On April 23, 2025, the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) announced newly adopted emergency permitting procedures it is implementing to accelerate the review and approval of projects in relation “to the identification,...more
5/8/2025
/ Department of the Interior ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Projects ,
Environmental Impact Statements ,
Government Agencies ,
NEPA ,
NHPA ,
Permits ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements
As referenced in last month’s publication, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of the Army (Army) will be hosting numerous separate listening sessions with key stakeholders starting next...more
4/22/2025
/ Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Government Agencies ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Sackett v EPA ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waters of the United States
On March 20, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) directing his administration to immediately implement measures bolstering the production of America’s critical minerals, including uranium, copper, potash,...more
3/25/2025
/ Defense Production Act ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Executive Orders ,
Exports ,
Federal Funding ,
Government Agencies ,
Imports ,
Investment ,
Mineral Exploration ,
Mining ,
National Security ,
Permits ,
Regulatory Reform ,
SBA ,
Supply Chain ,
Trump Administration
On March 12, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced that the agency is undertaking 31 significant actions in furtherance of the President’s Inaugural Day Executive Orders....more
The Waters of the United States (WOTUS) Rule is an ongoing conundrum to all those subject to it, most especially in trying to ascertain exactly which water ways qualify under the Rule. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency...more
National security is the focus of an Executive Order (EO) signed by President Donald J. Trump on February 25, 2025, entitled “Addressing The Threat To National Security From Imports of Copper.” As the EO asserts, copper is a...more
3/3/2025
/ Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
Executive Orders ,
Imports ,
International Trade ,
National Security ,
Section 232 ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Expansion Act of 1962 ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Commerce Department
“We will drill, baby, drill!”
This was an emphatic promise from President Donald J. Trump during his Inaugural Address on January 20, 2025; but also his campaign mantra that, in part, contributed to his electoral and...more
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has recently introduced a significant policy shift aimed at streamlining the permitting process for mineral projects on public lands....more
2/27/2025
/ Bureau of Land Management ,
Energy Policy ,
Environmental Policies ,
Government Agencies ,
Mining ,
NEPA ,
Permits ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Regulatory Reform ,
State and Local Government ,
Tribal Governments ,
Trump Administration
On February 11, 2025, the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Federal Lands, held an Oversight Hearing on “Restoring Multiple Use to Revitalize America’s Public Lands and Rural Communities.”...more
2/24/2025
/ Antiquities Act ,
Bureau of Land Management ,
Climate Change ,
Conservation ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Policies ,
Federal Land ,
FLPMA ,
Natural Resources ,
New Legislation ,
Proposed Legislation
President Donald J. Trump, in December 2017, discussed the number of regulations eliminated in his first Administration’s “far-reaching regulatory reform,” known as the “two-for-one rule.” Eleven months earlier, Trump had...more
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has recently introduced a significant policy shift aimed at streamlining the permitting process for mineral projects on public lands. With the launch of the new “pre-plan coordination”...more
1/23/2025
/ Bureau of Land Management ,
Compliance ,
Department of the Interior ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Review ,
Mining ,
NEPA ,
Permits ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Stakeholder Engagement
Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court curtailed the federal government’s powers to regulate private property under the auspices of the Clean Water Act (CWA). The Court in Sackett v. EPA held that “the CWA extends to...more
On April 3, 2023, the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) published a proposed rule to promote the conservation of the 245 million acres of public lands it manages. The proposal purports to advance “BLM’s mission to manage the...more
Stone v. High Mountain Mining Company, LLC, was decided September 12, 2022, and involved a citizen suit challenge to a placer mine operating without a Clean Water Act (“CWA”) discharge (“NPDES”) permit. High Mountain’s...more
In 2015, EPA published a rule under the Clean Air Act (“CAA”) targeting coal-fired electricity generators designed to force their shift from coal generation to gas, solar and wind production. The “Clean Power Plan” (“CPP”)...more
“Sackett” may be poised to become a part of the Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdictional lexicon, joining the likes of Rapanos, significant nexus, relatively permanent, and Solid Waste Agency of Cook County, on the tip of every...more
On January 9, 2020, the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest (“ACLIPI”), on behalf of several individuals, filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (“Court”) a Petition for Review (“Petition”) of the United...more
Changes are on the way for ASTM’s Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (“Phase I”) standard, the almost 30-year-old lynchpin of the transactional due diligence process. The American Society for Testing and Materials (“ASTM”)...more
In prior blogs (available here and here), we’ve reported on changes to certain federal and state environmental enforcement policies related to COVID-19. In a nutshell, these policies essentially clarified the enforcement...more
On April 10, 2020, the U.S. EPA published “Interim Guidance on Site Field Work Decisions Due to Impacts of COVID-19.” Directed specifically to the Agency’s Regional Administrators, the interim guidance was issued for response...more
The pre-pandemic portion of 2020 saw continued vigorous enforcement by EPA of Clean Air Act “defeat device” provisions against the vehicle aftermarket parts industry, including manufacturers and installers, as well as the...more
On March 31, 2020, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) issued a Memorandum of Compliance and Enforcement Implementation During COVID-19. This memo of compliance is consistent with the March 26, 2020 United...more
EPA announced on March 26, 2020 a temporary enforcement policy regarding EPA enforcement of environmental legal obligations.
In general, EPA does not expect to seek penalties for violations of routine compliance monitoring,...more
OSHA has responded to the COVID-19 outbreak with a dedicated webpage that includes guidance for employers. While emphasizing that the current risk for most types of workers remains low, the guidance covers preparing...more
here is no shortage of dramatic, if not predictable, commentary in the wake of the Trump Administration’s release of its “Navigable Waters Protection Rule” (“Rule”) ranging from the indignant to the hyperbolic, and the...more