As in prior years, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 contains a variety of provisions setting U.S. Department of Defense priorities for energy, environmental, and natural resource issues. These...more
11/30/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Climate Change ,
Conservation ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Policies ,
Natural Resources ,
NDAA ,
New Legislation ,
Public Policy ,
Sustainability ,
Wildlife Protection
In an extended Earth Day event, President Biden hosted the virtual Leaders Summit on Climate (“Summit”) on April 22 and 23, seeking to unite nations around the world in the goal of reducing global greenhouse gas (“GHG”)...more
4/28/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Brazil ,
Canada ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Clean Air Act ,
Climate Change ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
FSOC ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Infrastructure ,
Japan ,
Proposed Legislation ,
U.S. Treasury ,
UK
On March 31, 2021, the Biden Administration released in broad brushstrokes its plan to address the country’s infrastructure. The “American Jobs Plan” calls for a grand total of more than $2 trillion in federal investment...more
As part of his comprehensive climate change agenda, President Biden convened a task force to assess the social cost of greenhouse gases. At the end of February, the task force published an interim report estimating the “cost”...more
3/24/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Carbon Taxes ,
Climate Change ,
Cost-Benefit Analysis ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Obama Administration ,
Public Health ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Trump Administration
Upon taking office, President Joe Biden convened a task force to assess the social cost of greenhouse gases, as part of his comprehensive climate change agenda. At the end of February, the task force published an interim...more
On March 4, 2021, the US Supreme Court held that draft biological opinions prepared by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) were subject to the deliberative process privilege...more
3/15/2021
/ Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
FOIA ,
National Marine Fisheries Service ,
Privileged Communication ,
Privileged Documents ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Agencies ,
Public Records ,
SCOTUS ,
Sierra Club ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service v Sierra Club
The Biden Administration is seeking to advance “environmental justice” (EJ) through its policy and regulatory priorities in a way that no administration has before. Environmental justice - which seeks to address...more
2/4/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Black Lives Matter ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Agency Taskforce ,
Low-Income Issues ,
Minorities ,
National Environmental Policies ,
Native American Issues ,
Popular ,
Public Health
Fulfilling one of his central campaign promises, President Biden signed a wide-ranging Executive Order last week addressing climate change through energy, infrastructure, national security, foreign affairs, and social justice...more
2/2/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Clean Air Act ,
Climate Change ,
Domestic Policy ,
Environmental Policies ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Agency Taskforce ,
Foreign Policy ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Infrastructure ,
Paris Agreement ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Renewable Energy
On his first day in office, President Joe Biden issued an Executive Order titled “Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis.” The Executive Order directs the Environment...more
1/22/2021
/ Administrative Review ,
Biden Administration ,
Bureau of Land Management ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Clean Power Plan ,
Clean Water Act ,
Climate Change ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Environmental Policies ,
Executive Orders ,
Methane ,
National Environmental Policies ,
NEPA ,
Obama Administration ,
Oil & Gas ,
Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) Policy ,
Trump Administration ,
Waters of the United States
On December 27, President Donald Trump signed a $1.4 trillion appropriations package funding the government through September 2021 and a $900 billion fiscal stimulus law for coronavirus aid. Media attention has focused on the...more
12/31/2020
/ Biden Administration ,
Carbon Capture and Sequestration ,
CARES Act ,
Climate Change ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Energy Sector ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
HFC Emissions ,
Investment Tax Credits ,
Popular ,
Production Tax Credit ,
Renewable Energy ,
Renewable Energy Incentives ,
Solar Energy ,
Wind Power ,
Zero-Emission Vehicles
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently published draft guidance on how to apply the “functional equivalent” test created by the Supreme Court in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, 140 S. Ct. 1462 (2020). The...more
12/17/2020
/ Clean Water Act ,
Direct Discharge ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Draft Guidance ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Functional Equivalent ,
Groundwater ,
Hawaii Wildlife Fund v County of Maui ,
Navigable Waters ,
Point Sources ,
SCOTUS
As in prior years, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 contains a variety of provisions setting U.S. Department of Defense priorities for energy, environmental, and natural resource issues. These...more
As the 2020 presidential campaign made clear, President-elect Biden plans to usher in a sharp shift in policy priorities across the federal government. We anticipate significant changes in the management of federal public...more
11/16/2020
/ Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ,
Biden Administration ,
Bureau of Land Management ,
Climate Change ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Conservation ,
Department of the Interior ,
National Monuments ,
NEPA ,
Net Zero ,
Oil & Gas ,
Outer Continental Shelf ,
Public Land ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Repeal
Now that the results of a tumultuous presidential election appear clear, attention shifts to what to expect during President-elect Joe Biden’s first term. It is fair to say that a Biden White House will sharply contrast with...more
11/10/2020
/ Biden Administration ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Power Plan ,
Clean Water Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
SAFE ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waters of the United States
On October 13, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) entitled “Modernizing America’s Water Resource Management and Water Infrastructure.” The EO’s broad goal is to improve federal management of water resources and...more
On July 15, the Trump Administration issued a long-anticipated overhaul of the regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) - the first substantive amendment to the regulations since the 1970s. The...more
On June 1, 2020, the US Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced a final rule narrowing the ability of states and Indian tribes to formally object to federally permitted projects based on state water quality...more
On April 23, 2020, the Supreme Court ruled in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund that a federal permit is required under the Clean Water Act (CWA) when a discharge to groundwater is the “functional equivalent” of a...more
4/28/2020
/ Appeals ,
Clean Water Act ,
Direct Discharge ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Environmental Violations ,
Functional Equivalent ,
Groundwater ,
Hawaii Wildlife Fund v County of Maui ,
Navigable Waters ,
NPDES ,
Permits ,
Point Sources ,
Remand ,
SCOTUS ,
Vacated ,
Waters of the United States
On March 31, 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Transportation, acting through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), finalized a rulemaking that the agencies described...more
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a number of rapid-fire legislative, executive, and regulatory responses in the U.S. States, counties, and cities have issued shelter-in-place and other emergency orders, causing certain...more
On January 23, 2020, the Trump Administration issued a final rule revising the definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) under the federal Clean Water Act (CWA). The Navigable Waters Protection Rule narrows the...more
2/27/2020
/ Clean Water Act ,
Clean Water Rule ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Federal Jurisdiction ,
Final Rules ,
Navigable Waters ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Trump Administration ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waters of the United States
The Trump Administration recently proposed amendments to the regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) - the most significant of which are likely to face legal challenge. The proposed regulations...more
On January 17, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held in Juliana v. United States that a coalition of young people lacked standing to require the federal government to develop a plan to “phase...more
1/23/2020
/ Article III ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Citizen Suits ,
Climate Change ,
Coal Industry ,
Due Process ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Policies ,
Equal Protection ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Oil & Gas ,
Petition For Rehearing ,
Standing ,
Subsidies
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) Environment and Natural Resources Division has announced a major overhaul in the use of Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) - a key penalty mitigation approach commonly used in...more
The UK has become the first G7 country to legally oblige its Government to eliminate all greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions.
On 26 June 2019, the UK Parliament passed The Climate Change Act 2008 (2050 Target Amendment) Order...more