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Just How Arbitrary Does EPA Have to Be to Be Arbitrary and Capricious?
Last Friday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated EPA’s rule adding the West Vermont Drinking Water Contamination Site to the National Priorities List, finding EPA’s decision to be arbitrary and...
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EPA Must Produce Any Agency Records Supporting Administrator Pruitt’s...
Last Friday, EPA was ordered to produce documents, in response to a FOIA request, on which Administrator Pruitt relied in stating on CNBC that: “I would not agree that [carbon dioxide] is a primary...
View ArticleMichèle Ma Belle
Michèle B. Corash, one of our giants of environmental law and my dear friend, mentor, and partner retired from active practice earlier this year. She, her unique persona, and her achievements are well...
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WOTUS: Legal Issue or Scientific Issue?
Last month, EPA and the Army Corps issued a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in support of their efforts to get rid of the Obama WOTUS rule. It’s a shrewd but cynical document. It’s shrewd,...
View ArticleStrong Headwinds Face Water Quality Trading in the Chesapeake
The Chesapeake Bay watershed covers 64,000 square miles in parts of Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. When the six states and the...
View ArticleWOTUS Lives! . . . at Least in Half the States (for Now)
On August 16, a federal judge in South Carolina invalidated the Trump Administration’s suspension of the rule defining “waters of the United States” (WOTUS), under the Clean Water Act. In South...
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How Much Does Trump Even Care About Deregulation?
Rick Glick’s September 11 post discusses Judge David Norton’s August 2018 decision to issue a nationwide injunction against the Trump Administration’s “Suspension Rule,” which delayed implementation of...
View ArticleThe D.C. Circuit Court Coal Combustion Conclusion: “C” is for Cookie, that’s...
As our blue friend, The Cookie Monster, looks for words that begin with “c” he immediately settles upon a single favorite, the cookie. There is a bias in the selection by The Cookie Monster, as he...
View ArticleWe May Not Always Have Paris, But Perhaps We Can Do Better Than Paris
Last week, the Climate Leadership Council released an analysis demonstrating that the “Baker Shultz Carbon Dividends Plan” would result in greater reductions in greenhouse gas emissions than the US...
View ArticlePFAS Compounds vs. Legionella -- Which is the bigger threat?
Recently, Per- and Poly-Fluoroalkyl Substance (PFAS) compounds have been dominating the national environmental news. U.S. E.P.A. has named them as a priority for action. In the several areas where...
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A Sliver of Hope for the Government’s Remaining NSR Enforcement Cases?
Earlier this month, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals granted something of a reprieve to EPA’s New Source Review enforcement initiative. The Court first confirmed what everyone other than EPA and DOJ...
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A Time to Pivot, Reset, and Recommit to Core Principles
These past months have been turbulent times for my old agency, EPA. Shortly before this writing, Scott Pruitt resigned in a cloud of allegations about ethical and judgment lapses, proving once again...
View ArticleImpact of Midterm Elections on Environmental Protection - A Green Wave, and a...
Environmental protection was “federalized” in 1970 under President Nixon, with the creation of the EPA and the launch of several decades of federal statutes and regulations designed to make uniform the...
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Two Strikes Against the Administration’s WOTUS Suspension Rule
In August, a judge in South Carolina issued a nationwide injunction against the “Suspension Rule,” which delayed the effective date of the 2015 Waters of the United States rule. Now, a judge in...
View ArticleOde to Angus: The Macbeth Report
In the Summer of 2017, ELI undertook a special project in memory of our dear departed colleague Angus Macbeth. We did so with support, encouragement, and input from across the ELI and ACOEL communities...
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Any Press Is Good Press
Last week, the Washington Post (subscription required) published an article about the Trump Administration’s inability to defend many of its policies in court. Yours truly was among those quoted. I...
View ArticleNorth to the Future: Alaska and the Risks of Pursuing a Trump Legacy
On the last Friday in March, Judge Sharon Gleason of the Federal District Court for the District of Alaska issued two opinions in closely-watched cases* concerning federal public lands and waters in...
View ArticleWoe is WOTUS
When the Supreme Court decided that the district courts had jurisdiction over challenges to the Obama administration WOTUS rule, I described it as a victory of the “give me a break” doctrine of...
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If It Walks Like a Duck and Talks Like a Duck, It May Still Not Be Sauce for...
Earlier this week, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the “Wehrum Memo,” which reversed EPA’s longstanding policy of “once in, always in” regarding MACT jurisdiction, was not final agency...
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Environmental Protection Is an Afterthought at the Environmental Protection...
Last week, EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers promulgated the final rule repealing the 2015 rule defining the Waters of the United States. The repeal rule is 172 pages in its pre-publication version....
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