Known colloquially as the BIF—the bipartisan infrastructure framework—or sometimes as the “bipartisan infrastructure bill,” even though it is no longer a bill, IIJA authorizes over a trillion dollars to an enormous variety of programs.
Click here to read the full article, published by The Legal Intelligencer April 14. Reprinted with permission.
At the end of March, the European Commission (Commission) presented the Sustainable Products Initiative (SPI) as part of a ‘Circular Economy Package I’, together with a Sustainable Textiles Strategy, and proposals for a new directive empowering consumers for the green transition (please see Sustainability Outlook March 2022), and a new Construction Products Regulation. In its new Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP 2.0) of March 2020, the Commission had foreseen adopting the SPI in 2021.
The Commission aims at “making sustainable products the norm” and reducing negative life cycle environmental impacts of products, while benefitting from efficient digital solutions, by setting a framework for Ecodesign requirements, creating an EU digital product passport and tackling the destruction of unsold consumer products.
In particular, the SPI includes the proposal for an Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), which would repeal the current Ecodesign Directive 2009/125. It establishes a horizontal framework and broadens the scope of the Ecodesign Directive beyond energy-related products, i.e. beyond any product that has an impact on energy consumption during use. The new Regulation would apply to all physical goods, including components and intermediate products, except food, feed, medicinal and veterinary products, living plants and animals, and products of human origin. According to the Commission’s explanatory memorandum, the ESPR is meant to address products that are not covered by existing legislation or where that legislation does not sufficiently address sustainability, and Ecodesign requirements in the delegated acts that it will adopt cannot supersede requirements set in legislative acts (of the Council and European Parliament).
Maryland has enacted the most rigorous state law in the country reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and otherwise addressing ESG stewardship including climate change
In an April 8, 2022 letter to each of the seven Colorado River basin states, the Interior Department asked for comments by April 22 about its plan to reduce releases from Glen Canyon Dam to 7.0 million acre-feet (maf) this year, a reduction of 480,000 acre-feet.
In the letter, Assistant Secretary for
In early April there were two major leaps forward in offshore wind development in California. On April 6, 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), a bureau within the U.S. Interior Department, released a Draft Environmental Assessment for the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area (WEA) off California’s Central Coast. The next day, the California
Dave Curran, ESG and Law Institute executive director and co-chair of the Paul, Weiss ESG Advisory Practice, discussed corporate governance and other ESG topics in a recent Reuters article.
The article, “General counsels & ESG: Range of skills needed to help corporate leaders navigate challenging terrain,” discusses the crucial role chief legal officers play in
New York and Washington, D.C., January 13, 2022 – Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP’s ESG and Law Institute, a forum of businesses and academic institutions dedicated to the independent study of issues relating to the intersection of ESG (environmental, social and governance), business and the law, today announced that it has signed on
In League to Save Lake Tahoe Mt. Area Pres. Found. v. County of Placer (2022) 75 Cal.App.5th 63, the Third District Court of Appeal held that a land use specific plan and rezoning permit for commercial and residential development, including workforce housing, of forest land in the Martis Valley near the Northstar California Ski
By: Adam R. Young, Patrick D. Joyce, James L. Curtis, Mark A. Lies, II, and Craig B. Simonsen
Seyfarth Synopsis: The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has launched a National Emphasis Program to protect “millions of workers from heat illness and injuries. Through the program, OSHA will conduct heat-related
In line with the Biden administration’s focus on expanding offshore wind energy, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is seeking public review and comments on the draft Morro Bay Wind Energy Area (WEA) environmental assessment (EA) by Friday, May 6, 2022. The EA for the Morro Bay WEA “considers potential environmental and socioeconomic effects from issuing offshore wind energy leases and related site characterization and assessment activities.” Written comments may be filed or shared virtually at the April 14 or April 19 meeting.