On September 21, 2023, the Biden administration outlined plans to expand federal agencies’ consideration of the social cost of carbon—a metric for the economic cost of each additional ton of carbon dioxide emitted to the atmosphere. This announcement tilts the balance of cost-benefit analyses in favor of activities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and it could have widespread effects for entities that receive federal funding or are subject to federal regulation.… More
Tag Archives: EPA
Supreme Court Curtails Federal Wetlands Protections; Developers Still Must Consider State and Local Wetlands Laws
On May 25, 2023, the Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, which significantly narrowed the Clean Water Act’s (“CWA”) test for determining whether wetlands are protected “waters of the United States” and the federal permitting requirements for development projects in covered wetlands areas.
The Court’s Ruling
The Supreme Court’s ruling has two basic parts:
- It adopts Justice Scalia’s plurality opinion in Rapanos v.…
EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management Commits to Environmental Justice
Federal agencies continue to roll out plans to address environmental justice issues, which has become a focal point in the Biden administration’s agenda. Now that the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) is in effect, federal agencies are now able to access more funds to address environmental justice concerns. As discussed in a prior blog post, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its “Equity Action Plan” in April 2022 and on September 30,… More
Equity Action Plans: Government Agencies Prioritize Environmental Justice
In an effort to “redress inequities in [Federal] policies and programs that serve as barriers to equal opportunity,” the Biden administration has set forth an agenda to identify areas of improvement and advance equity across the Federal Government. On January 20, President Biden issued Executive Order 13985 which requires agencies to produce “Equity Action Plans” that are agency sponsored reports to assess whether underserved communities face systemic barriers in accessing benefits and opportunities available based on an agency’s policies and programs.… More
EPA Releases Long-Awaited MS4 Permit for Massachusetts
As announced in the Federal Register this week, EPA finally released the General Permit for small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems in Massachusetts (say that three times fast!)
This permit has been in the works for quite a while. As we wrote last year at this time, MassDEP has expressed some serious reservations about the MS4 permit throughout the drafting process.… More