On April 8, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order titled “Protecting American Energy From State Overreach” (the “Executive Order”), which directs the United States Attorney General to identify and halt the...more
Despite the Biden administration’s public support for carbon capture and sequestration (“CCS”), we saw neither faster CCS permit approvals from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) nor a significant push towards...more
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
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has announced its latest priority for Clean Air Act enforcement: stationary engines. In an enforcement alert, EPA states that it has been finding numerous violations of Clean...more
9/12/2022
/ Carbon Emissions ,
Clean Air Act ,
Compliance ,
Enforcement ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Fines ,
National Emissions Standards ,
NESHAP ,
Pollution Control ,
Reporting Requirements
Since 2021, the Administration has released several mapping tools addressing environmental and health impacts on environmental justice (“EJ”) communities....more
On October 25, 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) released a final human health toxicity assessment for two PFAS substances — hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid and its ammonium salt — also known as “GenX...more
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
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
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
While much of recent federal per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”) regulatory activity has focused on water supply and soil contamination of PFAS compounds, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) ongoing...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
On March 26, 2020, as government officials issued a slew of stay-at-home orders, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published an emergency policy memorandum describing how the agency would exercise its enforcement...more
On June 29, 2020, the EPA issued an Addendum to its March 2020 COVID-19 Temporary Enforcement Policy (“Policy”) announcing that the Policy will terminate in its entirety on August 31, 2020. The Addendum also indicates that,...more
As companies navigate the unprecedented effects on business operations and supply chains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, complying with local, state, and federal environmental laws and regulations has presented new...more
6/5/2020
/ Business Operations ,
Continuing Legal Education ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Environmental Liability ,
Environmental Litigation ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
NGOs ,
Risk Mitigation ,
State Agencies ,
Webinars
Companies with environmental compliance obligations should think carefully about and plan ahead for how the coronavirus outbreak might affect their ability to comply. Depending on the severity of the outbreak, companies may...more