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
How Southern California Wildfires Impact Air Quality, Smoke Damage, and Insurance Coverage - The Southern California wildfires in January 2025 are expected to be one of the costliest natural disasters in United States (US)...more
Federal - In the first few months of the second Trump presidency, the Administration took steps to roll back environmental justice (EJ) considerations in federal decision making. This included a flurry of executive orders...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
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
A return to the presidency by Donald Trump has raised questions about the future of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the broader landscape of environmental policy in the United States. Given Trump’s past...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
Three years after a massive spill at a Los Angeles wastewater facility sent millions of gallons of sewage into Santa Monica Bay, the city has agreed to spend more than $20 million on improvements to remedy the environmental...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
Welcome to the latest edition of our monthly ESG Insights providing you with a summary of the key developments from around the world. Global - IFRS Foundation releases jurisdictional adoption guide for ISSB Standards- On...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
Less than a month after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published environmental operational standards and greenhouse gas emission regulations for owners and operators of heavy-duty vehicles, including major freight...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
Environmental regulations, including those under the California Air Resources Board’s (“CARB”) jurisdiction, present a complex compliance challenge for vehicle fleet managers and operations departments across the country....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
In March 2023, the EPA issued its final Good Neighbor Plan, the last in a series of legislations designed to reduce emissions of ozone-forming nitrogen oxide (NO2) which cross state borders. Specifically, the Plan was...more
I. Background. On February 7, 2024, EPA issued a final rule lowering the annual health-based air quality standard for fine particulates (pm 2.5) to 9 ug/m3 from 12 ug/m3. The Rule will impact industries and many...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