The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Auer doctrine, deferring to the Department of Veterans Affairs' interpretation of an ambiguous regulation in a lawsuit concerning disability benefits. A veteran challenged the lower court's application of the doctrine, arguing that the APA's judicial review provisio...
The D.C. Circuit dismissed a petroleum refiner's petition to review an EPA document interpreting a portion of the Energy Independence and Security Act that directs the Agency to perform periodic reviews of renewable fuel thresholds for gasoline. The refiner argued that the Agency incorrectly interpr...
There is a movement among companies to use more renewable energy and less energy obtained from fossil fuels. Some are pledging to go “100% renewable,” while many others have set goals to rely on substantial percentages of renewable energy. In addition to setting these goals, many companies report on how much renewable energy they currently use, and convey this information in annual sustainability reports or in publicly issued statements and news releases.
In his recent statements and testimony before the U.S. Congress, Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt has expressed doubt he has the legal authority to limit his unrelenting campaign to lease fossil fuels on America’s public lands. He has supplemented this by offering a rather bizarre argument that he has no such obligation because carbon emissions are being curbed more in the United States than in many other countries. The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) reported not long ago that these emissions account for about one-quarter of total U.S. carbon emissions.
Cooperative federalism can lead to more efficient and pragmatic environmental protection, and allow states to develop effective programs tailored to their needs and resources. Nevertheless, the future of the federal-state relationship in the environmental context is uncertain as state and federal priorities come into conflict: for instance, EPA’s proposal to revoke California’s authority to regulate tailpipe emissions of greenhouse gases. Recent reports have begun a discussion on the future of cooperative federalism and environmental protection, but significant questions remain unanswered.
The U.S. Supreme Court vacated a dismissal of a landowner's challenge to a town ordinance on takings grounds. The landowner argued the ordinance, which requires cemeteries on public and private property to be kept open and accessible to the public during daylight hours, effected a taking of her prop...
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a state law banning uranium mining on private lands in Virginia. A mining company argued the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) preempted the law and reserved to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) alone the authority to regulate uranium mining based on nuclear safety concerns...
The Federal Circuit affirmed a dismissal of landowners' lawsuit against the government for flooding that resulted when a federal land conservation program induced an adjacent landowner to build and maintain a levee. The landowners argued that the flooding, which rendered their land unfit for cultiva...
A federal district court granted the city of Baltimore's motion to remand to state court its climate change case against oil companies. The city alleged it sustained climate change-related injuries from greenhouse gas pollution to which the companies had substantially contributed. The companies argu...
A state high court held that a borough council was allowed to consider residents' testimony regarding firsthand experiences with a natural gas extraction company's hydraulic fracturing facility in a neighboring township in a hearing on the company's conditional use application to construct and opera...