Earlier this month, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals stayed EPA’s disapproval of the Texas and Oklahoma regional haze state implementation plans, as well as EPA’s promulgation of its own federal implementation plan. The...more
April 22nd marked Earth Day, an annual celebration of environmentalism. The headline event of Earth Day 2016 was having 175 countries sign the Paris Agreement, which represents a global commitment to reducing greenhouse gas...more
Even though the U.S. Supreme Court has stayed the implementation of EPA’s Clean Power Plan, planning continues at the state level on carbon emission reduction strategies. ...more
In this eight-week alert series, we are providing a broad look at current and emerging issues facing the energy sector. Attorneys from across the firm will discuss issues ranging from environmental disclosures and risk...more
The legal dispute over one of the Obama Administration’s signature regulatory programs – the Clean Power Plan (the “CPP”) – took an unexpected turn on February 9, 2016, when the Supreme Court granted a request by 27 states...more
Would you consider this a “Water of the United States” subject to the Clean Water Act? Well think again, because under a new rule, even a dry streambed or channel could be considered a “Water of the U.S.” and thus...more
In early February, in an extraordinarily rare move, the Supreme Court of the United States ("SCOTUS") stayed implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency's ("EPA") Clean Power Plan ("CPP") before the Court of Appeals...more
Nationwide Stay of WOTUS Rules Remains in Effect - On February 22, 2016, the Sixth Circuit ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear numerous consolidated petitions filed in both district and circuit courts across the...more
Opposition to the Clean Power Plan (CPP), promulgated by the EPA and championed by the Obama administration as a path to a cleaner energy future, recently came to a head as the Supreme Court granted opponents a stay halting...more
The Clean Power Plan (CPP) is without a doubt one of the most complex and controversial regulatory undertakings in the EPA’s history, so much so that it was challenged in court – twice – before it was even published in the...more
In a potential blow to EPA and President Barack Obama’s legacy on climate change (that was softened with Supreme Court Justice’s passing on February 13, 2015) the U.S. Supreme Court --in an unprecedented and extraordinary...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has blocked implementation of President Obama’s signature plan to address climate change pending a decision by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on the plan’s legality. The Clean Power Plan is being...more
Renewable Energy Focus - President Obama requests significant funding boost for clean energy R&D - Solar Industry Magazine - Feb 9 - President Barack Obama’s 2017 budget proposal for the U.S. Department of...more
ENERGY AND CLIMATE DEBATE - The Senate continues this week its floor debate on the first broad bipartisan energy package in nearly ten years. The Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015 (S. 2012), which cleared,...more
Energy and Climate Debate - The bipartisan Senate energy bill is on hold, following a disagreement over federal aid to address the Flint, Michigan, water crisis. In the meantime, President Obama released his fiscal year...more
In a virtually unprecedented move, the Supreme Court yesterday issued an order staying the Clean Power Plan, the cornerstone of President Obama’s environmental agenda and the most significant step the country has ever taken...more
On February 9, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a major setback to the Obama Administration’s efforts to curb emissions of carbon dioxide from existing power plants in the U.S. In a 5-4 split decision, the Court granted...more
Environmental and Policy Focus - Supreme Court deals blow to President Obama’s efforts to regulate power plant greenhouse gas emissions - New York Times - Feb 9 - In a major setback for President Obama’s...more
The Paris Outcome - After two weeks of intense negotiations at the Paris climate conference, 195 countries finally adopted the Paris Agreement and a Decision to limit “the increase in the global average temperature to...more
Late in the day on Tuesday, February 9, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed, for at least a year and possibly longer, the implementation of the Clean Power Plan (CPP), the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s)...more
The 5-4 decision temporarily blocks further execution of the EPA’s new plan to cut carbon emissions from existing power plants. On February 9, the US Supreme Court handed a potentially significant defeat to the Obama...more
The United States Supreme Court ("Supreme Court"), in a rather surprising and unprecedented move, issued a ruling staying the Environmental Protection Agency's ("EPA") implementation of the Clean Power Plan. As you know, the...more
The U.S. Supreme Court’s order on February 9, 2016 staying EPA’s implementation of the Clean Power Plan (CPP) will create at least a year of uncertainty about the shape of the future electric power regulatory framework, with...more
In a 5-4 vote, the United States Supreme Court stayed the implementation of the Clean Power Plan (CPP) through the ultimate Supreme Court determination on the merits, assuming the inevitable writ of certiorari from the D.C....more