Environmental Law Reporter

An ELI Breaking News Public Webinar This fall, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a rule updating the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) definitions and exclusions. This rule will cancel EPA's regulation of pollutant discharges from vessels or other floating crafts not secured to the seabed beyond 3 miles from the shore.

Emeritus Professor of Energy Law and Politics, University of Texas Building a durable national energy policy has proven remarkably difficult, even when electoral victories appear to create opportunities for change. The Environmental Law Institute has long been committed to nonpartisan dialogue on environmental law and policy.

It was just last year that the U.S. Supreme Court decided Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County. Since then, the Court’s decision has reverberated in every branch of government. This is the first in a series of posts about the direction of NEPA, sketching out what’s been happening in the federal agencies, courts, and Congress.

An ELI Public Webinar Tools and analytical frameworks that extend beyond domestic law have become increasingly important as U.S. environmental law intersects with international obligations and as environmental activities cross borders. Comparative environmental law, the systematic study of how different national legal systems address environmental problems, offers such a tool.

In two proclamations issued in July, President Trump once again acted to strip protections from Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Bear Ears National Monument. His decision to invoke the Antiquities Act to significantly reduce the size (from millions to tens of thousands of acres) of these two Utah monuments threatens conservation efforts, raises new barriers to historic preservation, and ends a novel tribal commission.

Staying on top of the legal and policy developments in the PFAS arena is no small task. As a special service to our members, the Environmental Law Institute provides a series of webinars with authors of the PFAS Deskbook, James Pollack and Isabel Carey, and national experts on PFAS to keep you up to date, answer your questions, and highlight a unique topic related to PFAS during each session.

Pollution, deception, and explosions were on the docket last week, as the new U.S. Supreme Court term began with arguments in two environmental law cases. The first case, Suncor Energy v. County Commissioners of Boulder County, involved a Colorado county’s lawsuit against multiple energy producers for misleading the public about climate change. After the case was filed, a massive fire swept through Boulder, Colorado, destroying more than 1,000 homes after unseasonably dry and hot weather.

Please join ELI and its Women in Environmental Law & Leadership initiative (WELL) on Wednesday, October 21 for a fall happy hour. Come catch up with environmental law practitioners in the DC area, make new friends, and hear and share upcoming programming ideas! This event is free and open to the public. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. All attendees must be over the age of 21. We look forward to seeing you there!

Energy is increasingly at the center of some of the most consequential questions facing the country. The rapid growth of data centers is driving new electricity demand. And debates over energy costs, reliability, development, and environmental impacts are increasingly finding their way into state and federal courts.

Staying on top of the legal and policy developments in the PFAS arena is no small task. As a special service to our members, the Environmental Law Institute provides a series of webinars with authors of the PFAS Deskbook, James Pollack and Isabel Carey, and national experts on PFAS to keep you up to date, answer your questions, and highlight a unique topic related to PFAS during each session.