Category: Regulations

Spring meadow and blue sky over grass field, countryside landscape
NEPA / Regulations
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Agencies Take Major Federal Action Significantly Affecting NEPA’s Future

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) applies to a major federal action that significantly affects the quality of the human environment. On June 30, several federal agencies took their own federal action which will likely have significant impacts in how NEPA is implemented in the future.

In particular, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Department of Agriculture (DOA), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Interior (DOI) and Department of Transportation (DOT) revoked their regulations which govern how these agencies handle their review of proposed projects under …

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Large coal fired power plant with smoking chimneys
EPA / Regulations
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New Proposed Rules Would Repeal Certain Regulations on Power Plants, Mercury and Air Toxics Standards

The Trump administration is proposing two repeals: one on regulations of power plants and the other on certain amendments to the 2024 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards.

The administration believes these regulations have “imposed massive costs on coal-, oil-, and gas-fired power plants, raising the cost of living for American families, imperiling the reliability of our electric grid, and limiting American energy prosperity.”

First: EPA is proposing to repeal all “greenhouse gas” emissions standards for the power sector under Section 111 of the Clean …

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EPA / Regulations
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EPA Announces Rollbacks on 31 Environmental Provisions

The new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin, announced March 12 the agency would be rolling back 31 key environmental provisions that regulate air pollution, water protections, and the energy sector. A few of the key rollbacks are:

  • Reconsideration of regulations on power plants aimed at reducing power plant emissions by setting standards on carbon dioxide emissions and regulations.
  • Reconsideration of mercury and air toxics standards, including standards aimed at coal-powered plants which sought to reduce pollutants and regulations requiring the safe management
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Majestic giants in Sequoia National Park in California, USA
NEPA / Regulations
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Navigating NEPA in the New Year

On January 31 — in Marin Audubon Society et al. v. FAA et al. — the D.C. Circuit Court declined petitions for en banc review of a panel’s November 2024 ruling that the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) does not have the legal authority to promulgate regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

The dispute centers around claims made by environmental groups that the Federal Aviation Administration and National Park Service violated NEPA when they approved tour flights over California’s Bay Area …

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oil refinery
California / Regulations
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Law Gives California’s Energy Commission Ability to Nudge Oil Refiners to Make Better Inventory Decisions

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on October 14 signed into law Assembly Bill X2-1, significantly increasing the authority of the California Energy Commission (CEC) to create requirements for the state’s oil refiners to preserve minimum inventories of state-compliant refined transportation fuels.

Authored by assemblymembers Gregg Hart and Cecilia Aguiar-Curry in conjunction with Sen. Nancy Skinner, the law take effect in January 2025 and expands the powers of the recently created Division of Petroleum Market Oversite (DPMO) within the CEC.

DPMO was created last year as …

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Supreme_Court
Regulations
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Living in a De Novo World – Life after Chevron

On June 28, in a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court in Loper Bright Enterprises, et al. v. Raimondo Secretary of Commerce, et al., held that federal courts must exercise independent judgment in deciding whether a federal agency has acted within its statutory authority. This decision upends 40 years of precedent set forth by the court’s prior finding in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council (“Chevron”). 

Until now, it was well known that Chevron was the legal standard in administrative law for determining …

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Ecological catastrophy
Climate Change / Regulations
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ITLOS Issues Historic Advisory Opinion on Climate Change and International Law

On May 21, 2024, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) published what has been deemed as an “historic” and “unprecedented” advisory opinion on climate change, international law, and on state obligations regarding climate change. Sought by the international organization called the Commission of Small Island States (COSIS), the historic nature of this opinion comes from the fact that this is the first time an international tribunal has issued an opinion clarifying the international law obligations on states binding them to protect …

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Aerial/Drone view of a wind farm with multiple wind turbines at sunrise
President Biden / Regulations
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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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Regulations
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New Federal Regulations Regarding Soot Create Challenges for States

Fine particle pollution – also known as soot – is a cause of respiratory disease, increased asthma symptoms, cancer, and cardiovascular dysfunction. Incomplete combustion of organic materials such as wood, fuel oil, plastics, and household refuse create soot – which is released from smokestacks, vehicle exhaust, wildfires, agricultural work and some forms of cooking. Soot is smaller in diameter than a human hair and is small enough to pass through human bloodstreams after inhalation.

This year, the Environmental Protection Agency implemented much more stringent standards …

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Close up of conveyor belt in bottling plant
PFAS / Regulations
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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 …

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