Administrative agencies are in an era of reform. Since the US Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference, the scope of agency authority under the law has been uncertain. Simultaneously, the Trump administration has been pushing for increased efficiency within administrative agencies, issuing directives for streamlined decision making to promote the expansion of American industry. Perhaps surprising … Continue Reading
On November 27, 2020, the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) issued a proposed rule to add mining as a sector eligible for streamlined permitting under Title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41). Public comments on the proposed rule are due December 28, 2020. Enacted in 2015, FAST-41 created a new … Continue Reading
The Trump administration recently finalized updates to regulations for environmental impact review of large projects under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). NEPA was originally enacted 50 years ago to reorient federal agencies to consider the environmental impact of projects. It generally requires federal agencies to consider environmental effects of proposed projects before they are … Continue Reading
The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a statement on May 18, 2018 clarifying that the Agency will only analyze both upstream and downstream environmental effects of pipeline Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions when those effects are “sufficiently causally connected to and are reasonably foreseeable effects of the proposed actions.” The policy statement was part of … Continue Reading
Government agencies may soon use a different framework for evaluating the environmental impact of their decisions. The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the executive agency tasked with ensuring that federal agencies meet their obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), published a notice on June 20, 2018 seeking input from the public about changes to the … Continue Reading
On March 7, 2014, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a decision in Kentuckians for the Commonwealth v. USACE limiting the scope of impacts to be considered under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when the US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) issues Clean Water Act Section 404 permits for surface mining operations. Kentuckians involved the … Continue Reading
