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Category: Rulemaking and Legislative Practice

A Mixed October for Tribes Looking to be Viewed As a State for Environmental Regulatory Purposes

October 2020 was a mercurial month for tribes hoping to control environmental regulations on tribal lands. Early in the month, a SCOTUS ruling designated a large portion of Oklahoma as being part of Indian Country, a decision which paradoxically resulted in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) granting the state full control over the lands’ environmental regulation. Later in the month, a regional office of the EPA granted treatment as […]

How Will the 2020 Election Results Affect U.S. Environmental Policy?

The vast differences between the Biden and Trump platforms mean the U.S. environmental policy is likely to change quite a bit in the wake of the 2020 election. Joe Biden advocates what he calls a “clean energy revolution,” while Donald Trump’s term was spent rolling back significant environmental protections. Many of the environmental policies that have been recently changed were originally created under the Obama-Biden administration, and a Biden presidency […]

California To Stop Sales of New Gas-Fueled Vehicles by 2035

Earlier this week, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Executive Order N-79-20, which ends the sale of new gasoline- and diesel-powered passenger cars in California by the year 2035. The order empowers the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) to establish a plan for requiring automakers to sell increasing numbers of zero-emissions passengers vehicles year-by-year until they comprise one hundred percent of all new car sales within fifteen years. The order also provides […]

EPA Proposes Rule To Force Airlines To Adopt Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards They Set For Themselves

The Trump Administration recently released the long-awaited proposal for controlling greenhouse gas emissions for aircraft. This proposed airline rule forestalls an impending lawsuit by bringing the federal government into compliance with a legal requirement under the Clean Air Act that they regulate greenhouse gas emissions from airplanes. In 2016, the EPA determined that greenhouse gases from aircraft present a danger to public health and the welfare of future generations. The […]

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