#WorkforceWednesday: EEOC Withdraws, DOL Rolls Back, and OSHA Expands - Employment Law This Week®
#WorkforceWednesday: OSHA’s Updated COVID-19 Guidance, CDC’s New Mask Guidance, Biden Administration Rollbacks - Employment Law This Week®
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) took formal steps this week to rescind a decades-old rule that protects 58.5 million acres of wild areas in national forests, including 4.4 million acres in California. The agency...more
With unified control of Congress and the White House, Republicans are primed to use the CRA to swiftly overturn regulations promulgated in the final months of the Biden Administration. The Congressional Review Act (CRA)...more
A return to the presidency by Donald Trump has raised questions about the future of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the broader landscape of environmental policy in the United States. Given Trump’s past...more
Anyone with even a passing interest in environmental law has seen numerous articles over the past four years noting the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back this or that environmental regulation. ACOEL’s blog contains...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
U.S. Shale Producers Race for Federal Permits Ahead of Presidential Election - "Federal permitting in the largest U.S. oilfield in the Permian Basin, located in Texas and New Mexico, is up 80 percent in about the last three...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
In the wake of China’s new national security law for Hong Kong that went into effect on June 30, 2020, the Trump administration has taken several steps to significantly pare back Hong Kong’s preferential status under U.S....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
EPA and the NHTSA have finally released Part 2 of the Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicle Rule. Most readers will know that Part 1 of the SAFE rule revoked California’s waiver authorizing it to impose more...more
Benjamin Franklin wrote that “an investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” Just over 200 years later, the United States passed a law that put that sentiment into practice in the context of federal government...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
On October 21, 2019, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) amended the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) imposing new sanctions on Cuba for human rights abuses and for its support of...more
Because the Nissan leadership scandal is about as well-contained as Chernobyl in the early days [thanks, HBO], French automaker Renault has voted this morning to remove Chief Executive Thierry Bolloré amid concerns over the...more
Yesterday President Trump announced on Twitter that the U.S. was revoking California’s waiver under the Clean Air Act (CAA) which allowed it to impose stricter tailpipe emission standards than the federal ones. California’s...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
The Trump Administration announced a long-awaited proposal to roll back the Obama-era Clean Power Plan late last month. (Chicago Tribune). The action had been promised by the President and his appointees at EPA, who pursued...more
In order to solicit input on a proposed regulatory change, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has issued a supplemental notice seeking comment for the revised “waters of the United States” rule (also known as the...more
In an Internal Memo, the White House Considered Whether to Simply 'Ignore' Federal Climate Research - "The document, drafted September 18 by Michael Catanzaro, President Trump's special assistant for domestic energy and...more
Ever since the financial crisis nearly ten years ago, the passage of Dodd Frank has meant more regulatory scrutiny for banks across the nation. Last week, Congress passed the “Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) said it’s not going to pursue enforcement actions against investment advice fiduciaries “who are working diligently and in good faith to comply” with requirements of the fiduciary rule that was...more
Oil Soars After Trump Nixes Iran Nuclear Deal, Stocks Rally - "Crude oil prices rose more than 3 percent on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from a nuclear accord with Iran, a move that...more
Back in February, the White House released its proposed budget for 2018. Among other things, the President’s budget sought to cut EPA’s budget by $2.5 billion, or over 23 percent. Targets of the proposed cuts included:...more
The rise of the #MeToo movement is raising the question of whether sensitivity to sexual harassment of university employees will result in new policies and procedures similar to increased protections students received over...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