In putting together our thoughts on this post, it was hard not to think about the elephant in the room (see what I did there?). The change in administration has already brought significant changes in our nation’s environmental priorities. While time will show us all of the specific ways this will play out in 2025,…

Seyfarth Synopsis: On February 11, 2025, President Trump nominated David Keeling as Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, pending Senate confirmation. Keeling, with extensive experience in occupational safety, is expected to adopt a pro-employer stance, contrasting with the Biden Administration’s approach. Anticipated changes include a delay or termination of new regulations on heat illness and…

The exploding demand for energy to power hyperscaler data centers is leading to consideration of co-locating new generation (nuclear or otherwise) and data centers.  As we explained in Part 1 of this blog, co-location is attractive to hyperscalers because of its potential to provide those data centers with contractually committed energy supplies, delivered over…

During his first week in office, President Trump issued Executive Orders on Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence, Declaring a National Energy Emergency, and Unleashing American Energy.  On February 14, he issued another Executive Order, Establishing the National Energy Dominance Council.  He has also announced plans by a joint…

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Three Greenberg Traurig Environmental shareholders were selected for the 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Environmental Lawyers – The Green 500.

The guide recognizes the following attorneys:

…

Pipelines: Mountain Valley Pipeline Requests Approval to Build Southgate Extension
On February 3, 2025, Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC (MVP) submitted an abbreviated application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regarding its Southgate Extension, which will run from Pittsylvania County, Virginia, to Rockingham County, North Carolina. MVP requests that FERC issue an order amending the…

Effective February 3, 2025, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) adopted amendments to the Ground Water Quality Standards (GWQS), N.J.A.C. 7:9C. The amendments updated the groundwater quality criteria and/or practical quantitation levels (PQLs) for 73 constituents, the vast majority of which became more stringent. For example, groundwater quality standards for tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and vinyl chloride were changed from 1 µg/l to 0.4 µg/l and 0.035 µg/l, respectively. Of note, the decrease attributable to vinyl chloride is by more than an order of magnitude – a significant and regulatorily meaningful change. NJDEP also amended its rounding protocols to round new or revised groundwater standards to two significant figures rather than one. The amendments enable NJDEP to update specific groundwater criteria for constituents with corresponding Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) when NJDEP determines the weight of evidence approach would more appropriately address risks posed by such constituents than the health-based levels used to establish MCLs.

A federal appeals court has granted the Environmental Protection Agency’s request for a 60-day abeyance in litigation challenging the Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for six PFAS chemicals.

In a February 7, 2025, decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit temporarily halted a lawsuit brought by the American Water Works Association and others.…

President Trump hit the ground running, issuing more executive orders, memoranda, and other actions on Inauguration Day than any previous president. Agencies are already working to implement those actions. Many of the actions are interrelated, so Troutman Pepper Locke’s Environmental + Natural Resources team has put together the following resource to help assess the impact of these actions on environmental policy, and how the various actions fit together.