Recent Updates to Federal Environmental and Natural Resource Regulations
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Updates to federal environmental and natural resource regulations and recent consequential decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court have resulted in a significant shift to the federal environmental and natural resource landscape...more
The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has affirmed the dismissal of two legal challenges to the Vineyard Wind 1 project (the Project). On April 24 and April 25, 2024, the same panel of First Circuit judges issued...more
On March 18, three advocacy organizations and their members filed a lawsuit challenging an offshore wind project against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). The...more
On Thursday, October 12, 2023, Judge Indira Talwani of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted summary judgment in favor of the United States Department of the Interior and Vineyard Wind, and denied...more
Judge Indira Talwani of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts has rejected another challenge to federal permits and approvals for the Vineyard Wind Project (Vineyard Wind or the Project). Vineyard Wind is...more
On August 10, 2023, the Department of Energy (“DOE”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (“NOPR”) proposing to establish an integrated Coordinated Interagency Transmission Authorizations Program (“CITAP Program”) that...more
On July 10, Governor Newsom signed five California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) reform bills (SB 145, 146, 147, 149 & 150) as part of an infrastructure streamlining plan that the Governor’s office has called the “the...more
In Sackett v. EPA, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a massive blow to EPA's ability to regulate wetlands under the Clean Water Act ("CWA"). Addressing the "nagging question" about the reaches of the CWA, Justice Alito, joined...more
The federal government has successfully defended its approvals of the Vineyard Wind project offshore Massachusetts (Project), setting the stage for further decisions as other challenges proceed. Vineyard Wind is the first...more
On Wednesday, May 17, 2023, the federal District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted summary judgment in favor of the United States Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (“BOEM”) and Vineyard Wind, and denied summary...more
The federal government’s offshore wind program notched another important victory on March 9, 2023, when the United States District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the New York Bight...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (“Ninth Circuit”) addressed in a November 25th Memorandum a judicial challenge to the United States Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) North Landscape Project (“North...more
On September 30, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued an opinion in Save the Colorado, et al. v. Spellmon. The case arose from various conservation group challenges to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers...more
The South Carolina Conservation League and three other environmental organizations filed an August 17th Complaint in the United States District Court (District of South Carolina) challenging the United States Army Corps of...more
New York Bight Lease Sale Under Attack - A New Jersey-based nonprofit organization, Save Long Beach Island, and its president sued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in January 2022. They are asserting...more
2021 witnessed a new but familiar competition among stakeholders for the use and enjoyment of the Outer Continental Shelf. Last year, interested parties initiated five lawsuits against the first federally approved offshore...more
Thanks to the streaming mega hit Yellowstone, and perhaps Kim and Kayne’s brief stint in Wyoming, the West is no longer reserved for John Wayne wanna-bes and would-be snowboarders or adventurers looking to escape metropolis....more
On December 10, 2021, the Biden Administration released the Fall 2021 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (Unified Agenda), which is a semi-annual compilation of information concerning regulations and policy...more
After passage in both houses of Congress, the highly-anticipated $1.2 trillion infrastructure legislation package, more commonly referred to as the “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act” (“Act”), has headed to President...more
The Chairman of the United States House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Peter DeFazio (“Chairman”), sent an October 13th letter to the Biden Administration addressing Section 404 Clean Water...more
On October 7th, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) announced the Biden Administration’s first round of proposed revisions to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations. Each of the “Phase 1” changes will...more
Interest in US offshore wind development is at an all-time high, as the Biden Administration and lawmakers continue to create renewable energy project incentives and opportunities, shareholders demand action from companies to...more
Linear infrastructure projects, including oil and gas pipelines, electric transmission lines and transportation, have faced a number of regulatory challenges over the last year. Some of these challenges stem from changes in...more