In the first half of 2024, EPA has finalized a host of rules driven, at least in part, by concerns about disparate impacts and environmental justice. For instance, in conjunction with an April rule targeting greenhouse...more
The Biden-Harris Administration recently issued a suite of new rules aimed at addressing water and air quality, reducing methane emissions, protecting environmental justice communities, and accelerating the nation’s...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
U.S. Banks Prepare to Seize Energy Assets as Shale Boom Goes Bust - "Major U.S. lenders are preparing to become operators of oil and gas fields across the country for the first time in a generation to avoid losses on loans...more
This is the second issue of WilmerHale’s 10-in-10 Hot Topics in Energy Series. Over the next 10 weeks, our attorneys will share insights on current and emerging issues affecting the US energy sector. Attorneys from across...more
Outlined in an Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") proposal published on August 31, 2018, the Affordable Clean Energy ("ACE") rule would replace the Obama Administration's Clean Power Plan ("CPP"). A 60-day public comment...more
In yesterday’s Part 1, we discussed the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rules regulating emissions from existing and new stationary electricity generating units. In today’s post, we discuss EPA’s regulations regarding...more
The petitioners challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan (CPP) in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit filed their joint opening briefs on February 19, 2016. The Opening Briefs of...more
As the electric power industry considers the options for compliance with an unprecedented suite of new environmental requirements, it faces continued uncertainty as to the fate of some of the most significant new regulations....more
Energy and Climate Debate - Following a busy week for the Obama Administration during which it held several energy and climate events in anticipation of the international climate negotiations at the end of the year in...more
Legal challenges filed almost immediately after President Obama announced the Clean Power Rule may be premature. That is what attorneys for EPA told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently in...more
Having gotten the Clean Power Plan out the door, EPA has moved on to another target of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan: landfill methane emissions. Late last week, EPA proposed both new emission guidelines for...more
The Clean Air Act requires EPA to regulate emissions of hazardous air pollutants from coal-fired power plants if the agency determines that such “regulation is appropriate and necessary” after studying the hazards the...more
The U.S. Supreme Court’s June 29th decision in Michigan v. EPA, taken together with another significant CAA opinion from last term, Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA, demonstrates the Court’s proclivity for subjecting...more
Environmental and Policy Focus - BP pays record $18.7 billion to settle claims in Gulf oil spill Bloomberg - Jul 2: BP Plc reached a record $18.7 billion agreement to settle all federal and state claims from the 2010...more
Delivering a sharp blow to President Obama’s efforts to regulate coal plants, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) 2012 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule, finding that...more
EIB Energy Highlights hits the highlights of recent energy developments, streamlining access to critical information for our readers. ...more
The D.C. Circuit, by majority decision, upheld MATS, which requires coal- and oil-fired power plants to reduce emissions of mercury, arsenic, chromium, and other air pollutants. When the EPA adopted MATS in 2011, it did not...more
In This Issue: Congress; Administration; Department of Energy; Environmental Protection Agency; Interior Department; Department of Homeland Security; Department of State; Department of Treasury; Government...more