The Accidental Chemical Release Rules have an effective date of May 10, 2024, and includes a number of situations requiring compliance, generally by May 10, 2027.
The new Clean Water Act facility response plan...more
4/25/2024
/ Chemical Spills ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Climate Change ,
Compliance ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Hazardous Substances ,
Incident Response Plans ,
New Rules ,
NRDC ,
Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) ,
Risk Management
Soon after taking office, President Biden issued Executive Order 14008, entitled, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.” This is an unusually long and complex executive order and includes many provisions relating...more
3/28/2024
/ Air Pollution ,
Biden Administration ,
Climate Change ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Executive Orders ,
Government Agencies ,
OMB ,
Pollution Control ,
Water Pollution
It is clear that these have been busy months for federal environmental regulators, especially those working at EPA, the federal departments and the Council on Environmental Quality. Even the Department of Agriculture has...more
11/16/2023
/ Bureau of Land Management ,
CEQ ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Climate Change ,
Department of Agriculture ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Government Agencies ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Popular ,
Public Policy ,
RCRA ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service
Presidential Executive Order 14008, “Tackling the Climate Crisis,” a long and unusually detailed Executive Order published in the Federal Register on February 1, 2021 (see 86 FR 7619), has generated considerable discussion...more
This is a brief review of recent significant environmental and administrative law rulings and developments. With the change in presidential administrations, the fate of at least some of the newly promulgated rules is...more
This is a brief review of the recently released “Climate 21 Project” policy memo. It is the work of many former members of the Obama Administration who are deeply concerned about climate change and what steps the new...more
11/20/2020
/ Biden Administration ,
Clean Energy ,
Climate Change ,
Department of Agriculture ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of the Interior ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
NOAA ,
OMB ,
U.S. Treasury ,
US Department of State
In this summary of recent developments in environmental and regulatory law, venues are challenged, standing is upheld, statutory exemption is disputed and more....more
As one would expect, the 110-page document released by the Biden campaign of policy recommendations reached by its joint task forces with supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders includes a number of energy and environmental policy...more
The final NEPA rule substantially revises environmental review procedures and incorporates most of the perceived controversial changes proposed last January, including elimination of cumulative impact analysis, and shortening...more
A Resolution has been propsed to the House for consideration that would recognize the Federal Government’s duty “to create a Green New Deal.” It sets forth a very ambitious 10-year program to mobilize and transform every...more
On December 26, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit accepted an interlocutory appeal of the presiding District Court’s pre-trial rulings in the novel climate change case that is being tried in...more
On November 23, the latest National Climate Assessment, Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4), was released by the U.S. Global Research Program, as required by the Clean Air Act. The Assessment, comprising three volumes...more
On October 30, in Sinnok, et al. v. State of Alaska, et al., the Superior Court, sitting in Anchorage, AK, granted the state’s motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ (a “group of Alaska youth ages 5 to 20”) complaints that the...more
On July 19, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York decided the case of City of New York v. BP P.L.C., et al., granting the defendants’ motion to dismiss and dismissing the City of New York’s amended...more
On February 27, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California rejected motions filed by the cities of Oakland and San Francisco to remand two global warming public nuisance lawsuits filed by the cities in...more
Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued its opinion in In re United States of America. As summarized by the Ninth Circuit, “twenty one young plaintiffs” filed a complaint in the Portland, OR federal...more
On February 1, the Congressional Research Service published a report entitled Evolving Assessments of Human and Natural Contributions to Climate Change. The report traces evolution of scientific understanding and confidence...more
The courts continue to be busy issuing significant Endangered Species Act (ESA) rulings. In the latest one, issued in early wolverineApril, the U.S. District Court for Montana, Missoula Division, in Defenders of Wildlife v....more
The President’s proposal includes several recommendations for promoting ecological conservation as a tool for sequestering atmospheric carbon while simultaneously providing natural buffers against more intense and frequent...more