At a time when carbon emissions stand at the forefront of public concern, legislators and advocacy groups throughout the United States are doing all they can to limit the fossil fuel and coal industries to prevent further impacts. For the past 50 years, environmental policymakers have looked to the guidance of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop and enforce environmental regulations. However, recent debates over the provisions enabling the […]

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The current leadership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) used the remaining time in Trump administration to alter the criteria for evaluating scientific studies used to enact public health policy, change the methodology for conducting oil and gas tank inspections, and finalize more rollbacks of environmental protections. The changes made during these last weeks are mostly formal finalizations of rule changes presented earlier during the administration’s tenure. Many of […]

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Methane is the main ingredient of natural gas and a potent greenhouse gas (“GHG”) with a short half-life. When methane leaks into the air before its use—from a leaky valve at a drilling site, for example—it absorbs the sun’s heat and warms the Earth’s atmosphere. The largest source of methane emissions in the United States is the oil and gas industry (source: EPA). The methane regulations established by the Obama […]

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This week the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued a draft guidance on compliance with the Supreme Court decision regarding Clean Water Act (“CWA”) permits for groundwater pollution. The draft guidance narrowly interprets the permitting required by the April Supreme Court decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund. In Maui, the Court ruled Clean Water Act permits can be required under certain circumstances when pollution hits groundwater before […]

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