In 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) decided Chevron USA, Inc. v. National Resource Defense Council, reversing a lower court ruling that set aside EPA’s Clean Air Act “bubble policy” of providing regulatory relief from...more
7/25/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Certiorari ,
Chevron Deference ,
Chevron v NRDC ,
Clean Air Act ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
FCC ,
FERC ,
IRS ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
NEPA ,
NLRB ,
Relentless Inc v US Department of Commerce ,
SCOTUS
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was signed into law on January 1, 1970, and it has rarely been amended or revised since then. NEPA is basically a procedural statute which requires Federal permitting authorities,...more
This is a brief roundup of recent federal court environmental and regulatory law decisions from the federal courts over the past few months, including the much anticipated ruling in Sackett, et ux., v, Environmental...more
6/1/2023
/ Air Pollution ,
Clean Water Act ,
Department of Environmental Quality ,
Environmental Litigation ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FERC ,
Flooding ,
Navigable Waters ,
NEPA ,
Popular ,
Rivers ,
Sackett v EPA ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Water Pollution ,
Waters of the United States
If “Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?” It’s been a quiet term thus far for the Supreme Court, due in part to the hearing of oral arguments in many contentious cases. Below is a brief summary of some of the recent...more
We interrupt our usual scrutiny of the courts to focus (mostly) on the important developments in notices and rulemaking issued by and concerning federal regulatory agencies and departments in the past several weeks....more
This is a brief account of some of the important environmental and administrative law cases recently decided. THE U.S. SUPREME COURT - Pakdel v. City and County of San Francisco - On June 28, 2021, the Supreme Court decided...more
JANUARY 2020 -
FEDERAL APPELLATE COURTS -
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit -
El Paso County, Texas, et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al.
On January 8, 2020, a divided panel of the court quickly granted a...more
1/27/2021
/ Clean Air Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Coal ,
Damages ,
Deepwater Horizon ,
Endangered Species ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Environmental Litigation ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Groundwater ,
Hazardous Substances ,
NEPA ,
Oil Spills ,
Rivers ,
Trump Administration ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service ,
US-Mexico Border Wall ,
Water ,
Wildlife Protection
This roundup of recent environmental and regulatory law rulings and rulemakings includes an EPA deadline extended, a NEPA exclusion and PSM application upheld, and an unsuccessful appeal to the federal officer removal...more
Our latest summary of some recent developments in the courts and the federal agencies includes a unique case involving salt marshes adjacent to San Francisco Bay....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
It’s been an active month in terms of recent environmental and administrative law cases decided by the federal appellate courts. Flood Control and the Endangered Species Act. ...more
January has been a busy month for the Fifth Circuit, which has issued a number of significant rulings....more
The proposed NEPA regulations would eliminate agencies’ obligation to consider a project’s indirect and cumulative impacts in environmental reviews and would shorten the time frame for completing reviews, among other major...more
1/15/2020
/ CEQ ,
Comment Period ,
Deregulation ,
Energy Projects ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Impact Report (EIR) ,
Infrastructure ,
NEPA ,
NPRM ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Public Hearing ,
Trump Administration
In late December, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the “Fall 2019 Unified Agenda of Regulatory Actions” just a few days before the Calendar turned to the year 2020....more
State of Texas, et al. v. US EPA. The revised regulatory definition of “Waters of the U.S.” continues to generate litigation in the federal courts....more
Besides showers, this April brought a number of notable new environmental decisions issued by the federal courts. ...more
On February 26, 2019, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a joint memorandum (Memo) clarifying how state transportation departments that have been delegated...more
On March 1, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia decided National Parks Conservation Assoc. v. Todd T. Simonite, Lieutenant General, et al. The case involves an application to the U.S. Army Corps of...more
On February 14, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the complaint of the National American Butterfly Association (NABA) alleging that the U.S. Government’s border wall preparation and law...more
On February 11, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the District Court’s decision to grant a motion for summary judgment disposing of a complaint that the decision of the Secretary of Homeland Security...more
On October 29, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) published a final rule in the Federal Register which amends and revises the environmental National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) procedures rules employed by the...more
In a Memorandum dated October 19, 2018 and entitled Promoting the Reliable Supply and Delivery of Water in the West, the President has directed the Secretaries of the Interior and Commerce to work together to minimize...more
Within the past few weeks, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has issued some very significant rulings regarding the construction of new natural gas pipelines. ...more
8/9/2018
/ Bureau of Land Management ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Impact Report (EIR) ,
FERC ,
Natural Gas ,
Natural Gas Act ,
NEPA ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service
Another important case was decided by U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on July 6, American Rivers and Alabama Rivers Alliance v. FERC. The Alabama Power Company, whose application to re-license its electrical power...more
On June 5, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit decided the case of Highway J Citizens Group, et al., v. U. S. Department of Transportation. The Seventh Circuit affirmed the District Court’s oral ruling that the...more