Digital Futuristic abstract background of Money currency in cyberspace

Can Crypto Mining Maintain its 2025 Regulatory Hot Streak?

The election of Donald Trump back into office was cheered by cryptocurrency enthusiasts across the country for his public support of the industry. After all, the president even has his own memecoin ($TrumpCoin, of course) and has issued executive orders proclaiming support for the industry during his first days in office. Yet, even if efforts to rein in  the energy-guzzling crypto mining industry at the federal level (previously covered by ELM here and here) are abandoned, miners still face regulatory challenges targeting …

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Golden Gate bridge

Did San Francisco Awaken the Ghost of the Chevron Doctrine? The Supreme Court Weighs In

During the first week of oral arguments of its new term, the U.S. Supreme Court heard City & County of San Francisco v. Environmental Protection Agency. (Audio of the roughly 90-minute proceedings can be found here.)

This case marks the court’s first look at the Clean Water Act following its decimation last term of the Chevron deference doctrine in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (covered by ELM here), in which the court reversed long-standing precedent to hold that federal courts must exercise …

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Server room with big data

Cryptomining Faces More Legislative Hurdles in US

As cryptocurrency has increased its notoriety in the US, so has its demands on the US electrical grid. Indeed, the US is witnessing a constantly proliferating number of cryptomining facilities, which are large spaces – often former factories or defunct power plants – filled with computers using large amounts of electricity to “mine” crypto by solving mathematical equations as fast as possible. This drain on energy has been met with unease in some parts of the US, however, such as New York, which …

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Flag of the US State of Louisiana

EPA Disparate Impact Assessments Permanently Halted by Louisiana Federal Court

On August 22, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana permanently blocked the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice from implement Civil Rights Act Title VI “disparate impact” regulations within the state of Louisiana. Disparate impact assessments are typically undertaken by the federal government when determining harms to communities significantly impacted – typically lower-income communities and communities of color – by large governmental projects and industrial or commercial permitting changes. Disparate impact assessments have been prioritized by …

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Yellow school buses parked diagonally

August Means Back-to-[Microplastics] School

Plastics are inescapable. They are used in packaging, home supplies, medical devices, and countless other items. Naturally then, over the past several years, and as covered by ELM and GS’s Toxic Tort and Environmental Law team, microplastics have gained notoriety in the United States. These small fragments of plastic, smaller five millimeters, have increasingly been released into the environment — often into bodies of water — via production, use, or degradation. Microplastics have also been found in aquatic life and human organs.

Reflecting …

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United States Environmental Protection Agency sign on the Clinton building

Won’t You Be My [Non-Emitting] Neighbor? SCOTUS Stays EPA’s Federal Emissions Plan for States

Last week, in a 5-4 opinion, in Ohio v. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Supreme Court granted applications for a stay of the implementation of the “Good Neighbor” Plan, the EPA’s federal emissions reduction rule, set in 2015. The application of this rule was intended to address transboundary ozone pollution that can exacerbate health hazards. As previously explained by ELM, the Clean Air Act’s Good Neighbor provision enabled the EPA to require each state to implement regulations meant to reduce emissions that would …

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Aerial/Drone view of a wind farm with multiple wind turbines at sunrise

New NEPA Rule Eases Permitting Process while Advancing Environmental Justice

On the final day of April 2024, a week and a half after Earth Day, the Biden-Harris Administration announced that the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) finalized a rule intended to simplify and modernize the federal environmental review process under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). A pillar of environmental law passed in 1970, NEPA requires federal agencies to assess the environmental, social, and economic impacts of a wide array of agency activities, such as land management, infrastructure construction, and permitting decisions. This …

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Close-up of exhaust fan on factory roof

EPA’s Final EtO Rule Finally Finalized

The Environmental Protection Agency on March 14 announced final amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) applicable to 90 large commercial sterilization facilities that use ethylene oxide (EtO), a chemical to which long-term exposure can cause cancer or other serious injury.

The EtO rulemaking process has engendered some criticism – most dramatically in lawsuits filed against the EPA by advocates representing neighbors of EtO facilities who claim the rulemaking process was too little too late (covered by ELM here). But …

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Stack of papers paperwork on office desk table. With copy space.

New SEC Climate Disclosure Mandate Faces Pushback

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last week approved the implementation of standardized climate disclosure rules (posted here) for publicly traded companies and in public offerings. No longer can companies simply post potential risks on their websites or through emails; rather, they must now include them in official SEC filings such as annual reports and registration statements.

The overarching goal is intended to enhance transparency concerning how companies address environmental and climate threats. The SEC’s decision was also the result of investors’ demand for …

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Crypto Currency Mining Rig

Feds Zero in on Energy-Guzzling Crypto Mining Giants

As closely monitored by ELM over the last couple of years, the expansion of cryptocurrency mining in the United States has resulted in the industry simply devouring the country’s energy resources (see here for general background on cryptocurrency mining effects on energy use, and here for an explainer on the federal government’s increased attention to crypto’s energy use).

Some analysts have concluded that the crypto mining industry releases between 25 and 50 million tons of CO2 annually – roughly the same amount as the U.S. …

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