Environmental Law Monitor

October 31, 2024 EPA / Litigation

Frustrated by EPA’s Delay on Air Quality, Environmental Groups Tell the Agency: “NOx it Off!”

Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) is a very reactive, brown-hued gas commonly produced when fuels are burned at high temperature by motor vehicles, chemical plants, etc. Industries will often intentionally oxidize NOx to produce lacquers, dies, and Nitric Acid, which is basic component in both fertilizers and explosives. When NOx is released into the atmosphere as an industrial byproduct, the results contribute substantially to smog, ozone depletion, and acid rain. More directly, exposure to NOx by humans can result in respiratory difficulty and eye, nose, and throat …

October 31, 2024 California / Regulations

Posted by: Goldberg Segalla

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 …

October 24, 2024 Clean Water Act / EPA

Posted by: Karen Cullinane

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 …

Freight train on the railroad at sunrise. Aerial view

October 24, 2024 NEPA

Posted by: Sarah B. Mangelsdorf

What’s Next For NEPA?

The U.S. Supreme Court last week scheduled oral arguments for December 10 in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, a highly anticipated case that focuses on whether a federal agency should be required to consider environmental effects that it does not have direct authority to regulate and that do not occur near the project itself.

In other words, the court will determine whether the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires a federal agency to study environmental impacts beyond the proximate effects of the …

October 17, 2024 California / Climate Change

Posted by: Goldberg Segalla

California Retains Jurisdiction Over Fossil Fuel Companies Named in Climate Change Lawsuits

The ELM blog has covered several lawsuits filed over the past several years against major fossil fuel companies by plaintiffs seeking damages due to climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions. The claims in these lawsuits have been based on not only common law principles such as public nuisance, but also state laws, including California’s consumer protection laws.

While these lawsuits have had slight differences, one common theme running through them is the defense raised by the oil companies that state courts, like California’s, lack …

October 17, 2024 Emissions / EPA

Posted by: Larry D. Mason

U.S. Supreme Court Rejected Challenge to EPA Efforts to Curb Greenhouse Gas Emissions

On October 16, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an attempt to block the implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s latest effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from power plants while the EPA is being challenged in pending court proceedings, but three justices indicated they had concerns with the rule’s legality.

The October 16 order arises out the emergency stay applications filed by multiple Republican-led states, utility and coal industry groups after the D.C. Circuit Court rejected their stay bids in July. These parties …

October 10, 2024 EPA / PFAS

Posted by: Oliver E. Twaddell

EPA Proposes Addition of More PFAS and PFAS Categories to Toxic Release Inventory

As our blog has reported frequently, the Environmental Protection Agency announced an ambitious national strategy to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Dubbed a “roadmap,” the EPA says it is centered on three guiding strategies focused on research, restrictions, and remediation. Specifically: “Increase investments in research, leverage authorities to take action now to restrict PFAS chemicals from being released into the environment and accelerate the cleanup of PFAS contamination.” As part of this plan, we have blogged many times about the additions of various …

October 3, 2024 Nuclear Power Plants

Posted by: Goldberg Segalla

Betting on a power-industry glow-up, Big Tech goes nuclear to stop A.I.-driven energy meltdown

Artificial Intelligence is Big Tech’s newest toy. However, AI also requires massive amounts of energy to operate, which puts the industry’s climate commitments at risk. The sprawling data centers that Microsoft and other digital giants need are beginning to strain the nation’s existing power supplies. Meta Platforms recently reported last year’s emissions were roughly 70-percent above 2019 levels. Microsoft’s emissions jumped 40-percent in the three-year period through June 2023, while Google’s surged nearly 50-percent in the four years through December.

These energy needs have rapidly changed …

October 3, 2024 Emissions / Settlements

Posted by: Daniel L. Klein

Everything Oiled is Sued Again

It has the origins of a great American Success Story – in 1886, in the midst of the Second Industrial Revolution, a vast reservoir of oil was found in Lima, Ohio, prompting legendary entrepreneur John D. Rockefeller to hire John Van Dyke to construct an oil refinery right on the spot. German-American chemist Herman Frasch worked with Van Dyke to perfect a method for taking the sulfur out of Lima’s oil to make it more marketable. The results were explosive (figuratively); The ‘Solar Refinery,’ as …

September 26, 2024 Crypto / Legislation

Posted by: Karen Cullinane

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 …