On June 30, 2021, President Biden signed into law a joint resolution of Congress repealing a Trump administration rule that removed methane as a pollutant regulated under the Clean Air Act in the oil and gas industry...more
As discussed in this previous post, the state of methane regulation for the oil and gas industry has been in flux over the past few years as federal regulations issued by the Obama administration were challenged in court and...more
4/2/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Clean Air Act ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Methane ,
New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) ,
Obama Administration ,
Oil & Gas ,
Trump Administration ,
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)
The Biden administration has signaled its intention to recriminalize non-purposeful, or incidental, “takes” of birds under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (“MBTA”). The longstanding debate over the scope of criminal liability...more
3/18/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Criminal Liability ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Incidental Take Permits ,
Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Renewable Energy ,
SCOTUS ,
Trump Administration ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service ,
Wind Power
On February 5, 2021, the acting head of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) division that brings environmental enforcement cases issued a memo revoking nine policy directives from the prior administration, including...more
The Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan (“CPP”) — an unprecedented use of the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions from power plants — is only “mostly dead” and could soon spring back to life. Yes,...more
While news stories and campaign rhetoric can frequently create expectations of immediate shifts after a change in administration, most changes happen slowly in the federal government, and constraints on resources means that...more
1/28/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
CERCLA ,
Chemicals ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
PFAS ,
PHMSA ,
Risk Management ,
Trump Administration ,
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) ,
Wastewater
Each new presidential administration brings with it its own set of policy goals and priorities. While the text of U.S. environmental law does not change without an act of Congress, agencies within the executive branch have a...more
News stories and campaign rhetoric frequently create expectations of immediate shifts following an administration change, but most changes in the federal government happen slowly, and the constraint on resources and time...more
1/20/2021
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Biden Administration ,
Clean Water Act ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Environmental Policies ,
FERC ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Methane ,
Nationwide Permits (NWPs) ,
Natural Gas Act ,
NEPA ,
Pipelines ,
Trump Administration ,
Waters of the United States
On May 19, 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) released a proposed rulemaking that would codify the EPA’s practice under the Trump administration’s Executive Order 13891 “Promoting the Rule of Law Through...more
Guidance documents have always been important and useful tools for the regulated community to: glimpse how an agency might use its discretion, determine how an agency might apply a regulation, and simply understand complex...more