On February 19, 2025, the Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”) released a pre-publication version of an interim final rule (the “Interim Rule”) to rescind all of CEQ’s previous and current regulations implementing the...more
2/24/2025
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Policies ,
Executive Orders ,
Final Rules ,
NEPA ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration
Environmental Justice (“EJ”) continued to prove a major focus of the Biden administration in 2022. With wide-ranging initiatives across several federal agencies, the administration worked to strengthen enforcement, release...more
2/2/2023
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Clean Air Act ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Environmental Quality ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Executive Orders ,
FERC ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
Natural Gas Act ,
Title VI
New guidance from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) sheds light on how the agency intends to incorporate environmental justice (“EJ”)1 into air permitting programs across the country. The direct effect of the...more
The Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has launched a new national office tasked with enforcing EPA-related civil rights laws in disadvantaged communities and overseeing billions of dollars earmarked for environmental...more
Since 2021, the Administration has released several mapping tools addressing environmental and health impacts on environmental justice (“EJ”) communities....more
On Sunday, August 7 the Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the Act) as part of the FY 2022 Budget Reconciliation bill. The House is now slated to reconvene on Friday, August 12 to vote on the Act and send it...more
The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued a Comprehensive Environmental Justice Enforcement Strategy (“the Strategy”) on May 5, 2022, pursuant to President Biden’s January 2021 Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at...more
The concept of “environmental justice” (“EJ”) is not new—the federal government has been working to define and address environmental justice and related human health and environmental effects since the Clinton administration....more
1/13/2022
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Discrimination ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Executive Orders ,
Joe Biden ,
Low Income Housing ,
Low-Income Issues ,
NEPA ,
OIG ,
Title VI
In September 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) released its Preliminary Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 15 (“Preliminary Plan 15”) which includes two new rulemakings that are intended to reduce Per- and...more
10/22/2021
/ Clean Water Act ,
Contamination ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Drinking Water ,
Effluent Limitations ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Hazardous Substances ,
NPDES ,
PFAS ,
Public Health ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Toxic Chemicals ,
Toxic Exposure ,
Wastewater
Estimating, reporting, and mitigating risk concerning environmental justice (“EJ”) has increasingly become a complex undertaking. The EPA defines environmental justice as “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all...more
The Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) recently unveiled its new Power Plants and Neighboring Communities mapping tool as part of its commitment to Environmental Justice (“EJ”). The mapping tool displays: the location of...more
For the second time in as many weeks, the acting head of the EPA’s enforcement office has issued a memorandum (the “Memorandum”) outlining additional actions to advance the EPA’s environmental justice (“EJ”) goals...more
In February 2021, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Acting Chair Allison Herren Lee directed the Division of Corporation Finance to focus on climate-related disclosures and use their insights to begin updating the...more
The acting head of the EPA’s enforcement office issued a memorandum on June 21, 2021 (the “Memorandum”), that outlines actions to advance the EPA’s environmental justice (“EJ”) goals in criminal enforcement matters....more
On April 30, 2021, the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (“OECA”) of Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued new internal guidance (the “Memorandum”) outlining actions intended to strengthen enforcement...more
On January 27, 2021, President Biden released an “Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.” Among a host of sweeping proclamations and orders involving foreign and domestic policy on climate change,...more
While the texts of environmental laws do not change without an act of Congress, executive branch agencies that enforce those laws have a great deal of discretion in what kinds of violations to prioritize for investigation and...more
1/28/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Clean Air Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of Natural Resources ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Methane ,
OECA ,
OIRA ,
Performance Standards ,
Renewable Energy ,
Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) Policy
The Biden administration identified environmental justice (“EJ”) as a campaign priority1 and the Biden-Harris team has continually emphasized its commitment to environmental justice, stating that the administration would...more