Author: Goldberg Segalla

Supreme_Court
Emerging Issues
Posted by:

Chevron with the Wind? In What Might be a SCOTUS Preview, Federal Courts Chip Away at Expansive Regulatory Interpretations

Regulations — and executive agencies’ interpretation of those regulations — can make or break companies, and even entire industries.  For decades now, the judiciary’s approach to administrative review, found in the landmark 1984 case Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. National Resources Defense Council, largely deferred to government agencies’ interpretation of their governing statutes on the grounds that such agencies were best positioned to interpret those statutes. “Chevron deference” became a foundational framework for administrative law.  

But in recent years, critics have argued that Chevron…

Continue Reading
Close-up of pumping unit in mountainous oil field
California
Posted by:

New California Bill Aims to Restore Local Governments’ Ability to Limit or Ban Certain Oil and Gas Extractions

As reported to our readers in August 2023, the California Supreme Court in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. County of Monterey, (2023) Cal. LEXIS 4349, struck down a Monterey County initiative that would have banned oil and gas drilling and imposed stiff restrictions on oil and gas developments in the county. The decision brought an end to nearly 7 years of litigation concerning Chevron’s San Ardo Oil Field with its over 530 million in estimated ultimate recovery of oil is California’s eight-largest oil field.

A new …

Continue Reading
Emerging Issues / Emissions / EPA
Posted by:

EPA Issues Final Emission Standards

The Environmental Protection Agency announced March 20 final national pollution standards applicable to cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty vehicles. These standards apply to vehicles manufactured beginning in 2027. The new standards will be phased in on vehicles manufactured until 2032. 

The EPA estimates the new standards will avoid more than 7 million tons of carbon emissions. The standards also are estimated to provide over $100 billion in net benefits to society – including $62 billion in reduced fuel costs and $13 billion in public health …

Continue Reading
celandic Landscape of geothermal power plant
Clean Power
Posted by:

Some Like It Hot: Geothermal Energy May Become a Watershed Clean-Energy Source

Chevron is part of a group of old-school fossil-fuel companies investing hundreds of millions of dollars into geothermal-energy projects aiming to use fracking-type technology to find and access underground heat — heat that might very well become the world’s most-stable source of clean power. 

In sufficient quantities, underground heat can be used to generate a consistent source of carbon-free electricity, making it superior to both wind and solar power, both of which suffer from issues of unreliability.

While finding suitable heat sources in places with …

Continue Reading
New Zealand flag
Climate Change
Posted by:

New Zealand Supreme Court Allows Private Plaintiff’s Novel Climate Change Tort Claim to Go to Trial

The Supreme Court of New Zealand recently removed some significant roadblocks to bringing private law claims against major corporate greenhouse (GHG) emitters with a decision made in the case of Smith v. Fonterra.

The decision marks what is seen as one of the first occasions where a court in common law recognized the possibility that private lawsuits can be used to challenge the greenhouse emissions of a privately held company.

In its unanimous decision, the New Zealand court overturned a lower court’s earlier decision …

Continue Reading
Low angle view of airplane flying against sky,Tallinn Airport,Estonia
Clean Air Act / Climate Change
Posted by:

FAA to Implement Final Rules for Most Large Aircraft to be Built

As part of the United States Aviation Climate Action Plan – which strives to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions for United States Aviation by 2050 – the Federal Aviation Administration announced earlier this month its final rules to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from most large aircraft in U.S. airspace. 

The new rules go into effect on April 16, and requires aircraft built after January 1, 2028 to incorporate more fuel efficient technologies. The rule applies to aircraft of certain sizes, regardless of the fuel …

Continue Reading
Close up of conveyor belt in bottling plant
PFAS / Regulations
Posted by:

Regulatory States: Further Limitations on PFAS-Containing Products Now in Effect

Right out of the gate in 2024, we’ve seen several states further regulate the sale of PFAS-containing products. On Jan. 1, a Connecticut statute took effect prohibiting the sale or promotion of any “food package to which PFAS has been intentionally introduced during manufacturing or distribution in any amount.” The law defines “food packaging” to mean “any package or packaging component that is applied to, or in direct contact with any food or beverage.”

Connecticut defines “intentionally introduced” to mean any “deliberately utiliz[ing] regulated metal …

Continue Reading
Flag of California
California
Posted by:

California Air Resources Board Receives Legal Challenge to the State’s New Climate Disclosure Laws

Last week, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) was named as a defendant in a new U.S. District Court, Central District of California lawsuit challenging California’s two new climate disclosure and financial reporting laws introduced late in 2023 — Senate bills SB 253 and SB 261.

The case is Chamber of Com. Of the U.S. v. Calif. Air. Res. Bd., C.D. Cal., No. 2:24-cv-00801, complaint 1/30/20. The basis for plaintiffs’ lawsuit claims the two new laws unconstitutionally require disclosure by qualifying public and privately held …

Continue Reading
Net full of salmon being hauled onto purse seiner
Emerging Issues
Posted by:

The Fishing Case that Could Put the Chevron Doctrine Out to Sea

On January 17, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, No. 22-451, an environmental-law dispute concerning fishery management in federal waters.       

The case reached the court via a petition of four commercial fishing companies challenging a federal fisheries regulation, the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which provides that the National Marine Fisheries Service can require private vessels to “carry” federal observers onboard to allow for the enforcement of the agency’s regulations (federally-prescribed fishing “catch” limits being the most …

Continue Reading
Filling glass of water from the tap
Wastewater
Posted by:

Anyone Want Some Wastewater to Drink?

Last month, the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) unanimously approved regulations to allow water systems throughout California to develop treatment protocols to quickly convert wastewater into drinking water. This process is known as direct potable reuse and should allow municipalities to generate a climate resilient water source while reducing the amount of wastewater that is discharged into California’s rivers and oceans. Recycled water is also a more reliable source of drinking water than imported water or stormwater sources – the availability of which …

Continue Reading