On-Demand Webinar | The New NEPA Regulations: A Practical Guide to What You Need to Know
Addressing Environmental Issues in Real Estate Development
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Aug. 21 ordered the federal government to refrain from sending additional detainees to the detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz” and to begin...more
David Bowie’s hit song "Space Oddity," about the fictional astronaut Major Tom, was released as a single in 1969. Environmental impact statements (EIS) for rocket launches in the US were not required at that time. Rocket...more
The Ninth Circuit held that the Forest Service’s substantial reduction of a forest thinning project between the Draft and Final EAs did not require repeating the public comment process or considering new alternatives under...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the United States Department of Agriculture did not comply with the National Environmental Policy Act in approving a predator management program for certain...more
The Trump administration came into office in 2025 promising to speed federal environmental permitting by, among other things, streamlining compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). In the whirlwind of the...more
Recent changes to the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) procedures for complying with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), geared at streamlining the environmental review process, may offer some benefits to...more
The past month brought a flurry of updates from federal agencies publishing new procedures to implement the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), following President Trump’s Executive Order 14154 (EO 14154) in January...more
The Commission recently issued a Staff Requirements Memorandum (SRM) directing NRC Staff to revise the NRC’s National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) regulations at 10 CFR Part 51 and update related NRC guidance and...more
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced on July 9, 2025, that it will no longer conduct environmental analyses under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when...more
On July 15, 2025, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) circulated an internal memorandum, requiring 68 different DOI actions related to wind and solar project development to be submitted to the DOI Office of the...more
The Department of Transportation (DOT) and several DOT agencies have announced a series of updates to requirements for the agency's implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), including updates to the...more
The budget reconciliation bill signed into law on July 4 (also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill”) adds a new provision to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that allows project sponsors/applicants to pay for...more
Last week, several news outlets reported that the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) circulated a draft template dated April 8, 2025 among federal agencies to assist in updating their procedures for...more
President Trump’s January 31, 2025, executive order (EO), Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) February 25 interim final rule removing CEQ regulations...more
The United States Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit (“9th Circuit”) addressed in a February 11th Memorandum a challenge to a United States Forest Service (“Service”) action pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act...more
Seven County Infrastructure Coalition, et al. v. Eagle County, Colorado et al. On Tuesday, December 10, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that could redefine what constitutes a “reasonably foreseeable”...more
In a surprise decision likely to add further fuel to the fires calling for permitting reform and uncertainty to the environmental review process for federal funding and approval, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of...more
In a significant ruling, the D.C. Circuit in Marin Audubon Society v. Federal Aviation Administration held that the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) lacks the statutory authority to issue binding regulations under the...more
D.C. Circuit majority opinion that CEQ regulations constitute ultra vires action should be considered dicta if the decision is allowed to stand. On November 12, 2024, the D.C. Circuit, in a split 2-1 decision in Marin...more
On November 12, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ)—the entity under the Executive Office of the President that has long overseen National...more
The two-judge majority opinion in Marin Audubon Society v. Federal Aviation Administration effectively invalidates the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ’s) longstanding regulations implementing the National...more
The White House's Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”) recently finalized its “Phase 2” rule, which revises CEQ’s National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) regulations. The rule aims to accelerate NEPA project review by...more
On May 1, 2024, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) published notice in the Federal Register of a final rule amending its regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The final...more
This is the fifth in a series of six eAlerts on the Bipartisan Permitting Reform Implementation Rule published in the Federal Register on May 1, 2024 (Final Rule) by the Council for Environmental Quality (CEQ). The Final Rule...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit (“9th Circuit”) addressed in a May 21st Opinion whether the United States Forest Service (“Service”) violated the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”). See Friends...more