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Proposed CERCLA Designation of PFOA and PFOS

On May 8, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published its final rule designating perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive...more

CERCLA Designation of PFOA and PFOS: Impact on Passive Receivers and the Renewed Debate on Defining PFAS

Key Points - EPA designates PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under CERCLA. The congressional response includes expressions of concern about the breadth of the rule and its impact on “innocents.” The rule has spurred the...more

Fluoropolymer Focus

As federal and state governments race to regulate a class of chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), their broad efforts sweep in thousands of individual chemicals—from those for which scientific...more

‘Major Questions’? Supreme Court Decision in Climate Change Case Sends Ripples Across the Regulatory Landscape

Key Points- For the first time, the Supreme Court has invoked explicitly the “major questions doctrine”—which requires Congress to speak clearly when authorizing agency action in certain extraordinary cases—to strike...more

HHS Invites Health Care Industry to Make Climate Pledge

Key Points - U.S. hospitals, health systems, suppliers, pharmaceutical companies and other industry stakeholders are invited to submit voluntary pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase their climate...more

FERC Announces Major Policy Changes for Certification of Natural Gas Facilities, Including Consideration of Greenhouse Gas...

On February 18, 2022, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) issued two interconnected policy statements (the “Policy Statements”) regarding its review and certification of interstate natural...more

A Deeper Dive into CCR Impoundments: EPA’s Long-Awaited Demonstration Determinations

In 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, or the “Agency”) promulgated national regulations governing the disposal of coal ash generated by coal-fired power plants, or coal combustion residuals (CCRs). Following...more

Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Summary of Key Programs and Provisions

[co-author: Christina Barone] The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (the “bill”) is historic bipartisan legislation that will make available $1.2 trillion in funding for infrastructure programs across the...more

What’s Next for Innovation in the U.S. Oil, Gas and Coal Sectors under the Biden-Harris Administration?

Key Points - In the lead-up to November’s COP26 meeting in Glasgow, the United States has joined much of the rest of the world in its pursuit of a clean-energy economy that reduces emissions and environmental impacts from...more

The Rehabilitation of Water Infrastructure

A major focus of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) is rehabilitation of water infrastructure, including ports, recreation and irrigation, but with a particular focus on drinking water. As with other parts of...more

The Biden-Harris Administration’s “Whole of Government” Approach to Combating Climate Change: Who You Heard From at the Climate...

President Biden’s Leaders Summit on Climate has wrapped up. The event saw world leaders highlighting their countries’ respective climate commitments, calling for collective action, and attending breakout sessions designed to...more

Haaland’s Harbingers: DOI Revokes Trump Policies and Reiterates Climate Focus

Late last week, newly confirmed Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Deb Haaland took two major steps to advance the Biden-Harris administration’s climate priorities and accelerate the shift to a clean energy future....more

A Sneak Preview of Biden’s Earth Day Climate Change Festivities

On Earth Day, April 22, President Biden will launch a two-day Leaders Summit on Climate, a key lead-up meeting to this November’s United Nations climate talks in Glasgow. The President invited over 40 world leaders to the...more

House Democrats Unveil Sweeping Climate Legislation to Transform Country’s Energy Mix

On Tuesday, March 2, Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce (E&C) Committee introduced a sweeping climate proposal—the Climate Leadership and Environmental Action for our Nation’s (CLEAN) Future Act—an amended version of...more

Tearing Down Trump’s Environmental Wall: Justice Department Ditches Impediments to Effective Enforcement

Late last week, the Justice Department withdrew nine Trump-era policy and guidance documents that shaped how the Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) enforced environmental law during the past...more

A Bridge Over the Rising Seas: Biden’s “Climate Day” Order Promises Green Infrastructure

A number of President Biden’s early climate and environmental policies direct federal funding, research and procurement decisions toward infrastructure. In this installment of our series on President Biden’s “Climate Day”...more

Biden’s Science and Environmental Justice Orders Foretell a New Era of Rulemaking and Enforcement That Go Beyond Climate

Last week’s “Climate Day” actions grabbed headlines primarily for how they respond to climate risk through increased federal coordination. Equally important may be the actions the Biden administration took that day to combat...more

DOE to Review Appliance and Building Energy Efficiency Regulations

Shortly after inauguration, President Joseph R. Biden signed an Executive Order (EO) entitled “Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis.” This sweeping Executive Order...more

Closure: EPA Finalizes Long-awaited CCR Rule Revisions and Surface Impoundment Deadlines

Following years of litigation and a segmented rulemaking process, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized revisions to portions of its coal combustion residuals (CCR) regulations governing, among other...more

House Democrats Unveil Proposal to Frame Climate Legislation in 2021

- Democrats in the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis have released a Climate Crisis Action Plan that aims to achieve net-zero emissions throughout the United States by 2050 and “net-negative” emissions by 2100,...more

EPA May Again Update Enforcement and Cleanup Policies in Light of New COVID-19 Executive Order

President Trump issued an Executive Order on Regulatory Relief to Support Economic Recovery on May 19. Generally, the Order directs federal agencies to respond to the COVID-19 crisis by “rescinding, modifying, waiving, or...more

Supreme Court Rejects EPA’s Watered-down View of Jurisdiction over Groundwater Discharges

The U.S. Supreme Court clarified that the scope of federal protection under the Clean Water Act includes any “functional equivalent” of a direct discharge to navigable waters from a point source. The Court’s decision is the...more

EPA Stepping Off the Gas at Cleanup Sites in Response to COVID-19

On April 10, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA or the Agency) Office of Land and Emergency Management and Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance issued Interim Guidance to EPA’s Regional Offices...more

The Phase I Environmental Site Assessment: Unexpected COVID-19 Victim?

- The COVID-19 crisis has left consultants, lenders, servicers, investors and other users struggling to assess environmental conditions of assets as they question the ability to conduct, and the utility of, phase I...more

EPA Enforcement Falls Victim to COVID-19

In response to requests for leniency as companies grapple with reduced workforces during the COVID-19 crisis, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a temporary policy announcing that it will exercise...more

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