When it rains too much in San Francisco, the city's wastewater treatment plant can get overloaded. An overloaded wastewater treatment plant means that a city-operated, EPA-permitted point source in the Pacific Ocean could...more
Members of the House and Senate are beginning to introduce joint resolutions calling for the “disapproval” of specific environmental, energy, and natural resources regulations pursuant to the Congressional Review Act. The...more
2/3/2025
/ Congressional Review Act ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Joint Resolutions ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Natural Resources ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Rulemaking Process
As expected, the new Trump White House has issued a flurry of executive orders (EOs) which directly affect the federal government's policies on a broad range of environmental and natural resources issues....more
1/24/2025
/ Climate Change ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Executive Orders ,
Natural Resources ,
Offshore Wind ,
Oil & Gas ,
Renewable Energy ,
Trump Administration
Now that the 119th Congress has been sworn in, attention turns to how the Republican-controlled House, Senate, and White House will use the Congressional Review Act (CRA). The CRA creates a review period in which Congress can...more
1/7/2025
/ Administrative Agencies ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Congressional Committees ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Critical Habitat ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Environmental Policies ,
Final Rules ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
Joint Resolutions ,
Legislative Agendas ,
NAAQS ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) ,
Trump Administration
For those of you who still haven't heard, in a surprising 2-1 ruling, the D.C. Circuit held that the Council on Environmental Quality had no legal authority to issue its regulations governing federal implementation of NEPA....more
Last week, Venable’s Government Division offered its general thoughts on the fallout from the Supreme Court’s reversal of the long-standing Chevron deference principle. Here, the Environmental Practice Group offers some of...more
7/3/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Chevron Deference ,
Chevron v NRDC ,
Clean Air Act ,
Climate Change ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Government Agencies ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Relentless Inc v US Department of Commerce ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Waters of the United States
In a monumental opinion issued today, the U.S. Supreme Court in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo overruled Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., holding (6-3) that deference to an agency's...more
7/1/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Chevron Deference ,
Chevron v NRDC ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Government Agencies ,
Judicial Authority ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
National Marine Fisheries Service ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Relentless Inc v US Department of Commerce ,
SCOTUS ,
Stare Decisis ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Unconstitutional Condition
Does the National Environmental Policy Act require an agency to consider environmental impacts beyond the proximate effects of actions within the agency's jurisdiction? That's the question that the U.S. Supreme Court has...more
Based on immediate reactions to the long-awaited final "Phase II" NEPA regulations, one might think that the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) substantially altered long-standing federal environmental review practice....more
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) held that the Fifth Amendment's Takings Clause does not distinguish between legislative and administrative land‑use permit conditions. Building permit...more
4/18/2024
/ Building Permits ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Construction Project ,
Fifth Amendment ,
George Sheetz v County of El Dorado ,
Impact Fees ,
Property Owners ,
Real Estate Development ,
SCOTUS ,
Takings Clause ,
Traffic Impact Assessments
The Securities and Exchange Commission today adopted a slimmed-down final version of its rule to enhance and standardize climate-related disclosures by public companies and in public offerings. The vote to adopt the rule,...more
3/8/2024
/ Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Final Rules ,
Green Cards ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation
When George Sheetz planned to build an 1800-square-foot manufactured home on his California property, he could hardly have thought his routine permit request would end up at the U.S. Supreme Court. But when the County of El...more
10/25/2023
/ Cedar Point Nursery v Hassid ,
Dolan v City of Tigard ,
Excessive Fees ,
Exemptions ,
Fifth Amendment ,
Nexus ,
Nollan v California Coastal Commission ,
Permits ,
Property Owners ,
Proportionality ,
Real Estate Development ,
SCOTUS ,
Split of Authority ,
Takings Clause
On the surface, a dispute over whether small fishing businesses should be required to pay for onboard monitors to observe their catch would not appear to be a potential game-changer for administrative law. But when the...more
The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 most notably raised the debt ceiling. But the legislation also made substantive changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), with an eye toward simplifying and streamlining...more
Clean Water Act practitioners have spent the past 50 years learning how to identify a wetland or water body that qualifies for federal jurisdiction—and the past 17 parsing the phrase "significant nexus." The upshot was that...more
5/31/2023
/ Clean Water Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Federal Jurisdiction ,
Inland Waterways ,
Navigable Waters ,
Sackett ,
Sackett v EPA ,
SCOTUS ,
Significant Nexus Test ,
Waters of the United States ,
Wetlands
As part of his administration's all-of-government response to climate concerns, on December 8, 2021 President Biden issued Executive Order (E.O.) 14057, Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal...more
2/7/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Climate Change ,
Environmental Policies ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
General Services Administration (GSA) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
National Emissions Standards ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Public Procurement Policies ,
Public Projects ,
Public Property ,
Real Estate Development
Just before the crystal ball dropped in Times Square on New Year's Eve, the U.S. EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers made available a pre-publication copy of their final revised definition of "waters of the United States"...more
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) recently announced that it will hold several days of informational meetings to address topics important to carbon dioxide and hydrogen pipeline developers and...more
In accordance with the Biden administration's Federal Sustainability Plan, on November 14, 2022, President Biden proposed the Federal Supplier Climate Risks and Resilience Rule. The goal of the proposal, as described by the...more
11/16/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Climate Change ,
Comment Period ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Federal Contractors ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Material Suppliers ,
Proposed Rules ,
Suppliers ,
Supply Chain ,
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
The U.S. Supreme Court's October 2022 term began with a bang: a new Justice on the bench, the public back in the courtroom for the first time since the pandemic - and two hours of argument about the scope of federal...more
On August 16, President Biden signed into law the much-anticipated Inflation Reduction Act. The Act includes numerous clean energy, decarbonization, and climate-related provisions. ...more
8/19/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Clean Energy ,
Climate Change ,
Community Development ,
Electric Vehicles ,
Energy Efficiency ,
Energy Tax Incentives ,
Environmental Justice ,
Federal Funding ,
Federal Grants ,
Geothermal Energy ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
Investment Tax Credits ,
Production Tax Credit ,
Property Owners ,
Rebates ,
Renewable Energy ,
Renewable Energy Incentives ,
Residential Property Owners ,
Solar Energy ,
Tax Credits ,
Wind Power
The Supreme Court concluded its momentous term last week, saving the long-anticipated West Virginia v. EPA ruling for the last day of announced opinions. The Court's decision limiting the scope of EPA's authority to regulate...more
Over the past month, the Biden administration has taken several noteworthy steps aimed at creating an environmental enforcement strategy focused on addressing pollution that has traditionally been concentrated in low-income...more
On April 20, 2022, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) published a final rule revising its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations. This rule (the "Phase 1 Rule") originates from two executive orders (E.O....more
In Washington, Congress has not reached the consensus needed for passage of the Build Back Better legislation; however, that has not stopped rollout of the programs and initial funding included in the Bipartisan...more