The full scope of the Trump Administration’s deregulatory efforts in the environmental space was recently made clear with a series of announcements from US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin....more
Often motivated by the lack of federal engagement on environmental issues, various states have evaluated adding “Green Amendments” to their state constitutions. The practical impact of these amendments will be borne out as...more
Environmental and energy issues were in the headlines for much of 2023. We had several major US Supreme Court cases, Canadian wildfires that produced haze in many American cities throughout the summer, and continued attention...more
12/7/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Clean Energy ,
Clean Water Act ,
Climate Change ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Litigation ,
Environmental Policies ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Loan Forgiveness ,
PFAS ,
Pollution Control ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Sackett v EPA ,
State Constitutions ,
Student Loans
The “Major Questions Doctrine” (MQD) has been the breakout star of the last two terms at the US Supreme Court. Earlier this month, the Fourth Circuit used MQD in upholding the dismissal of a nongovernmental organization’s...more
8/18/2023
/ Chevron Deference ,
Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Fishing Industry ,
Loan Forgiveness ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
National Marine Fisheries Service ,
NGOs ,
Pollution Control ,
SCOTUS ,
Student Loans ,
Water Pollution
This US Supreme Court’s administrative and environmental decisions were somewhat predictable for much of the 2022-2023 term. And then they weren’t – the final weeks of the term especially featured some high-drama decisions....more
7/13/2023
/ 303 Creative LLC v Elenis ,
Affirmative Action ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Department of Education v Brown ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Haaland v Brackeen ,
Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA) ,
Loan Forgiveness ,
NEPA ,
Notice of Violation ,
Rapanos v US ,
Sackett v EPA ,
SCOTUS ,
Student Loans ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Students for Fair Admissions v University of North Carolina ,
Title VI ,
Waters of the United States ,
Wetlands
In the United States, environmental and public health measures often correlate to variables like education, income, and a community’s racial makeup. In the five decades since Congress began to create comprehensive...more
7/7/2023
/ Affirmative Defenses ,
CERCLA ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Equal Protection ,
SCOTUS ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Students for Fair Admissions v University of North Carolina ,
Title VI ,
Title VII
Addressing environmental justice (EJ) issues has been a primary concern for the Biden Administration. Recent developments — one in Chicago and one in Louisiana — show different ways local and state regulators have reacted to...more
In a closely watched environmental Clean Water Act (CWA) case, the US Supreme Court adopted a far narrower construction of CWA’s definition of “waters of the United States,” functionally shifting significant authority over...more
Crafting environmental regulations often takes time and substantive knowledge about complex technical and policy issues.
Below, we draw some key administrative law takeaways from the DC Circuit’s May 9 decision in National...more
What buzzwords define the environmental space in the past two years? Both “ESG” and “environmental justice” (EJ) are strong contenders. This post outlines how these concepts relate and provides guidance as to how companies...more
These days, environmental policy is often established indirectly. While “Schoolhouse Rock” may have taught some of us “How a Bill Becomes a Law,” its insights are less relevant in the current era where things like purportedly...more
1/20/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
CEQ ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Policies ,
NEPA ,
New Guidance ,
New Regulations ,
NGOs ,
Superfund
What will happen in the environmental and energy space in 2023? The last year saw transformative changes in the environmental and energy space in the form of historic spending through the federal Inflation Reduction Act, a...more
12/15/2022
/ CERCLA ,
Clean Water Act ,
Climate Change ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
General Services Administration (GSA) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Hazardous Substances ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
NGOs ,
PFAS ,
Popular ,
Sackett ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
In a recent US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) letter issued to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) and the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH), the Biden Administration deploys its plans to use...more
10/26/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
CERCLA ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Department of Environmental Quality ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Investigations ,
Louisiana ,
NAAQS ,
Regulatory Oversight
The first Monday of October means the Supreme Court begins to hear cases for the new term. As we promised at the end of last term, below we summarize cases the Court could address, including issues involving the federal Clean...more
10/3/2022
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Anti-Commandeering ,
Biden v Missouri ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Clean Water Act ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
Rapanos v US ,
Sackett ,
SCOTUS ,
Spending Clause ,
Tenth Amendment ,
Texas v US ,
Waters of the United States
Citizen suits begin with private parties sending “notice letters” to potential defendants apprising them that, if a specified action isn’t done within a certain period, litigation will be filed. A primary purpose of these...more
Enforcement under the major federal environmental statutes is often - but not always - filed by state or federal regulators. However, the statutes generally give private parties avenues to pursue litigation when regulators ―...more
Environmental justice (EJ) issues continue to be at the forefront of the Biden Administration’s regulatory agenda, with promises to deploy non-environmental statutes - most notably, federal civil rights laws - to address...more
7/27/2022
/ CERCLA ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Funding ,
HUD ,
Title VI