The New Cold War: Risk, Sanctions, Compliance Episode 24: “Elephants and the Mafia: Combatting Criminal Wildlife Trafficking”
The European Commission revised the Code of Best Practices for the conduct of State aid control procedures. The revised Code opens a pathway for NGOs to challenge State aid decisions on EU environmental law grounds....more
The European Commission hosted an event on April 10 on “Implementation Dialogue on Environmental Assessments and Permitting”. The purpose of these types of meetings is to simplify and reduce regulatory and administrative...more
President Donald Trump’s second term has already proven to be an extension of his first-term deregulatory agenda at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Given historical trends, such deregulation will likely prompt...more
Most presidents spend the first days of their administration reversing the policies of their opposite party predecessor and laying the groundwork for their own policies with a series of executive orders. President Trump is...more
On Tuesday, in Ohio v. EPA, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied several challenges to EPA’s decision to restore California’s authority under § 209(b) of the Clean Air Act to regulate emissions from motor vehicles. It’s...more
COP28 - December 6, 2023 Recap - Today’s COP28 theme – Multilevel Action, Urbanization and Built Environment/Transport – saw the hosting of a Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization and Climate Change and the release of the...more
Effective March 1, 2023, the Chinese government abruptly lifted travel restrictions imposed to combat the COVID pandemic. In August I visited China with one of my students, my first visit in more than four years. Five of...more
Just before the July 4th holiday, I was wondering out loud what was to be gained by having a Federal District Court decide the merits of a challenge to EPA's eighth attempt to determine the reach of the Clean Water Act. ...more
Posted on April 14, 2023 by Scott Fulton One of my roles as ELI’s International Envoy is serving on the Steering Committee of the new Climate Crisis Commission established by the International Union for the Conservation of...more
The regulated community should be considering how Earth-observing satellites may enhance regulators’ and non-governmental organizations’ (NGOs’) ability to detect, measure, and monitor pollution. According to the Land Remote...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
What will happen in the environmental and energy space in 2023? The last year saw transformative changes in the environmental and energy space in the form of historic spending through the federal Inflation Reduction Act, a...more
US environmental policy changes tend to occur at a glacial pace, particularly at the federal level. Frustrated with the pace of change, environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and state regulators are increasingly...more
On 15 March 2022, ClientEarth announced that it had written to Shell's board of directors informing them of its intent to bring a claim on behalf of the company for the board's failure to implement a Paris Agreement compliant...more
On May 26, 2021, the Hague District Court ordered, in a groundbreaking decision, Royal Dutch Shell Plc to ensure that the aggregate annual volume of all carbon dioxide emissions of the Shell group, its suppliers, and...more
The European Commission has published a proposal to revise the EU's Aarhus Regulation that, if adopted, would expand the possibilities for NGOs to challenge EU administrative acts and omissions on the basis that they...more
As companies navigate the unprecedented effects on business operations and supply chains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, complying with local, state, and federal environmental laws and regulations has presented new...more
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation voted to approve the Modern Fish Act on Feb. 28, 2018. The Modern Fish Act has bi-partisan support but is opposed by commercial fishing interest and some...more
This post is the last in our three-part series about what manufacturers can expect in 2017. In my humble opinion, we saved the best for last – Environmental, Health & Safety. Citizen Science - With increasing...more
Regardless of whether you are a Trump supporter or Trump hater, and there certainly seems to be very few people who are indifferent to the guy, trying to prognosticate what he will do is very difficult. He is a political...more
The Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress has released the revised Shanghai Environmental Protection Regulations (in Chinese only) for public comment. The revised Regulations, which first came into force in 1997, apply...more
The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) posted on January 13, 2015, a paper entitled “NGO comments on Transparency measures for nanomaterials on the market: Working conclusions.” EEB, the Center for International...more
On Monday, EPA finally announced promulgation of its long-awaited rule governing cooling water intake structures at existing facilities. The rule is certainly important, but it’s not earthshattering and it may be more...more
Stormwater regulation is a thorny issue. There is widespread agreement that nutrient run-off can be a significant problem, but little agreement on what to do about it, since stormwater infrastructure is normally managed by...more