As we have noted previously, a number of states have enacted legislation and/or brought claims against fossil fuel producers seeking payment for damages resulting from climate change. Legislative efforts include New York...more
5/12/2025
/ Clean Air Act ,
Climate Change ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Litigation ,
Executive Orders ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Global Warming ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Preemption ,
State and Local Government ,
Trump Administration
It is now almost 18 months since Congress enacted the Inflation Reduction Act. One of the IRA’s provisions was an adder to the ITC for renewable energy projects located in an “energy community”. One way to be in an energy...more
2/12/2024
/ Brownfield Properties ,
CERCLA ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Sector ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
IRS ,
Legislative Agendas ,
RCRA ,
Renewable Energy ,
Superfund ,
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)
In January, I noted that Ameren Missouri had surrendered in its defense of the NSR enforcement action brought by DOJ with respect to the Rush Island generating facility. Ameren Missouri submitted to the Court a proposal to...more
According to Inside EPA (subscription required), the Department of Justice (and the Sierra Club) have opposed Ameren’s Missouri’s motion to allow it to close its Rush Island generating facility early, rather than install...more
On Wednesday, EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers announced that they plan to revise the definition of “Waters of the United States”. Simultaneously, DOJ moved to remand the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, in a challenge...more
In November, Attorney General Sessions issued a memorandum prohibiting DOJ from issuing regulations disguised as guidance.
Now, DOJ has taken the prohibition a step further. It will no longer rely on guidance issued by...more
In July, EPA released the recommendations of the Superfund Task Force. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility filed a FOIA request, looking for documents related to the operation of the Task Force. This week, the...more
Last month, Attorney General Sessions barred DOJ from entering into settlements that provide for payments to non-governmental persons not a party to the dispute. At the time, I peered into my crystal ball and proclaimed that...more
Earlier this week, Attorney General Sessions issued a brief memorandum barring DOJ from entering into any civil or criminal settlement that would provide for a payment by a defendant to any non-governmental person that is not...more
On February 9, 2016, the Supreme Court stayed EPA’s Clean Power Plan rule. No matter how much EPA and DOJ proclaim that this says nothing about the ultimate results on the merits, the CPP is on very shaky ground at this...more
I finally caught up with the brief filed by the government last week, opposing the motion to stay the EPA Clean Power Plan rule, pending full judicial review. I just don’t see the stay being granted (of course, I did not see...more
On Wednesday, in Alabama Environmental Council v. EPA, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected EPA’s 2011 disapproval of Alabama’s opacity regulation. The case involves relatively obscure provisions of the Clean Air Act,...more