Legal Analysis – Page 12 – Environmental and Energy Law Program

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Electricity Law

Op-Ed: To Catalyze Transmission Development, End the Utility Protection Racket

The combination of discriminatory state laws and FERC transmission planning rules shields utilities from competition within their local service territories and induces them to focus on developing small-scale local projects. These protectionist policies reinforce an anachronistic utility-by-utility approach to transmission planning that is failing to develop the regional transmission necessary to effectively decarbonize the power sector and mitigate the impacts of extreme weather.

February 25, 2021

Federal Policy Analysis
Students

EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule: Examining Challenges and Prospects

Lead-contaminated drinking water continues to disproportionately affect low-income communities and communities of color, with dangerous long-term health implications. To combat this problem, EPA promulgated the 1991 Lead and Copper Rule […]

January 28, 2021

Disaster Policy
Environmental Justice
Students

A New Approach to Disaster Relief Funding? The Disaster Recovery Reform Act’s Promise for Pre-Disaster Mitigation

Climate change is likely to increase the frequency and cost of natural disasters in the U.S., underscoring the importance of a robust and proactive federal natural disaster response.

January 28, 2021

Clean Water
Students

Section 401 of the Clean Water Act from Trump to Biden

Overview Under section 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA), any applicant seeking a federal permit or license for an activity that “may result in any discharge into the navigable […]

January 25, 2021

Regulatory Rollbacks

Deconstructing Environmental Deregulation Under the Trump Administration

Over the past four years, EELP has tracked the Trump administration’s environmental rollback efforts, analyzing both individual regulations and broader attacks on EPA’s mission-critical capacities, while also highlighting the lawsuits […]

January 13, 2021

EPA Mission Tracker

New Cost-Benefit Rule Hampers EPA’s Ability to Regulate Harmful Air Pollutants

This analysis is a paraphrased excerpt from Hannah Perls’ article Deconstructing Environmental Deregulation under the Trump Administration, published in the Spring 2021 Vermont Law Review. A crucial tool in the […]

January 12, 2021

Federal Policy Analysis
Students

President-Elect Biden Supports a “Carbon Enforcement Mechanism” – Could that Mean a Price on Carbon?

As part of his climate agenda, President-elect Joe Biden promises to pass legislation that “establishes an enforcement mechanism” to curb harmful greenhouse gas emissions.[1] What this means is far from […]

November 14, 2020

Environmental Justice
EPA Mission Tracker

EPA Undermines its Own Environmental Justice Programs

EPA’s EJ efforts to-date have been insufficient to address the scale and severity of environmental injustice in the US.

November 12, 2020

Onshore Energy
Students

Forest Service Proposal Deemphasizes Environmental Concerns to Streamline Oil and Gas Leasing Process

On September 1, 2020, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) released a proposed rule changing the oil and gas leasing standards and procedures on National Forest System (NFS) lands (found at […]

November 3, 2020