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
Environmental Justice, as an urgent policy priority of the Federal Government, dates back to 1994, and President Clinton’s issuance of Executive Order 12898. This order directed federal agencies to identify and address, as...more
Selected federal regulatory actions taken or proposed by several federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency: EPA Actions. On September 15, 2021, EPA’s Water Office issued a memo rescinding a January...more
On August 16, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the lower court’s ruling that the Idaho property of Michael and Chantell Sackett was a regulated wetlands under the then-controlling 1977 EPA rules...more
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
Several decisions of interest were issued in the 2020 term, which stretched from October 2020 until early July 2021. This review will concentrate on environmental and administrative law cases....more
7/15/2021
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Administrative Patent Judges ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Litigation ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Florida v Georgia ,
Guam v United States ,
Natural Resources ,
Ownership Rules ,
SCOTUS ,
Texas v New Mexico ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service ,
Waste Disposal ,
Water ,
Water Rights
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
What follows is a brief account of some of the notable U.S. environmental and administrative law cases recently decided. THE U.S. SUPREME COURT - Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution vests the President, with the advice...more
6/23/2021
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Alien Tort Statute ,
Building Permits ,
Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Erosion ,
Homeowners ,
Misbranding ,
Oil & Gas ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Railways ,
SCOTUS ,
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) ,
United States v Arthrex Inc ,
Workplace Safety
This is a brief account of some of the important environmental and administrative law cases recently decided. THE U.S. SUPREME COURT - BP PLC, et al. v Mayor and City of Baltimore The issue the court confronted was a...more
This is a brief review of some of the significant environmental (and administrative law decisions) released the past few weeks. THE U.S. SUPREME COURT - On April 22, 2021, the Court decided two important administrative law...more
5/13/2021
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
AMG Capital Management LLC v FTC ,
Clean Water Act ,
Coal Mines ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Eviction ,
Flooding ,
Hurricane Harvey ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service
Environmental Justice, as an urgent priority of the Federal Government, dates back to 1994, and President Clinton’s issuance of Executive Order 12898. This order directed federal agencies to identify and address, as...more
This is a brief report on new environmental law decisions, regulations and legislation. THE U.S. SUPREME COURT - Massachusetts Lobsterman’s Association v. Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce - On March 22, 2021, the Supreme...more
The federal courts have issued some significant environmental law rulings in the past few days. THE U.S. SUPREME COURT - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club, Inc. On March 4, 2021, the court held that the...more
3/25/2021
/ Act of God ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Department of the Interior ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Exxon Mobil ,
FERC ,
FOIA ,
Natural Gas ,
Pipelines ,
SCOTUS ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service v Sierra Club
February saw the usual array of significant environmental decisions and federal regulatory notices. THE FEDERAL COURTS - U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia - Luminant Generation v. EPA - The court will be...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
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
Here are some significant environmental and regulatory rulings and administrative actions from December 2020. THE U.S. SUPREME COURT - Texas v. New Mexico On December 14, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a water rights...more
1/14/2021
/ CERCLA ,
Clean Air Act ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Environmental Litigation ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
National Park Service ,
NPDES ,
SCOTUS ,
Texas v New Mexico ,
Water ,
Water Rights
THE FEDERAL APPELLATE COURTS - The U.S. Court of Appeals - On November 23, 2020, the court, in a 2-to-1 vote, rejected the plaintiff’s request for an emergency injunction pending appeal in the case of Manzanita Band of...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
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
On March 2, 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency revised its “On-Site Civil Inspection Procedures” in accordance with Executive Order 13892 . (The rules are located at 40 CFR Part 31.) These rules set forth the...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
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 the end of summer approaches, the courts have provided a potpourri of relevant environmental decisions. FEDERAL COURTS OF APPEAL - Town of Weymouth, et al. v. Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP) -...more
The last few weeks have yielded a number of interesting developments in the Federal courts. FEDERAL COURTS OF APPEAL - In re Flint Water Cases - Several local and State of Michigan officials, including the former governor,...more