Your Guide to Emerging Issues in Environmental Regulation and Litigation.
The U.S. Supreme Court on June 25 decided Monsanto Co. v. Durnell, 146 S. Ct. 2001 (2026), holding that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), 7 U.S.C. § 136v(b), expressly preempts a state-law failure-to-warn claim that would require a cancer warning on a pesticide label that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved …
A coalition of more than 20 states and several cities led by New York Attorney General Letitia James lodged a petition on Oct. 1 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s recent repeal of greenhouse gas-emission limits for coal-and-gas-fired power plants (covered by Goldberg Segalla’s ELM here: …
Less than a month after the Northern District of New York invalidated New York State’s Climate Change Superfund Act (see our prior blog on this decision here), a second federal court has reached the same result. Judge P. Kevin Castel of the Southern District of New York on Sept. 23 granted summary judgment declaring the …
The Trump administration on Sept. 28 released new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, easing the fuel economy requirements that were strengthened under President Biden. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated that the rollback will increase American auto manufacturing, cut unnecessary regulations, and reduce car prices. Proponents, including National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, further stated …
PFAS remains at the forefront of environmental regulation and litigation, with product labeling requirements emerging as the newest battleground. While no federal law currently requires consumer-facing PFAS labels, several states have enacted their own disclosure and labeling requirements, creating a fragmented regulatory landscape for manufacturers. At the federal level, the EPA’s efforts have focused on …
Under Connecticut’s new law — Connecticut General Statutes §22a-903c — manufacturers, distributors, and sellers of certain consumer products containing perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFAS), commonly known as “forever chemicals,” are now, as of July 1, subject to new labeling and reporting requirements. The law will be enforced and overseen by Connecticut’s Department of Energy and …
Earlier this month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a new scientific study with the goal of improving its understanding of what pollutants may be present in drinking water. The research will go beyond traditional testing methods to screen for a broad array of pollutants, including pharmaceuticals, PFAS, and more than 1,000 other potential contaminants. …
This past Monday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized the repeal of rules, established during the prior administration of President Joe Biden that limited greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas-fired power plants. The repeal eliminates virtually all the greenhouse gas standards established in April 2024 under the Clean Air Act. EPA Administration Lee Zeldin …
Extended producer responsibility (EPR) has moved from a policy aspiration to a compliance reality. Over the past several years, a growing number of states have enacted packaging EPR laws that shift the cost and logistics of managing packaging waste onto the producers who put that packaging into the marketplace. Oregon has been at the leading …
Just days before the 25th anniversary of 9/11, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani held a press conference on Sept. 8, announcing the release of approximately 170,000 pages of previously undisclosed city records regarding post-9/11 air quality. The documents were made available shortly thereafter via a searchable, September 11 public records portal. The release of …