News & Insights

Congress should amend one word in the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 (“APA”) in order to save the entire oil and gas industry in the western United States and the federal government’s and western state’s coffers.  Litigation and judicial interpretation of this one word has frozen the federal oil and gas leasing program, impacting permits […]

On October 4, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court denied requests from states and industry groups to block the implementation of two Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) rules. The decisions did not include reasoning behind declining the stay requests. Both orders were unsigned and did not include recorded dissents. As a result of the denials, the methane […]

Sometimes, a blog just has to be written. For those of us of a certain age, Sterling Hayden’s speech as Jack D. Ripper in Dr. Strangelove concerning the Communist plot to fluoridate our water is iconic. Well, it turns out that the old adage may be true. Just because it’s a conspiracy theory doesn’t mean […]

It’s time! The 2024 ACOEL Annual Meeting is coming up fast at the JW Marriott Houston downtown on November 7-9. Houston in November is a warm, welcoming and exciting destination, and we’d love to show you everything that the fourth largest U.S. city has to offer. Our side events include a field trip to NASA, […]

Inside EPA (subscription required) reported this week that a group of Democratic state attorneys general have filed an amicus brief supporting EPA’s appeal of a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision holding that EPA had authority to include in NPDES permits “narrative prohibitions on discharges that cause or contribute to violations of applicable water quality […]

I’ve been hearing a lot lately about imposter syndrome, better referred to as “imposter experience,” and thinking about how it applies to ACOEL members. At this level in our careers, is it still an issue? Is it keeping members from fully engaging in the College? In 2015, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor discussed her […]

In the last week of August, the Biden administration finalized protection of 28 million acres of federal land and water in Alaska that is critical for birds, fish, caribou, and the communities that rely on them.  That’s an area the size of Pennsylvania that will now be protected from mining and other potentially destructive resource […]

On July 18, 2024, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided that environmental groups were entitled to intervene in a case challenging the lawfulness of a greenhouse gas regulation because the state’s attorneys failed to raise the argument that the regulation protected environmental rights secured by Article I, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution. Though ostensibly procedural, […]

In the 1967 movie “The Graduate,” a family friend famously tells the title character “I just want to say one word to you. Just one word. Plastics. There’s a great future in plastics. Think about it.” Well, those of us engaged in the plastic space have been thinking about it. And we have a response. […]

It is becoming increasingly difficult to practice law without some knowledge of climate change as well as the law related to climate change. Irma Russell,  Matt Bogoshian, and I recently published an article making the case that climate competence is required for competent lawyering.  My purposes here are 1) to briefly explain the article, 2) […]

Late last month, I noted that the overturning of Chevron did not mean the end of judicial deference to agency expertise. Earlier this week, a decision by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals provided some confirmation that judicial deference to agency technical decisions is alive and well. In Huntsman Petrochemical v. EPA, the court rejected […]

This blog posting is derived from an article I recently published in the University of Missouri, Kansas City Law Review at the invitation of our Fellow and friend Irma Russell, to whom I am indebted for much guidance and counsel over decades. If by chance you are inspired by the below words to read the […]