Companies following the ongoing legal challenge to California’s climate disclosure laws in hopes that the court would strike down or limit the scope of these laws will be disappointed by the order issued by the U.S. District...more
2/10/2025
/ California ,
CARB ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Climate Change ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dormant Commerce Clause ,
Environmental Policies ,
First Amendment ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Supremacy Clause
The regulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), or “forever chemicals,” was a focal point for the Biden administration. In April 2024, the administration, through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),...more
2/4/2025
/ Biden Administration ,
CERCLA ,
Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
PFAS ,
Proposed Rules ,
RCRA ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Toxic Chemicals ,
Trump Administration
On December 16, 2024, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) requested public feedback to “help inform its work to implement” the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253) and the Climate-Related Financial Risk...more
On December 5, 2024, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) issued an Enforcement Notice regarding the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253), which will require companies “doing business” in California to...more
What Happened -
On Monday, October 14, 2024, the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecyle) opened a public comment period on changes to the previously proposed regulations implementing the...more
10/16/2024
/ California ,
Comment Period ,
Environmental Policies ,
Plastics ,
Pollution Control ,
Product Packaging ,
Public Comment ,
Recycling ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Waste Management
The march toward mandated corporate disclosures for climate-related risks continues. Despite significant pushback and substantial legal challenges, state legislatures and regulators are continuing to advance laws and rules...more
10/15/2024
/ California ,
CARB ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
New Legislation ,
Pollution Control ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued its long-awaited climate reporting requirements, making it mandatory for the largest publicly traded companies in the U.S. to annually disclose both greenhouse gas...more
Claims of ‘greenwashing’ – allegations that companies overstate the environmental benefits of renewable energy and other projects – continue to rise. Troutman Pepper’s Andrea Wortzel, Melissa Horne, and Vaughn Morrison...more
Exercising one of its most important and far-reaching powers under the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has lowered the primary annual National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for fine particulate...more
In the absence of comprehensive federal action, states and regulators are enacting legislation and issuing guidance requiring climate-related disclosures, stepping in to fill the void left by the U.S. Securities Exchange...more
1/30/2024
/ Climate Change ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
NYDFS ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
For anyone involved in the first round of the Clean Air Act regional haze program, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) action on the first business day of 2024 came as no surprise: EPA proposed to disapprove the...more
PM NAAQS: Already behind schedule is perhaps the mostly widely impactful rule change EPA has proposed in many years: a lowering of the national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5). EPA has...more
1/9/2024
/ Air Pollution ,
Chevron Deference ,
Clean Energy ,
Clean Power Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Final Rules ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
MATS ,
Methane ,
NAAQS ,
Ozone
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed two landmark bills into law on October 7, imposing stringent new requirements on large companies doing business in California to publicly report their annual greenhouse gas (GHG)...more
10/18/2023
/ California ,
CARB ,
Climate Change ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
New Legislation ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On October 7, 2023, California Governor Newsom signed two landmark bills into law, Senate Bill (SB) 253 and SB-261, imposing new requirements on large companies doing business in California to publicly report their annual...more
EPA’s long-promised rules for reducing CO2 emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants have now been published. In the proposal, EPA lays out “performance standards” for new natural gas-fired power plants and “emission...more
5/23/2023
/ Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) Rule ,
Carbon Capture and Sequestration ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Power Plan ,
Coal-Fired Generation ,
Comment Period ,
Energy Reform ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Infrastructure ,
Oil & Gas ,
Power Plants
Need a refresher on key developments in 2022 to prepare you for what’s next in 2023? Here’s a rundown of some high-profile happenings, along with some you might have missed....more
Much ado is being made of recent amendments to the Clean Air Act (CAA) contained in the Biden administration’s budget reconciliation law passed in mid-August, commonly referred to as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). And...more
In the world of air quality and climate change, summer 2022 began with a bang, as the Supreme Court finally spoke on the merits of EPA’s efforts to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants under Section 111 of the...more
EPA’s standards for hazardous air pollutant (HAP) emissions from industrial boilers have been controversial for nearly two decades. Ever since EPA first proposed “maximum achievable control technology” (MACT) standards for...more
On June 28, a coalition of 11 environmental groups petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Administrative Procedure Act and the Clean Air Act to address the alleged failure of Texas Commission for...more
On the last day of what was already an historic term, the Supreme Court issued another significant decision impacting EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change. As...more
With spring finally arriving, the long-expected avalanche of EPA activity on air issues has also arrived. In this second year of the Biden administration, following the pattern of prior administrations, we are starting to see...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) published proposed rules on March 21 that, for the first time, would codify the Commission’s expectations regarding what kinds of climate-related disclosures public...more
In a proposed rule signed on February 28, but not yet published in the Federal Register, EPA proposed to significantly expand its current approach to regulating the interstate transport of ozone. Under the so-called “good...more
To help reboot after the holiday break, here is a list of air topics we expect to make news in 2022 with a short discussion of why each one may be important to you....more