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.
U.S. EPA Announces Fourth Update to Environmental Justice Mapping Tool: EJSCREEN 2.3
On July 9, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) announced a fourth update to its environmental justice (EJ) mapping and screening tool, EJSCREEN, under the Biden administration. EPA describes the tool as “a starting point for agency considerations of environmental justice” and generally uses the tool to identify areas that may have higher environmental burdens and inform several Agency functions, including permitting, enforcement, outreach, and compliance.
Phase 2 Revisions to U.S. National Environmental Policy Act Regulations Streamline Process, Expand Agency Review
On Wednesday, May 1, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) published Phase 2 of its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) rulemaking, concluding the Biden-Harris administration’s multiyear effort to “simplify and modernize” the federal environmental review process. CEQ’s Phase 2 rulemaking is broader and more comprehensive than Phase 1 — which primarily restored three narrow elements of the NEPA regulations to their pre-2020 form — and incorporates amendments as directed by Congress under the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) and BUILDER Act of 2023, including page and time limits for environmental assessments (EA) and environmental impact statements (EIS). (more…)
Louisiana Federal Court Enjoins EPA’s Use of Disparate Impact Requirements in State Permitting Actions
On Tuesday, January 23, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana granted a preliminary injunction filed by the State of Louisiana seeking to halt the efforts of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in imposing disparate impact-based mandates under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act in permitting decisions. The state contends that Title VI prohibits only intentional discrimination and, as a result, EPA’s disparate-impact regulations in 40 C.F.R. §§ 7.10-180 are an unlawful attempt by EPA to impose its environmental justice policy goals in official permitting decisions. According to Louisiana, EPA’s efforts to advance disparate impact-based mandates without explicit statutory authorization runs afoul of the major questions doctrine, which requires agencies to act in accordance with explicit congressional mandate for matters of major political or economic significance.
The Enforcement Angle: David Uhlmann and OECA
Join Sidley for the Environmental Law Institute’s People Places Planet Podcast series, “The Enforcement Angle.” Through this series, Sidley partners discuss state and federal enforcement of environmental laws and regulations with senior enforcement officials and thought leaders on environmental enforcement in the United States and globally. The featured guests offer their insights into the challenging environmental issues facing corporations today. (more…)
U.S. EPA Updates Environmental Justice Mapping Tool for a Third Time: EJSCREEN 2.2
On June 26, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) announced via e-mail to its EJ ListServ the third update to its environmental justice (EJ) mapping and screening tool, EJSCREEN. EPA uses EJSCREEN to inform several Agency functions, including permitting, enforcement, outreach, and compliance.
White House Announces New ‘Ocean Justice Strategy’
On June 7, 2023, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) published a request for information (RFI) in the Federal Register seeking input on its planned Ocean Justice Strategy (the “Strategy”). The RFI describes the Strategy as an effort to integrate environmental justice principles into ocean-related activities of the federal government. The Strategy could have wide-ranging impacts on the development of ocean energy resources.
The Enforcement Angle: Driving California Toward Carbon-Neutrality with Dr. Steven Cliff
Join Sidley for the Environmental Law Institute’s People Places Planet Podcast series, “The Enforcement Angle.” Through this series, Sidley partners discuss state and federal enforcement of environmental laws and regulations with senior enforcement officials and thought leaders on environmental enforcement in the United States and globally. The featured guests offer their insights into the challenging environmental issues facing corporations today.
Biden Administration Reaffirms and Reflects on Commitment to Environmental Justice
The Biden administration has recently reinforced the President’s environmental justice (EJ) agenda through two actions. Stakeholders who engage with the federal government should be aware of how the administration is expanding these efforts, which inform the government’s enforcement actions and review of projects under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
U.S. EPA Releases Draft National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution
On April 21, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the draft “National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution” that could have serious implications for the regulated community, including the packaging industry, retailers, plastic manufacturers, solid waste management facilities, and recycling facilities, among others. According to the draft strategy, EPA is seeking to eliminate the release of plastic and other waste from land-based sources into the environment by 2040 through the following objectives: reducing pollution during plastic production, improving postuse materials management, preventing trash and micro/nano plastics from entering waterways, and removing escaped trash from the environment. Within these objectives EPA identified various research and regulatory actions under consideration. Among the regulatory actions under consideration, EPA signaled it was exploring new rules under the Toxic Substances Control Act for advanced recycling facilities that use pyrolysis to process recovered feedstocks into recycled plastics. The agency also called for ratification of the Basel Convention, which the United States agreed to in the 1990s but failed to ratify, as another approach to addressing international plastic waste.
