Recent Updates to Federal Environmental and Natural Resource Regulations
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
After two years of continuous behind-the-scenes work, Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va), who chairs the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, joined by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), released S. 4753, the Energy...more
President Biden's Executive Orders Mobilize the Administrative State to Address Climate Change - On January 27th, the White House held a “Climate Day” press briefing where President Biden, Special Presidential Envoy for...more
Our latest summary of some recent developments in the courts and the federal agencies includes a unique case involving salt marshes adjacent to San Francisco Bay....more
The Trump administration proposed rules intended to speed up approval of major projects subject to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), such as pipelines, power facilities, mines, highways, and other public...more
Earlier this week, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals partially reversed a district court decision, and ordered the Bureau of Land Management to vacate the NEPA approvals and permits it had issued authorizing the drilling of a...more
Judge Delivers Major Setback to Trump Policy to Increase Coal Mining on Federal Land - "But the court ruling does say that the 2017 Trump administration policy, enacted by former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, to overturn...more
In 2016, DOI Secretarial Order 3338 imposed a moratorium on new coal leases on federal land until BLM prepared a programmatic environmental impact statement intended to address, among other issues, the impact of coal leasing...more
The US District Court for the District of Columbia has blocked the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from issuing new oil and gas drilling permits on approximately 300,000 acres of federal land in Wyoming until it adequately...more
In a victory for environmental groups, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a ruling this week with far-reaching consequences for energy projects on federal lands and “the attention the government must...more
On October 1st, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in a case that could have reopened an area of Arizona located north of the Grand Canyon and south of Utah, known as the...more
Report on the agencies’ review of programs provides a roadmap to understanding which energy policies the Trump administration will revise. Several federal agencies have now issued reports responding to Executive Order (EO)...more
Welcome to Spilman Thomas & Battle's weekly energy news e-blast - Currents. The purpose of this communication is to provide a synopsis of the top news stories for the week, but with a twist. We recognize that you may already...more
President Donald J. Trump issued Executive Order 13807, on August 15, 2017, which is intended to accelerate the environmental review and permitting for infrastructure projects that require an environmental impact statement...more
On May 17, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana and upheld the U.S. Forest Service’s (Forest Service) decision to construct 4.7 miles...more
In the continuing saga of the Echanis wind project in Eastern Oregon, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mosman on April 18 vacated the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM)’s Record of Decision (ROD) on a right-of-way grant...more
On March 28, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order titled "Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth" that reverses or materially alters many of the actions that the federal government undertook during the...more
In the previous article in this series The Future of Carbon Dioxide Injection EOR in the United States, we discussed the sources and cost of CO2 supply for enhanced oil recovery (“EOR”) in the United States and the benefits...more