Emerging Issues Archives - Environmental Law Monitor

December 4, 2025 Emerging Issues / New York

How New York State’s Superfund Amendments are Expanding the Use of Environmental Liens

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s recently enacted budget bill for 2025-2026 includes several important changes to the New York State Superfund program.

The Superfund was created to help enforce state hazardous waste regulations and to investigate and remediate contaminated sites. Overall, the amendments clarify the program and strengthen the state’s ability to enforce hazardous waste laws.

Separately, New York’s Navigation Law regulates petroleum discharges and imposes strict liability on petroleum dischargers. This means any person who discharges petroleum, regardless of fault, is liable for all cleanup and …

October 23, 2025 Crypto / Emerging Issues

Posted by: Karen Cullinane

As Temperatures Drop, Can States Stop Soaring Electricity Costs by Regulating Crypto Mining?

While the Trump administration has spent 2025 slamming the brakes on U.S. expansion of renewable energy by defunding solar and wind projects, Americans have seen their electricity costs skyrocket by more than an average of 30 percent, a trend not expected to abate any time soon.

The rapid expansion of cryptocurrency mining facilities and artificial intelligence data centers throughout the United States – requiring extraordinarily high levels of energy use, taxing electrical grids and resulting in higher electrical bills for surrounding communities throughout the …

Young plant in the morning light on nature background

April 24, 2025 Climate Change / Emerging Issues

Posted by: Goldberg Segalla

Earth Day 2025: States Step Up for Biodiversity Amid Global Goals

As we reflect on environmental stewardship this week, the accelerating loss of biodiversity remains one of the most critical challenges facing our planet. Healthy ecosystems provide essential services – clean air and water, pollination, climate regulation, and more – underpinning human well-being and economic stability. While international efforts aim to address this crisis, action within the United States increasingly relies on state-level leadership and legal innovation.

Globally, the primary framework for conservation is the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). In 2022, parties to the …

People are holding banner signs while they are going to a demonstration against climate change

March 28, 2025 Emerging Issues

Posted by: Larry D. Mason

U.S. Supreme Court Ends Youth Climate Change Suit

On March 24, in Kelsey Cascadia Rose Juliana et al. v. United States of America et al., the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a petition to hear an appeal from Our Children’s Trust from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision concluding that a lawsuit from youths alleging that current federal energy policies harm their future by exacerbating climate change.

In an order with no explanation, the Supreme Court Justices denied the petition for a writ of certiorari, which means the Ninth Circuit Court of …

March 28, 2025 Emerging Issues / Legislation / Litigation / North Dakota

Posted by: Goldberg Segalla

Is Environmental Activism Litigation in Trouble?

In a landmark decision, a North Dakota jury has ordered Greenpeace to pay over $660 million in damages to Energy Transfer, the company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). This verdict stems from Greenpeace’s involvement in the 2016-2017 protests against the pipeline’s construction near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Energy Transfer accused Greenpeace of defamation, trespassing, nuisance, and civil conspiracy, alleging that the organization orchestrated violent protests and disseminated false information about the pipeline, leading to significant financial losses.

The DAPL project…

March 13, 2025 Emerging Issues / New York

Posted by: Daniel L. Klein

New York Fighting the Federal Government to Clear the Air on Congestion Pricing

Ask any New Yorker what their top five complaints are about the city and either “traffic” or “gridlock” (or both) are all but certain to be represented.

Indeed, you don’t get to be called “the Business Capital of the World” without piling enough people on to the Island of Manhattan to get that business done, and the result has been that the ‘City that Never Sleeps’ has ‘Traffic that Never Moves.’

At least, until recently, when, on January 5, after six years in development, the …

January 23, 2025 Emerging Issues / EPA

Posted by: Oliver E. Twaddell

EPA Finishes Risk Evaluation of 1,4-Dioxane under TSCA, Initiates Risk-Management Actions

Over the last six years, our firm has written extensively about 1,4-Dioxane, from U.S. EPA’s proclamations to state laws and regulations, litigation, and distinctions between federal and state perspectives. (see compilation of blog posts here.)

Today we are providing an update on the EPA’s final revised Unreasonable Risk Determination for 1,4-Dioxane, which includes new air and water exposure pathways that had not been previously evaluated, as well as evaluation of 1,4-Dioxane generated as a byproduct.

According to EPA, 1,4-Dioxane is primarily used as …

November 15, 2024 Emerging Issues

Posted by: Goldberg Segalla

A salted battery: will sodium-ion technology change the electric-power game?

We have relied upon lithium-ion batteries to power electric vehicles and mobile phones, among other things, almost since the inception of their respective industries. But the mining and processing necessary to manufacture these batteries provides one of their major drawbacks—not only does their production pose environmental and human costs, but their improper disposal can inject toxins into the environment.

Sodium, which is both cheaper and more environmentally friendly than lithium, recently emerged as a promising alternative. Sodium-ion batteries also last much longer than their lithium-based …

November 7, 2024 Emerging Issues

Posted by: Oliver E. Twaddell

What the TFA! Is Trifluoroacetic Acid Another “Forever Chemical” on the Rise?

A couple of months ago, our blog published an article on the exploding ubiquity of Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) in the environment.

TFA is a breakdown product of several hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC). It is regulated under the Montreal Protocol (MP), and hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) used mainly as refrigerants.

Trifluoroacetic acid is (1) produced naturally and synthetically, (2) used in the chemical industry, and (3) a potential environmental breakdown product of a large number (>1 million) chemicals, including pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and polymers.

In 2016, EPA stated that the “formation …

August 8, 2024 Emerging Issues

Posted by: Daniel L. Klein

The Devil You Know… is not TFA (yet)

Through the modern industrial age, there’s always been a push-and-pull between the utility of our innovations and the risks they often inadvertently create. In the 70’s, we discovered the synthetic pesticide that was so effectively combating typhus and malaria, DDT, was causing breast cancer and impairing neurological development in babies. In the 80’s and 90’s, the CFCs that we used as aerosol propellants and refrigerant turned out to be damaging to the ozone layer.

Recently, it’s gotten more complicated: We still enjoy the increased power …