas, as an endangered...more
On June 16, 2023, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled unanimously that the National Marine Fisheries Service (“NMFS”), when faced with insufficient data, cannot rely on...more
The definition of the term “waters of the United States” (“WOTUS”) in the Clean Water Act (“CWA”), and the resulting scope of the jurisdiction of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and U.S. Army Corps of...more
The Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) are steadily churning out guidance on the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act’s (the “IRA”) expanded tax credits for renewable and...more
In an ongoing series related to the Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”), we have been looking at key provisions of the IRA with the potential to benefit the U.S. offshore wind industry. On April 5, 2023, the IRS issued Notice...more
On April 4, 2023, the Department of Treasury (the “Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) published Notice 2023-29, Energy Community Bonus Credit Amounts under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (“the Notice”),...more
Texas has long been known for its light-touch regulatory regime, particularly towards the energy industry, but in the current legislative session state lawmakers are considering legislation that would require state permits...more
On February 14, 2023, a divided D.C. Circuit panel affirmed FERC’s March 2021 ruling that the power output capacity of a generating facility – not the nameplate capacity of its component parts – determines its eligibility as...more
On December 15, 2022, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking to revise its regulations governing the siting of interstate electric transmission lines. The NOPR...more
On November 25, 2022, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (the “Service”) published a final rule listing two Distinct Population Segments (“DPSs”) for the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus, “LEPC”) under the...more
On September 14, 2022, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (the “Service”) published a proposed rule to list the tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus, “TCB”) as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”). This action,...more
On August 26, 2022, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a pre-publication version of a highly-anticipated proposal to add two of the most widely-used per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the list of...more
On July 27, 2022 Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) reached an agreement to add the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the Act) to the FY 2022 Budget Reconciliation Bill. The Act resurrects...more
On June 15, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) dramatically lowered its lifetime health advisories levels (HALs)[1] for two per- and polyfuoroalkyl substances (PFAS). EPA previously established a combined...more
The solar industry received welcome news last week when President Biden invoked his emergency authority under Section 318(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930 to mute the impact of the Commerce Department’s anti-circumvention...more
On April 6, 2022, the Supreme Court stayed an October 21, 2021 Northern District of California Court ruling that vacated and remanded EPA’s 2020 revisions to the processes for states to certify water quality impacts from...more