Your Guide to Emerging Issues in Environmental Regulation and Litigation.
On March 24, in Kelsey Cascadia Rose Juliana et al. v. United States of America et al., the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a petition to hear an appeal from Our Children’s Trust from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision concluding that a lawsuit from youths alleging that current federal energy policies harm their future …
In a landmark decision, a North Dakota jury has ordered Greenpeace to pay over $660 million in damages to Energy Transfer, the company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). This verdict stems from Greenpeace’s involvement in the 2016-2017 protests against the pipeline’s construction near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Energy Transfer accused Greenpeace of defamation, …
The Environmental Protection Agency announced March 10 it will be revising the definition for the Waters of the United States Rule (WOTUS). In a news release it said, “[t]he agencies will move quickly to ensure that a revised definition follows the law, reduces red-tape, cuts overall permitting costs, and lowers the cost of doing business …
The new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin, announced March 12 the agency would be rolling back 31 key environmental provisions that regulate air pollution, water protections, and the energy sector. A few of the key rollbacks are: These announced rollbacks are only the first step in a lengthy process required to enact …
Ask any New Yorker what their top five complaints are about the city and either “traffic” or “gridlock” (or both) are all but certain to be represented. Indeed, you don’t get to be called “the Business Capital of the World” without piling enough people on to the Island of Manhattan to get that business done, …
The Aqueous Film-Forming Foam (AFFF) MDL has taken a significant step forward with the introduction of a new case management program intended to streamline the complex process of product identification. The program’s structured approach is designed to enhance efficiency and accuracy in identifying the sources of contamination, thereby facilitating more effective legal proceedings. The AFFF MDL …
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, in San Francisco v. EPA, held in a 5-4 decision that the EPA cannot enforce requirements in wastewater permits that “do not spell out what a permittee must do or refrain from doing.” San Francisco’s Oceanside plant, which has a combined sewage treatment plant and stormwater control system, discharges …
Despite longstanding bipartisan support, the U.S. Senate on Feb. 27 — just as the House did the day prior — passed a resolution withdrawing the waste emissions charge (WEC), which is a fee on methane waste emissions caused by oil and gas producers. The vote served as one of the first attempts by this Congress …
In 2024, the EPA proposed a PFAS rule with a January 17, 2025, comment deadline in response to questions from the industry regarding the effective date of supplier notifications for mixtures or trade name products containing a per- or polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) listed on the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). 90 Fed. Reg. 10043. Stakeholders questioned …
Environmental groups are once again urging the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to compel the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to expedite its re-evaluation of atrazine, a widely used herbicide with significant environmental and health concerns. This legal push highlights the ongoing struggle between regulatory bodies and environmental advocates over the safety and regulation of …