Your Guide to Emerging Issues in Environmental Regulation and Litigation.
Nurdles are small industrial plastic pellets produced by petrochemical plants that serve as the building blocks for new plastic products. Nurdles can escape from chemical plants, factories, trains, and trucks during production and transportation. Because they are light enough to travel long distances through the air, Nurdles have been found in various waterbodies throughout the Midwest. …
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently held that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) likely improperly froze roughly $20 billion in clean energy grants and thus, repealed an injunction that kept the funds in place while the validity of the grants is contested in court. By way of background, in 2024, the …
A recent application submitted under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) has drawn criticism from environmental groups because it involves the proposed use of PFAS to cool equipment used in data centers. The TSCA requires companies to apply to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before manufacturing or importing new chemical substances, which are those not …
The second half of 2026 is shaping up to be a pivotal period for U.S. environmental policy. Federal agencies and lawmakers are advancing proposals that could significantly alter the regulatory landscape for climate policy, industrial permitting, wetlands protection, and infrastructure development. Together, these efforts reflect a broader shift toward accelerating economic development and project approvals …
Ethylene oxide is a colorless, typically odorless, flammable gas used to make other chemicals, plastic, and to sterilize certain products. Commercial sterilization includes processes that use ethylene oxide — also known as EtO — to sterilize or fumigate materials such as medical equipment and supplies, spices, and other miscellaneous items. This process is designed to eliminate …
A year has passed since New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced her intention of building a zero-emission nuclear power plant and making the state a nuclear powerhouse (covered by ELM here). Since then, energy-monopolizing data centers have proliferated throughout the United States (covered by ELM here) to the extent that Hochul recently declared a moratorium …
In May, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a final rule to revise the 2023 Technology Transitions Rule (TTR) (previously reported by ELM here). The final revisions to the TTR extend compliance deadlines for the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), making a wider variety of refrigerants available to businesses while still meeting statutory requirements under the …
On July 14, New York became the first state to implement a statewide moratorium on building new hyperscale data centers. Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order banning lawmakers from approving environmental permits for the construction of new data centers 50 megawatts or larger for a period that Hochul expects to last one year – …
The U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming term features several cases with potentially far-reaching consequences for environmental law and regulation. While not all these cases arise in an explicitly environmental context, each one could meaningfully shape how environmental claims are litigated, how agencies enforce environmental requirements, and how procedural rules play out in high-stakes disputes. Below is …
The Environmental Protection Agency on June 24 announced proposed procedural changes for environmental reporting requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The agency’s proposed changes incorporate three key environmental actions: First, these proposed changes reflect legislation passed in Congress under the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (FRA), which mandated that Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) …