West Virginia vs. EPA Part II: U.S. Supreme Court Applies the Major Questions Doctrine to limit EPA Regulatory Authority
West Virginia vs. EPA: An Environmental Regulations Case with Broad Implications for Agency Power
Jones Day Talks: Developments in Germany's Wind Power Regulations
On June 11, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") announced a proposed rule to repeal key amendments to the 2024 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards ("MATS") for coal- and oil-fired electric utility steam...more
Welcome to our fifth issue of Currents 2025. We are covering a multitude of issues in this edition, but we want to pass along an announcement and an event notice first. Again, thank you for reading! Tapping Into Common...more
Trump Administration Approves Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for Land Leasing, Oil Drilling - "The Trump administration continues to roll back environmental protections and opening doors for the fossil fuel industry in...more
Analysts Say U.S. Coal Merger Not Anti-Competitive- "The proposed 'extraordinary' joint venture between U.S. coal majors Peabody Energy and Arch Coal will be structurally beneficial, rather than anti-competitive for U.S....more
Trump to Sign Order Seeking to Clear Gas Pipeline Hurdles - "The administration, which is pushing a policy it calls energy dominance, has been considering an order that would push back against states, including New York,...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
How DC Unleashed Fossil-Fuel Exports Despite Climate Worries - "Since Donald Trump took office in 2017, exports of LNG and crude oil have surged, rivaling the likes of Saudi Arabia and Russia." Why this is important: The...more
Outlined in an Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") proposal published on August 31, 2018, the Affordable Clean Energy ("ACE") rule would replace the Obama Administration's Clean Power Plan ("CPP"). A 60-day public comment...more
As Storm Looms, 4th Circuit Reverses Ruling Against Dominion on Coal Ash Pollution at Chesapeake Site - "Water pollution from a coal ash landfill and settling ponds at a closed power plant in Chesapeake is not a violation of...more
U.S. Army Corps Stands by Permit for Dakota Access Oil Pipeline - "The U.S. Army Corps said that a permit it granted for the Dakota Access Pipeline last year was environmentally sound, handing a setback to tribal and green...more
Earlier this week, on August 21, President Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) proposed a rule pursuant to Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act (“CAA”) intended to replace the embattled Clean Power Plan (“CPP”)...more
Activists Have a New Strategy to Block Gas Pipelines: State's Rights - "It already has worked in New York where construction on the Constitution Pipeline has stalled. Now activists are trying the strategy in Oregon." ...more
Federal Agency Halts All Work on Atlantic Coast Pipeline After Judges Revoke Permits - "The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission sent a letter to Dominion Energy, the company leading construction of the 600-mile pipeline,...more
EPA Chief Looks to Distinguish Himself from Pruitt in Agency-Wide Memo - "The new head of the EPA sent a staff-wide memo laying out steps the agency is taking to increase transparency, a move that's seen as an effort to...more
U.S. Agencies Agree to Slash Approval Times for Infrastructure Projects - "More than a dozen federal agencies agreed to slash the time needed for environmental reviews and permitting on major infrastructure projects, a...more
Trump Official Tells Coal Group He's 'an Advocate for the Coal Industry' "'The good news is I'm with the federal government and I'm here to help,' Doug Matheney, a special adviser in the Energy Department's Office of...more
As expected, the Trump administration has been actively engaged in efforts to reverse the federal government’s regulatory direction with respect to climate change. In 2017, President Donald Trump announced plans to withdraw...more
PG&E goes for 165MW of energy storage towards 2024 mandate - Energy Storage News - Dec 6 Investor-owned utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) has furthered its commitment towards the state’s mandated target for energy...more
WV DEP Waives Clean Water Act Authority Over Atlantic Coast Pipeline - "The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection waived the state's authority under the federal Clean Water Act to determine if another major...more
President Trump’s decision earlier this month to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement—an international, nonbinding agreement to take steps to limit global temperature rise—followed a series of moves at the...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
The CPV St. Charles Energy Center, a new 725 MW combined-cycle gas power plant in Maryland, went online earlier this month. The U.S. Supreme Court analyzed federal preemption with respect to state regulation of power...more
GOP Presidential Candidate Donald Trump made several sweeping promises while on the campaign trail vowing to reopen shuttered mines and bring coal back to its dominance of a decade ago. These promises, however, are dated as...more