Playing Nice with Others – EPA and State Cooperation In Today’s World
As the Obama Administration comes to an end and the Trump Administration is about to begin, I want to reflect on the current relationship between EPA and state environmental agencies. I have been...
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The NSR Regulations Still Make No Sense: The 6th Circuit Reverses the DTE...
Last week, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed – for the second time – a District Court decision granting summary judgment to DTE Energy in the United States’ case alleging that DTE Energy had...
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The Conservative Case For Chevron Deference
With GOP control of Congress and the White House, conservatives appear to have Chevron deference in their crosshairs. Put simply, I don’t get it. There are at least two good reasons why conservatives...
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The Conservative Uphill Slog for a Carbon Tax
Earlier this week, the Climate Leadership Council rolled out The Conservative Case for Carbon Dividends (note the absence of the “T” word in that title!). It’s a serious proposal and, if we lived in a...
View ArticleDeja Vu All Over Again!
Has it really been 36 years! It seems like I have been here before. In 1981, I was Assistant General Counsel with the Texas Department of Water Resources, a predecessor agency of the current Texas...
View ArticleRULES ARE (APPARENTLY) MADE TO BE FRACKED . . .
The news flies fast and heavy from Washington almost daily on the fate of every manner of environmental program, rule or regulation. An exciting time to be an environmental lawyer. The latest entrant...
View ArticleEarth Day Texas—People, Planet, and Profit—Key Legal Issues for a Protective...
On March 16th, Reuters reported that President Trump’s administration has proposed a 31 % cut to EPA’s budget, explaining: “Consistent with the President’s America’s First Energy Plan, the budget...
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The Latest Executive Order: Any Kind of Consistency Is the Hobgoblin of...
Make no mistake, the Executive Order signed by President Trump at EPA yesterday is a big deal. Time will tell whether the Administration’s U-turn on the Obama rules currently in litigation, such as...
View ArticleTRUMP, TARIFFS, TERRA, and TWEETS
Regardless of political leanings or perspectives held regarding this President and his administration or the likely effectiveness of tariffs in global trade, we likely agree that creating more good...
View ArticleSlashing EPA’s Budget Will Hinder Efforts to Improve Environmental Regulations
Since the election of President Trump and appointment of EPA Administrator Pruitt, more than a few articles and blogs have been written about the new administration’s plans to dismantle EPA,...
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Should Courts Defer to EPA’s Scientific Expertise if EPA Gets Rid of Its...
Earlier this week, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected challenges to the Federal Implementation Plan EPA promulgated after finding that Arizona’s regional haze State Implementation Plan was...
View ArticleTrump’s “Tortured” Maneuvering Can Be Legal Maneuvering
Bob Sussman is a former high-ranking Obama and Clinton EPA official with a stellar academic and professional background. He recently published in Inside EPA a thought-provoking piece entitled “Trump’s...
View ArticleDoes Chevron Ever Permit EPA to Rewrite a Statute? EPA’s Release Reporting...
On Tuesday, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia vacated EPA’s final rule governing reporting of air releases from animal feeding operations. The Court found that EPA had no statutory...
View ArticleRCRA 2020: Has That Vision Been Lost -- Or Has EPA Just Temporarily Misplaced...
The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) was enacted in 1993 to improve governmental performance by requiring federal agencies to (1) develop five-year strategic plans containing long-term,...
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Scott Pruitt Just Solved All of the Problems with Superfund. Not.
Last week, EPA Administrator Pruitt issued a memorandum requiring that all Superfund remedies estimated to cost at least $50 million be approved by the Administrator. I’m not optimistic that this will...
View ArticleCan We Really Expect An Administrator Not To Administrate?
This month EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced that he will personally pass judgment on any Superfund remedy estimated to cost more than $50 million. Revisions to CERCLA Delegations of Authority...
View ArticleA 2-Fer
Trump’s 2-for-1 Executive Order 13771 (January 30, 2017) requires that two existing regulations be eliminated for each newly enacted regulation in order to control regulatory costs and burdens. The EO...
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Superfund Reform, Part 2: Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due
Last week, I offered less than fulsome praise of EPA Administrator Pruitt’s announcement that he was taking control of remedial decisions for big Superfund sites. Now, he’s followed up with a...
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Trump's "2 for 1" EO: Can You Say "Arbitrary and Capricious"?
Last month, Mark Walker posted about Executive Order 13771. Mark’s post was generally favorable, noting that a number of other countries have implemented some version of what is known as a “regulatory...
View ArticleThe Millennial Environmental Voice: We Can’t Hear You Now
The United States’ environmental agenda shifted abruptly with the election. Instead of implementing greenhouse gas initiatives, bolstering incentives for renewable energy projects, and fine-tuning...
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