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Biden and the Environment: the First Three Weeks

By Patrick J. Paul Three weeks into the administration of President Biden and Vice-President Harris, early indications suggest a commitment to maintaining campaign promises with respect to numerous energy and environmental-related issues including climate change and environmental justice. On Inauguration Day, January 20, President Biden executed a number of executive orders seeking to undo changes […]

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Trump vs. Biden: The Important Role that Climate Change, the Environment and Pollution Will Not Play in the 2020 Presidential Election

by Raymond S. Heyman We are just weeks away from the national Presidential election. The two major party candidates, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joseph Biden, could not be farther apart philosophically than they are on the important issues of climate change and environmental stewardship. President Trump’ s position is summarized in the […]

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RH
Former Partner

President Declares National Emergency: Foreign Adversaries Creating Vulnerability in U.S. Electric Grid

by Kelly A. Daly On May 1, 2020, President Trump declared a national emergency relating to threats facing the bulk-electric power system in the United States.  Specifically, the President issued Executive Order on Securing the United States Bulk-Power System, which concludes that foreign adversaries are increasingly creating vulnerabilities in the U.S. electric grid that supports […]

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KD

Cooperative Federalism and the Clean Water Act: The States Finally Get their Due

by Michael C. Ford, Lucas J. Narducci and Patrick J. Paul There is no shortage of dramatic, if not predictable, commentary in the wake of the Trump Administration’s release of its “Navigable Waters Protection Rule” (“Rule”) ranging from the indignant to the hyperbolic, and the outright inane: This bulldozing of clean water protections would be […]

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Trump Proposes Rules to Expedite Infrastructure Projects

by Patrick J. Paul On January 9, 2020, in one of the more significant environmental proposals of the current administration, President Trump’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) proposed updates to its regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). According to the White House, the rules are designed to modernize […]

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EPA to Take Action to Improve Cost-Benefit Analyses for Agency Rulemakings

By Christopher P. Colyer On Tuesday, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published an internal memo outlining new agency efforts to improve the consistency and transparency of cost-benefit analyses performed in conjunction with agency rulemakings. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler’s memo directs the agency’s offices of Air and Radiation, Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, Land […]

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CC

Coal Exports: The Trump Administration and Western States Take Action to Open Ports for Shipment of Coal

by Denise A. Dragoo On April 10, 2019, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order seeking to address permitting and policy obstacles preventing the export of coal and other energy resources through West Coast ports. New port facilities and improvements have been halted or delayed by state, local and tribal governments in California, Washington and […]

President Trump’s Budget for a Better America May Not Be Better for the EPA

by Raymond S. Heyman On Monday, March 11, 2019, the Office of Management and Budget issued President Trump’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2020, “A Budget for a Better America”, (the “Budget Proposal”) in the amount of $4.7 trillion. As in years past, the Budget Proposal will be scrutinized for what it includes (and increases) […]

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RH
Former Partner

Trump EPA Proposes Limitations to WOTUS Rule

by Patrick J. Paul In a long anticipated move, on Tuesday December 11, 2018 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed further revisions to the federal Clean Water Act’s definition of “waters of the United States,” (WOTUS), clawing back the number of waterways subject to federal protection that was expanded greatly during the Obama Administration […]

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Climate Change Debate Rages On

by Patrick J. Paul With 2019 just around the corner, recent historic hurricane and fire damage and Democratic mid-term election gains in the House and across many states will cause climate change impacts, policy and legislation to take center stage, notwithstanding the Trump administration’s doubts. For example, On November 27,  a bipartisan bill, H.R. 7173 […]