National Energy Policy: Department of Energy Oil Sale and Repurchasing Policies Announced
On October 18, 2022, a fact sheet posted on the White House website announced a Notice of Sale by the Department of Energy to release up to 15 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), beginning on October 19, 2022.
Understanding the Basics of Crop Insurance
On October 21, 2022, from 12 noon – 1:00 ET, the Penn State Center for Agricultural and Shale Law, alongside the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Business Development Center presented another webinar in our educational series, “Understanding Agricultural Law.” This session in our series is entitled, “Understanding the Basics of Crop Insurance.”
Farmers are known
China Publishes Draft List of Key New Pollutants under Pollutant Control Action Plan
We have been monitoring the progress China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) has been making on the goals set in its New Pollutant Control Action Plan, released in May 2022. One of the goals of the Plan was to release a list of key “new pollutants” for regulation and control, the categories of
California Offshore Wind Auction
On October 18, 2022, the Department of the Interior announced that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (“BOEM”) will hold an auction to sell five offshore wind energy leases in federal waters off the California coast, with two off the coast of Humboldt and three off the coast of Morro Bay. PACW-1 is the first
DOER Issues an Updated Stretch Code – Are Net-Zero Energy Buildings Really Coming Soon?
Massachusetts will soon see significant updates to the energy codes that govern the construction and alteration of buildings throughout the Commonwealth. As required by the 2021 climate bill,
the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) has recently finalized regulations updating the current Stretch Energy Code, previously promulgated by the state’s Board of Building Regulations
First Offshore Wind Energy Lease Sale in the Pacific Creates Opportunity for Developers
On October 18, 2022, the Department of the Interior announced that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will hold an offshore wind energy lease sale on December 6, 2022, for areas on the Outer Continental Shelf off central and northern California. This will be the first-ever offshore wind lease sale on America’s west coast and
Commercial Real Estate Alert: New Jersey’s New PFAS Soil Standards Shake Up Cleanups & Closings
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) kicked off the week with publishing the long-anticipated, immediately effective Interim Soil Remediation Standards for four kinds of PFAS chemicals. The following Q&A provides preliminary guidance on whether this might affect you and some helpful background information.
What does this mean for a New Jersey property undergoing
The UK’s Financial Reporting Council publishes guidance to assist companies reporting on their net zero commitments
To help companies improve their reporting on net zero commitments, the FRC Lab have published its Net zero disclosures report (“the Report”), which provides companies with practical tips and questions to consider when preparing disclosures in their financial reports on net zero and other Greenhouse Gas (“GHG”) reduction commitments.
Can Cumulative Impact Analysis Improve Cost-Benefit Analysis?
As frequent readers know, I am a big fan of cost-benefit analysis. The basic idea is that, when we make a decision to regulate at a certain level, we are by definition deciding that regulating to that level is “worth” the costs that the regulation will impose. We might as well make such calculations explicitly.
TCEQ Requests Public Input on Draft Wastewater Regionalization Guidance
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is inviting informal public comment on the draft Regulatory Guidance Document for Evaluation of Regionalization for Potential New Wastewater Systems. TCEQ is required to implement a policy to “encourage and promote the development and use of regional and area-wide waste collection, treatment and disposal systems to serve the waste