Podcast: ERISA Plan Sponsors, ESG and the April 2019 Executive Order on Promoting Energy Infrastructure
Episode 24: EEOC Commissioner Chai Feldblum Part I: Employers' "Superstar Harassment" Problem
The main agreements reached by the international community at COP28 (Dubai, 2023) included decisions to phase out the use of hydrocarbons, committing countries to: a) transition away from fossil fuels to achieve net-zero...more
On November 21, 2024, FERC voted to approve Order No. 1920-A, an order on rehearing and clarification that modifies Order No. 1920, the May 2024 landmark regional transmission planning and cost allocation rule. In this post,...more
According to a story in Inside EPA (subscription required) last week, EPA’s promulgation on October 8, 2024, of its “2024 Lead and Copper Rule Improvements” has already led to disputes among stakeholders regarding what should...more
On December 20, 2023, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) released a pre-proposal outline of New York State’s...more
On the ninth day of CRM Chris “Kringle” Fritsch performed for me, a cost-benefit analysis of investing in our CRM capabilities! Many firms struggle with being industry-focused and segmenting their audiences effectively....more
The National Resource Defense Council (“NRDC”) published an October 2023 report titled: Getting the Lead Out – Removing Lead Pipes Would Yield Hundreds of Billions of Dollars in Health Benefits (“Report”)...more
On September 21, 2023, the Biden administration outlined plans to expand federal agencies’ consideration of the social cost of carbon—a metric for the economic cost of each additional ton of carbon dioxide emitted to the...more
July 12, 2023 | Blog I still have a little trauma from this time of year: Budgeting Season. Despite the fact I love numbers and pouring over spreadsheets, the firm-wide marketing budget process is a beast unlike any other....more
On July 16, 2023, Climatewire (subscription required) released a peer review letter on EPA’s Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases (SC-GHG), which got a fair bit of press last year, because EPA’s metric was $190/ton, even though...more
On Thursday, the Office of Management and Budget released proposed revisions to “Circular A-4”. It also released a separate preamble, explaining its thinking and asking for comment on certain identified issues....more
As we approach the two-year mark, there are plenty of unfinished items on the President’s to-do list. One in particular that tends to escape the limelight is of crucial importance to implementing Biden’s policy priorities,...more
As frequent readers know, I am a big fan of cost-benefit analysis. The basic idea is that, when we make a decision to regulate at a certain level, we are by definition deciding that regulating to that level is “worth” the...more
The Fifth Circuit has stayed an order blocking Biden administration use of the “Interim Estimates” of the social cost of greenhouse gases. The Court did not leave much doubt that the administration will prevail on the...more
The law of regulatory cost benefit analysis just became even more incoherent under a ruling of the Western District of Louisiana enjoining implementation of President Biden’s executive order setting parameters to establish...more
New year, new leadership, new job, new motivation, new reality – whatever the reason, there comes a time when we are ready for new and exciting marketing initiatives. Generally, we think the starting point to getting the...more
The IRS issued Interim Guidance that likely will increase the expense and burden of filing research credit refund claims. Research credits in original returns are not affected by the Interim Guidance....more
I’ve written a lot about how the developing science around particulate exposure supports making the PM2.5 NAAQS more stringent. So it won’t come as a surprise that a new study published in the Proceedings of the National...more
The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted many State actions in pursuit of the public interest, but while all States have faced this unprecedented global challenge with some degree of similarity, State responses have varied from one...more
As the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) solicits comments regarding fundamental changes to its regulation of the country’s electricity transmission systems; as the temperature rises in New York State regarding...more
For years, general counsel have weighed the pros and cons of doing a task internally versus sending the work to outside counsel – this is not a new dichotomy. What is newer, however, is the proliferation of technology...more
Earlier this Month, Judge James Boasberg, who had previously ruled that the easement allowing construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline must be vacated due to a failure to comply with NEPA, nonetheless declined to issue an...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
Much of the attention in President Joseph Biden’s executive actions in his first 100 days has been focused on his numerous executive orders on topics ranging from climate and COVID-19 to race and gender. Although these...more
It’s only a slight rhetorical exaggeration to say that the limited bandwidth left to environmental issues other than climate change in recent years has been largely occupied by concerns about PFAS – Per-and polyfluoroalkyl...more
Among the important provisions of President Biden’s Executive Order on Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis is the requirement to review and revise estimates of the...more