Environmental Law Advisor

State and local governments have weighed in at increasing frequency in past years. While some environmental issues are global in scope, local governments are progressively engaged on issues affecting climate, waste disposal, and environmental justice (EJ).

The regulated community faces a complex and evolving landscape. As we head into 2024, our team of energy, environmental, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) attorneys provide insights and guidance on how to navigate the changing environment.

2023 saw terms like “ESG,” “greenwashing,” and “circular economy” come into common use. We also saw a tsunami of other environmental, social, and governance (ESG)-related developments at the international, federal, and state levels.

On October 7, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed three new bills into law mandating disclosures and reporting related to greenhouse gas emissions, climate risks, and emissions reductions claims.

Environmental and energy issues were in the headlines for much of 2023.

A first-of-its-kind environmental justice (EJ) lawsuit filed by a group of Louisiana churches and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) was dismissed this week.

Everyone loves recycling. However, when it comes to plastic, questions about how recycling occurs and whether it can meaningfully occur generate a fair amount of controversy.

A recent Supreme Court of the State of Hawaii decision permitted climate-related claims against major petroleum and gas companies to proceed toward trial.

On November 2, 2023, the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated a 2021 decision by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that had halted the use on agricultural crops of the pesticide product known as chlorpyrifos.

Costs to clean up environmentally impacted real estate have continued to increase. A variety of factors have caused this trend including: listing of new contaminants, enhanced focus on contamination pathways like vapor intrusion, and changed circumstance caused by infrastructure challenges from shifting weather patterns and greater population density all pose risks to parties fulfilling cleanup obligations.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued its inaugural report highlighting recent activities related to the incorporation of environmental justice (EJ) principles into its enforcement efforts.

The US Supreme Court has announced it will evaluate whether “impact fees” associated with permits can violate the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution.

Sometimes where to begin is the hardest part. The US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recently released Toolkit is intended to help local and state governments start their environmental justice (EJ) journey through community engagement.

On September 28, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) posted a final rule that will require any entity that has manufactured or imported per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in any year since 2011 to report detailed information on PFAS usage.

While increased enforcement resulting from increased federal focus on environmental justice (EJ) issues poses risk to many businesses, how the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assesses and addresses EJ-related “cumulative risk” issues has the potential to create even more uncertainty.

“Joint and several” liability for environmental remediation costs is fundamental to the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).

Louisiana has been at the center of the Biden Administration’s prioritization of environmental justice (EJ) issues.

More so than any other issue, environmental justice (EJ) remains a central pillar of the Biden Administration’s regulatory agenda. Below, we’ll answer three EJ-related questions that the regulated community may struggle with this fall.

One might not expect that a climate-change case filed by a group of children could succeed.

The “Major Questions Doctrine” (MQD) has been the breakout star of the last two terms at the US Supreme Court.

The energy transition and increased public focus on environmental issues have strained the existing regulatory regime including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). NEPA directs agencies to conduct environmental assessments before taking “major federal actions.”

On July 21, 2023, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a long-awaited final rule that will make it difficult for sources to continue to rely on an “emergency” to avoid liability for permit violations under Title V of the Clean Air Act.

Effective and meaningful public engagement are “foundational principles of Federal regulatory development” and the Biden Administration has sought to remove barriers to public participation in the regulatory process.

The Biden Administration is in the process of revising a cog fundamental to federal policymaking. The cog, a guidance document issued by the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) entitled Circular A-4, has the potential to dramatically alter the regulatory environment.

The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards have joined the climate-disclosure reporting frameworks that take a financial materiality-led approach.