It’s been one year since Illinois passed a sweeping energy bill – the Energy Transition Act, PA 102-0662 – commonly referred to as the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA). The law targets 50% renewable electricity...more
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
Standing is a major issue in nearly all environmental citizen suit cases. A split panel of the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court’s award of a $14.25 million Clean Air Act (CAA) penalty against a...more
9/12/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Clean Air Act ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Exxon Mobil ,
NGOs ,
Penalties ,
Pollution Control ,
SCOTUS ,
Settlement ,
Spokeo v Robins ,
Standing
The Biden Administration has long been clear that it believes environmental justice (EJ) issues should be at the forefront of federal environmental law. With that in mind, US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other...more
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) reflects the Biden Administration’s attention to issues of environmental justice and environmental equity. The IRA, directly and indirectly, invests in environmentally overburdened...more
8/23/2022
/ Air Pollution ,
Biden Administration ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Energy ,
Climate Change ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
HUD ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
Investment ,
Pollution Control ,
Superfund
Consent decrees play a major role in environmental litigation. This week, Maine People’s Alliance v. Holtrachem Manufacturing Company, one of the nation’s longest-running cases under the Resource Conservation and Recovery...more
8/12/2022
/ Appeals ,
CERCLA ,
Consent Decrees ,
Contamination ,
Environmental Litigation ,
Environmental Remediation Costs ,
Future Claims ,
Mercury ,
NGOs ,
Site Remediation ,
Toxic Chemicals ,
Unmanned Aircraft Systems ,
Water Pollution
Regulators at all levels – federal, state, and local – seek to address climate concerns. On July 27, Washington, DC, joined localities banning natural-gas hookups when Mayor Muriel Bowser signed an ordinance limiting use of...more
US Senate Democrats Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin reached a compromise on the fiscal year 2022 budget reconciliation that includes $369 billion in new spending to spur clean energy and technology over the next decade. The...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
The US Supreme Court’s decisions of late have been consequential. While headline-grabbing decisions deal with religious liberties, privacy, and gun control, the Court’s impact on administrative law will have major...more
7/7/2022
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Biden v Missouri ,
Chevron Deference ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Power Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Jurisdiction ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
National Federation of Independent Business v Department of Labor and OSHA ,
OSHA ,
SCOTUS
One of the US Supreme Court’s final opinions this term addressed US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority to regulate greenhouse gases (GHGs) under the federal Clean Air Act (CAA). The decision in West Virginia v...more
The concept of “administrative deference” is a key component to the modern regulatory state. An important aspect of administrative deference is the “Chevron doctrine,” i.e. the concept that the courts should defer to relevant...more
The US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) and External Civil Rights Compliance Office issued draft guidance (Draft Guidance) on June 2, 2022, outlining how EPA intends to integrate...more
A California appellate court recently concluded that the bumble bee is a “fish,” at least for the purposes of certain provisions in the California Endangered Species Act (Cal. ESA). Because bumble bees are “fish,” they can be...more
Massachusetts highest court upheld a state trial court’s decision which allowed a closely watched climate-disclosure related challenge filed by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey against ExxonMobil (Exxon) to proceed...more
On May 5, 2022, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced its new environmental justice (EJ) strategy, which has been a priority to the Biden Administration.
While the strategy is comprehensive and involves many federal...more
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) released its long-awaited Environmental justice (EJ) enforcement strategy today, a priority for the Biden Administration. The enforcement strategy will “advance environmental justice through...more
5/9/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Violations ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
HUD ,
OSHA ,
Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) Policy ,
US Army Corps of Engineers
The Department of Energy (DOE) has adopted two new rules for commonly-used light bulbs which are intended to phase out most incandescent bulbs in favor of LED lightbulbs, which use less energy and last significantly...more
The Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) “Mask Mandate” was recently vacated by a Florida district court on the grounds that it exceeded CDC’s statutory authority and violated the procedures for executive branch rulemaking set...more
Environmental justice has been at the forefront of the Biden Administration’s priorities for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Perhaps illustrative of the importance of the issue, President Biden issued E.O....more
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently updated its guidance on “sue-and-settle” situations – a contentious approach to resolving claims alleging that the agency has failed to perform a required duty. Successive...more
Whether we like it or not, COVID-19 continues to pose challenges for everyone. One way to help mitigate the risk of contracting the virus is getting fresh air.
As part of President Biden’s National COVID-19 Preparedness...more
The Fifth Circuit has permitted the Biden Administration to resume using its preferred metric for calculating the “social cost of carbon.”
This metric is a key part of the Biden Administration’s efforts to address climate...more
New legislation often starts a cat-and-mouse game between the executive branch and regulated entities related to how statutory language is implemented. While we often write about environmental statutes, the procedural...more