On July 3, 2025, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a final rule revising its regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) to remove references to the recently rescinded regulations implementing NEPA originally promulgated in 1978 by the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). On the same day, FERC issued
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Well, Well: Outlook for CCUS Projects in Texas Improves as EPA Proposes to Delegate Permitting Authority and the Texas Supreme Court Clarifies Pore Space Ownership
On June 17, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a proposed rule to approve Texas’s application for primary permitting and enforcement responsibility (primacy) for carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration wells pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water Act’s (SDWA) Class VI Underground Injection Control (UIC) Program. Upon approval of the rule, the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC)…
Texas Legislature Tilts Against Windmills: Is This the End of Wind Energy on the Texas Coast?
Much has been written in recent weeks about how the renewable energy industry in Texas dodged a bullet — several bullets actually — when three high-profile bills targeting the industry failed to pass in the recent legislative session that ended June 2. Indeed, each of those bills, S.B. 819, S.B. 388, and S.B. 715, would…
Déjà vu? FWS Solicits Feedback to Update Section 10(a) of the ESA
On Monday, June 9, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) opened a short, 30-day public comment period soliciting information and comments to, “improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness” of Section 10(a) take permitting under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). If it seems like Section 10(a) just underwent a comment period not too long ago,…
CARB Workshop on Climate Disclosure Laws: More Questions Than Answers
On May 29, 2025, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) held a virtual public workshop to review and discuss its rulemaking response to California Senate Bills (SBs) 253, 261, and 219, which require companies that “do business in California” and meet certain revenue thresholds to publicly disclose their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and…
One-Track Mind: Unanimous SCOTUS Decision on Rail Line Approval Further Narrows Scope of NEPA
On May 29, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado that dramatically changes the way courts scrutinize federal agencies’ environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing for a five-justice conservative majority (with Justice Neil Gorsuch abstaining), held that (a) courts…
New Texas Railroad Commission Rules: Challenges and Permitting for the E&P Industry
I. General Background
On December 17, 2024, the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) adopted new comprehensive regulations governing the handling, storage, treatment, and disposal of oil and gas waste. The rules were published January 3, 2025, in the Texas Register and become effective on July 1, 2025. They codify formerly informal guidance and ad hoc…
PFAS Regulatory Landscape Update — The Message? Stay Tuned.
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California’s AB 550: A Blueprint for Balancing Development and Species Conservation
California’s drive toward a net-zero carbon economy by 2045 is sparking innovative solutions to harmonize environmental conservation with infrastructure development. Assembly Bill (AB) 550, sponsored by Assembly Member Petrie-Norris, aims to amend the California Endangered Species Act (CESA) by permitting renewable energy projects to take unlisted but “at-risk” species. The proposed legislation recognizes the…
Citizen Suits and Larger Penalties May Be the Future of California Water Quality Protections
The California legislature continues to advance Senate Bill 601 (SB 601), the “Right to Clean Water Act,”[1] which aims to safeguard protections for California’s streams and wetlands that lost federal protection under the Clean Water Act (CWA) as a result of the Supreme Court’s 2023 Sackett v. U.S. EPA decision. If approved, SB…