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The Case for a Legislated Market in Minimum Recycled Content for Plastics

The plastic packaging industry faces mounting shareholder and public pressure to reduce the environmental impact of post-consumer plastic packaging. The recycled plastics market in the United States is positioned for growth; however, developing a reliable supply of post-consumer plastics will be expensive because of problems in the recycling market. Reliance on export markets has limited investment in domestic recycling capacity, local collection programs vary considerably, and many consumers are ignorant about what can be recycled.

Bad Policy, Disastrous Consequences: Coal-Fired Power in Puerto Rico

In September 2019, in an article entitled “The Market Has Spoken: Coal Is Dying,” Matt Egan of CNN Business wrote, "President Donald Trump has gutted regulations on the coal industry, falsely claimed that windmills cause cancer and installed a former coal lobbyist to lead the [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency] EPA. In the face of those efforts to rescue coal country, America’s aging fleet of coal-fired plants continues to shrink. New plants are not getting built. Trump’s vow to rip up environmental rules has been overwhelmed by an even more powerful force: the free market.

Animal Legal Defense Fund v. Reynolds

A district court preliminarily enjoined Iowa from enforcing a statute that criminalized undercover investigations of slaughterhouses and other animal facilities. Environmental groups argued that the state statute impermissibly restricted their free speech under the First Amendment because it was a c...

Neighbors Against Bison Slaughter v. National Park Service

A district court denied a neighborhood group's request to temporarily block bison hunting near Yellowstone National Park. The group argued that NPS and USDA violated NEPA when they authorized an annual bison hunt at a location on the edge of the park called Beattie Gulch, and sought a temporary rest...

Ministerio Roca Solida, Inc. v. United States

The U.S. Claims Court granted in part and denied in part the U.S. government's motion for summary judgment in a challenge against FWS for rerouting spring waters that had previously flowed through church property into a restoration channel in an effort to save a native fish species. The church argue...

State Authority to Regulate Mobile Source Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Part 1: History and Current Challenge

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have proposed a new reading of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA) that governs federal fuel economy standards. The regulations would relax federal greenhouse gas tailpipe standards and fuel economy standards, and preempt emissions standards put in place by California and adopted by other states.

Ongoing Actions, Ongoing Issues: Trying Again to Free Federal Dams From the ESA

Federal dams have been the focus of major disputes involving application of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), especially its §7 prohibitions on federal actions causing jeopardy to protected species. Operating agencies and project beneficiaries have sought to keep the ESA from restricting dam operations, including by arguing that such operations are non-discretionary and thus exempt. In proposing new ESA implementing rules, the Trump Administration suggested, but did not formally propose, that ongoing federal actions should be considered part of the “environmental baseline” for §7 purposes.