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President Joseph Biden Jr.’s campaign platform carried a commitment to confront long-standing environmental/climate injustices and inequities. Considering the historical fact that industry has been held accountable for pollution damages and largely bears the financial costs of pollution control measures in response to regulatory actions to address environmental justice (EJ) issues, these initiatives have significant impact […]
State Farm, the largest homeowners insurance company in California, recently announced it would stop “accepting new applications including all business and personal lines property and casualty insurance, effective May 27, 2023.” The company said the decision was made “due to historic increases in construction costs outpacing inflation, rapidly growing catastrophe exposure, and a challenging reinsurance […]
ClientEarth filed suit in February 2023 in the Court of England and Wales against the board members of Shell PLC for failing to manage the material and foreseeable risks posed to the company by climate change. The lawsuit, the first known attempt to hold board members personally liable, “alleges Shell’s 11 directors have breached their […]
In the last few weeks, the Biden administration issued guidance in two areas: 1) Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate Change and 2) Environmental Justice (EJ) in Air Permitting. To be prepared for new regulatory actions and practices, it’s important for industry seeking federal permitting or funding to be informed about how their projects will be […]
Thirty Big Oil companies, including Chevron Corp., Citgo Petroleum Corp., Exxon Mobile Corp., and Shell Oil Products Co., have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) to ask for its review of a combined group of climate change liability cases led by San Mateo County, California. The question presented to SCOTUS “encompasses a threshold issue that […]
In November 2022, hundreds of delegates, heads of state, business leaders, activists, and journalists went to Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, for the 27th United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP27) to discuss reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and how to battle climate change impacts. World leaders made several speeches during the conference, with UN Secretary General […]
Who pays for climate change damages? Industry or their insurance carrier? The first cases that will determine the answer to these questions are making their way through the legal system. In the last few years, several state and local governments across the country have filed lawsuits against energy companies for their alleged contributions to climate […]
President Joseph Biden Jr. announced a series of executive actions on July 20, 2022, to address the “clear and present” danger to the United States presented by climate change and promised additional upcoming executive actions over the next few weeks to combat “this emergency,” states a White House Fact Sheet. Biden announced the actions at […]
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), representing 7,500 of the EPA’s 14,300 employees, “signaling its dissatisfaction with the White House’s level of action on climate,” will ask the Biden administration to declare a climate emergency, reports Bloomberg Law. “The request represents a marker for the [AFGE] Council 238 when it sits down with the […]
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released recommendations on February 28, 2022, indicating the EPA should provide more direction to facilities for including climate change risks in their risk management plans (RMPs). Many facilities that manufacture, use, and store hazardous chemicals are regulated by the EPA and are required to have RMPs in place to […]