Proof in Trial: Appellate Edition: Stand Up for California et al. v. U.S. Department of the Interior et al.
In its first nine months, the Trump administration has taken multiple actions impacting offshore wind development and generating substantial uncertainty as to the industry’s future in the United States. Those actions have...more
On July 23, 2025, just hours after releasing the AI Action Plan, President Donald Trump signed three executive orders aimed at accelerating data center construction, expanding the global reach of U.S. AI technology and...more
The frenetic pace of anti-renewable actions from the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) has continued into this week with the issuance of a new memorandum from Greg Wischer, deputy chief of staff for policy, directing the...more
There have been more changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) and its implementing regulations in the past nine months than perhaps at any point since NEPA was signed into law by President Nixon on January 1,...more
1 See National Environmental Policy Act Implementing Regulations, 90 Fed. Reg. 29498, 29498 (July 3, 2025) (codified 43 C.F.R. Part 46); Procedures for Implementing NEPA; Processing of Department of the Army Permits, 90 Fed....more
During the week of July 28, the Trump administration unleashed a new burst of actions aimed squarely at blocking wind and solar energy with the announcement of two new secretarial orders (SO) and three new policies by the...more
On July 15, 2025, the Office of the Secretary of the Department of the Interior (the “Department”) issued a memorandum—“Departmental Review Procedures for Decisions, Actions, Consultations, and Other Undertakings Related to...more
Ensure appropriations to the Smithsonian Institution prohibit expenditures on exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with...more
A group of 23 Republican AGs wrote a letter to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) supporting increased use of coal to meet growing energy needs. ...more
After little more than a week in office, there is still plenty of speculation, but priorities of the Trump 2.0 Administration are becoming more concrete. Issuance of three energy-focused Executive Orders (Unleashing American...more
President Donald Trump on Monday issued a memorandum directing the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of the Interior to develop a new plan within 90 days “to route more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to...more
The permitting process has been identified by numerous commentators as a major cause of delays in the development of energy, infrastructure, and mining projects in the United States. ...more
This article is part of Womble Bond Dickinson’s Energy & Natural Resources thought leadership series titled Striking the Balance: Permitting Reforms for Mining and the Energy Transition. In this series, we’ll explore the...more
The Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (otherwise known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, or BIL), which was signed into law by President Joe Biden on November 15, 2021, has made historic investments in America’s...more
The Department of the Interior has announced that it is settingaside funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act to assist Indian Tribes in building climate resilience. A total of $466 million, which includes funding for...more
The United States Department of Interior (“DOI”) released on April 12th guidance (“Guidance”) to the states for application of the first $775 million in initial grant funding for plugging orphaned oil and gas wells. The...more
On November 12, 2021, in furtherance of the Biden administration’s goal of deploying 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind energy by 2030, the US Department of the Interior announced its designation of the Morro Bay Wind Energy...more
On November 15th, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (“the Law”) into law. The historic infrastructure plan includes the single largest investment to address climate change in U.S. history. The...more
We interrupt our usual scrutiny of the courts to focus (mostly) on the important developments in notices and rulemaking issued by and concerning federal regulatory agencies and departments in the past several weeks....more
On June 11, 2021, the US Department of the Interior’s (DOI’s) Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued a proposed sale notice to sell commercial wind energy leases on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in the New York...more
On June 8, 2021, the Department of the Interior (DOI) announced that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) intends to issue a request for information (RFI) to assess interest in potential offshore wind development in...more
The Biden-Harris administration has set its sights on an ambitious environmental policy agenda, focusing on climate change and environmental justice as key initiatives, and intends to implement its agenda through an “all of...more
The secretary of the interior issued two Secretarial Orders on April 16, 2021, that provide early indications of the Biden administration’s approach to the environmental review process for infrastructure projects under the...more
President Donald Trump signed into law on Dec. 27 H.R. 133, an end-of-year legislative package that paired the long-awaited Energy Act of 2020, reauthorizing a number of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) programs, with a...more
Through the last several Administrations (Democrat and Republican) the mantra has been “we support an all-of-the-above strategy” to meet U.S. energy needs. Expect that to change. The Biden Administration’s focus will shift to...more