On May 9, 2025, the Trump Administration published an executive order (“EO”), titled “Fighting Overcriminalization in Federal Regulations,” that targets criminal regulatory offenses subject to strict liability, or liability that attaches without a required criminal mindset.
Louisiana has a new renewable energy law on the books, Act No. 279, set to take effect on August 1, 2025. It provides for the regulation of solar facilities, renewable energy batteries, and onshore wind projects, all under the permitting authority of the Louisiana Department of Energy and Natural Resources (LDENR). The solar facility piece
On May 29, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s decision that vacated the Surface Transportation Board’s (“the Board”) environmental impact statement (“EIS”) and approval of an 88-mile rail line to bring crude oil from Utah to the Gulf Coast.
Continue Reading Supreme Court Clarifies Scope of NEPA Reviews in Long-Awaited Decision
On May 21, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit dismissed environmental groups’ suit challenging EPA’s decision to grant Louisiana’s Class VI Primacy request, holding that each of the groups failed to establish standing to sue. Deep South Center for Environmental Justice v. EPA, No. 24-60084 (5th Cir. 2025).
Continue Reading Fifth Circuit Dismisses Environmental Groups’ Suit Challenging Louisiana’s Primacy Over Class VI Injection Wells
On May 22, 2025, several environmental groups, RISE St. James, Micah Six Eight Mission, The Descendants Project, The Concerned Citizens of St. John Inc., Claiborne Avenue Alliance Design Studio, Inc., and JOIN for Clean Air, have sued Louisiana public officials charged with enforcing the State’s Community Air Monitoring Reliability Act (“CAMRA” or “the Act”) in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, alleging that the CAMRA violates their constitutional rights and is preempted by the Clean Air Act (“CAA”). RISE St. James Louisiana v. Burdette, (M.D. La. May 22, 2025).
Continue Reading Environmental Groups File Suit Challenging Validity of Louisiana’s Community Air Monitoring Reliability Act
Environmental and science advocacy groups have sued EPA and other agencies in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for removing without notice “vitally important webpages” that served as sources of information about environmental justice and climate change.
Continue Reading Environmental and Science Advocacy Groups Sue EPA and Other Agencies Over Removal of EJ Tools
On April 8, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO), “Protecting American Energy From State Overreach,” aimed at “unleashing American energy” by directing the U.S. Attorney General (AG) to identify state laws and policies that burden the development of domestic energy resources and “are or may be unconstitutional, preempted by Federal law
On April 9, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that faith- and community-based groups1 (the “Groups”) representing certain residents of St. James Parish, Louisiana, may continue with their suit seeking a moratorium on the construction and expansion of industrial facilities in the Parish. See Inclusive Louisiana v. St.
On April 3, 2025, the Louisiana Department of Energy and Natural Resources (LDENR), Office of Conservation, issued a Draft Permit prepared by the Injection and Mining Division for Hackberry Carbon Sequestration, LLC (HCS) to drill, construct, and operate a Class VI injection well for geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide in Cameron Parish, Louisiana.
Continue Reading CCS Update: Hackberry Carbon Sequestration, LLC Receives Draft Permit for Class VI Well in Cameron Parish
On March 12, 2025, EPA Administrator Zeldin announced that the agency, as one of its 31 historic deregulatory actions to advance President Trump’s Day One executive orders and EPA’s “Powering the Great American Comeback,” will reconsider the previous administration’s rule tightening the Particulate Matter National Ambient Air Quality Standards (PM2.5 NAAQS).
Continue Reading EPA to Reconsider Previous Administration’s PM 2.5 NAAQS, Continuing its Deregulatory Push