California AG Rob Bonta, New Mexico AG Hector Balderas, New York AG Letitia James, and Washington AG Bob Ferguson sent a letter to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) urging it to consider the full social and...more
BACKGROUND: On August 4, 2020, President Donald Trump signed into law “The Great American Outdoors Act” (the “Act”) after it was passed by U.S. Congress. The Act permanently funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund (“LWCF”)...more
Expenses and Delays Continue for Mountain Valley Pipeline, Where Work has Halted Again - "The pipeline’s developers announced that construction now isn’t expected to concluded until late next year at a cost of $5.3 to $5.5...more
EPA Chief Looks to Distinguish Himself from Pruitt in Agency-Wide Memo - "The new head of the EPA sent a staff-wide memo laying out steps the agency is taking to increase transparency, a move that's seen as an effort to...more
On June 19, 2018, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected a challenge by environmental groups and held that the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) has no legal obligation to update its...more
President Trump is spearheading a government-wide roll back of Obama Era climate initiatives. The president and his EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt, have delivered a one-two punch. They both have denied the impact of human...more
President Donald Trump recently signed Executive Order 13783, an omnibus executive order aimed at reducing burdens on further development of domestic energy resources, with “particular attention” to oil, natural gas, coal and...more
On January 15, Secretary Sally Jewell announced that the Department of the Interior will launch a comprehensive review to identify and evaluate potential reforms to the federal coal program. During the review, which is...more
Legal challenges to moratorium likely as US Department of Interior considers reforms. On Friday, January 15, 2016, US Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced that the US will “pause” federal coal...more
The D.C. Circuit has decided against ruling on the substance of whether the Abandoned Mine Land reclamation fee and the regulatory methods the Office of Surface Mining uses to collect it on exported coal create an...more
Even as U.S. coal exports surge to record highs, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is being taken to task for (among other items) failing to take account of the burgeoning export market when calculating the fair market...more