The New Cold War: Risk, Sanctions, Compliance Episode 24: “Elephants and the Mafia: Combatting Criminal Wildlife Trafficking”
[Written by: Mike Smiszek, Senior Trade Advisor, Braumiller Consulting Group] Several tribunals and courts were established at various periods of America’s history to resolve trade-related litigation, both at the trial and...more
Several “red” states and three energy industry NGOs have filed a motion for summary judgment in their Louisiana Federal Court challenge to EPA's 2023 rule regarding the state water quality certifications required under...more
Sam Hess of Inside EPA has a fulsome report on EPA's everything but the kitchen sink attempt to avoid a nationwide freeze of its most recent definition of Waters of the United States in litigation filed by a North Carolina...more
The shipping industry is an extensive and foundational mode of global transportation and resource distribution. The men and women who work aboard the U.S. fleet are routinely exposed to varying types of cargo, machinery, and...more
A recent Supreme Court of the State of Hawaii decision permitted climate-related claims against major petroleum and gas companies to proceed toward trial. The decision in City and County of Honolulu v. Sunoco LP allows...more
The “Major Questions Doctrine” (MQD) has been the breakout star of the last two terms at the US Supreme Court. Earlier this month, the Fourth Circuit used MQD in upholding the dismissal of a nongovernmental organization’s...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
Three Judges of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals have dismissed the American Chemistry Council's complaint challenging EPA's interim health advisory levels for PFAS in drinking water. The ACC's case was dismissed, not for...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
This week a Federal Judge in Montana threw out a NGO's citizen suit against the Yellowstone Mountain Club for what the NGO claimed were unpermitted discharges of nitrogen to a Water of the United States. I wrote about this...more
Standing is a major issue in nearly all environmental citizen suit cases. A split panel of the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court’s award of a $14.25 million Clean Air Act (CAA) penalty against a...more
Inside EPA's water policy maven, Lara Beaven, is reporting on the EPA's Science Advisory Board's judgment that "EPA could benefit from SAB review of the science supporting [EPA's] proposed definition of Waters of the United...more
Some of you may recall that late last year an NGO filed a lawsuit against an operator of a wastewater treatment facility in the mountains of Montana alleging that the reuse of water treated by the facility was the "functional...more
On June 29, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Agency for International Development, et al. v. Alliance for Open Society International, Inc., et al., No. 19-177, holding that Congress may lawfully condition...more