A series of recent actions undertaken by President Biden, near the end of his term, and President Trump, in the early days of his presidency, have called into question a key issue under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act...more
3/27/2025
/ Appeals ,
Biden Administration ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Department of the Interior ,
Energy Policy ,
Executive Orders ,
Offshore Drilling ,
Oil & Gas ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration
On February 19, 2025, the Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”) released a pre-publication version of an interim final rule (the “Interim Rule”) to rescind all of CEQ’s previous and current regulations implementing the...more
2/24/2025
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Policies ,
Executive Orders ,
Final Rules ,
NEPA ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration
In his first two days in office, newly inaugurated President Donald J. Trump signed a flurry of Executive Orders, including several aimed at supporting the traditional energy industry. The Unleashing American Energy Executive...more
2/17/2025
/ CEQ ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Impact Statements ,
Environmental Policies ,
Executive Orders ,
Government Agencies ,
NEPA ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration
After little more than a week in office, there is still plenty of speculation, but priorities of the Trump 2.0 Administration are becoming more concrete. Issuance of three energy-focused Executive Orders (Unleashing American...more
1/30/2025
/ Affirmative Action ,
Alaska ,
Climate Change ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Department of the Interior ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Policies ,
Executive Orders ,
FERC ,
Infrastructure ,
NEPA ,
OMB ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Trump Administration
The incoming Trump Administration is expected to prioritize the rollback of Biden-era endangered species regulations, aiming to reduce the regulatory burden on land-intensive businesses and enhance energy independence. This...more
1/10/2025
/ Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Policies ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Trump Administration ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service ,
Wildlife Protection
On December 17, 2024, the Office of Fossil and Carbon Management of the Department of Energy (“DOE”) released the long-awaited Liquefied Natural Gas (“LNG”) Export Study (“Study”). The Study was released 11 months after the...more
1/8/2025
/ Carbon Capture and Sequestration ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Clean Energy ,
Climate Change ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Policies ,
Exports ,
Free Trade Agreements ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
Liquid Natural Gas ,
Natural Gas ,
Public Comment
In 2020, President-elect Donald Trump promised to ensure that “America’s most critical infrastructure projects” would not be “tied up and bogged down by an outrageously slow and burdensome federal approval process.” Much of...more
12/19/2024
/ Audubon Society ,
Biden Administration ,
CEQ ,
Department of Environmental Quality ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Government Agencies ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
National Environmental Policies ,
NEPA ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Rescission ,
Trump Administration
On May 20, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) issued a final rule listing the dunes sagebrush lizard (“DSL”) as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”).1 The change in the DSL listing status, which...more
On May 1, 2024, the Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”) published the final version of Phase 2 of its National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) rulemaking (“Phase 2 Rule”). The Phase 2 Rule is the culmination of the...more
The United States electric grid is becoming increasingly stressed as the nation navigates the energy transition and demand for electricity rises. On May 1, 2024, recognizing the stress on the grid and the need for additional...more
On February 12, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) released its final rule revising its permit regulations for “take” under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (BGEPA), an overhaul that has been several...more
On November 16, 2023, the Department of Energy (“DOE”) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (“NOPR”) that would amend DOE’s regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) to add a categorical...more
On August 29, 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) released the text of a rule further revising the definition of “waters of the United States” (“WOTUS”) that the...more
9/7/2023
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Construction Project ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Inland Waterways ,
Land Developers ,
Rapanos v US ,
Sackett v EPA ,
SCOTUS ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waters of the United States ,
Wetlands
In a concerted effort to meet the Biden administration’s aggressive carbon-reduction goals, the Department of Energy (“DOE”) unveiled a pre-publication copy of a forthcoming proposed rule on August 10, 2023, aimed at...more
8/17/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Carbon Capture and Sequestration ,
Carbon Emissions ,
CEQ ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Impact Statements ,
Federal Power Act ,
FERC ,
NEPA ,
Renewable Energy
Federal agencies are required to conduct assessments under the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) before taking “major federal actions,” such as granting permits needed for infrastructure projects and for certain...more
On June 3, 2023, President Biden signed into law the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (“the Act”), which includes modest changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”), among other things. The Act amends NEPA in...more
On May 25, 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its decision in Sackett v. EPA, clarifying and narrowing the reach of federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act (“CWA”). For decades, confusion has persisted...more
5/30/2023
/ Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Federal Jurisdiction ,
Inland Waterways ,
Navigable Waters ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Sackett ,
Sackett v EPA ,
SCOTUS ,
Significant Nexus Test ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waters of the United States ,
Wetlands
Environmental Justice (“EJ”) continued to prove a major focus of the Biden administration in 2022. With wide-ranging initiatives across several federal agencies, the administration worked to strengthen enforcement, release...more
2/2/2023
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Clean Air Act ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Environmental Quality ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Executive Orders ,
FERC ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
Natural Gas Act ,
Title VI
In a move that could have far-ranging implications for projects that require federal permits and rulemaking across the entire federal government, the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”) published interim...more
The Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“Army Corps”) delivered on their commitment to issue a new rule defining “waters of the United States” (“WOTUS”) by the end of 2022, releasing a...more
1/11/2023
/ Clean Water Act ,
Construction Project ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Federal Jurisdiction ,
Federal Register ,
Joe Biden ,
New Rules ,
Preemptive Challenges ,
Rapanos v US ,
Sackett ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waters of the United States ,
Wetlands
Since 2021, the Administration has released several mapping tools addressing environmental and health impacts on environmental justice (“EJ”) communities....more
The Inflation Reduction Act spending bill, reflecting compromise between Senator Joe Manchin and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, contains several measures to bolster offshore wind and other renewable energy development in the...more
In this presentation, panelists will discuss recent developments in the U.S. offshore wind industry including recent progress and projects in the pipeline, challenges to development of U.S. offshore wind projects, key...more
7/13/2022
/ Clean Energy ,
Continuing Legal Education ,
Energy Projects ,
Energy Sector ,
Financing ,
Offshore Wind ,
Permits ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Renewable Energy ,
Tax Credits ,
Webinars ,
Wind Power
Offshore wind developers have poured billions of dollars into securing leases in state and federal waters in recent months, with many more billions to be spent developing wind assets to support ambitious state and federal...more
On March 28, 2022, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) published notice (“Notice”) that it is undertaking a formal review of Nationwide Permit (“NWP”) 12, one of over 50 general permits available nationwide that allow...more