The Legal and Practical Challenges of California's Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation
Nota Bene Episode 101: Catching up with Global Climate Regulation with Nico van Aelstyn
[WEBINAR] Update on the California Environmental Quality Act: What’s New for 2018
The EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation (“OAR”), responsible for most of the EPA’s major air regulatory and policy efforts, will be restructured in the months to come. This shakeup comes on the heels of the EPA’s announcement...more
The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) circulated a draft template, dated April 8, 2025, to assist federal agencies in updating their procedures for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)....more
Effective May 2024, EPA tightened the annual health-based National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from 12.0 µg/m3 to 9.0 µg/m3. This change was made after a review of the available...more
Port Arthur Community Action Network (PACAN) v. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality et al. (Tex. Feb. 14, 2025) presented the Texas Supreme Court with a unique opportunity to provide defined guideposts to understand...more
The National Association of Clean Air Agencies (“NACAA”) transmitted a December 18, 2024, letter to Lee Zeldin. Mr. Zeldin is President Trump’s nominee for Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection...more
The Commonwealth of Kentucky, Energy and Environment Cabinet and Louisville Metro Air and Pollution Control District (collectively, “Kentucky”) filed a Complaint in the United States District Court for the Western District of...more
Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) is a very reactive, brown-hued gas commonly produced when fuels are burned at high temperature by motor vehicles, chemical plants, etc. Industries will often intentionally oxidize NOx to produce lacquers,...more
The week of June 23, 2024, in Ohio v. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Supreme Court clarified in a 5-4 decision that if a federal agency fails to provide a reasoned response to comments raised during the rulemaking...more
The Clean Air Act (“CAA”) envisions states and the federal government working together to improve air quality. Under the CAA, states must develop State Implementation Plans (“SIPs”) to implement National Ambient Air Quality...more
The Biden-Harris Administration recently issued a suite of new rules aimed at addressing water and air quality, reducing methane emissions, protecting environmental justice communities, and accelerating the nation’s...more
On Tuesday, in Ohio v. EPA, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied several challenges to EPA’s decision to restore California’s authority under § 209(b) of the Clean Air Act to regulate emissions from motor vehicles. It’s...more
On March 6, 2024, EPA published its final rule lowering the primary annual National Ambient Air Quality Standards (“NAAQS”) for fine particulate matter (“PM2.5”) to 9.0 micrograms per cubic meter (“µg/m3”). The new, more...more
On March 6, 2024, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published in the Federal Register its long-awaited reconsideration of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for particulate matter (PM). In...more
Exercising one of its most important and far-reaching powers under the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has lowered the primary annual National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for fine particulate...more
On February 7, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its Final Rule lowering the primary annual National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) from the current level...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced today a final rule which will tighten the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (“NAAQS”) for fine particulate matter. EPA previously: - Stated on June 10,...more
On February 7, 2024, EPA finalized a rule lowering the primary annual National Ambient Air Quality Standard for PM2.5 to 9.00 ug/m3. This is a significant reduction from the current 12.00 ug/m3 standard and a victory for...more
On August 4, 2023, the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (U.S. EPA) “Good Neighbor Plan (GNP)” went into effect, requiring power plants and certain industrial facilities to implement emissions reductions through...more
For anyone involved in the first round of the Clean Air Act regional haze program, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) action on the first business day of 2024 came as no surprise: EPA proposed to disapprove the...more
An article in Science published last week indicates that the mortality risk from exposure to PM2.5 from coal-fired electric generating units is roughly twice as high as the risk posed by PM2.5 from other sources. According...more
The first three quarters of 2023 have seen an unprecedented number of rulemakings under the Clean Air Act. The Biden administration has released a new suite of proposed rulemakings with a particular focus on climate change...more
After Held v. Montana was decided, and I read Peter Vetere’s blog post, I’ve been thinking about the Massachusetts Constitution. Would Massachusetts’ youth have similar success arguing for a guaranteed safe, clean...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced it is initiating a new review of the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (“NAAQS”). EPA states it is taking this action based on advice provided...more
Last week, the EPA Clean Air Science Advisory Committee provided EPA its review of EPA’s Policy Assessment for the Reconsideration of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone. As expected, CASAC has disagreed with...more
California has been pushing hard recently to lose its status as the second-largest contributor of the nation’s greenhouse gases (still comfortably behind Texas.) ...more