The recently announced stockpile represents significant opportunities, but much of that depends on unresolved details that companies must continue to monitor.
By Charles E. Carpenter, Joshua W. Marnitz, and Austin J. Pierce
Key Points:
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Pesticides/Herbicides: EPA Announces Dicamba Approval for 2026, 2027 Growing Seasons
On February 6, 2026, the
In late 2025, the EU postponed the application of the EU Regulation on Deforestation-free products (EUDR) for the the second time. Under Regulation (EU) 2025/2650, the EUDR is now scheduled to enter into application on December 30, 2026. This Legal Update discusses the likelihood of re-opening of the EUDR for further simplification. We also address other
In a partially published opinion filed on February 2, 2026, the First District Court of Appeal (Div. 3) addressed a “weighty issue . . . affecting the CEQA responsibilities of local governments throughout the state” in reversing the trial court’s judgment granting a writ petition challenging the adequacy of the Town of Tiburon’s (“Town”) program EIR for its general plan/housing element update. The Committee for Tiburon LLC v. Town of Tiburon (Sierra Pines Group, LLC, Real Party in Interest) (2026) 118 Cal.App.5th259. Applying CEQA tiering principles in the context of the Town’s update of its general plan and housing element site inventory to comply with state housing law, the Court held “that a program EIR for a local agency’s general plan need not include a site-specific environmental analysis of a site identified in its housing element where . . . no housing project has been proposed for the site.” It reasoned that “[w]hen a housing project has not even been proposed, the lack of project-specific details precludes an informed review of environmental impacts and mitigation measures, and deferral of such a review to a site-specific, project-level EIR analysis is appropriate.”
On December 22, 2025, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued short and nearly identical lease suspension orders that halted construction on five utility-scale offshore wind projects off Virginia, New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, alleging new and classified national security threats. These suspensions sparked an immediate wave of litigation as the affected developers sought court orders that would allow them to resume work and keep to their carefully scripted construction timelines. Six weeks later, the dust has settled on a clean sweep for the offshore wind industry: all five projects won injunctions from four different judges in three different jurisdictions, appointed by one Democratic and two Republican presidents. Now that all construction of these projects is back on track, what lessons can we learn from this episode?
On Jan. 21, 2026, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) finalized revisions to its existing regulations governing deep seabed mining in areas beyond the national jurisdiction of the United States.
Louisiana’s long-anticipated Combined State and Local Sales Tax Return is now live beginning with the January 2026 return, due February 20th. For in-house tax directors at mid-size and large companies, this is one of those transitions that may present additional challenges. The combined return is administered by the Louisiana Uniform Local Sales Tax Board (the
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Technology: EPA Publishes Clean Air Act ‘Right to Repair’ Guidance Document
On January 30, 2026, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced
Among the changes, the proposed rule would amend Hazardous Materials Regulations to treat sodium ion batteries in a manner similar to the way lithium ion batteries are regulated.
On February 10, 2026, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to amend the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to
On February 6, 2026, an Oregon district court issued a decision barring the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) from enforcing the nation’s first extended producer responsibility (EPR) law for packaging, food serviceware, and paper products (referred to as “covered products” under Oregon’s law). The very brief order enjoins DEQ from enforcing the state’s Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act (RMA) against the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW) and its members, who filed their suit in July 2025, challenging the law and claiming it violated the Oregon and U.S. Constitutions.