Phishing scams can pop up anywhere, as evidenced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Inspector General’s recent alert regarding fraudulent Notice of Violation letters (NOVs)....more
At its May 23 open meeting, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR), proposing to establish a one-year “reasonable period of time” for certifying authorities to act on...more
6/5/2024
/ Clean Water Act ,
Energy Policy ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
FERC ,
Final Rules ,
Hydropower ,
Infrastructure ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Proposed Rules ,
Section 401 ,
Water ,
Water Quality
Join Troutman Pepper Partners Andrea Wortzel and Byron Kirkpatrick as they delve into the burgeoning world of Electric Vehicle (EV) plant development in the southeastern U.S. and beyond. In addition to exploring the factors...more
On March 27, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (collectively, the Services) issued three sets of final rules revising the Endangered Species Act (ESA) regulations. The...more
We are pleased to publish our latest white paper, entitled Driving Change: Scaling Up EVs in the U.S." The report highlights the challenges of expanding electric vehicles (EVs) and EV battery manufacturing in the U.S....more
4/9/2024
/ Air Pollution ,
Automotive Industry ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Charging Stations ,
Clean Energy ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Electric Vehicles ,
Environmental Policies ,
Infrastructure ,
Motor Vehicles ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Zero-Emission Vehicles
The Endangered Species Act regulations have become a political hot potato, with regulatory revisions occurring each time there is a change in administration. On March 28, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the...more
4/5/2024
/ Critical Habitat ,
Endangered Species ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Environmental Policies ,
Final Rules ,
National Marine Fisheries Service ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Section 7 ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) continues to focus on protections for bat species that have been ravaged by white-nose syndrome. In 2023, the Northern Long-Eared Bat (NLEB) was uplisted to endangered status. The FWS...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued its long-awaited climate reporting requirements, making it mandatory for the largest publicly traded companies in the U.S. to annually disclose both greenhouse gas...more
Claims of ‘greenwashing’ – allegations that companies overstate the environmental benefits of renewable energy and other projects – continue to rise. Troutman Pepper’s Andrea Wortzel, Melissa Horne, and Vaughn Morrison...more
Effective April 12, a new eagle take permitting regime will be in place. The eagle take permitting scheme has been criticized because of its overly conservative and burdensome requirements. These concerns culminated in a...more
At the end of January, a federal judge issued a ruling in a high-profile environmental justice case, Louisiana v. EPA, brought by Louisiana against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice...more
2/12/2024
/ Biden Administration ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discrimination ,
Disparate Impact ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Financial Assistance Policies ,
Louisiana ,
State Agencies ,
Title VI
In the absence of comprehensive federal action, states and regulators are enacting legislation and issuing guidance requiring climate-related disclosures, stepping in to fill the void left by the U.S. Securities Exchange...more
1/30/2024
/ Climate Change ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
NYDFS ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On November 30, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its Proposed Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI). With this proposal, EPA aims to simplify and expand upon the 2021 Lead and Copper Rule...more
PM NAAQS: Already behind schedule is perhaps the mostly widely impactful rule change EPA has proposed in many years: a lowering of the national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5). EPA has...more
1/9/2024
/ Air Pollution ,
Chevron Deference ,
Clean Energy ,
Clean Power Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Final Rules ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
MATS ,
Methane ,
NAAQS ,
Ozone
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has proposed listing the northwestern pond turtle (Actinemys marmorata) and the southwestern pond turtle (Actinemys pallida) as threatened species under the federal Endangered Species...more
11/30/2023
/ Climate Change ,
Conservation ,
Critical Habitat ,
Endangered Species ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Environmental Policies ,
ESA Listings ,
Final Rules ,
Habitat Conservation Plan ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Rulemaking Process ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed two landmark bills into law on October 7, imposing stringent new requirements on large companies doing business in California to publicly report their annual greenhouse gas (GHG)...more
10/18/2023
/ California ,
CARB ,
Climate Change ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
New Legislation ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has supercharged global interest in U.S. battery storage, forcing companies to change their approach to the market. We look at how this generational legislation is driving growth and...more
Last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) released two revised compensatory policies. The Mitigation Policy and the ESA Compensatory Mitigation Policy reject the stringent goal of net conservation gain used by the...more
The U.S. Supreme Court just issued its long-awaited Sackett decision in which it significantly narrowed the scope of federal jurisdiction over “waters of the U.S.” under the Clean Water Act. Written by Justice Alito (with...more
In 2020, New Jersey enacted a first-of-its-kind environmental justice statute, the Environmental Justice Law (EJ Law). The EJ Law requires that permit applicants for certain water, waste, and air facilities located, wholly or...more
On April 21, President Biden signed Executive Order No. 14096 (EO), titled “Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice For All.” The EO builds on prior executive orders by President Biden related to...more
On March 13, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took the long-anticipated step of proposing maximum contaminant level goals (MCLGs), as well as individual maximum contaminant levels (MCLs), for six PFAS compounds under...more
On January 9, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) issued an Interim Guidance on Consideration of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions and Climate Change (Interim Guidance) “to assist Federal agencies in their...more
On November 22, 2022, the White House released a new version of the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool, an online interactive map that uses datasets on various “burdens” environmental justice communities may face,...more
Following its March 2022 proposal to uplist the northern long-eared bat (NLEB) to endangered status, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) finalized the proposal on November 30, 2022. In addition, the agency proposed to list...more