Environmental Law Advisor

On July 14, a California federal court granted a preliminary injunction blocking the California Attorney General from enforcing Senate Bill 343 (SB 343), a law regulating recyclability claims on products and packaging.

Businesses often focus on whether a regulation is lawful under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), an inquiry that traditionally turns on whether an agency action is arbitrary and capricious. Recent US Supreme Court decisions suggest a different question may come first: whether courts ever reach that analysis at all.

The US Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County endorsed a narrower vision of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), focused on informing agency decisions rather than producing exhaustive analyses of indirect, cumulative, or policy-related impacts.

While it may seem like there are fewer calls of late to “electrify everything,” the legal debate over whether “gas bans” — local ordinances that prohibit use of fossil fuel-powered appliances in new construction — continues.

Products and packaging manufactured for sale or distribution in California after October 4 must either meet recyclability criteria or remove recyclability claims, including the popular “chasing arrows” symbol.

On June 24, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) announced that it is planning to delay the first-year reporting deadline for Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under SB 253 (the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act) from August 10 to November 10.

State policymakers are recalibrating how they regulate and incentivize data center development.

On May 28, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule that reinstates the longstanding emergency affirmative defense provision under the Clean Air Act’s Title V operating permit programs (the “Emergency AD” rule).

A Will County circuit court ordered the county board to issue permits for six solar energy projects in one of the first decisions applying last month’s landmark Equity Solar appellate ruling.

Classes of children are often named as plaintiffs in climate litigation, with complaints stressing the need for judicial intervention to overcome gridlock in the political branches.

In a significant win for the energy industry, the Maryland Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of three municipal lawsuits alleging that energy companies engaged in deceptive practices related to the promotion of fossil fuels.

For the first time, an Illinois appellate court has held that Illinois counties must issue siting permits to solar facilities that meet certain state standards.

A recent Michigan federal court decision emphasizes the need to review the separateness of corporate entities so that operational issues associated with one entity do not result in potential exposure for others.

A federal court’s recent ruling shields members of a national trade association from Oregon’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) program pending trial, raising constitutional questions that could affect similar programs in other states.

On February 12, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the elimination of EPA’s 2009 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Endangerment Finding and all subsequent federal GHG emission standards for vehicle model years 2012 and newer — a move that will dramatically limit federal government engagement on climate issues.

The popular perception that we are in a relaxed federal enforcement environment should not lull businesses into taking their foot off the gas on compliance activities.

Trump Administration efforts to quash state-driven climate action were recently dealt a setback when a Michigan federal court rejected a federal effort to quash state claims focused on the fossil fuel industry.

Last week, the White House began its interagency review of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final rule to rescind its 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding and related vehicle greenhouse gas (GHG) standards.

Over the past year, both the executive branch and the courts sought to pare back certain stringent aspects of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews. However, a decision issued in December 2025 illustrates that agencies cannot defer conducting NEPA-required reviews until after project approval.

Companies have long dreaded litigation filed by federal environmental regulators because such cases tended to last forever and posed financial and representational risk.

On October 30, the Illinois General Assembly passed the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act (CRGA). CRGA makes significant updates to Illinois’ current statewide siting and zoning framework for renewable energy projects and creates a statewide standard for energy storage projects.

In the environmental space, there is perhaps no more closely watched issue than how the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines the Clean Water Act term, “waters of the United States.”

On October 30, the Illinois General Assembly passed the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act (CRGA), an omnibus energy bill creating incentives for energy storage projects.

A recent European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decision on the obligations of European states to study carbon-intensive permitting decisions crystallizes how global climate commitments may be beginning to harden into justiciable standards in some jurisdictions.

On his first day in office, President Trump declared a national energy emergency and instructed federal agencies to use emergency procedures to facilitate domestic energy production. On October 29, the US Army Corps of Engineers issued its first Clean Water Act Section 404 permit under the president’s energy emergency declaration and its emergency procedures.