Proof in Trial: Appellate Edition: Stand Up for California et al. v. U.S. Department of the Interior et al.
Over the past eight months, the legal framework governing environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) has undergone significant upheaval—with additional changes still on the way. Here’s what’s...more
On July 3, 2025, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“Army Corps”), and the Departments of Energy (“DOE”), Interior (“DOI”), Transportation (“DOT”),...more
In the past two weeks, six federal permitting agencies — the U.S. Departments of Interior (USDOI), Agriculture (USDA), Energy (DOE), Commerce (DoC), Defense (DoD), and Transportation (USDOT) — withdrew most of their National...more
Key Takeaways - -The Department of the Interior approved the reactivation of the Velvet-Wood uranium and vanadium mine using new emergency procedures issued pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order 14156, which declared...more
In a significant policy shift, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) policy update designed to expedite the oil and gas leasing process on public lands. Through a newly issued...more
In a significant move to accelerate domestic energy development, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) has announced emergency permitting procedures that will dramatically compress environmental review timelines. Under...more
On April 9, 2025, President Trump announced a slew of executive actions seeking to bolster the coal industry. One of the three executive orders is directly targeted at procedures to increase coal mining and production, which...more
Date Issued: Jan. 20, 2025 This executive order temporarily halts all offshore wind energy leasing within the Offshore Continental Shelf (OCS). It aims to address concerns related to marine life, ocean currents, wind...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
On President Trump’s first and second days in office, the new administration released a flurry of executive actions, in the form of both memorandums and executive orders, focused on the energy industry:...more
Among President Donald Trump’s directives issued on his first day in office was a Presidential Memorandum targeting wind energy, which has been a significant source of new electricity generation in the United States over the...more
Yesterday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) released a pre-publication version of its long-awaited update to regulations governing Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) implementation (Proposed Regulations)....more
Trump Infrastructure Proposal Impacts 'Virtually Every' Federal Decision on Environment: DOI Secretary - "Trump's announcement focused largely on road and highway impacts, but industry groups and environmentalists note the...more
In 2016, DOI Secretarial Order 3338 imposed a moratorium on new coal leases on federal land until BLM prepared a programmatic environmental impact statement intended to address, among other issues, the impact of coal leasing...more
This is the inaugural issue of WilmerHale’s 10-in-10 Hot Topics in Energy Series. Over the next 10 weeks, our attorneys will share insights on current and emerging issues affecting the US energy sector....more
On October 1st, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in a case that could have reopened an area of Arizona located north of the Grand Canyon and south of Utah, known as the...more
The Trump Administration issued a document on October 19th titled: Presidential Memorandum on Promoting the Reliable Supply and Delivery of Water in the West (“Memorandum”)...more
The Utah coal industry has benefited from recent reforms in federal coal leasing, permitting and streamlining of environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”). During the previous administration,...more
• The Trump Administration released an ambitious $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan on Feb. 12, 2018 – a plan that includes many provisions focused upon encouraging the reuse of contaminated brownfields and Superfund sites. ...more
Report on the agencies’ review of programs provides a roadmap to understanding which energy policies the Trump administration will revise. Several federal agencies have now issued reports responding to Executive Order (EO)...more
There has been a string of actions in the past few weeks addressing the federal government’s policy goal of streamlining the NEPA review process. Although a number of actions have been taken, it presently boils down to this:...more
Welcome to Spilman Thomas & Battle's weekly energy news e-blast - Currents. The purpose of this communication is to provide a synopsis of the top news stories for the week, but with a twist. We recognize that you may already...more
President Trump is spearheading a government-wide roll back of Obama Era climate initiatives. The president and his EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt, have delivered a one-two punch. They both have denied the impact of human...more
President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order on March 28, 2017, entitled “Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth” (“Order”), which is designed to prompt reconsideration, and in some cases revocation, of the...more