The Future of Environmental Review of Federal Permitting Remains Unsteady as White House Seeks to Rescind NEPA Regulations
On February 19, 2025, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) submitted a proposed Interim Final Rule rescinding its regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The Rule will become effective 45 days after its publication in the Federal Register, marking the end of nearly 50 years of CEQ regulations serving as the foundation for federal environmental reviews. This Interim Rule comes right at the deadline set by President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) 14154—Unleashing American Energy—which rescinded CEQ’s authority to issue NEPA regulations and revoked President Carter’s EO 11991, which had originally directed CEQ to promulgate implementing regulations.
States Challenge New York’s Climate Superfund Act
The Climate Superfund Act (Act), signed into law by New York Governor Kathy Hochul on December 26, 2024, faces a substantial lawsuit filed by a coalition of states and industry participants. As described in our previous post here, the Act authorizes the state government to unilaterally levy billions of dollars in fines on fossil fuel companies over the next two decades for alleged contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Top 5 Energy Actions You Should Know from President Trump’s First Day
On January 20, 2025, President Trump began his second term with the signing of 26 executive orders (EOs), which included the recission of almost 80 EOs of the previous administration. Trump’s orders contain both repeals of key Biden Administration policies and calls to agency action to reassess treatment of major energy issues associated with domestic energy production. Here are the top five actions to know from President Trump’s first day as the new administration begins its reshaping of U.S. energy policy for his second term in office.
Top 5 Environmental Actions You Should Know from President Trump’s First Day
On January 20, 2025, President Trump began his second term with the signing of 26 executive orders (EOs), which included the recission of almost 80 EOs of the previous administration. Trump’s orders contain both repeals of key Biden Administration policies and calls to agency action to reassess treatment of major environmental issues associated with motor vehicles, energy development, and climate change. Here are the top five actions to know from President Trump’s first day as the new administration begins its reshaping of U.S. environmental policy for his second term in office.
Federal Government Withdraws Proposed Climate Disclosure Requirements for Federal Contractors
On January 13, 2025, the federal government withdrew a proposed rule that would have required government contractors to publicly disclose their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and set emissions reduction goals. The withdrawal comes on the eve of the transition to the second Trump administration, which is expected to take a very different approach to climate regulation and disclosure than has been advanced during the Biden administration.
New York Passes Second-in-the-Nation Climate Change Superfund Act
On Thursday, December 26, 2024, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law the second-in-the-nation Climate Change Superfund Act (the “Act”). The Act had first passed the New York legislature in June 2024, shortly after Vermont’s Climate Superfund Act became law. See, Sidley Update.
EPA Publishes First-Of-Its-Kind Framework for Considering Cumulative Impacts Across Agency Actions
On November 21, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published Notice of a newly developed draft framework intended to provide all EPA programs with a shared reference point for determining when and how to analyze or consider cumulative impacts—defined broadly to include the totality of exposures to combinations of environmental stressors and their effects on health and quality-of-life outcomes. Keeping pace with the Biden administration EPA’s environmental justice drive, key goals of the Interim Framework for Advancing Consideration of Cumulative Impacts include empowering EPA to (1) more fully and accurately characterize the realities communities face, (2) pinpoint the levers of decision making and identify opportunities for interventions that improve health and quality of life while advancing equity, and (3) increase meaningful engagement, improve transparency, and center actions on improving health and environmental conditions in communities.
Vermont and New York Climate Acts are First in a Wave of Likely Climate Change Cost Recovery Laws
On May 30, 2024, Vermont’s Republican governor, Phil Scott, allowed Vermont’s S 259 — also referred to as the “Climate Superfund Act” — to become law without his signature. The stated goal of this law is to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
U.S. EPA Issues Draft Final Oil and Gas Methane Rule
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a draft of its final oil and gas methane rule on December 2, 2023. It may be some time before the final rule is officially published in the Federal Register, starting the clock on the rule’s compliance obligations. Interested parties will need that extra time to fully digest the 1,690-page draft final rule, which addresses methane emissions from new (in subpart OOOOb) and existing sources (in subpart OOOOc). Here are some of the rule’s key aspects to consider. (more…)
U.S. Publishes Fifth National Climate Assessment
On November 14, 2023, the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) published the Fifth National Climate Assessment. The National Climate Assessment (NCA) is a federal initiative formed under the Global Change Research Act of 1990, which requires a report to the President and the Congress every four years that integrates, evaluates, and interprets the findings of the USGCRP; analyzes the effects of global change on the natural environment, agriculture, energy production and use, land and water resources, transportation, human health and welfare, human social systems, and biological diversity; and analyzes current trends in global change and projects major trends for the subsequent 25 to 100 years. Before this NCA, four assessments were published (in 2000, 2009, 2014, and 2017).
