Environmental Law Monitor - Goldberg Segalla

LATEST INSIGHTS

February 19, 2026 • Environmental Law Monitor, EPA, PFAS

EPA’s Focus on PFAS to Persist with Ongoing Efforts to Increase Knowledge of the Large Family of Compounds

The Environmental Protection Agency recently issued a press release on its efforts over the last year regarding PFAS contamination, noting it “represents just the beginning of the Trump Administration’s fight against the risks of PFAS contamination.” Some of the work the agency highlighted included “better testing and detection, direct community support, enforcement, clear public education, commonsense …

Industrial Factory Emitting Smoke During Golden Sunset

February 12, 2026 • Clean Air Act, Environmental Law Monitor, EPA

The PEA Rule at a Crossroads: Industry Defends EPA Approach as Environmental Groups Push Back

In a February 5, 2026 filing before the D.C. Circuit, a coalition of industry groups strongly endorsed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s method for determining when upgrades at industrial facilities must undergo federal air‑quality review. The dispute centers on the EPA’s “Project Emissions Accounting” (PEA) approach under the Clean Air Act’s New Source Review (NSR) …

Cryptocurrency mining rigs in a data center

February 12, 2026 • Emerging Issues, Environmental Law Monitor

The Cloud’s Shadow: Unpacking the Environmental Cost of Data Centers

Data centers are specialized facilities that house the infrastructure needed to run an organization’s computers, servers, network equipment, data storage drives, and other hardware essential for processing, storing, and distributing large amounts of data. Data centers are not new; they arose with the invention of the first general purpose computers. However, in recent years, fueled …

Distant-view-of-smoke-stacks-and-polluted-sky

February 5, 2026 • Clean Air Act, Environmental Law Monitor, EPA

Winds of Change: EPA Takes Measures to Roll Back the Clean Air Act’s ‘Good Neighbor Rule’

The Environmental Protection Agency has taken measures to roll back the “good neighbor” rule, which limits smokestack emissions affecting downwind areas in neighboring states under the Clean Air Act (CAA). The rule is intended to address transboundary ozone pollution that can exacerbate health hazards by requiring each state to implement regulations meant to reduce emissions …

January 29, 2026 • Emissions, Environmental Law Monitor, Illinois

Illinois Supreme Court Resolves Hotly Contested Pollution Exclusion Issue with Significant Impact for Ethylene Oxide and Other Environmental Litigation

On January 23, 2026, in a case involving an insurance coverage dispute, the Illinois Supreme Court answered a question certified by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals about whether and, to what extent, a permit or regulation authorizing emissions is relevant to the application of a pollution exclusion contained in a standard-form commercial general liability …

January 29, 2026 • Clean Water Act, Environmental Law Monitor, EPA

Streamlining Progress or Scaling Back Protections? EPA Proposes Section 401 Revisions

On January 13, 2026, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a proposed rule to update procedural provisions of Section 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA), which governs the water quality certification process for federally licensed or permitted projects. Section 401 of the Clean Water Act requires that before a federal agency can issue a …

January 29, 2026 • Clean Power, Environmental Law Monitor, EPA

States Lose Motion to Freeze EPA Solar for All Funds During Litigation

Earlier this month, Seattle U.S. District Court Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright denied a motion for a preliminary injunction that sought to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from cutting solar power grant programs during the pendency of the litigation challenging the EPA’s termination of the Solar for All Program. Back in October 2025, 23 states and …

Bottles Plastic Tubes For Cosmetics Packaging

January 22, 2026 • Environmental Law Monitor, PFAS

Beauty Isn’t Always Natural: FDA Releases Long-Awaited Report on PFAS in Cosmetic Products

Recently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released its “Report on the Use of PFAS in Cosmetic Products and Associated Risks”, evaluating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and their use in cosmetic products. The Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 (MoCRA) – the most significant expansion of the FDA’s authority to regulate cosmetics in …

Beautiful nature at morning in misty spring forest with sun

January 16, 2026 • Environmental Law Monitor, NEPA

Will NEPA Rollbacks Spell Economic Growth and Efficiency or Will the Environment Bear the Cost of Deregulation?

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) has been one of the nation’s bedrock environmental laws since its enactment on January 1, 1970. Last year, an “interim final rule” was put into effect that rescinded all White House regulations related to NEPA, which had outlined how environmental analyses should be conducted. On January 7, 2026, the …

January 16, 2026 • California, Climate Change, Environmental Law Monitor

Corporate Speech and Climate Policy Collide: The Appeal at the Center of California’s Disclosure Laws

In 2023, the California State Assembly approved two bills – SB 253 and SB 261 – as part of the state legislature’s climate accountability package. SB 253 mandates that public and private companies doing business in California with annual gross revenues above $1 billion disclose their greenhouse gas emissions, and SB 261 requires that companies …