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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 […]
The first case on the U.S. Supreme Court’s (SCOTUS) 2022 fall docket was Sackett v. EPA, which asked the Court to consider scaling back the EPA’s authority to regulate some types of wetlands under the Clean Water Act (CWA). One of the main issues in the case is to determine which test courts should use […]
Much news has been written about the U.S. Supreme Court’s (SCOTUS) June 2022 decision in West Virginia v. EPA. There have been dire headlines and equally dark predictions about what limited regulatory authority lies ahead for the EPA. In reality, the ruling has little to no impact on current EPA regulations. However, careful analysis of […]
President Joseph Biden Jr. emphatically stated climate change is the “number one issue facing humanity” during his campaign and vowed to shepherd the United States through the tough changes to transition the nation away from fossil fuel use to clean energy sources during his presidency. Biden has been stalled and hampered at almost every turn […]
The energy industry celebrates while environmental advocates weep on the heels of a June 30, 2022, U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) decision severely limiting the EPA’s authority to set greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards for existing power plants. The decision is a heavy blow to the Biden administration in its quest to transition the United States […]
The U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) declined to reinstate an order blocking the Biden administration from utilizing the social cost of greenhouse gas emissions (SC GHGs) as a key climate metric in Louisiana v. Biden on May 26, 2022. In February 2021, the U.S. Interagency Working Group (IWG) on the SC GHGs issued “Technical Support Document: […]
In a close 5–4 decision, on April 6, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) reinstated a Trump-era Clean Water Act (CWA) regulation that limited state and tribal authority in the permitting process for projects in their territory. History The CWA made it unlawful to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters unless […]
All eyes concerned with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are on the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) as regulated industry, the EPA, states across the nation, and environmental activists anxiously await the showdown scheduled to occur on February 28, 2022. On that date, SCOTUS will hear arguments in the West Virginia v. EPA case, which consolidates with […]
On January 13, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay of the COVID-19 vaccine-or-test emergency temporary standard (ETS) issued on November 5, 2021, by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The rule would require employers with 100 or more employees to implement a program of COVID-19 vaccination or regular testing and face coverings to […]
By a narrow margin, on June 29, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled states cannot use sovereign immunity as a defense to prevent federally approved pipeline projects from being built on state-owned land.