On-Demand Webinar | Recent Updates to Federal Environmental and Natural Resource Regulations
On July 9, 2025, the President signed into law the Alaska Native Village Municipal Lands Restoration Act of 2025 (“ANVMLRA”). This legislation will permit Alaska Native Village Corporations to recover from the State of Alaska...more
After 150 days in office, President Trump has signed executive orders on a pace of more than one per day. An emerging priority of the administration is increasing the use of federal land for resource production. This post...more
The social cost of carbon (SCC) has a checkered regulatory history spanning nearly 40 years, but it now has been thrust back onto the federal stage, front and center. Among President Joe Biden's first acts in office was a...more
- It is apparent that former Vice President Joe Biden’s “clean energy revolution” and climate goals stand in stark contrast with the policies the Trump Administration has pursued during its first term, underscoring the...more
Based on research from law professors at Harvard and Columbia, the New York Times reported this month that the Trump administration has reversed, or is in the process of reversing, almost 100 federal environmental...more
The Trump administration proposed rules intended to speed up approval of major projects subject to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), such as pipelines, power facilities, mines, highways, and other public...more
Judge Delivers Major Setback to Trump Policy to Increase Coal Mining on Federal Land - "But the court ruling does say that the 2017 Trump administration policy, enacted by former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, to overturn...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
The US District Court for the District of Columbia has blocked the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from issuing new oil and gas drilling permits on approximately 300,000 acres of federal land in Wyoming until it adequately...more
U.S. to Give Eight Nations Oil Waivers Under Iran Sanctions, Official Says - "The U.S. has agreed to let eight countries - including Japan, India and South Korea - keep buying Iranian oil after it reimposes sanctions on the...more
Sustainable Development Focus - Judge rules in favor of Trump administration in California federal lands case - POLITICO - Nov 2 A federal judge in California last Thursday blocked a state law that sought to limit the...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 Western Governors’ Association (“WGA”) convened for its 2017 Winter Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona on December 1-2 to discuss western policy and announce its Policy Resolutions for 2018. While discussions focused on...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
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
As expected, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke on Thursday delivered his draft report to the President regarding the fate of certain national monuments, as directed by Executive Order No. 13792. Specifically, the President...more
President Donald J. Trump issued Executive Order 13807, on August 15, 2017, which is intended to accelerate the environmental review and permitting for infrastructure projects that require an environmental impact statement...more
The inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 45th President of the United States on January 20, 2017, brought with it levels of angst and concern not felt for some time within the environmental community. While some welcome the...more
On April 26, 2017, President Trump signed Executive Order 13792, Review of Designations Under the Antiquities Act (“Order”), which requires the Secretary of the Interior (“Secretary”) to review all Presidential designations...more
President Donald Trump’s recently signed Executive Order on Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth (the Order) includes significant revisions to the regulatory landscape both (1) directly in the case of oil and...more
San Francisco Ordinance Invalidated in Victory for Landlords - In Coyne v. City and County of San Francisco, No. A145044 (Cal. Ct. App. Mar. 21, 2017), the California Court of Appeal invalidated a San Francisco...more
On March 28, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order titled "Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth" that reverses or materially alters many of the actions that the federal government undertook during the...more
Yesterday the White House released its highly anticipated Energy Independence Executive Order (EO). The EO signals the White House’s fulfillment of a campaign promise—to roll back the various elements of the Climate Action...more
The Trump Administration has signaled its intent to pull the plug on two rules issued by the U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management ("BLM") in 2015 and 2016. Legal and legislative developments over the next...more
In addition to a January 20th Presidential Memorandum freezing all, not yet enacted, rules and sending them back to the agencies and Office of Management and Budget for reconsideration, and the utilization of the...more