Your Guide to Emerging Issues in Environmental Regulation and Litigation.
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) …
As previously reported by ELM (here), the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida last year enjoined the federal government from “installing any additional industrial-style lighting … or doing any paving, filling, excavating, or fencing; or doing any other site expansion” of the detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz.” The District Court further …
On February 24, 2026, the Department of the Interior published its final rule in the Federal Register, overhauling the regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The Rule adopts the interim final rule published on July 3, 2025, with minor changes. NEPA was signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1970 and requires …
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 Last year, an “interim final rule” was put into effect that rescinded all White House regulations related to NEPA, which had outlined how environmental analyses should be conducted.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 …
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Aug. 21 ordered the federal government to refrain from sending additional detainees to the detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz” and to begin transferring detainees to other facilities within 60 days. The court further ordered that once all detainees are transferred, the facility must be dismantled, including the removal of all fencing, lighting, and generators. The court sided with tribal …
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams on Aug. 7 issued a temporary restraining order to pause construction on the controversial detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz” for two weeks pending argument on the underlying preliminary injunction action. Plaintiffs – which include the environmental non-profit groups, Friends of the Everglades, Inc. and the Center for Biological Diversity …
While shifting political winds don’t literally blow through the trees, their force and impact can cause environmental policy to lurch back and forth. For instance, in 2020, during the final quarter of the first Trump administration, the White House Counsel on Environmental Quality (CEQ) took steps to change the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by …
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) applies to a major federal action that significantly affects the quality of the human environment. On June 30, several federal agencies took their own federal action which will likely have significant impacts in how NEPA is implemented in the future. In particular, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Department of …
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that agencies preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) under the guidance of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) need only to consider the environmental effects of the “project at hand” and not those that are “separate in time and place.” The 8-0 decision handed down May 29 in Seven Cnty. …