Recent Updates to Federal Environmental and Natural Resource Regulations
On-Demand Webinar | Regulatory Uncertainty and Linear Infrastructure Projects: Where Are We and What’s Ahead?
On-Demand Webinar | Linear Infrastructure Redux: Adapting Your Projects to Meet the New Regulatory Climate
On-Demand Webinar | The New NEPA Regulations: A Practical Guide to What You Need to Know
How Trump's Infrastructure Plan Impacts the Energy Industry
In 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) decided Chevron USA, Inc. v. National Resource Defense Council, reversing a lower court ruling that set aside EPA’s Clean Air Act “bubble policy” of providing regulatory relief from...more
Welcome to Dorsey’s Energy Law: Month in Review. We provide this update to our clients to identify significant developments in the previous month. ...more
Environmental Justice: 2023 Year in Review and 2024 Look-Ahead - As a concept, Environmental Justice, or EJ, has been around for more than 40 years. Beginning as a slogan at protests in Warren County, NC in 1982, EJ...more
President Biden issued an Executive Order on April 21, 2023 titled “Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All” (the “EO”). The EO continues the Administration’s emphasis on environmental justice by...more
A group of Mississippi municipalities and associations filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court (S.D. Miss.) against the United States Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) for allegedly violating the National...more
The United States House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources (“Committee”) is holding a hearing today addressing the following legislation: Building United States Infrastructure through Limited Delays and...more
The Buffalo River Watershed Alliance (“BRWA”) filed a February 21st Complaint for Vacatur of Illegal Agency Decision, Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (“Complaint”) against the United States Forest Service (“Forest Service”)...more
If “Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?” It’s been a quiet term thus far for the Supreme Court, due in part to the hearing of oral arguments in many contentious cases. Below is a brief summary of some of the recent...more
These days, environmental policy is often established indirectly. While “Schoolhouse Rock” may have taught some of us “How a Bill Becomes a Law,” its insights are less relevant in the current era where things like purportedly...more
This alert looks at developments in environmental law that were at the forefront in 2022; the trend is expected to continue into 2023 as the Biden administration continues to act on its regulatory initiatives in the energy...more
“Environmental justice” (EJ) continues as the primary leitmotif of Biden Administration environmental policy in the first weeks of 2023. Below, we unpack two recently announced EJ efforts: a grant program for groups in...more
The Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”) published in the January 9th Federal Register a document titled: National Environmental Policy act Guidance on Consideration of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate Change...more
On May 26, 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of the General Counsel released EPA Legal Tools to Advance Environmental Justice (“EJ Legal Tools”). The document builds on and updates EPA’s 2011 Plan EJ 2014:...more
The Sierra Club and two other environmental organizations filed an April 28th Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (“Complaint”) against the United States Postal Service (“Service”) alleging violation of the...more
The White House Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”) issued an April 19th final rule that amends certain provisions of its regulations for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”). ...more
After passage in both houses of Congress, the highly-anticipated $1.2 trillion infrastructure legislation package, more commonly referred to as the “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act” (“Act”), has headed to President...more
Emphasis on Environmental Justice and Climate Change - The EPA's draft Strategic Plan provides the key to understanding the agency's priority goals and initiatives, including Climate Change and Environmental Justice...more
The Council on Environmental Quality published in the October 7th Federal Register at Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPR”) to withdraw certain Trump Administration revisions to its National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”)...more
Environmental justice moved to the forefront of sociopolitical discussions in the country in 2020, receiving increased attention from politicians, community groups, and environmental agencies. Although this concept is not...more
EPA and OMB issue directives and propose an initial budget for the Biden Administration’s EJ initiatives - With the Biden Administration’s appointees now in place, environmental justice (EJ) is moving to the forefront of...more
The swearing-in of Michael Regan as EPA Administrator means that open questions on policy, agenda-setting, and prioritization for the Agency will soon be answered. Issues that have risen to the top of the new EPA...more
Right out of the box, the Biden Administration took a decisive stance on the importance of climate costs in agency decision making, returning to Obama-era metrics and values. On his first day in office, President Biden issued...more
Consistent with former administrations, the Biden administration took early actions to halt or review administrative regulations. One of the earlies administrative actions taken by the Biden administration was to freeze...more
During yesterday’s Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing, President Biden’s nominees for Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), Brenda Mallory, and for Deputy Administrator the...more
With the arrival of a new US presidential administration, companies are anticipating potential shifts in enforcement priorities by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the areas of climate change, the National...more