[Podcast] Catching Up on Canadian Environmental Regulation
The Great Green North: A Discussion on Canada’s Environmental Regulations
Recent Actions on Ag Biotech by EPA’s Emerging Technologies Branch
I’ve always taken the position that, no matter how much I disagree with the President, the Senate should confirm his executive branch nominees (nominations to the Judicial Branch are different, since judges don’t work for the...more
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently unveiled its National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution (Plastic Pollution Strategy), a comprehensive document that outlines voluntary measures and regulatory...more
While still a newly minted lawyer early in 1977, I had the good fortune to land a job with the then brand-new Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. This coincided with the 1976 election of Jimmy Carter as...more
What Happened - On Monday, October 14, 2024, the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecyle) opened a public comment period on changes to the previously proposed regulations implementing the...more
On March 31, Circular Action Alliance (“CAA”), the Producer Responsibility Organization (“PRO”) for California, Colorado, and the only contender for PRO in Oregon, submitted the first draft of its Program Plan (“the Plan”)...more
As discussed in our earlier Client Alerts, California recently passed several laws requiring certain climate-related corporate disclosures, including, for example, regarding emissions and climate-related financial risk. As...more
Earlier this week, New York State Attorney General Letitia James filed suit against PepsiCo. At the core of the case are allegations that PepsiCo.’s widespread use of single-use plastics has created or contributed to a...more
On September 5, 2023, the Corporate Leaders Group Europe (CLG Europe) published a position paper urging the European Union to cut its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 90% by 2040, and asked EU member states to...more
In the Byzantine complexity of the Clean Air Act (CAA), EPA’s “once in, always in” policy regarding hazardous air pollutants (HAP) has been particularly confounding. And now it’s back in play, through regulatory revisions...more
California lawmakers seek to raise the bar on climate regulation through the California Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (Senate Bill 253), which would require large public and private companies to disclose their...more
Minnesota has begun enacting substantive rules and standards for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). In May, Minnesota enacted a PFAS statute that defines PFAS, creates a reporting requirement, and bans sale or...more
The UK Climate Change Committee (CCC) recently released its 2023 statutory report, evaluating the UK’s progress towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions and meeting carbon reduction targets. This report, mandated by the...more
On January 10, the Biden-Harris Administration released the U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization: A Joint Strategy to Transform Transportation, which is designed to cut all greenhouse emissions from the...more
Environmental regulators and ministers from across the EU member states provisionally approved the introduction of the world’s first major carbon border tax, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which will require...more
The COP15 biodiversity conference in Montreal concluded yesterday with the announcement of an agreement, apparently reached over the objection of certain African nations, to, among other things, conserve 30% globally of land...more
On December 6, 2022, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by a bipartisan vote of 350-80. The NDAA includes the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2022, which includes...more
As a follow up to one of our team’s ELM articles earlier this month, (here), the EPA launched a brand-new environmental justice office signaling, for the first time, that clean air, clean water, and environmental justice are...more
A recently-issued multi-agency report highlights a path for the U.S. government to replace fossil fuel-based jet fuel with renewable sources to address climate change and encourage infrastructure development. The U.S....more
On March 29, 2022, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, supported by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, tabled Canada’s new 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan (the “Plan”). The Plan describes the existing and new measures...more
On March 11, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced it was proposing new regulations that would require certain facilities located close to navigable waters create and submit Facility Response Plans...more
Last week, the Ocean Protection Council adopted California’s Statewide Microplastics Strategy. The strategy is the first of its kind in the nation, focusing on outlining steps to address microplastic pollution, an emerging...more
Throughout the first year of the Biden-Harris Administration, Environmental Justice (EJ) has been a focus of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. As I wrote about in November 2021, since January 2021 EPA has released...more
The California Air Resources Board ("CARB") is conducting public workshops during the fall of 2021 as part of its planning for the next Climate Change Scoping Plan, which will lay out strategies for achieving California's...more
The first action proposes first-time emission guidelines to reduce methane emissions from almost 1 million existing oil and gas wells, almost 2,000 existing interstate natural gas compressor stations, and over 500 existing...more
On October 1, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its new Draft Strategic Plan for 2022 through 2026 (Strategic Plan). EPA is required to develop the Strategic Plan to communicate EPA’s priorities...more