Laws & Regulations

"Federal regulators gave a huge, contentious offshore wind project the green light to start construction off the coast of New Jersey."

"On Sept. 13, Decatur, Illinois, city councilperson David Horn found out a monitoring well at a carbon capture and storage site in his community was leaking. He did not find out through an internal council meeting, nor an emergency phone call from the city manager or an alert from environmental regulators. He found out like most other people did, through an article in E&E News."

"The adoption of ship scrubbers—technology meant to clean up dirty fuel—has caused a surge in heavy metal pollution."

"The Biden administration this week restored Obama-era farmworker protections from pesticides that were rolled back under the Trump administration."

"In a novel lawsuit brought early last year, a trio of Louisiana challengers laid out a sweeping narrative that traced a direct line between the oppressive legacy of slavery and allegedly discriminatory air pollution exposure. But their bid to upend one parish’s land-use practices faltered when a federal judge threw out the suit eight months later on prosaic procedural grounds. Now, those plaintiffs are regrouping for a rematch before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals."

"The amount of rain that Tropical Storm Helene unleashed over North Carolina was so intense, no amount of preparation could have entirely prevented the destruction that ensued. But decisions made by state officials in the years leading up to Helene most likely made some of that damage worse, according to experts in building standards and disaster resilience."

"As residents of western North Carolina piece together their lives following Hurricane Helene, few will be able to rely on federal flood insurance to help them rebuild."

"President Biden on Wednesday signed legislation exempting semiconductor manufacturing facilities from environmental reviews — despite objections from some Democrats and green activists who have expressed concerns about the potential for toxic waste."

"Tommy Beaudreau, who served as the Interior Department’s No. 2 official before stepping down last year, violated federal ethics rules by failing to monitor his investments in oil companies and recuse himself from a related matter, the agency’s internal watchdog said in a report released Tuesday."

"Waking up to long-overdue system upgrades, dozens of towns that were awarded federal ARPA dollars may see them ‘clawed back’ for lack of resources to complete paperwork."