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
On February 13, 2025, the Second District Court of Appeal (Div. 7) filed its 71-page published opinion affirming the trial court’s judgment rejecting CEQA safety hazard and cumulative impacts analysis challenges – as well as...more
On September 4, 2024, the New Mexico Environment Department’s Air Quality Bureau (AQB) updated its Civil Penalty Policy, making several key changes to its assessment of civil penalties and administrative compliance costs in...more
On July 16, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (“D.C. Circuit”) found that FERC failed to adequately consider a liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) project’s greenhouse gas (“GHG”)...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
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
Several federal agencies, including the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Trade Commission, Department of the Interior, and Securities and Exchange Commission, have a slew of pending environmental...more
What are the top legal and practical concerns stemming from a key California climate-change initative, its Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) rule that went into effect in October 2023? This initiative by the California Air...more
On September 16, 2023, California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against five of the world’s largest oil and gas companies for allegedly denying or downplaying the harm caused by fossil fuels 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 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced July 25 proposed updates to its Air Emissions Reporting Requirements (AERR), including a proposal to require the reporting of hazardous air pollutants, or “air toxics”...more
On April 28, California’s Air Resources Board (CARB) approved new regulations which would phase out the sales of medium and heavy-duty combustion trucks in California by 2036. The goal is to fully transition existing fleets...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
A recent US Environmental Protection Agency final rule seeks to ensure that nearly two dozen states reduce emissions from power plants and other industrial sources that contribute to challenges attaining and maintaining air...more
Key Points - The co-legislators of the EU recently reached a provisional agreement on a regulation for a CBAM. CBAM will require importers to the EU of covered carbon-intensive products to pay a charge for the carbon...more
Late last month, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in Midwest Ozone Group v. EPA, the latest challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR). The Good...more
California becomes first state to test drinking water for microplastics - San Francisco Chronicle – September 7 - On Wednesday, California became the first state to begin requiring water agencies to test for microplastics,...more
Many have characterized West Virginia v. EPA as a decision depriving EPA of an important tool to address climate change under the Clean Air Act. The decision is better viewed as steering EPA away from a flawed regulatory...more
The Draft 2022 Scoping Plan Update takes an all-of-the-above approach to decarbonize California. On May 10, 2022, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) released its Draft 2022 Scoping Plan Update for public review...more
On March 29, 2022, the Government of Canada released the first of a series of emissions reduction plans, entitled "2030 Emissions Reduction Plan – Canada's Next Steps for Clean Air and a Strong Economy" (the ERP) under the...more
Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published its Notice of Decision in the Federal Register to rescind EPA’s 2019 withdrawal of California’s waiver of preemption under Section 209 of the Clean Air Act (CAA)...more
The goal of the Clean Air Act’s visibility program is to achieve natural visibility conditions by 2064 in federal Class I areas (basically, national parks). States must show that they are making “reasonable progress” towards...more
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently issued a proposed rule under the Clean Act intended to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and air pollutants from crude oil and natural gas operations...more
Bay Area air quality regulators adopt stringent refinery particulate emissions standard - Reuters – July 21 - The governing board of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (District) on Wednesday adopted...more