On August 22, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana permanently blocked the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice from implement Civil Rights Act Title VI...more
A hallmark of the Biden Administration’s approach to environmental justice has been using preexisting authorities to advance its agenda, none more so than Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. That approach now faces several...more
While environmental justice (EJ) concerns continued to drive policymaking in early 2024, EJ efforts increasingly faced headwinds coming from various and sometimes unexpected directions. Below, we will summarize recent...more
Executive Summary - The State of Louisiana recently achieved a significant milestone in the regulation of the carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) industry by obtaining primary enforcement authority (primacy) over Class...more
Louisiana remains at the forefront of environmental justice activity. In just four days from January 19 to January 23, 2024, two courts in Louisiana offered interpretations to environmental justice efforts in the State of...more
At the end of January, a federal judge issued a ruling in a high-profile environmental justice case, Louisiana v. EPA, brought by Louisiana against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice...more
Recently, the United States Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") signed a final rule granting the State of Louisiana's request for primary responsibility for the permitting, compliance, and enforcement of Class VI (deep...more
Louisiana has been at the center of the Biden Administration’s prioritization of environmental justice (EJ) issues. In United States v. Denka Performance Elastomer, the Eastern District of Louisiana granted a motion by the...more
Louisiana Takes Major Step Towards Administering Class VI Geologic Wells for Carbon Sequestration Use - Louisiana's quest for primacy over its Class VI well program took a big step forward last Friday when the United...more
At long last, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) is poised to grant Louisiana authority to issue Class VI permits under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act’s (“SDWA”) Underground Injection Control (“UIC”)...more
Louisiana has been at the center of the past year’s eruption of environmental-justice related enforcement activities. The complaint in Inclusive Louisiana et al. v. St. James Parish et al., found here, is tied to three...more
In a recent US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) letter issued to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) and the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH), the Biden Administration deploys its plans to use...more