The Comprehensive Environmental Justice Enforcement Strategy Annual Report builds on the DOJ’s creation of its Office of Environmental Justice within the DOJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), which has...more
The US Supreme Court has announced it will evaluate whether “impact fees” associated with permits can violate the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution. At stake is the determination of when, how, and under what...more
10/26/2023
/ Appeals ,
Compensation ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Fees ,
Fifth Amendment ,
George Sheetz v County of El Dorado ,
Impact Fees ,
Koontz v St John's River Water Management ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Permits ,
Regulatory Takings ,
Relentless Inc v US Department of Commerce ,
SCOTUS
Sometimes where to begin is the hardest part. The US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recently released Toolkit is intended to help local and state governments start their environmental justice (EJ) journey through...more
While increased enforcement resulting from increased federal focus on environmental justice (EJ) issues poses risk to many businesses, how (and perhaps whether) the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assesses and...more
“Joint and several” liability for environmental remediation costs is fundamental to the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).
In general, CERCLA incorporates “joint and...more
Louisiana has been at the center of the Biden Administration’s prioritization of environmental justice (EJ) issues.
In United States v. Denka Performance Elastomer, the Eastern District of Louisiana granted a motion by the...more
9/11/2023
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Biden Administration ,
Clean Air Act ,
Emergency Powers ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Louisiana ,
NESHAP ,
OMB ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Public Health ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Statute of Limitations
More so than any other issue, environmental justice (EJ) remains a central pillar of the Biden Administration’s regulatory agenda. Below, we’ll answer three EJ-related questions that the regulated community may struggle with...more
8/25/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Corporate Governance ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Sustainability
One might not expect that a climate-change case filed by a group of children could succeed.
This week, a Montana state court decision in this summer’s hottest climate-focused case, Held v. State of Montana, finding in...more
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
The energy transition and increased public focus on environmental issues have strained the existing regulatory regime including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). NEPA directs agencies to conduct environmental...more
]Effective and meaningful public engagement are “foundational principles of Federal regulatory development” and the Biden Administration has sought to remove barriers to public participation in the regulatory process.
We...more
The Biden Administration is in the process of revising a cog fundamental to federal policymaking. The cog, a guidance document issued by the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) entitled Circular A-4, has the potential to...more
The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards have joined the climate-disclosure reporting frameworks that take a financial materiality-led approach. While the ISSB standards seek to streamline reporting...more
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
Last week, the US Supreme Court ruled that the Biden Administration’s efforts to cancel $430 billion in student loan balances was legally unsupportable.
Forty-three million Americans will remember Biden v. Nebraska when...more
7/10/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Debt Relief ,
Department of Education ,
Department of Education v Brown ,
Haaland v Brackeen ,
Loan Forgiveness ,
OSHA ,
SCOTUS ,
Secretary of Education ,
Standing ,
Student Loans ,
West Virginia v EPA
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
A DC Circuit decision related to the US Environmental Protection Agency’ (EPA) hydroflurocarbons (HFC) phase out illustrates that federal regulations face significant scrutiny when reviewed in court even where the regulations...more
A group of Delta Air Lines’ customers filed a class action suit alleging that the airline’s marketing claims of carbon neutrality are false and misleading. While this may be the first greenwashing case filed against a major...more
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
Federalism — the allocation between federal and state governments — is at the heart of American constitutional law. In a dispute related to the constitutionality of California state regulations dealing with pig farming, the...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
In recent years, “sustainability” has gone from being a niche product approaching, in some quarters, a religion. Few would argue with the proposition that issues like climate- and carbon-neutrality and recyclability have...more
The “Chevron doctrine,” meaning whether courts should defer to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes they administer, has been viewed as a key underpinning of the modern regulatory state.
Repeatedly for nearly a...more
If you blink, there’s a good chance that you will miss a major development in the environmental justice (EJ) space.
Given that Earth Day occurred last week, it’s no surprise we have two major developments to report: ...more