On-Demand Webinar | Recent Updates to Federal Environmental and Natural Resource Regulations
On-Demand Webinar | Linear Infrastructure Redux: Adapting Your Projects to Meet the New Regulatory Climate
On May 9, 2025, fifteen democratic states (“Plaintiff States”) sued the Trump Administration in Washington District Court, claiming that President Trump’s executive order “Declaring a National Energy Emergency” (“Executive...more
The Trump administration is moving to effectively eliminate a crucial protection in the half-century-old federal Endangered Species Act by redefining a single word: harm. A proposed rule, issued this Wednesday from the U.S....more
President Donald Trump’s second term has already proven to be an extension of his first-term deregulatory agenda at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Given historical trends, such deregulation will likely prompt...more
On November 3, 2020, the United States Fish & Wildlife Service (“Service”) published a final rule removing the gray wolf (canis lupus) from the federal list of Endangered and Threatened Species in the lower 48 United States...more
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service ("Service") recently released a pre-publication version of its final rule to reclassify the American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus) from endangered to threatened under the...more
White House directs agencies to relax enforcement - Los Angeles Times – September 9 - A memorandum produced by the White House Office of Management and Budget and sent to federal agency heads last week instructs them to...more
On August 19, 2020, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) published a proposed rule that would remove the Stephens’ kangaroo rat (Dipodomys stephensi) from the federal list of Endangered Species....more
On June 4, 2020, President Trump signed an executive order instructing his administration to use any applicable “emergency authorities” to waive requirements within certain environmental laws in order to facilitate permitting...more
Last week, Federal District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill granted a preliminary injunction to various NGOs, barring the Bureau of Land Management from implementing amendments BLM had made in 2019 to protection plans for the...more
There has been much coverage and misinformation in the public discourse regarding Interior’s recently-announced revisions of regulations to implement the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Doug Wheeler and Hilary Tompkins bring...more
More than a year after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (collectively, Services) published proposals to revise several Endangered Species Act (ESA) implementing...more
Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, David Bernhardt, recently announced that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) will publish a proposed rule removing federal protections under the Endangered...more
In recent weeks, the Trump Administration and Congress have proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) and its implementing regulations. ...more
This is the second issue of WilmerHale's 10-in-10 Infrastructure Series. In this series, our attorneys share insights on current and emerging issues affecting infrastructure project developers in the United States....more
As 2018 approaches, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“Service”) made a few announcements that will likely impact the list of threatened and endangered species. In these last 11 days of 2017, the Service announced 90-day...more
In the Fall 2017 publication of the Unified Agenda of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the Department of the Interior announced its intent to revise the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s regulations governing...more
Congressional Republicans have proposed five separate bills that, if passed, would reduce current protections for endangered and threatened species in the name of promoting business development and cost-saving. ...more
Over the last week, President Trump has made good on his promise to take immediate action to reduce and streamline regulations he sees as inhibiting domestic industry and key construction projects. Through a series of...more
Today marks just over a month since Donald Trump was elected as the next President of the United States. As each cabinet appointment is announced, we get more clues to help us predict which direction the Trump...more