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Freight train on the railroad at sunrise. Aerial view
NEPA
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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 …

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Town-with-smog
California / Climate Change
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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 …

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emissions
Emissions / EPA
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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 …

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EPA Offices, Washington DC
EPA / PFAS
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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 …

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Nuclear reactors against blue sky
Nuclear Power Plants
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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 …

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emissions
Emissions / Settlements
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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 …

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Server room with big data
Crypto / Legislation
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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 California Republic in San Francisco
California
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California May Put Its Historic Climate Disclosure Laws on Hold

In an update to the Environmental Law Monitor’s continuing coverage of California’s historic climate disclosure laws, California State Sen. Scott Weiner put forth on August 13 proposals to Senate Bill 219 that would delay the effective date of the Golden State’s 2023 emissions and climate-related financial risk corporate disclosure laws.

As our readers may remember, signed into law back in November 2023, the legislation at issue were SB 253 and SB 261, which created landmark greenhouse gas emission and climate-related financial risk reporting requirements …

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Train-Derailment
Ohio / Settlements
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Is a Settlement of the Ohio Train Derailment Environmental Incident Imminent?

On September 13, plaintiffs in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio action pending against Norfolk Southern arising out of last year’s train derailment and toxic chemical spill in East Palestine filed a motion seeking final approval of a $600 million settlement.

The settlement includes a $162 million attorneys’ fees payment. The residents and others affected by the incident argued that the settlement is reasonable and do not need to wait until remediation is complete to evaluate the costs Northern Southern and …

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Scientist with beaker
PFAS
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National Science and Technology Council’s PFAS R&D Strategy Plan Highlights Substantial Deficiencies

Recently, as part of the Joint Subcommittee on Environment, Innovation, and Public Health, the PFAS Strategy Team of the National Science and Technology Council released a report titled the “Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Federal Research and Development Strategic Plan.”

The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) is the principal means by which the executive branch coordinates science and technology policy across the diverse entities that make up the federal research and development (R&D) enterprise. Through the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for …

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