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
Several recent proposals impacting implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA") demonstrate a renewed focus on considering climate change in federal decision-making. In July, the Council on Environmental...more
On September 21, 2023, the Biden administration outlined plans to expand federal agencies’ consideration of the social cost of carbon—a metric for the economic cost of each additional ton of carbon dioxide emitted to the...more
On July 28, 2023, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) proposed reforms to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations governing how federal agencies review the environmental effects of major federal...more
In December 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit denied an appeal by environmental groups to revive their challenge to the 2020 amendments to the Council on Environmental Quality's ("CEQ") National...more
On January 6, 2023, the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) announced new interim guidance for evaluating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change under the National Environmental Policy Act...more
On April 19, 2022, the Biden administration finalized a new rule (“Final Rule”) rolling back the Trump administration’s 2020 changes limiting the scope of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The Final Rule...more
Agency consideration of climate change curtailed in update to decades-old policy - On January 9, 2020, President Trump’s Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”) proposed to “update” the nearly forty-year-old regulations...more
The Trump Administration is proposing significant revisions to the implementing regulations of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) in an overhaul effort that the Administration is touting as a “modernization”...more
The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), a division of the Executive Office of the President, today published in the Federal Register a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would make significant changes to its regulations...more
Since our last article discussing the way in which the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC" or "the Commission") considers greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate impacts in the pipeline certification process, the...more
In a recent opinion, the D.C. Circuit suggested the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) must attempt to obtain information necessary to evaluate the environmental effects of a proposed interstate pipeline project due...more
A federal district court has ruled that the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) failed to adequately consider climate change when approving a set of oil and gas leases on public lands in Wyoming. The ruling should be of broader...more
Among other responsibilities, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC" or "the Commission") approves and issues construction certificates for interstate gas pipelines and related infrastructure under section 7 of the...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s recent decision in Sierra Club v. FERC (Southeast Market Pipelines Project), No. 16-1329 (D.C. Cir. 2017), has already had an impact on the natural gas industry and resulted in...more
On August 22, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in a 2-1 decision, vacated and remanded orders of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) authorizing the construction and operation of three...more
In a 2-1 decision, the D.C. Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) did not satisfy the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) when it...more
The President's Council on Environmental Quality has issued its finalized guidance on how federal agencies should consider greenhouse gas emissions and the effects of climate change in reviews of federal actions under the...more
On December 18, 2014, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) proposed revised guidance (“Guidance”) directing how federal agencies should consider greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change when...more